Aloha & Mahalo

OUR RETURN!!!

2008-07-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

OUR RETURN!!

After almost 10 months in beautiful Hawaii, we have decided our adventure here has come to an end and we are heading back home to New Jersey. We will be renting one side of Colleen and Brad Kehler’s two family house in Hackettstown, NJ. Carly has been applying for jobs and has 2 hopeful leads with companies that teach kids with developmental delays and Autism. Kevin is planning on picking back up the clients he had before we left; if we need more income we plan on returning to New Jersey National Golf Club in Basking Ridge.

Our flight (Honolulu (HNL) to Los Angeles (LAX) 8:10 am - 4:25 pm Hawaiian Airlines) leaves on July 30th to Los Angeles, California. Car’s car is being shipped to LA, hopefully by the time we arrive. We are making a bunch of stops along our way to New Jersey, spending either a night or two in each place. So in LA, we will meet up with Carly’s cousin Emily and maybe see a little bit of California (for the first time for both of us). Then we head to Las Vegas!! Kev’s been there before it will be Carly’s first time. We’re not much for gambling but it will sure be fun to see. From there we head on over to the Grand Canyon National Park, spending a night either couchsurfing about an hour outside the park in Flagstaff, AZ, or finding a hotel or hostile near the park. Then we head to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We will be staying with a couch surfer there who will hopefully show us some culture of the city. From Santa Fe, we visit with our friends Ned, Cheryl, and Nathan Rae and hopefully their good friends, the Bellews, for one or two nights in Dallas, Texas. After Texas, we head to another couch in Memphis, Tennessee. Our goal is to eat BBQ and listen to some good music! Then we head to New Albany, Indiana to see Kevin’s brother, Greg, sister-in-law, Amy, and adorable nephew, Bradley. From there, depending on how tired we are of traveling, we hope to stop and see Kevin’s Aunt Sue, Uncle Len, and cousin Micah in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Thhheenn…its 3 hours home to New Jersey!!!
All of this is of course subject to change at any given moment. We will have our laptop with us so anywhere we get wireless internet we will try to update everyone here on our blog with where we are and maybe some pictures.

That’s all for now, for the next 20 days we will be packing up and selling pretty much everything we own and getting ready to move! Our friend Becky is coming in on July 18th to see Hawaii and help us pack up, we can’t wait to see her!!
We have had an incredible time here in Hawaii!! Here’s some recent pictures.

Kayaking out to the Mokuluas (those two islands in the background)

Cliff Jumping!!!

Kaneohe Bay

Hiking Maunawili Falls Trail w/couch surfer Ian from San Diego

The 4th of July

Couch surfers Taylor and Clint (here from Maui for a wedding)

Swimming in our pool

Snorkeling at Shark's Cove with the Raes and Bellews

Miscellaneous Good Times

2008-05-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

I know we haven't blogged in a while, so we've compiled a few events that occurred between our visitors (blogged below this entry).

Ka'ena Point Hike

This hike was relatively flat and very dry. It goes up the last bit of the way to the northwest most point of the island. From there you can see most of the north shore, about half of the leeward coast. Really interesting terrain, huge waves that can't be caught on camera, Albatross sanctuary, and a lonely monk seal sun-bathing on the rocks all made for a great day of hiking.

VALENTINES DAY-- POLICE CONCERT

For Valentine's Day, Kev got tickets to see The Police in concert that weekend. It was their 99th and final show of their reunion tour. The venue was small so every seat was good (only about 7000 people) and the show was EPIC! Sting's son's band opened (and encored with them for a final number) and they played all the favorites with a few numbers only the true Police fans would appreciate... luckily Kev is one. :)

EASTER SUNDAY

Easter was relatively uneventful. We went to our usual church and spent the evening together decorating eggs (ok and each other a little bit, too).

WAIMEA FALLS

One Saturday we decided to spend the whole day doing new things and chose the North Shore as our destination. We hiked to Waimea Falls (more of a stroll) and swam under the falls, then snorkeled at Turtle Bay Resort (saw one turtle) and a little at Sharks Cove.

LANIKAI PILLBOX TRAIL

We've been to Lanikai beach dozens of times, but never hiked up the hill behind it. Finally one day Carly hiked it by herself while Kev was at work and came back to tell Kev to do the same the next day. So Kev took pictures the next day while Car was at work. GORGEOUS!

CARLY'S 24th BIRTHDAY!!

We planned a fun night out with some friends from work and church. We all went to Dave and Busters for some food and games! It was a fun night and we'll definitely go back.

PUNCHBOWL CEMETARY OF THE PACIFIC

"The Arlington of the Pacific" is a cemetary in a small crater (like Diamond Head) and has graves as well as a monument with the names of all the fallen soldiers from pacific wars whose bodies were never recovered from their respective battles or the sea. Not as somber as Pearl Harbor, but equally as reverant and peaceful.

Random Beaches

This section includes pictures from random events like new beaches that we visited... enjoy the montage... :)

On line to audition for "DEAL OR NO DEAL".... we waited 4 hours for a 20 second audition and Carly made it to the 2nd round!! We're still waiting for the call from Howie Mandel...

"The Moks" at Lanikai

One of the lagoons at Ko'Olina Resort

A tiny gecko in our kitchen... we get a few visitors like this per month.

The tiniest hermit crabs EVER... from "unnamed beach" near Barber's Point.

Kahala Beach
Snorkeling on our lanai.... 'nuf sed. :)

More family VISITORS!!!

