molokai

did you ever see this island?

probably not cause im a slacker and i dont make posts.

Danielle, Haylie, Fry and I got on the ferry one early morning and headed over to the quiet island of molokai.

the ferry itself was harrowing to say the least.
where two of the channels cross, the boat rocked so hard i still find it hard to believe that water didnt just come over the side.
it was almost impossible to walk on board.
i took haylie inside cause she was terrified, and the poor thing got sick.
i had fun myself..

(this was on the way back, but still)






















once on the island, we got our rental car, which was the single oldest most beat up rental car in the entire worldwide fleet im sure.
this poor thing has been shit kicked.
but we took it from one end of the island to the other anyways.

first we drove to the western side, and hung out on papohaku beach for a while.
3 miles of white sand and maybe 5 other people.






















it turned out to be too windy, so we piled back in the car and drove way to the other end.

some lava sand mixed in when we dug deep enough









our coconut husk fetching friend









not really alot to report, but it was neat to see it i guess.
i can check it off of my list in any event.


some other sightseeing/randomness

van-boooo-ver

so im home. im not stoked.
well, i guess i kinda am. but not fully.

i do have lots of pictures and stuff to post about hawaii still, but at least ill keep you up to date as of now..

was up til 230 am on thursday night.
got up at 730 am to go for a surfing lesson. (nothing like last minute)
the waves were too crazy so i got to go kayaking instead which was super fun, however i used my poor shoulder and upper back muscles that i never do.
got tattooed.(pic later!!)
got on a plane at 10 pm
said muscles from earlier started cramping, making for a very uncomfortable and painful flight.
landed at 715 am (415 am hawaii time)
caught a cab home.
passed out for 4 ish hours.
moved all my crap from old apartment to new one.
visited kristin who was getting her back done by steve (its so hot!!)
talked to steve about my other arm (march 31!!!! ahhhh!!)
came home, organized, cleaned alot since my roomie steve cleaned to boy satisfaction, not real satisfaction.
got tired of all that and went and bought snacks
watched how to lose a guy in 10 days
passed out for 10 hours.

today i am up. its snowing and gross.
im going to meet deandra for breakfast and go to superstore to get some essentials for the home, like a garbage can for the kitchen (they had been using an open waste basket before. smelly)
and i have to call shaw to get internet hooked up in the new place.
so i dont have to sit here at the internet cafe.
though the music is nice and the hot chocolate is good.

ok, thats me. gotta get running!

so im trying to keep up with my blogging. honest.
but i dont want to just give all words and no pictures.

however, the internet here flicks in and out.
so im continually having to repair the connection and get back at it.

its really annoying for using messenger.
and even more annoying when trying to load pictures.
cause i have to keep reloading them, or redoing it all.

so im trying. honest.

but i can tell you that i was supposed to be on a plane this very moment.
but im still here.
til friday now!
then im really going home.

5 extra days in hawaii.
and i get to babysit a bit (its ok) and get paid (very ok!)

woot!

maui maui maui

never a dull moment.

we found a hang out in town a week and a bit ago. been four times now.
mulligans.
its an irish pub somehow. or just a fun pub.
we already know all the staff and have a team of friends there.
its like cheers, they all know our name.

but of course it all has to come with at least *some* drama, right?!
so harper-lee became a favourite of the bouncer, gary.
now, harper-lee is married, so nothing went on, but it gave gary something to see outside of his crazy life.
because of that, garys ex-wife wanted to kick her ass.
gary is a fighter, like ufc style, and taught his ex-wife to fight.
so here is how saturday night went down:

we head to mulligans, have some good times
gary catches wind that his ex-wife is on her way down to fight harper-lee
garys best friend janet takes us to her house behind the bar
its like one of those hippy surf homes, with shit hanging everywhere from 20 year old pictures to dream catchers. i wish i had taken photos.
also, a very sweet dog named buddy love and a white cat.
janet comes back for us and says we can go back and she wont let anyone get near harper-lee
we go back and are promptly told that this girl will cut harper-lee and we need to get out. now.
so we go out the back door.
get to jims truck (these are all locals by the way, except harper-lee) and end up at a cantina
have some drinks, some odd encounter with a huge dude that just kept saying that dark hair turned him on and trying to take our drinks
left there and went to the garage that jim works at so gary could come meet us there
you see, this ex-wife knows their trucks and would have been looking all over for them to find her
it was speculated that she even went by the hotels looking for the trucks
hang out at said garage and look at facebook and myspace
gary comes, we all hang out a bit
we head back to the hotel
its 4 am

turns out that gary went home and the ex broke into his house and was beating the crap out of him. he had to wake up travis, his roommate, so that there would be a witness. she tore his bedroom door down, destroyed his room, kicked him a bunch of times so his arm is all swollen and messed up and who knows what else. she got a 24 hour restraining order against her, and hopefully now has a longer one.

yikers!

and nothing even happened. they just hung out. harper-lee went home now though, so hopefully that end of the drama is done with. but man alive.
quite the adventure....

mulligans tonight!!!

danielle, harper-lee, gary and i









jim about to carry harper-lee to the truck









fry and danielle









myself with sam and harper-lee









travis












art who looks like he hasnt slept in weeks





















4 drinks for $18
ali free pours and it hurts

kapalua

one week left?

i dont even know how that happens, but there it is.

