The Hawaiian Epic, part 1: There be whales here
While I wrote this mostly in real time while I was on the trip, I'm going to post it in two parts. Today will cover up through Wednesday, while the second will cover from Thursday onward. While I took over 1000 pictures, I'm not going to post any here, but if you'd like to see some, go to twitter and search #pkhawaii. Part 2 might have a video to go along with it, although my camera work was very poor.
Prologue:
So this is the epic Hawaii trip. It began about a year ago, when I persuaded my dad to use his time share on a trip to Hawaii. This was shortly after my mom died, and I wanted him to get the most out of life. I figured it would take a couple of years until he got in, but to my surprise, he got in for the end of February this year. He didn't want to go alone, so I said that if I didn't have anything better going on, then I would go with him. Well, come later last year, I knew I didn't have anything going on in February, so I said that I go! Over christmas, I helped arrange flights. The timeshare he got was on the island of Kauai. That is the oldest and most remote island. But he also wanted to go to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor, so we decided to spend the week on Kaua'i, then a couple days in Honolulu. Since my dad's time share included two rooms and a pull out bed, he tried to get other people to go with him. In the end, his sister came along.
The flight situation got a little complicated because I had some money left over from my canceled flights on Southwest. And my dad and my brother had a bunch of miles from American Airlines That could get us all over there for free (and that counted as my Xmas present.) However, this presented us with a dilemma. American flies out of O'hare in Chicago, whereas Southwest only flies out of Midway, and they don't fly to Hawaii.. So basically, I came up with this complicated plan. First, to get between islands on Hawaii and to get a flight back to the mainland, we booked a flight on Hawaiian airlines (which I learned about while listening to RadioLab while driving back from Texas). To get to LA from Honolulu, it would only cost 161 (when we bought the ticket, it rose quickly thereafter). Then, we fly from LAX to Midway via Southwest (which also only cost $150 or so). However, we'd get to Chicago at around Midnight. And furthermore, where to park the truck? I came up with this complicated plan. On the day of the flight, I'd drop my dad and my aunt off at O'hare. They would check my bag along with their bags. I'd keep my carry on. Then, I would drive the truck over to Midway, park it, then ride the CTA train back to O'hare. This plan had two problems. One was that it would take at least 2 hours for me to drive and ride back to the airport. But that just meant we'd have to leave early. The second flaw was Chicago traffic, which is always terrible. if I got stuck in a jam, I might not make it in time. The only thing I could think of would be to keep an eye on it and see which route ended up having the least amount of traffic.
Day 0, Sunday
Would it work? That question and general anxiety kept me up about a day before the trip. I tried to get up early, but I just couldn't sleep. Somehow, I managed a couple of hours. Still, not good, especially since after driving in Chicago and ten hours of flying later, I'd then have to drive to the resort. Well, I managed a couple more hours in the truck before I took over driving because my dad didn't want to drive in Chicago.
We got a good start, we were making good time, so I convinced myself that I could briefly pick up some baked goods from Mitsuwa for breakfast/lunch. So I made it in and out of Mitsuwa in under 10 minutes. Then, I'd dropped of my companions off, and checked my phone. The fastest route meant I'd have to drive around downtown Chicago, which is the worst. The worst. But my phone said that traffic was good, and it turned out to be right! I successfully navigated to the Midway lot with no screwups. I then got on the train, making only one minor error, when I switched trains a little too early. The orange line meets the blue line twice, but the first time requires you to leave the station and go down a block, which confused me. But I figured things out right quickly, and it didn't mess me up. I was still right on schedule. I got to O'hare, and spent the next half hour getting through security. Terrible!
The flights were long and boring. I also had a window seat, so I couldn't get up if I need too. And my phone was getting low on power. but I kept myself occupied with video games and podcast. Also saw the Hollywood sign from the flight. LAX was…kind of meh. Very small, few eating options, and I was super hungry. Well, that was my terminal, anyway. I was super hungry having only eaten a few baked goods earlier that day. We ended up eating at an airport Chili's, which was meh. Limited menu, food came out late. But I was so hungry, I didn't care. Anyway, afterwards we got on our next flight, which was longer flight. Also, not a whole lot to see, what with being over the ocean for most of it. My 3DS also got low on power halfway through too, but I used my computer to give my phone a charge.