2008-05-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

Kev's family came to visit from

April 26 - May 3

Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-law, and nephew all stayed in a time share unit in the heart of Waikiki. Kev stayed there with them most of the week and Carly joined them on most nights except for the few she had to work... so it was like a mini vacation for everyone. AND it happened to fall on Colleen and Brad's (mom & dad) 38th anniversary (we got them matching scrabble t-shirts).

First things first... we planned a hike up Diamond Head.

After the hike, Kev had to work at CPK so everyone came in for dinner.

Monday we tried to see some of Windward O'ahu, but it was a little cloudy and windy, so after a quick picnic lunch at Sandy Beach watching Halona Blowhole, and a hike up to Makapu'u Lighthouse, we hung out at the apartment for the rest of the evening....

The next day we stopped at a windy Pali Lookout, went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens in Kaneohe, visited the Byodo-In Temple at the Valley of the Temples, and then went back to Waikiki to relax at the Hilton pool and have take-out Hawaiian dinner...

Wednesday was our big trip to the NORTH SHORE. It started a little cloudy but ended up one of the most beautiful and memorable days of the trip (and our lives!). We made some quick stops at our favorite sights like the Macadamia Nut Farm, Chinaman's Hat, and Banzai Pipeline, Laie Point, the Mormon Temple... then on to Shark's Cove and set up camp at Waimea Bay. There we swam and snorkeled and, as the skies cleared and the sun began to shimmer off the water as it set, WHALES started putting on a show for us! They were playing, and breaching, and blowing, and waving their pectoral fins at us as they said good-bye to Hawaii and headed back to Alaska (they are usually in Hawaii thru april, and it was april 30th). They were just a little too far off shore for a good photo op.

(whale watching)
Whew! Big day...

Then on Thursday most of us went to Pearl Harbor to see the Arizona Memorial (Greg and Amy stayed back with the baby), then we went to Lanikai for some relaxing beach time, and finished the night with a WONDERFUL dinner together at the famous "DUKES" restaurant in Waikiki...

From above the sunken Arizona, tiny drops of oil still float to the surface from the wreckage. Survivors call it the tears of their fallen comarades.

From the AZ Memorial, you can see the USS Missouri.

Kailua Beach

Friday was their last full day with us, so we went to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling.

Saturday everyone packed up and left the Wyndham Waikiki for our respective homes... One for the record books. Thanks everyone!!!

Our NEXT visitors... and next ISLAND!

2008-05-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

February 23 - March 1

Just as the dust had settled from our first guests visit, our plans were in motion for our next ones!

Carly's dad came to visit for two weeks--the first week with Melissa, and the next week Michael joined us. It was a jam-packed few weeks with lots of new adventures and great memories. Here are the highlights...

We went to a new Luau called "Germaines". Carly learned to Hula on stage.

Then we had a big trip planned to

THE BIG ISLAND

Melissa found a great B & B in Volcano for us to stay in so we hopped a plane, rented a car and went to see as much as we could in a single weekend!

Diamond Head Crater from the plane

The uninhabited Hawaiian island of Kaho'Olawe from the plane.

We stopped at a coffee plantation and saw Jackson Chameleons in the trees... then continued down the Kona coast to The Place of Refuge--an historic site with ancient culture and significance.

At the Black Pebble Beach, the water washing over the stones made a very unique cascading sound--like a rain stick or a bowl of rice crispies. Listen carefully to the video....

Then further down was the Black Sand Beach at Punaluu

Our B & B made for perfect accomodations at a chilly 4000 ft up the mountainside, minutes from Volcanoes National Park, and right next door to the best Thai restaurant we've experienced.

Part of the park was closed as the volcano has been acting up lately with lots of gasses and unpredictable activity, but we were still able to go for a hike into Kilauea Iki crater. It was like walking through the woods and ending up on another planet!

After it rains and the water seeps deep into the ground, it is heated by the active volcano and rises back to the surface as steam and vapor... check it out...

The next day we stopped at a free zoo near Hilo...

Rainbow Falls (above) Boiling pots (below)

As we sipped our Kona Longboard Lager and watched the sunset over Hilo Bay, we wished Melissa safe travels back to Pittsburgh and awaited Michael's arrival.

There were several snorkeling adventures, lots of relaxing on the beach, and a few hikes. Dad and Michael did a lot of adventuring on their own as well. Sadly, Carly had to work all week, Kev had to work some of the week, and the camera seemed to take a week off.

Thanks for visiting everyone!!! Truly unforgettable! :)

Our First Visitors!

2008-01-20T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Sorry it's been so long since we've blogged! It was so great to see our friends and family over Christmas. We definitely did not get enough time with everyone, we had pretty much every second of our trip mapped out as best we could.

Our first visitors were here! Carly's friends Dani, Lisa, and Jake came to stay with us from January 8th to the 17th. We thoroughly loved having them here with us and showing them all our favorite Hawaii spots. We also took the superferry to Maui for a weekend.

We picked them up from the airport

The morning after their arrival, we woke up before 6:00am, drove through Waimanalo and watched the sunrise at the top of Makapu'u. We were super excited when Jake pointed out a whale! It was so cool to see it blowing water up into the air while we were at the top of the mountain.

Later that day, we went to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, dropped Kev off at work there

and spent the day on the beach.

Then we had a happy hour cocktail at the Hilton Bar.

We climbed down the hill to the Spitting Cave of Portlock and saw some pretty good waves.