its march 1 and i leave on march 8.  man alive.  

where did the time go?

we've had some crazy evenings, but ill post more about that when i get to the new room

harper lee is going home today, so danielles mom, marilyn, is letting me stay in the extra room in her place.  peace and quiet and clean!

no kids!!!

im so stoked.  i even get my own bathroom.

and then the internet will work properly so i can post pictures again.

yay.

right now, im going to go and try to relax on the beach in gale force winds.

even though i know already that ill have kids trying to get me to go to the pool with them.

ah well.

ok

so i posted the three blogs that i wrote about a week ago now....

ill add more late on. with pics from maui.

the internet is finally working here but it is so annoying i could lose it. i have to keep manually reconnecting... took forever to get the next 3 blogs up, complete with their pics.

so enjoy for now. and ill update more later when i collect some more patience....

oahu

Landed last Tuesday and caught the shuttle to our hotel on the beach. Couldn’t be the view, thats for sure. All ocean. And it wasn’t loud at all, which was what i totally expected. We wandered to the international market for a bit and then back to the room.

Wednesday we got up and headed to the ala moana shopping center. Shopped a short while and then went back to Waikiki. Hit the beach (finally!) for a bit and then went to the market again as it was clouding over. It then rained so hard it was insane. And we were caught out. So we got soaked. Yay. From there we had a late lunch/early dinner, and hit a grocery store to save on some eating costs.

Thursday i got up and walked back to the mall, as i could see that my book would end very soon and i needed the next one in the series (i was reading the golden compass, and boy, the movie sure ends differently!). so i walked, and got rained on and soaked again, and walked back. My mom had been at the beach the entire time, so i joined her down there for a bit. Oh, and we had ice cream. We didn’t do much that night cause there was a two hour show on that we wanted to watch. Nerds, i know. But it was good.

Yesterday? Friday... we got up and headed down to the beach. Laid there for a couple hours and then got up to do the final wander of Waikiki. We got my mom a pair of sunglasses from macy’s only to have them break later, so now i have to find one in maui and try to exchange or return them. Had some lunch, bought some bags to travel with and came back to the beach again.

After that we had to get my mom ready to head out. Sad sad. When we were showered and she was packed, we headed down the beach to a patio and got a couple fruity tropical drinks with umbrellas. Then it was back to the hotel to chill a bit before getting her down to the shuttle.

I was sad to see her go. I love my mom to bits and i do miss her. She makes me totally insane and brings out the bitchiness in me for sure cause we are so different. I was much better this time than i have been in past trips, but i know i was still short with her at times. Regardless, i know how much she loves Hawaii and i know she didn’t want to leave. 10 days is still a good amount to be here though.

So she left, i went back to the market, got a ring i wanted, and went back to the hotel. Watched tv, slept a bit, and that brings me to here. The airport. Its now 5 am. Almost. One more hour. Guess ill read.

Maui for 3 weeks! Here i come!!!

the big island

We landed in the kona airport which is by far the best airport ive ever been to. Its tiny, and all open air. Everything. The baggage carousel and ticket counters, bar, everything. It looks very Polynesian. Good start.

Got over to the rental place and got my hands on our red mustang convertible. Yahoo! Never had a convertible before so that was super fun. We made our way to the hotel and got settled in, and went for eats. Met up with cara, whom i work with, and her brother. And we went out for a couple drinks while my mom went to bed.

Up early the next day, Sunday, to drive to hilo. Drove the north way around which was really pretty. Its nuts to see how the landscape changes as you go. Starts off as lava fields with basically nothing. Then there are grasslands, and then into lush forest/jungle. And back again.

Got to hilo and to the airport and got set up with our doors off helicopter ride over the live volcano, Pu’u. It was cold up there! But super fun. We landed at jacks place, which is a bed and breakfast that the flows seem to have gone around twice now. The last one in October 08 took out his only remaining neighbour, so now its just him there. The only way in is to either walk a long ways to where the roads start again (and that is over the dried lava)(and its still active in parts underneath!) or to fly in by helicopter. I cant believe he’s still there.

After that we drove south to complete the circuit of the island. It got dark pretty quick so we didn’t see much, but i do know that the stupid road had many curves.

Monday we got up and wandered a little bit in kona. There isn’t much to see really. Then went and met up with cara and her family and got ready for our tour up mauna kea. If anyone ever goes to the big island and wants to do this tour, don’t bother. Just rent your own car. Waste of money.

The dinner sucked and wasn’t what was advertised, our driver was super annoying and they blast the damn a/c. To top all that off, mauna kea had gotten snow the night before, and because they are at an elevation of 14,000 feet, the road freezes when the sun goes down, so they closed off the top part. Which meant that we weren’t able to get up and see the telescopes, which is essentially the point of the tour. My mom was soooo bummed cause she wanted to do that more than anything. It was basically the reason we went to the big island in the first place. But we did see the sunset and learned about some start constellations.

Tuesday i got up early and went to the airport to exchange the convertible for a 4x4 jeep so that we could go back up to try see the telescopes. Hoping that the road conditions were better during the day. After a long bumpy drive up there, we found that the road had been closed again, due to ice flurries. In freaking Hawaii. What the hell. My mom was bummed again, but at least we really tried. Boo.

We came back down to kona and grabbed lunch at a hotel far superior to the one we stayed in and then headed to the airport and off to oahu.