Finally, we touched down in Lihue, which had a nice, but small airport. But we were all tired, and I was getting cross at my dad. Anyway, we drove to the resort from the airport, which took about an hour. The resort was a mess of problems. They told us to park in a certain lot, which was hard to find, and there was no parking there anyway. And then my dad neglected to mention that they would valet park the car for free the first night. And bring our luggage to the room for us. Of course, then we couldn't find the darn building until I took the map and found it myself. Ugh, I was dead tired, so after the luggage was delivered, I passed out on the pull out sofa and passed out.
Day 1, Monday
The biggest thing today we did today was check out the resort. It's nice, really nice. Almost too nice, and makes me feel ashamed to be staying here. But being a resort in Hawaii, everything was marked up. Even at the local grocery store, which we visited to pick up a few groceries. The supermarket, other than the high prices, was great for me. It had both regular food and a lot of Japanese food. It was close enough that we just walked too, which was nice. The resort is very pretty, but it has a difficult layout. Parking is terrible, and it's hard to get anywhere without walking around pools. Anyway, after getting back from the grocery store, we then took a drive over to the city of Hanalei. The scenery on the drive over was gorgeous with a lot of neat over looks. The town was a little touristy, but it had a beach nearby. I made a reservation for to go surfing tomorrow. Should be interesting,
Day 2, Tuesday
Today didn't go so well. It began as a chance to try surfing. I bought a lesson to go surfing in a local bay. I've never been surfing before, but I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, it didn't go so well. My biggest problem was I was terrible at judging the waves. When the instructor was there, he could tell me which ones would be good and which wouldn't. I did okay when he was around, and I even made it all the way to the shore on my second try. But I only was able to catch three waves before the lesson was over. However, after the lesson was over, I tried on my own, and I was having a heck of a time of it. Either I'd get up to early, or too late. I tried really hard to get it down, but I just couldn't do it. I kind of wish I had a longer lesson, but oh well. I did have the option to use the board and shirt until 3, but eventually I quit around 1. I tried my hardest, but I don't think I'm cut out to be a surfer. For one thing, I can't judge distances worth a damn. Secondly, my contacts made things worst. Hard to see without my sunglasses, and I had to be careful in the ocean or they'd come out. Still, when I got up on the wave, it was pretty cool. I gave my phone to my dad to take pictures, but unfortunately, he didn't get any of me in action. I also got sunburnt on my forearms pretty badly because I didn't re apply lotion after getting out and resting for a while. Yuck. Still I think I learned a lot, and I would totally be up for trying it again in the future. I'd probably still take a lesson though.
It also kind of sucked because I don't think my companions wanted to just hangout at the beach very much. They wouldn't even go in the ocean, even though it wasn't that deep! I doubt we'll go again. Afterwards, we took a drive to the west of Hanalei. The road had many one way bridges and lovely sights. Also saw a couple of caves off the road. Apparently, the end of the road had a hiking trail that led to a beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately, none of us were wearing hiking gear, and I was getting pretty hungry after my surfing adventure. I managed to drag my companions to what I thought was a Japanese restaurant, but it turned out to be just a bar and grill with a sushi bar, and sushi didn't start until 4:30. Blah. so I just had a burrito instead. After we got back to our room, it was starting to get late, so my dad and I just hit the hot tub. Tomorrow, we're doing another day out. We're going to Waimea Canyon, which is known as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." After that, we're taking a sunset cruise on a Catamaran up the Na Pali coast. Really hoping to see some whales, but will probably just see some dolphins.
Day 3, Wednesday
Well, I got behind on journal entries. I'm writing all three of these on Saturday afternoon as I sit outside of our resort villa enjoying an Ito-en Oolong tea. Anyway, I think Wednesday was my favorite day of the entire trip, even though it started out terrible for me. I got sick to my stomach from the burrito and the beer I had the previous night. Had to stop at a beach and then again at a store to use the bathroom. Other than that, it went very week. It was carefully planned out by me. Weeks ago, we booked a trip on Captain Andy's Sailing Adventure to see the Na Pali coastline (the west end of the island is entirely unreachable except via boats. However, because we were heading in that direction, I decided that this would be a good time to view the Waimea Canyon. Called "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific," This is a canyon carving up a good portion of the western side of the island, making for spectacular views. We drove to a couple lookouts before continuing on to another state park. I had hoped to find a short trail around here to do a short hiking, but we couldn't find any short ones. We did stop at a very small museum, however, and I was able to buy a very detailed map of Kauai. I was thinking of turning it into a poster, but to my delight I was able to find some trails on there that would be of great use to me the next day and the day after. We had packed a lunch, and after driving to the furthest point we could, we then drove back to where I bought the map and ate our sandwiches there, attracting the attention of a number of chickens, which are numerous on the island.