Then the next day we waded over to Goat Island (we mastered 250 yards in 9 minutes there and 7 back)!!

Then we continued driving up the North Shore of O'ahu, stopped for some dinner and shopping along the way.

On Saturday morning we shipped off to Maui on the Superferry (without Kev; he had to work). The Superferry is a topic of a lot of debate in Hawaii. The island people don't like how easily tourists can get to Maui and the big island from O'ahu and they protest that studys the superferry's effect on marine life have not been done thoroughly. We also got really seasick from the harsh waves for the 3 hours it took to get there.

Once we got to Maui, we met up with a friend of ours from high school who lives on the west coast of east Maui. She works at a little t-shirt shop in Kihei. From there we drove to several different beaches, and as far west as the roads would allow. What we thought were fields of torn up dirt were, upon further inspection, fields of lava rock.

We stayed in a hostel that night and the next day Kev joined us in Maui and we started our trip to the Road to Hana--a 54 mile road with over 600 curves and 54 bridges (mostly one-lane). It runs along the north shore of east Maui where there are no gas stations, and very few other roads to turn onto.

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The following is almost a minute of video demonstrating a typical section of the Road To Hana.
Imagine repeating this video for 2 straight hours. Your arm never stops turning the steering wheel for 36 miles.... enjoy responsibly.

Along the way, we stopped to hike to waterfalls in a bamboo forest, a black sand beach, and a red sand beach.

black sand

red sand

We slept at Joe's Place in Hana and shipped off the next day back on the Superferry (with dramamine this time) to O'ahu.

Unfortunately, Kev had to work but the rest of us went to the Paradise Cove Lu'au. This was the Lu'au we got to go to for free 3 years ago along with the Pro Bowl. We watched hula dancers, went for a little canoe trip, got tattoos painted on, ate a wonderful hawaiian meal, and saw a show with fire dancers and other hawaiian performers.

On their last full day, Car had to work so Kev took them to climb Diamond Head crater, then shopping at the International Marketplace in Waikiki and finished with a sunset dinner at Dukes overlooking the beach.

We met up with Tom (our friend we connected with through CouchSurfing from Long Valley) and went bowling.

O'kole Maluna!! "Bottoms UP!!"

Finally, on their last day, we relaxed on the beach at Waikiki, had a nice lunch at Coconut Willy's and said goodbye to paradise.

We're pretty confident we planned a vacation they'll remember forever.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES GUYS!! :)

2007-12-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

Ya know those pictures you see being sold at the mall... usually like a waterfall or something and they light up and the water looks like its moving? Ya, Kev sells those at the mall now. It's a seasonal job until the new year when he starts at Mandara Spa at the Hilton Hawaiian Village! Carly has been doing lots of training for CARE Hawaii getting ready for her "real job" which will also kick in upon return from X-mas.

Aside from the mundane work stuff, the last few weeks have been kinda rainy and slow. But we still find a few things to occupy our time.

We hosted another CouchSurfer named Dave. He's from Illinois and he's about 1/3 of the way through a tour around the world. Started in Europe, made his way west, and is continuing on to New Zealand & Australia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America.

While he was here we drove up to the North Shore to catch some of the World Cup of Surfing. The surf was UP with crazy looking waves measureing 12-16 feet! There were tons of photographers swarming the beach but it was Dave who took a "front-page-of-the-sports-section" quality picture of one of the best female surfers in the world being pulled out of the water after suffering bruised ribs. (click to see her face up close--painful)

We then continued down through the center of O'ahu stopping at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, continuing through Honolulu enjoying the local hoiday decorations and finishing up with an authentic Hawaiian dinner at our FAVORITE restaurant, Ono.

The next day we hiked to the top of Diamond Head.

While we were up there, an elderly Japanese woman collapsed from the heat. Kev's three semesters of Japanese in college immediately kicked in and while he helped lower her to the ground gently he was heard to yell "does anyone speak English?!"

A fireman helped revive her a bit and we notified some park empoyees of the incident and they called 911. A fire truck, EMT, ambulance, rescue boat in tow, and helicopter showed up to save the 100 lb. victim.

Dave showed us a neat little hidden gem... a tunnel under the highway that leads to a little spot with a cool view of the waves crashing on the rock.

We got him safely to the airport and tried to take advantage of our days off regardless of the weather... we planned a hike down the Pali trail (formerly the only route from Kailua to Town) It was so foggy there was virtually no view, Kev started to not feel well about halfway down just as the trail seemed to disappear from landslides and erosion. We turned around and the hike back up was slippery and Kev's wardrobe suffered a devastating casualty.

The green cargo shorts served him well for many years.

It was still a pretty cool trail and is DEFINITELY one we'll return to on a clear, more dry day. Kinda takes you back in time.

ONE MORE WEEK TIL WE RETURN FOR SOME SNOW, HOT COCOA, PIZZA, BAGELS, DINERS, and....OH YEAH, OUR FAMILIES!!! :)

A few more sights

2007-11-27T18:44:00.001-08:00

So its been a while since our last post and our "adventures" have slowed a bit due to complications with regard to "lack of employment".... that's not to say that we haven't done anything.

Here's a synopsis of our last 2 weeks or so...

Couchsurfing continued to blow our minds. Carly was looking on the site at "nearby travellers" and saw a name she recognized. It turned out that a guy she went to grade school with was in the Navy and stationed temporarily at the Marine base (the one our apartment overlooks). His name is Tom.

