Hawaii: Day Four

Day Four brought us to Kualoa ranch for the Premier Movie Tour. The ranch, which was owned by Hawaiian kings and queens, was eventually purchased by a man named Dr. Gerritt Judd, a Bostonian who fell in love with the islands and renounced his citizen to stay in the 1850s. Since then, it has passed down generation to generation in his family, who have continued to cultivate and protect the land. You can learn more about the history here.

Our purposes at the ranch were a bit different than raising cattle or farming. In the mid-1900s, the ranch started to be used as movie and television sets. For James and I, this was home to Jurassic Park, Jurassic World and LOST (among many more). The nearly three hour tour took us winding through three different districts of the ranch, pointing out areas and some sets that are still in existence. We saw Hurley’s golf course, the log that the kids hid under in Jurassic Park from the T-Rex, the Gyrosphere pavilion from Jurassic World, as well as the cage that held the mutant dinosaur. There were props from movies in post production, barracks from World World II and plenty of wildlife.

Gyrosphere launch pad.
Gyrosphere launch pad.

Ahhhh the scratch marks!
Ahhhh the scratch marks!

We also learned about some Hawiian folklore. Chinaman’s hat, one of the island/rock formations off the coast earned that name recently. But before, it was thought that a goddess’ sister defeated a giant lizard monster and the mountains were his dead body, and the single spike in the water (or the hat) was part of his tail.

The island also still marks their ahupua`a divisions – areas of sacred land – with brown signs that look like they have a pile of poop on them. The drawing on the signs is in fact, a pile of rocks with a pig on top (pua is pig in Hawaiian). Speaking of pigs… we also had the chance to see a little fleet of wild baby piglets run through the woods. They’re technically destructive to the plants on the ranch, but so cute!

After the tour, we headed to Kualoa point to have a picnic on the beach. At this point, we had anticipated it to start raining, but it had yet, so we took the opportunity to hike the ‘Aiea Loop Trail, a nearly 5 mile trail around the ridge of Halawa Valley. The trail itself is protected from the sun by the woods (it reminded me a lot of the hikes we have at home – just different plants). At certain points you can see out to Pearl Harbor, and even the highway that cuts through the mountain. The amount of energy used to hike the trail is not anything near the amount to do Koko Head, but this is not an easy trail. There are extremely narrow parts of the path with a massive drop if you slip, logs you have to duck under and climb over, and a lot of exposed roots and slippery sand and mud. Regardless, we enjoyed the trail and took full advantage of the surprisingly sunny afternoon.

Because the next two days are supposed to be a bit dreary, we decided that it was our final opportunity to see the sunset on Waikiki. So we made our way to the Maitai bar at the Royal Hawaiian hotel. Here we secured seats on the beach, overlooking Diamond Head and the beautiful Pacific ocean. James ordered a shirley temple in a pineapple (because when else is it going to be accepted to do this?!) and I tried their maitai recipe from the 1940s. I don’t know how people can drink multiple maitais, because that just about did me in! The sunset was absolutely stunning, complete with a rainbow, and the rain started to fall just as we paid our check.

James making the Brody face.
James making the Brody face.

For dinner we had Bubbie’s ice cream because vacation. I had macadamia nut and chocolate almond. James had macadamia nut and strawberry cheesecake.

Hawaii: Day Three

James’ surf teacher recommended doing the Koko Head hike at sunrise. He said something along the lines of “you need a light at the end of the tunnel” which I shrugged off (spoiler alert, I shouldn’t have!). So this morning we woke up early, and headed over to the trail (just a couple of blocks from our AirBnb).

Koko Head might be one of the most difficult hikes I’ve ever been on. While the elevation isn’t as high as some other hikes I’ve done, the 1,200 feet in the air – or the 1,048 steps really is something. The trail follows an abandoned tram railway. But what was really terrifying was the section of railway that was essentially a bridge with no ground underneath, going up the side of this crater/mountain/hill. I hugged the tracks and rails as if my life depended on it (and it probably did!). But I made it successfully up and down, without a scratch or bruise… just plenty of mud and sweat!