After that we made our way to Port Allen to board our boat. The boat was a catamaran, which is a kind of boat that is attached to two canoes like bodies. In theory, it could sail, but the captain (whose name was Cory, not Andy, and apparently Japanese) never raised the sail. The sea was very choppy that day, especially on the way to the Na Pali coastline. We could have used the sail on the way back, but they served alcohol and dinner then, and that would have made the ride too choppy. This was a four hour sunset cruise, which would end after dark. The captain was good and told some good jokes, like the Hawaian insurance policy (a six pack of beer on ice). In all, there were about 20 to 30 other people on the relatively small boat, but it never seemed that crowded to me.
I had really hoped to see whales on this voyage, since they were in the area for the season, and I was not disappointed. We didn't see too many on the way out, but we did see two slam their tails against the water (sadly I screwed up recording this, pointing my camera at the sky for the most important parts. dumb) We also saw a sea turtle right out of the bay, and another one on the Na Pali coast. They didn't stay up long enough for me to grab a picture, but I did see them clearly. The coastline was beautiful, and the ride was quite adventurous. The waves casuse the craft to go up and down like a roller coaster, and they often spilled water on the front of the boat. The front started out full, but gradually as the sea got rougher, more and more people went to the back. However, I had a blast, though I was slightly afraid I'd loss my phone, so I didn't take quite as many pics as I would have.
After they turned the boat around, they craft grew much more stable as it was going with the waves instead of against like it had been. I took the opportunity to move from the front to the roof of the boat, as I dried off in the sun. Then, they started serving drinks. They had a Hawaiian craft beer called Longboard, which I had 5 of by the end of the night, and a special mixed drink called "sneaky tikis." Didn't like that as much, but I did "over indulge" in the Longboards. Also enjoyed the dinner too. The way back was kind of laid back, and then we saw a shit ton of whales. Like I said on Twitter, it was Star Trek IV all up in here. They were everywhere. Capn' had to stop the boat and move out of the way a few times, cause the whales were right in front of us. We had them all over. In front, in the back, to the side. And the servers keeping bringing me beer, I was in heaven. At one point, we had a whale party keeping pace with our boat. It was amazing, and kept us out later than we would have been otherwise. I was very please, though I don't think my companions liked it as much. My dad might have, but my aunt definitely didn't. I was quiet drunk by the end of it, so by the time we got back, I fell into a deep slumber. Good thing I didn't drive!
Prologue:
So this is the epic Hawaii trip. It began about a year ago, when I persuaded my dad to use his time share on a trip to Hawaii. This was shortly after my mom died, and I wanted him to get the most out of life. I figured it would take a couple of years until he got in, but to my surprise, he got in for the end of February this year. He didn't want to go alone, so I said that if I didn't have anything better going on, then I would go with him. Well, come later last year, I knew I didn't have anything going on in February, so I said that I go! Over christmas, I helped arrange flights. The timeshare he got was on the island of Kauai. That is the oldest and most remote island. But he also wanted to go to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor, so we decided to spend the week on Kaua'i, then a couple days in Honolulu. Since my dad's time share included two rooms and a pull out bed, he tried to get other people to go with him. In the end, his sister came along.
The flight situation got a little complicated because I had some money left over from my canceled flights on Southwest. And my dad and my brother had a bunch of miles from American Airlines That could get us all over there for free (and that counted as my Xmas present.) However, this presented us with a dilemma. American flies out of O'hare in Chicago, whereas Southwest only flies out of Midway, and they don't fly to Hawaii.. So basically, I came up with this complicated plan. First, to get between islands on Hawaii and to get a flight back to the mainland, we booked a flight on Hawaiian airlines (which I learned about while listening to RadioLab while driving back from Texas). To get to LA from Honolulu, it would only cost 161 (when we bought the ticket, it rose quickly thereafter). Then, we fly from LAX to Midway via Southwest (which also only cost $150 or so). However, we'd get to Chicago at around Midnight. And furthermore, where to park the truck? I came up with this complicated plan. On the day of the flight, I'd drop my dad and my aunt off at O'hare. They would check my bag along with their bags. I'd keep my carry on. Then, I would drive the truck over to Midway, park it, then ride the CTA train back to O'hare. This plan had two problems. One was that it would take at least 2 hours for me to drive and ride back to the airport. But that just meant we'd have to leave early. The second flaw was Chicago traffic, which is always terrible. if I got stuck in a jam, I might not make it in time. The only thing I could think of would be to keep an eye on it and see which route ended up having the least amount of traffic.