She also decided to email other CouchSurfers who live nearby in an attempt to get to know new people in the area. So she wrote to a guy named Pete who does Paragliding.

We linked up with Tom and decided to go to a place that we found out paragliders launch from near the lighthouse that we hiked to previously. We saw a guy climbing up the hillside with a big pack, so we followed him to the launch site. If the world wasn't small enough, it turned out we were following PETE! So we hiked up and watched some launches and enjoyed the view.

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(YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE IN OUR BLOG TO SEE A FULL SIZED PHOTO)

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Tom was nice enough to show us around on the Marine Base. Security is high since 9/11 and you have to get a pass and be accompanied by military personell to see it so we are very lucky to have the opportunity to see this particular section of our neighborhood.

There's a radio tower with a great 360 degree panoramic view, a beach with some wild surf for only experienced surfers, a nice mall, beautiful homes and a double olympic length pool that we relaxed in... THANKS TOM!

Thanksgiving was unique. Unfortunately, Carly had to work, so she was busy serving holiday cocktails to the members of Mid-Pacific Country Club. Kevin, on the other hand, was invited back to the home where we first stayed when we landed... the Therriens. Tom and Donna and their two daughters, Maile and Kalei, and their grandmother, Carol hosted him as well as another family from Israel that they are close with.

The day started by relaxing on the beach in the afternoon then moved to the house for a relatively traditional thanksgiving dinner. (Kev was bad at remembering to take pictures).

Carly worked most of the weekend after Thanksgiving, but on monday we did an adventure that we've been looking forward to for a while--GOAT ISLAND!

Just off the shore at a beach part about 40 minutes north of us, is a little island with three beaches and a bird sanctuary. The beauty of this island is that--depending on the tides-- you have to either walk/wade or swim/boogie about 300 yards to get to it. Once there, you can walk all the way around it and see three beaches--two very rocky but unique and one that's so well protected by an arm of reef that it's just about the most perfect beach we've come across. The water is very calm and clear and the day we were there, there was virtually no one else on the entire island. It's an amazingly tranquil and private feeling to be alone on your own island!

This is an arial photo of Laie point and Goat island. We went to both... Goat island is at the very TOP RIGHT of the picture.

The longer island off of Laie point is a wall of reef that a tsunami punched a hole in about 50 years ago.

G0at islands beaches....

The rest of Goat island is rocky coral and a footpath around a bird santuary in the center...

23 days until we come home for the holidays!!!

J-O-B-S !

2007-11-27T18:11:00.000-08:00

Ok. This post is the one many of you have been waiting for. We're going to update you on our JOB adventures.

We were VERY lucky with our apartment search. Pretty lucky with our car search. The job search has proved to be more challenging, but nothing we can't handle.

Carly found 2 jobs. The first is as a bartender at a local golf course. Very close to home, beautiful course with great views, and so far the hours are flexible and part time. Seems to be going fine for now.

Her second job is a part time day job with a company called CARE HAWAII. She will most likely be working with children or infants with various disabilities doing case work. The application process has taken several weeks, and the upcoming weeks will be training so the actual job will start sometime in December. It seems like a fantastic opportunity to utilize her degree, has great pay and benefits, part-time hours and may also be close to home depending on her assignments.

Kevin's situation is a bit more complicated. Things just don't seem to be going very smoothly. The dream for the last 2 1/2 years has been to work at one of the big hotel spas like the one we saw at the Hilton Hawaiian Village when we visited. Well, as fortune would have it, he was offered THE job that he has been dreaming about since then... the problem is that everything takes a VERY LONG TIME to happen. The application process has been delayed and delayed by various problems. The HR woman went on a 10 day vacation the day after offering him the job, there's paperwork, background checks, hoops of fire to jump through bla bla bla... Then, when it seemed like a start date was approaching, we found out that the 9 days that we planned to be home for the holidays are "black out dates" for employees. That means that NO ONE is allowed to request to take days off since the spa is very busy and open 365 days a year. SO... it was recommended that he wait until afer the trip home to start work.

So now, he plans on just finding something temporary to make some money for the next few weeks and then re-configure a schedule when we get back after Christmas. He'll probably wait tables or tend bar full time for now, then maybe split to part-time massage with a few nights at the restaurant--not so dissimilar to life back in Jersey.

So that's the scoop. There's no shortage of jobs here, but the laid-back lifestlye translates into a lot of waiting around for employers to make decisions.

Prayers welcome.

Getting to know WINDWARD O'AHU

2007-11-11T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! We want to thank you for your comments and support :) It makes us happy to know you are reading our blog.

Soooo.... We found this website- couchsurfing.com. It is exactly what it sounds like. You create a profile to meet people who are either traveling or who live somewhere that you are traveling. Got a couch?-- offer it to a traveler... Need a couch? -- look for one wherever you travel! It is free, hosts do their best to show couch surfers around the area and couch surfers participate in the household at which they are staying.

The day after our bed was delivered, we got our first couch surfer, Lindsay. She grew up in Pittsburgh, but recently moved to L.A. She stayed with us for about a week before shipping off to another Hawaiian island. We did our best to show her around and do some fun things.

We visited a little island appropriately named "Chinaman's Hat"

We went with another couch surfer, Sean , who happens to live across the street from us, to a local park to Kayak:

We went hiking up to Makapu'u Lighthouse, look at how blue that water is!!