It's a long way up!
It’s a long way up!

The views on the top of Koko Head absolutely make up for the difficult hike – and I would advise that if you ever attempt this, to go very early in the morning or later in the evening when the sun is not that strong.

Terrifying bridge
Terrifying bridge
When you hit the summit, you are able to see a few of the other islands of Hawaii.
When you hit the summit, you are able to see a few of the other islands of Hawaii.

Legs shaking like crazy at the bottom, we made our way back to the AirBnb and immediately changed into our swim suits to spend some time at Hanauma Bay. The bay is famous for its snorkeling and we made it in with just a few parking spots to spare. After watching a brief intro video, we headed down to the bay.

The water was so cold. The first 45 minutes or so I would dip my feet in, chicken out and return to my towel to read. Finally we decided to just go for it, and dove in. While most people snorkel here, I took the opportunity to just use my swim goggles and get in some swimming while the current wasn’t too horrible (James snorkeled). The bay is filled with coral reefs and amazing colorful fish (and maybe an octopus). I easily spent an hour swimming and diving down, enjoying every moment of it.

Once we dried off, we headed back to the apartment for a quick lunch of homemade poke bowls, before driving to the Byodo-In Temple. The temple was built in the 1960s to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Japanese arriving in Hawaii. It’s a replica of a temple in Japan that’s nearly 1,000 years old – and it is absolutely stunning.

Desperately needing a caffeine fix, we head to Morning Brew in Kailua, which we originally intended to hit up on our first day here (but was side tracked due to the day before interrupting our plans). This coffee shop did not disappoint! James had a chai shake and I ordered an iced latte. We strolled around this little beach town, stopping in shops and enjoying the afternoon sun.

On our way home, we stopped at the Blowhole, a hole in the lava by the coast. When the tide is high, water shoots up from the hole, imitating as you guessed it, a blowhole on a whale.

We finally made our way back to the apartment, and spent the remainder of the afternoon reading outside on the deck, and waiting for the sunset (which a cloud blocked at the very last minute!).

 

Hawaii: Day Two

In true fashion, I woke up super early because time zones and jet lag and I just generally am an early riser. Luckily I had made cold brew coffee to tide me over until breakfast. We made reservations at Hau Tree Lana, which is famous for their breakfast. The restaurant is literally on the waters edge, dripping in pink table cloths and filled entirely with Japanese tourists. I ordered the seafood omelette and James had the Hawaiian breakfast platter which consisted of poi pancakes, sausages, eggs and half of a pineapple. Breakfast was good, but we both agreed that the day before was better.

Following, we headed down to Waikiki for James’ surf lesson. Since we were early, I decided to go for a swim. I wouldn’t say that swimming on Oahu is easy. The currents were definitely more manageable, and the water was not nearly as cold as Kailua Beach, but the coral. The coral is everywhere. Sharp and scary. I swam for 20-25 minutes, but would often have to stop because suddenly I was on top of coral, despite being way over my head. It was definitely an experience!

We headed over to Ty Gurney’s surf school, where I had booked James a two hour private lesson. After signing a waiver and getting fitted for a rash guard, we headed down to a small “private” beach area. I planted my butt down in a chair that the surf shop loaned me and spent the next two hours enjoying the sun and reading. James officially loves surfing, reported he was able to stand up a few times on waves (I can’t confirm as he was literally a speck on the ocean from my viewpoint) and left ravenously hungry.

These are the best coffee cups.
These are the best coffee cups.

We had packed a picnic, but since we are in the land of poke, and it is a new found obsession (thanks to the sushi burrito place that just opened in Somerville!), we decided to try it where it’s common fare. We looked up the closest place with the best poke, and set off on a 1.5 mile trek. We did take a slight detour to Olive & Oliver, a delicious coffee bar inside a hotel slash swim club (if I was here on a girls trip, this would definitely be a pit stop, but I am nice and spared James of a day at a secluded pool with a coffee bar).