Day 0, Sunday
Would it work? That question and general anxiety kept me up about a day before the trip. I tried to get up early, but I just couldn't sleep. Somehow, I managed a couple of hours. Still, not good, especially since after driving in Chicago and ten hours of flying later, I'd then have to drive to the resort. Well, I managed a couple more hours in the truck before I took over driving because my dad didn't want to drive in Chicago.
We got a good start, we were making good time, so I convinced myself that I could briefly pick up some baked goods from Mitsuwa for breakfast/lunch. So I made it in and out of Mitsuwa in under 10 minutes. Then, I'd dropped of my companions off, and checked my phone. The fastest route meant I'd have to drive around downtown Chicago, which is the worst. The worst. But my phone said that traffic was good, and it turned out to be right! I successfully navigated to the Midway lot with no screwups. I then got on the train, making only one minor error, when I switched trains a little too early. The orange line meets the blue line twice, but the first time requires you to leave the station and go down a block, which confused me. But I figured things out right quickly, and it didn't mess me up. I was still right on schedule. I got to O'hare, and spent the next half hour getting through security. Terrible!
The flights were long and boring. I also had a window seat, so I couldn't get up if I need too. And my phone was getting low on power. but I kept myself occupied with video games and podcast. Also saw the Hollywood sign from the flight. LAX was…kind of meh. Very small, few eating options, and I was super hungry. Well, that was my terminal, anyway. I was super hungry having only eaten a few baked goods earlier that day. We ended up eating at an airport Chili's, which was meh. Limited menu, food came out late. But I was so hungry, I didn't care. Anyway, afterwards we got on our next flight, which was longer flight. Also, not a whole lot to see, what with being over the ocean for most of it. My 3DS also got low on power halfway through too, but I used my computer to give my phone a charge.
Finally, we touched down in Lihue, which had a nice, but small airport. But we were all tired, and I was getting cross at my dad. Anyway, we drove to the resort from the airport, which took about an hour. The resort was a mess of problems. They told us to park in a certain lot, which was hard to find, and there was no parking there anyway. And then my dad neglected to mention that they would valet park the car for free the first night. And bring our luggage to the room for us. Of course, then we couldn't find the darn building until I took the map and found it myself. Ugh, I was dead tired, so after the luggage was delivered, I passed out on the pull out sofa and passed out.
Day 1, Monday
The biggest thing today we did today was check out the resort. It's nice, really nice. Almost too nice, and makes me feel ashamed to be staying here. But being a resort in Hawaii, everything was marked up. Even at the local grocery store, which we visited to pick up a few groceries. The supermarket, other than the high prices, was great for me. It had both regular food and a lot of Japanese food. It was close enough that we just walked too, which was nice. The resort is very pretty, but it has a difficult layout. Parking is terrible, and it's hard to get anywhere without walking around pools. Anyway, after getting back from the grocery store, we then took a drive over to the city of Hanalei. The scenery on the drive over was gorgeous with a lot of neat over looks. The town was a little touristy, but it had a beach nearby. I made a reservation for to go surfing tomorrow. Should be interesting,
Day 2, Tuesday
Today didn't go so well. It began as a chance to try surfing. I bought a lesson to go surfing in a local bay. I've never been surfing before, but I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, it didn't go so well. My biggest problem was I was terrible at judging the waves. When the instructor was there, he could tell me which ones would be good and which wouldn't. I did okay when he was around, and I even made it all the way to the shore on my second try. But I only was able to catch three waves before the lesson was over. However, after the lesson was over, I tried on my own, and I was having a heck of a time of it. Either I'd get up to early, or too late. I tried really hard to get it down, but I just couldn't do it. I kind of wish I had a longer lesson, but oh well. I did have the option to use the board and shirt until 3, but eventually I quit around 1. I tried my hardest, but I don't think I'm cut out to be a surfer. For one thing, I can't judge distances worth a damn. Secondly, my contacts made things worst. Hard to see without my sunglasses, and I had to be careful in the ocean or they'd come out. Still, when I got up on the wave, it was pretty cool. I gave my phone to my dad to take pictures, but unfortunately, he didn't get any of me in action. I also got sunburnt on my forearms pretty badly because I didn't re apply lotion after getting out and resting for a while. Yuck. Still I think I learned a lot, and I would totally be up for trying it again in the future. I'd probably still take a lesson though.