We went out to dinner to Cisco's, home of the famous 40 oz margaritas and to Hale Iwa Joe's for Lindsay's birthday (a place at which Car is thinking about working) an open air restaurant with a gorgeous view of the Haiku Gardens:

We found a perfect spot to go for a nice 3 mile jog with nice views and a breeze, Lanikai: a ritzy section of Kailua with two "famous" islands affectionately called "the Moks".

Today, Sunday, we found a new church close to our house that we enojoyed this morning. After church, we went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens:

You've come this far... you can go ONE STEP FURTHER and leave a comment!! Just click below each and any blog entry.... WE LOVE COMMENTS. It's why we set up this blog... it lets us know you care. :) THANKS!! More to come soon!

We're Havin Fun Now!

2007-10-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! We've been here for 12 days now and we're starting to settle in nicely. Here's a recap on the past few days!!

Thursday we found a car- a Mazda 5 Protege. Cute little 5spd hatchback that we're real comfortable driving around the island in.

Friday we went back to Walmart, Macy's and to some more garage sales to find furniture. The apartment is coming along and feeling a little more homey every day.

Saturday was Car's pic for something adventurous and she picked the Portlock Spitting Cave. This was a cool drive down the coast passed Waiminalo and a hike down a little trail to an open view of the ocean.

We found the little cave we read about in the side of the lava rock where the way the water hits it..it spits it out looking almost like smoke!

VIDEO: :)

Saturday night we went to the Univ of Hawai'i football vs. New Mexico State

UH won 50-13!! GO WARRIORS!

Sunday we tried a new church and Kev's adventurous pick for the day was Manoa Falls. This was only a mile hike, but steadily uphill and rocky terrain. At the end was a 160 ft waterfall that landed in a little pool Kev cooled off in.

Here's a video... you have to watch it SIDEWAYS.... sorry.

Monday we took a nice long but beatiful drive to our new favorite beach: Waimea.

In the summer, it's tranquil and good for swimming and snorkeling, but in the winter its THE CRAZIEST SURFING WAVES IN THE WORLD! We went right in between seasons.

On our way there, we caught a few minutes of a surf competition at the beach down the road...

Tomorrow is more JOB HUNTING! WE BOTH HAVE INTERVIEWS! WISH US LUCK!

Get your PENS ready!

2007-10-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

We have an ADDRESS!!

44-707 Puamohala St.

Apt. 305

Kaneohe, HI 96744

We went to breakfast on friday morning planning another day of house-hunting when the phone rang... WE WERE APPROVED and ready to sign the lease for the apartment we were hoping for later that morning!

I know we said we were going to live in Kailua, but we practically do. Kaneohe is the next town over and we actually live on the road that goes between them. We are 5 minutes from downtown Kaneohe which has more shopping and restaurants, condo buildings, and activity... and about 8 minutes to Kailua beach park.... aka PARADISE.

Our apartment is in a building on a hill that's about a block from Kaneohe Bay. Our view from the third floor lanai is of the entire bay, some of the Pali (cliffs), the Marine Corps Base on the far side of the bay, and the entire Pacific beyond it all! The view sold the apartment.

It's a one bedroom with a decent sized living room that flows into the kitchen with a short partition so it feels like 2 rooms. The price is perfect and our Super is the most wonderful and giving Christian woman we've ever met! She offered us her car until we find one and she gave us her air mattress with blankets until we find a bed (hopefully we won't need either if our luck continues like this!).

We're really excited but now we have the task of furnishing the entire thing. There's so much turnover here on the island that there's garage sales, moving sales and Craigslist GALORE for anything and everything you could need.

Saturday we did some garage sale-ing and then Wal-Mart-ing but feel like we barely put a dent in what we need. No worries though, plenty of time and no shortage of stuff available...

Our First Day in Hawai'i

2007-10-19T00:55:00.000-07:00

Ok. Our adventure has begun. We'll start at the beginning...

We stayed up packing until about 4:00am on tuesday night and Becky stayed over to drive us in the morning. We each had 3 bags to check, a carry on, and a shoulder bag (Kev carried the laptop). One of the checked "bags" was actually a cardboard box that contained most of the liquids we were transporting--due to the new flying regulations we couldn't carry ANY with us.

So the first leg was ok... 5 1/2 hrs to Phoenix

and we were exhausted after 4 hours of sleep so we napped a bit and watched "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" then we changed planes and airlines and grabbed a sandwich and a few gimlets at the Phoenix airport and before we knew it, it was time for the second leg. UGH... this one lasted FOREVER. Watched "Spiderman 3" and "Blades of Glory" and complained most of the way over the Pacific.

Finally we landed and lo and behold, 5 bags come easily off the carousel, but no sign of the box. So we moved forward, rented our Jeep (got a 4 door), and used our navigation feature to get to our vacation rental room in Kailua. Arrived at about 9:30pm Honolulu time, but it felt like 3:30AM our time.... but it made little difference... it was just a messed up feeling.

Our hosts could not have been nicer! They greeted us with a hug and showed us their beautiful house. The back yard has a saltwater pool with a waterfall, a hot tub, and a free range bunny. Our room is great...big comfy bed, plenty of room for our stuff, little fridge for snacks, and a nice bathroom.

Got to bed at a decent hour and woke up BRIGHT AND EARLY to make appointments to see apartments. We looked at 5 places, got to know the roads and landscape, had some local food, and enjoyed the sunshine all day after taking the roof off of the jeep!