After walking through the parts of town tourists definitely don’t go through, we arrived at Fresh Ahi Off the Boat, which was settled next to a strip club and across from a McDonalds. The poke bowls were amazing, and worth every painful step in my flip flops. I had the spicy ahi bowl on black forbidden rice. James had the ahi poke bowl on sushi rice. Both were served with miso soup.

There are roosters EVERYWHERE
There are roosters EVERYWHERE

Lunch was followed by a hike to Manoa falls – about 15 minutes outside of Waikiki. There is a small parking fee (so don’t be turned away by the no parking signs! There is a lot at the end!). We changed into our hiking boots and took off into the rain forest. The trail is muddy, slippery and super cool. We walked through bamboo groves and up steep terrain, to be greeted by a very cool and steep waterfall. Our descent down might have been even more difficult than up, given how slippery it was, but we made it, and raced home for desperately needed showers.

James was definitely tired after his surf lesson, but he made it.
James was definitely tired after his surf lesson!

For dinner I made reservations at Alan Wong’s – which is one of the famous, must try restaurants in Honolulu. I emailed ahead about gluten free, and they were quite accommodating (though when the waiter asked me how the gluten free bread was, and I replied “it’s definitely gluten free” he was a bit crestfallen – apparently this is the best gluten free bread on Oahu. Pretty sure it was Udi’s!). I ordered the goat cheese salad and the red snapper. The red snapper was made specially for me since it’s not usually gluten free (usually covered in panko!) but oh my god, the sauce that they serve it with was amazing. Definitely my favorite part. It was a miso ginger sauce, and I must learn how to make this at home because it’s going on everything. James had poke tuna tacos and short ribs. His favorite part of the meal? Dessert. Instead of shaved ice, they freeze a pineapple and shave that instead. It’s served on top of a vanilla panna cotta and also boasts a lot of ginger.

I was surprised by the total cost of the meal – two courses each, plus one drink and one dessert came out to be around $70 each. I had expected a far higher bill – so something to keep in mind if you go!

Hawaii: Day 1

Yesterday was awful. Pure horrible. We had initially booked a direct flight to Honolulu from JFK in New York. Fog in the morning created a delay, and during the flight the “if there is a doctor on board please stand up” announcement came on, which meant we were not making our connection (by literally 15 minutes!). We had to rebook, which should have been fine, but we had the worst experience with JetBlue. I won’t go into too many details, but let’s just say I had to run in many airports to make connecting flights, had a full on meltdown in LAX which resulted in me sobbing at the check-in counter and James left his wallet on one of the planes (which we luckily got back, with literally minutes to spare before our next flight). We got to our AirBnb in Honolulu around 10:45 pm local time (aka almost 3 am at home). That being said, we were determined to make today stellar to make up for it.

The AirBnb we booked is in East Honolulu and is absolutely fantastic. It’s massive to start, with an extremely comfortable bed and amazing balcony that overlooks the ocean and Diamond Head.

Because we arrived so late last night (our original intent was to get in around 4:30 pm), we opted not to set any alarms for our sunrise hike. This ended up being completely fine, as the sunrise from the balcony was just as amazing, and required significantly less energy at 6 am.

Late arrival also meant that we were able to grocery shop. So around 7:30 we drove to Moena cafe at the recommendation of our AirBnb host. The food here was fantastic. I had a vegetarian omlet which was packed with spinach, tomato, pepper and cheese, topped with avocado. James had a plate with grilled fish, eggs and rice. From there, we headed to the grocery store and discovered how expensive life on Hawaii is. A loaf of bread is around $5, baby carrots are $6 and a bottle of wine at home that is usually $10 was $21. We suffered through, knowing that groceries would be cheaper than eating out for every meal (breakfast alone was almost $50!).

Having sacrificed our sunrise hike, we decided to hit up the trail anyway. We hiked the PillBox trail, which boasts as you might have guessed, pill boxes. This was a great hike with lots of steep hills, but amazing views that made up for it.