It also kind of sucked because I don't think my companions wanted to just hangout at the beach very much. They wouldn't even go in the ocean, even though it wasn't that deep! I doubt we'll go again. Afterwards, we took a drive to the west of Hanalei. The road had many one way bridges and lovely sights. Also saw a couple of caves off the road. Apparently, the end of the road had a hiking trail that led to a beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately, none of us were wearing hiking gear, and I was getting pretty hungry after my surfing adventure. I managed to drag my companions to what I thought was a Japanese restaurant, but it turned out to be just a bar and grill with a sushi bar, and sushi didn't start until 4:30. Blah. so I just had a burrito instead. After we got back to our room, it was starting to get late, so my dad and I just hit the hot tub. Tomorrow, we're doing another day out. We're going to Waimea Canyon, which is known as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." After that, we're taking a sunset cruise on a Catamaran up the Na Pali coast. Really hoping to see some whales, but will probably just see some dolphins.
Day 3, Wednesday
Well, I got behind on journal entries. I'm writing all three of these on Saturday afternoon as I sit outside of our resort villa enjoying an Ito-en Oolong tea. Anyway, I think Wednesday was my favorite day of the entire trip, even though it started out terrible for me. I got sick to my stomach from the burrito and the beer I had the previous night. Had to stop at a beach and then again at a store to use the bathroom. Other than that, it went very week. It was carefully planned out by me. Weeks ago, we booked a trip on Captain Andy's Sailing Adventure to see the Na Pali coastline (the west end of the island is entirely unreachable except via boats. However, because we were heading in that direction, I decided that this would be a good time to view the Waimea Canyon. Called "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific," This is a canyon carving up a good portion of the western side of the island, making for spectacular views. We drove to a couple lookouts before continuing on to another state park. I had hoped to find a short trail around here to do a short hiking, but we couldn't find any short ones. We did stop at a very small museum, however, and I was able to buy a very detailed map of Kauai. I was thinking of turning it into a poster, but to my delight I was able to find some trails on there that would be of great use to me the next day and the day after. We had packed a lunch, and after driving to the furthest point we could, we then drove back to where I bought the map and ate our sandwiches there, attracting the attention of a number of chickens, which are numerous on the island.
After that we made our way to Port Allen to board our boat. The boat was a catamaran, which is a kind of boat that is attached to two canoes like bodies. In theory, it could sail, but the captain (whose name was Cory, not Andy, and apparently Japanese) never raised the sail. The sea was very choppy that day, especially on the way to the Na Pali coastline. We could have used the sail on the way back, but they served alcohol and dinner then, and that would have made the ride too choppy. This was a four hour sunset cruise, which would end after dark. The captain was good and told some good jokes, like the Hawaian insurance policy (a six pack of beer on ice). In all, there were about 20 to 30 other people on the relatively small boat, but it never seemed that crowded to me.
I had really hoped to see whales on this voyage, since they were in the area for the season, and I was not disappointed. We didn't see too many on the way out, but we did see two slam their tails against the water (sadly I screwed up recording this, pointing my camera at the sky for the most important parts. dumb) We also saw a sea turtle right out of the bay, and another one on the Na Pali coast. They didn't stay up long enough for me to grab a picture, but I did see them clearly. The coastline was beautiful, and the ride was quite adventurous. The waves casuse the craft to go up and down like a roller coaster, and they often spilled water on the front of the boat. The front started out full, but gradually as the sea got rougher, more and more people went to the back. However, I had a blast, though I was slightly afraid I'd loss my phone, so I didn't take quite as many pics as I would have.
After they turned the boat around, they craft grew much more stable as it was going with the waves instead of against like it had been. I took the opportunity to move from the front to the roof of the boat, as I dried off in the sun. Then, they started serving drinks. They had a Hawaiian craft beer called Longboard, which I had 5 of by the end of the night, and a special mixed drink called "sneaky tikis." Didn't like that as much, but I did "over indulge" in the Longboards. Also enjoyed the dinner too. The way back was kind of laid back, and then we saw a shit ton of whales. Like I said on Twitter, it was Star Trek IV all up in here. They were everywhere. Capn' had to stop the boat and move out of the way a few times, cause the whales were right in front of us. We had them all over. In front, in the back, to the side. And the servers keeping bringing me beer, I was in heaven. At one point, we had a whale party keeping pace with our boat. It was amazing, and kept us out later than we would have been otherwise. I was very please, though I don't think my companions liked it as much. My dad might have, but my aunt definitely didn't. I was quiet drunk by the end of it, so by the time we got back, I fell into a deep slumber. Good thing I didn't drive!