We finished the night by going to Ono--an authentic Hawaiian restaurant in Waikiki that we fell in love with two and a half years ago and have been dreaming about ever since!

Hoping tomorrow is just as productive! We'll keep you posted. :)

Thank You For Coming!

2007-10-19T00:25:00.000-07:00

We want to thank everyone who made it to our going away party, it was awesome to have all of you there to send us away! Here are some fun pics!

Read about our destination town

2007-09-05T11:09:00.001-07:00

We found this article on google... it is VERY comprehensive about the town we are pretty sure we're going to end up in.

You can learn about Kailua at http://www.visitkailua.com/ and/or read the following article!

I've highlighted some of my favorite parts and points of interest for anyone thinking of visiting us! If you don't have the time or attention span, I recommend at least reading those parts...

Enjoy!

Kailua: the other side

By Don Chapman

With a population of about 58,000 residents, Kailua, Oahu -- not to be confused with villages of the same name on Maui and the Big Island -- is the second largest town in Hawaii. But to most Hawaii residents and visitors, Kailua remains as mysterious as the misty summit of Olomana, the 1,643-foot peak that nightly casts its sunset shadow over the town. The reason is simple: Kailua is on "the other side."
Kailua is also "out in the country" and "all the way over there." Those were the exact words of parents of a Honolulu professional woman who bought a condominium in Kailua recently. "We'll never see you now," her Kahala folks complained, as if Kailua was maybe the next atoll up from Midway.
In fact, "town" residents often go for years without being forced to drive to Kailua.
And although Kailua offers a remarkable number of good restaurants and one of the loveliest beaches in the 50th State, the town is off the beaten path from most commercial visitor attractions. It has no hotels and just 11 bed-and-breakfast cottages.
The irony is that the financial district (in Kailua, four banks in the same neighborhood pass for a financial district) is located just 11 miles from the bustle of downtown Honolulu.
And interesting miles they are, too. The Pali Highway (State Route 61) sweeps up through Nuuanu Valley and crosses the steep, green Ko`olau Mountains, emerging on the sheer Windward (eastern) side of the mountains through a tunnel whose arched exit frames a panorama that is invariably -- and accurately -- described as "like a postcard."
Odd, then, that non-residents seem to face the prospect of a trans-Ko`olau trip with all the joy of the ancient warriors of Oahu who fled the attacking army of Kamehameha the Great in 1795 and, rather than surrender, leaped off the cliffs (just above the tunnel).
This does not particularly disturb Kailua residents. You'll recognize them by their little smirky grins, unable to entirely conceal their feelings about living in such a lovely spot and getting it all to themselves. If the rest of the world wants to define "adventure travel" as a drive to Kailua, fine.
Just getting to Kailua has always been a challenge. To trade goods between Honolulu and Kailua, ancient Hawaiians had a choice of climbng over the mountains or hiking or sailing around Makapuu Point. They usually took the most direct route, which meant up and over the pali, the Hawaiian word for cliff. Today's Pali Highway, completed in 1955, follows an ancient foot path that Hawaiians used to cross the island with calabashes of poi and bunches of bananas on their shoulders.

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By 1845, the vertical portion was softened, the path widened to six feet and paved with stones, and it became passable on horseback. The first riders were King Kamehameha III and Minister of the Interior Gerritt P. Judd. In 1861, Judd set out to prove that the newly widened road could be traveled by wagon. This was an economic issue: Sugar cane was now being grown in Kailua and the neighboring bergs of Kaneohe and Waimanalo, and a wagon can carry more cane than a single man. Despite having its back wheels locked and three burly Native Hawaiians further slowing its progress from behind with ropes, the wagon flipped, fortunately without injury to man or beast. After two more years of road improvements, Judd became the first person to successfully negotiate the road in a wagon.
Construction of the modern Pali Highway didn't make town folks worry any less about the journey. And that warning about not carrying pork over the Pali persists. You also have to beware of wild pigs. The afternoon commute back to Kailua was slowed on a sunny March day this year while a state crew picked up the carcass of a large boar that had tried to dash across four lanes of five o'clock traffic and only made three.
"I grew up in Kuliouou, which was out in the boonies then," recalls Kailua resident Leslie Wilcox, KHON-TV morning news anchor. "Kailua was even past the boonies. On the rare occasions that we dared travel all the way over the mountains to Kailua, it was an expedition, a full day. We'd pack a big Thermos and a huge picnic basket with food, just in case.
"It's not that way now, of course, but we don't have to tell people that, do we?"
For those who make the drive, Kailua offers an array of pleasures from wet and wild to quite civilized.
The beach, as it was in the old days when a Hawaiian community lived off the bounty of the sea, remains a focal point of local life. (A sign of those times is a large heiau , temple, near the YMCA.)