Afterwards, we decided to enjoy a picnic lunch at Kailua Beach, just down the road. I attempted to go for a quick swim, but the current was just a tad too strong. Though comical to swim in one spot, like nature’s water treadmill. I drudged out of the water and as soon as I did, it started to downpour. We ran for cover, quickly changed, and then headed up to the North Shore.

Our intention was to hit up Waimea falls (if you’re a LOST fan, this is where Kate and Sawyer swim and fight over the case). On our way we kept seeing signs for Haleiwa so we decided to stop off. This is the epitome of a surf town and it was amazing. After finding parking, we strolled around, bought a few t-shirts and eventually made our way to Coffee Gallery, one of the coffee shops on my “must visit” list. It did not disappoint. I had a rosemary mocha latte and James had an iced chai tea latte. Caffeinated, we hit the road and made our way to Waimea falls.

The falls are located in a botanical garden (which also comes with a cover fee of $16 a person – ouch!). After almost being malled by peacocks, we headed up the nearly one mile path to the falls, taking in the garden and enjoying the sun (the rain luckily stopped!). We opted not to swim in the falls due to enough warnings about a bacteria that can cause your brain to swell and you to subsequently die, but if you want, you can most definitely hop into the fresh water pool and swim up to the water fall.

On our way home, we decided to drive down the North Shore, and stopped at one of the beaches to watch the surfers and enjoy a little stroll on the beach. The waves are massive – and at one point, even though I was walking far away from where they met shore, one was strong enough to woosh up anyway until I was standing thigh deep in the water!

Afterwards, we decided to head back home for a much needed shower and dinner. Sunset from our balcony was amazing, and I made a wonderful risotto with balsamic fish to round out the evening.

 Take that crappy travel day!

Lisbon, Portugal

A meeting took me to Lisbon, Portugal, and while I did not have a significant amount of free time to wander around (and okay, I’ll admit it, a lot of free time I did have I used to go to the gym and take bubble baths!), I was able to get out for a few hours one afternoon. Lisbon is definitely on my list of places to go back to. There is a rich history, beautiful buildings, old winding streets and fantastic seafood.

The hotel I stayed in – H10 – was stunning. Tile work everywhere, light airy rooms and an incredibly comfortable bed. The staff was great with providing me gluten free options (though some were a tad overly creative, like the walnut “crust” with mango gelatin dessert), and for the first time ever in Europe, I didn’t go downstairs to breakfast with disgust. As you can probably gather from other posts, European continental breakfast is not my jam. This hotel though, made me fried eggs with vegetables and provided gluten free croissants and rolls.

On my one free afternoon, I walked down the main road that cuts through the city. It reminded me a lot of Fifth Avenue or Las Ramblas. The side walks are completely tiled, making them both beautiful and slippery. The weather was perfect – a sunny 65 degree day – a stark comparison to the winter blues we’ve been having back at home. I took in the sun, and the sights, and proudly navigated my way all the way to the “river” and through Alfama, the old part of town.

If time permitted, I probably could have spent a few hours in Alfama, wandering around, popping into little shops and sitting outside sipping coffee and pretending I could eat one of the famous egg custard tarts that you see everywhere.

I only had one meal outside of business, and we went to Sacramento. It was fantastic. I had seafood stew, cheeses and meats and a octopus shrimp rice dish that reminded me of paella.

Good thing TAP Portugal offers direct flights from Boston – it’s almost the same flying time as going to Iceland – and the airline is fairly affordable (at one point, when I tried convincing James to come with me, I found RT tickets for less than $400, on a weekend no less!). I’ll be back Portugal, but in the meantime, here are some photos to tide you over until then.

View from hotel window.
View from hotel window.
View from hotel balcony.
View from hotel balcony.
Trolleys line the massive hills to take you up and down. I walked.
Trolleys line the massive hills to take you up and down. I walked.

Beautiful tile sidewalks
Beautiful tile sidewalks

The tile here is amazing
The tile here is amazing
Alfama
Alfama
Alfama (I navigated all by myself and didn't get lost!)
Alfama (I navigated all by myself and didn’t get lost!)