"This is such a beach community," says Bob Twogood, who has manufactured, sold and rented kayaks in Kailua since 1982. "People choose to live here because of the beach. It's a big part of a lot of people's lives."
"This is a neat town," says physician Dr. Mark Chung, whose father helped found Castle Hospital in Kailua. "If I feel stressed out, boom, in three minutes I can be at the beach and rigging up my sailboard. Even if you're not at the beach, it's never far away. It's in the air, you can smell it."
Kailua Bay forms a five-mile crescent along a strand of white sand from Lanikai Point to Mokapu Point. Looking back at the shore from the sea, fronds of a thousand palms rustle in the breeze and glisten in the sun.And just beyond, or so it seems, Olomana looms, and beyond that the sheer face of the Ko`olau Range.
The bay is a lovely place to paddle kayaks, the calm, clear water suitable for beginners. Green sea turtles, on the federal endangered species list, bob outside the shore break. Flat Island, an exposed coral reef, lies a quarter-mile from Kailua Beach Park and has a sand beach for easy access. But watch your step. Flat Island (Popoia is its Hawaiian name) is a favored nesting ground for Laysan albatross. For experienced paddlers, the two Mokulua Islands nearly a mile away offer a more challenging and secluded destination.
"Kailua Bay is protected by the reef, so you can stay inside and have a good time," says Twogood, who won eight medals at the 1982 U.S. kayak championships. "Or if you want more excitement, you can paddle out to the reef and catch some waves."
Twogood's first employee, Karel Tresnak, an Olympic medalst in white-water canoeing for his native Czechoslovakia, has gone his own way and manufactures, sells and rents `Cuda Kayaks just a few strokes down Kawainui Stream from Twogood Kayaks.
Kailua is also a world-class Windsurfing beach. This is, afterall, the Windward side. Steady onshore tradewinds blow about 75 percent of the time. Robbie Naish grew up on Kailua beach and won 15 straight world sailboard championships. He popularized the sport internationally and today you'll hear French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian and German spoken on the beach, as well as British, Australian and Canadian accents. Naish Hawaii, one of the most successful sailboard companies in the world, is one of several Kailua companies that rent equipment and offer lessons.
Bright sails streaking across the turquoise bay give Kailua part of its colorful ambiance. So do small children learning to surf in the gentle shorebreak on Boogie Boards, swimmers churning laps between buoys, joggers striding and lovers strolling on the beach, and members of the Lanikai Canoe Club paddling their outriggers at sunset.
Kailua Bay is also a terrific fishing and scuba diving area, as evidenced by the busy boat ramp at Kailua Beach Park.
Jack Aaron, a graduate of Kailua High School, opened the first dive shop in Kailua during the early `70s and over the years has PADI certified 10,000 divers, "nearly 100 percent local residents." (Likewise, Twogood says 95 percent of his kayak rentals are to locals.)
"This is a great bay!" Aaron exclaims. "I've dived all over the world and Moku Mano (the twin offshore rocks on the Kaneohe side of the bay) is still one of the best in terms of live coral and in terms of big game fish. You can go to a lot of places and see neat reefs and colorful fishes, but Moku Mano is where the big boys hang out. It's deep. I have a film we took that has over 80 sharks on frame for two minutes, which we captured in 120 feet of water. You can always find sharks at Moku Mano."
Shark sightings near shore, however, are "extremely rare," according to city lifeguards at Kailua Beach Park.
Finding a good bite to eat in Kailua until very recently was also extremely rare.
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That would be El Charro Avitia, one of three Mexican eateries in town. (A fourth recently closed.) The oldest is Los Arcos, which opened in 1977. Owners Mary and Hank Magana, who spent 30 years as a Honolulu police officer, serve gourmet Mexico City fare as well as "border food" such as tacos and burritos.
Martha Harding and Greg Blotsky opened Cisco's Cantina 10 years ago and quickly earned a reputation for serving tasty food in large portions. That extends to the drinks. Cisco's is the home of the Megarita, a 40-ounce margarita that is one of Kailua's principal tourist attractions. "Megaritaville" T-shirts are steady sellers.
"We get people from all over Oahu, but we also get a lot of repeat customers from the Mainland and Canada," says Harding. "It makes us feel good, people coming to see us way over here in Kailua."

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Bobby Lou Schneider has been running Buzz's at Lanikai since 1962 when she and her former husband Buzz bought the thatched-roof Lord's at Lanikai from the infamous Donny Lord. Located across from Kailua Beach Park on Kaelepulu Stream, Buzz's offers good food, reasonable prices, a terrific salad bar and loads of open-air atmosphere. It is a Kailua tradition and, with just 26 tables, reservations are advised.
The Peppino family's Italian retaurant opened in the early `70s and is noteworthy on two counts: the best pizza on the Windward side and Kailua's least pretentious restaurant setting, which is saying something.
One of the town's best new restaurants is Chez Sal. Owner-Chef Bill Salvador, former executive sous chef at the Sheraton-Waikiki and executive chef at the Naniloa Hotel, creates what he calls "Euro-Flip Cousine," a play on his Filipino heritage and his classical French training. He also offers "personalized dining. We can cook whatever you want if you gve us a little notice."
Other recent additions that have changed the dining scene in Kailua for the better include Jaren's and Someplace Else (American), Saeng's (Thai), Assaggio's and Onesto's (Italian) and the aforementioned El Charro Avitia.
There are also four Korean and at least three Chinese restaurants in Kailua. You can eat Greek at Yani's, Japanese at Bar-B-Q & Things and Hawaiian at Kolohe Hawaiian Restaurant. Harry's boasts a collection of bandleader Harry "Sweet Leilani" Owens' mementos. And there's a health food snack bar at The Source Natural Foods.
"I think it's good for all of us," says Mary Magana of Kailua's lively restaurant scene. "We have a reputation as a good dining town. It's not like Kaneohe, which has exactly one good restaurant. They have the shopping centers, we have the restaurants. In Kailua, you have a lot of choices. And people know that if one restaurant is full, they can find another good one nearby. And there's no parking problem."
Blotsky agrees: "Good new restaurants don't bother me. Mediocre ones bother me."
Jaren's and Fast Eddie's nightclub have the only live music for dancing in Kailua. Bill Cox and the Over the Hill Jass Band bring a crowd from around Oahu to Jaren's for Dixieland music once a month. The No Name Bar, popular with surfers and Marines from Kaneohe, also has live music.
The Kalapawai Market near Kailua Beach Park recently added four outdoor tables, gourmet coffees and rolls. You know it's going to be a good day when it begins with breakfast at the beach. Agnes Portuguese Bakery is another pleasant little morning space. The oatmeal raisin cookies are huge and moist, the malasadas authentic. Smitty's Pancake House also has its breakfast devotees. Times Coffee Shop is an old-time cafe where patrons sit on stools and watch their breakfast being prepared. The banana waffle and fried rice are specialties.
While the beach and the restaurants attract visitors, shopping is, admittedly, rather limited. There's a small Liberty House, Long's, Holiday Mart, Honolulu Book Shop. Far more telling is this: Kailua boasts four swimsuit boutiques. (But Windward Mall in Kaneohe is only 15 minutes away.) Kailua's three theaters tend to feature family films.
Golf brings other visitors. Mid-Pacific Country Club, a private club, opened in 1926. Olomana Golf Links, one of the best public-access courses in Hawaii, has water hazzards on 11 holes. The Royal Hawaiian Country Club in Maunawili Valley, the legendary Pete Dye's first design in Hawaii, is private, but has plans to add 18 holes for public play. The municipal Pali Golf Course at the base of the Ko`olaus is scenic and challenging. And the neighboring Ko`olau Golf Course, which opened in 1992, was recently rated by the United States Golf Association as the most difficult course in America.

A favorite secret of Kailua residents is that the air they breathe is fresher and a couple of degrees cooler than Honolulu air. Prevailing trade winds blow onshore, bearing air that has been at sea for two thousand miles. Kailua town receives an average of less than 40 inches of rain per year. But as that moist sea air rises steeply with the land, it cools and condenses. The upper reaches of Maunawili Valley, just three miles inland from Kailua beach, receive nearly 75 inches of precipitation annually. The tops of the Ko`olaus receive more than 150 inches -- a true rainforest environment barely five miles from Kailua.
For all of its pleasures, Kailua remains a small town whose boundaries are clearly defined by nature: Five miles of beachfront on the east, Kawainui Marsh (the largest wetland in Hawaii and a nature preserve) and Kalama Stream to the north, Mt. Olomana to the west and the Keolu Hills to the south. The town is really comprised of what Judge Burns calls "a lot of little pockets." Those little pockets include old neighborhoods such as Mokapu, Lanikai, Coconut Grove, Keolu Hillside, Kalaheo, Kainalu, Pohakupu, Maunawili and Enchanted Lake. The cost of real estate varies with the neighborhood, but is generally less expensive than town addresses.
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"And the public schools are really good," says Leslie Wilcox. "That's one of the reasons we moved to Kailua. There's the outdoor life, the beach, hiking in the mountains nearby. But mostly this is a real family place. We go to the public library and I'm always amazed at how many people are there checking out books with their kids or doing some research on their own."
The library is part of a municipal complex that includes police and fire stations, tennis, basketball and volleyball courts, athletic fields, a gymnasium and an Olympic-size swimming pool. The pool was recently rebuilt and is now, lifeguards say, "the best pool in Hawaii."
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Kailua's big civic event each year is the Fourth of July parade and fireworks display. The parade has been an annual event since 1949. The fireworks show brings thousands of people to the beach to watch bombs bursting over Flat Island and their reflection on the sea, while thousands more watch from cars parked on hillsides for miles around.
Another newly annual event is the "I Love Kailua" block party. The fun includes "A Taste of Kailua," where local restaurants feature their favorite fare. Emcees this year were a couple of Kailua residents, radio and TV personality Michael W. Perry and cookie king Wally "Famous" Amos.
As the traffic out of town on any workday morning attests, Kailua has become a bedroom community of Honolulu.
"This is truly a residential area," admits Burns, who with his TV personality wife Emme Tomimbang lives on the same property his parents bought in `39. "There aren't a lot of commercial interjections."
"Yes, this is a bedroom community, but a lot of people do live and work here," says Kern Rogerson, who owns Jaren's. "I always get a kick out of hearing Capt. Irwin's traffic report on the radio, and I'm going `Traffic is moving nicely on Oneawa Street this morning, but I hit a red light, so my drive time to work will be eight minutes instead of seven.'"
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"People seem friendlier on this side," Leslie Wilcox contends. "It's easier to meet people."
"Kailua is the best of both worlds," says Bobby Lou Schneider. "It has a slower pace, but it has just about everything you need. I find fewer and fewer reasons to go to town."
"It's very relaxed," Judge Burns concludes. "It's quiet and cool, easy to sleep at night. The air is clean. Sure, Kailua has changed, but it hasn't changed that much. I still take my dry-cleaning to Abe Cleaners, same as my dad did. Kailua still feels a lot like the way it did when I was a kid.
"People don't believe this, but I really enjoy the drive over the mountains. It's this long, green corridor, all the vegetation. It's a pretty drive, the air smells good. And once I come through the tunnel at the end of the day, that's it. I see Kailua and the ocean, and I'm home. I leave work behind on the other side. I don't think I could live in town."
And if you can't live in Kailua, it's still a great place to visit. Just don't bring any bacon.