Haiku Stairs (aka Stairway to Heaven)

Over the past weekend, James and I hiked from Tripler to Haiku Stairs with two other couples.  The hike started out great as seen below:

See the pretty rainbow?  Yes, that was when we were all happy and full of energy.  Mind you, we started the hike at 8:30AM.  It was raining a little, but it always rains near Tripler because we're in the mountains.

We started the hike with a canopy of trees sheltering us from rain/sun.  The worst part at the beginning was just the small branches that kept scratching my legs.  No biggie there.  We walked a little while longer and encountered the first rope where we would go down the side of the mountain.  Looks pretty easy from here:

When we could see, the valley was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  So green!  Much different from the hussle and bussle of Honolulu/Waikiki and the beach scenery you imagine Oahu to have.

The rain started to pour down and we started getting into the clouds as we were climbing up and down the mountains.  Some parts had rope we could hold.  Thankfully James packed me a pair of gloves so I could grip a little better.

We had pretty low visibility and pretty soon, we couldn't see much ahead of us.  Black ominous figures turned out to be larger mountains/ridge lines we would continue to climb up.

We hiked for a good 6 hours through the mud and the rain.  The fog definitely played with our senses because we couldn't see anything below or ahead of us.  James has a video of the wind howling as I'm walking towards him after coming down a ridge line.  One misstep to the right or left and could almost fall to your death!

We finally did make it to the end and got the stairs!  Yay!  Now, we just had to walk down the 3,000+ steps!

It was still super foggy and we didn't see a view until we walked further down.  As you can see in the picture below, there's the H3 freeway below.  Crazy!!!

8 hours later, our group finally made it down to the bottom. This is definitely a one and done type of hike.  A couple days afterwards, my legs and arms are completely sore!  Clothes are permanently stained.  The guy below told us that the hike is much easier coming from another trail head.  O well, we're young and courageous! :-P

Manoa Falls and Cacti Ball

It's been a while.  We've definitely been keeping busy here in Hawaii.  The whole month of January James was away in California for training.  I spent my time with friends and work.  It definitely helped to pass the time.  He's been back for a month and we've definitely done a lot. 

Trail head start to Manoa Falls

In the heart of Honolulu, opposite the beach, there are mountains.  One weekend, James and I decided to hike up to Manoa Falls.  I've heard a lot of things about this fall, but never went.  I'd say the hike was pretty easy.  I really like it because it's shaded the entire way!  It's really tropical and green, so I felt like I was in the rain forest.

Lots of lush green and shade

These trees are huge!

The trail is pretty much paved the entire path and we saw families walking with their kids, so it's definitely doable.  The trail itself is probably no more than 2 miles.  Up hill of course to get to the falls but remember, what goes up, must come down.   

The fall itself wasn't too spectacular.  It hadn't rained all too much before we came, so the water wasn't flowing over, but we did see water enough.  Apparently there as a mud slide a couple years back that dumped a bunch of minerals to the bottom.  They sectioned the falls off with rope with a warning saying we shouldn't go in. 

Manoa Falls

I have to say, it did take us a little while to find the trail.  Turns out East Manoa Fall Road is different from Manoa Falls Road.  You'd think people in Hawaii would find different names for streets!!  When we finally found the trail head, we saw parking for $5.  I don't think so!  James and I found a spot a little way down the road.  It's okay.  We can walk 50 yards for free parking. :) 

About two weeks later James and I attended the Cacti Ball.  James is part of the Cacti Battalion.  They're all deploying shortly, so the unit put on a ball.  Yay for getting dressed up.  There wasn't too much dancing, but it was fun nevertheless to get dressed up for an evening.  We took pictures too.  Definitely felt like it was prom! :-P 

Cacti Ball

There are a couple more weeks left before James deploys for a year.  We have some fun activities planned, so I'll definitely keep you all posted!

Honeymoon, Christmas Break and Cholos!

It's been over a month since I last posted.  Sorry, it's been a while.  I've been a little pre-occupied and I finally got back to Hawaii last week. 

James and I finally had the opportunity to go on a honeymoon to.....Cabo!  We're from a beautiful area (San Diego) and we live in an absolutely beautiful area (Hawaii), so most people would think we'd go somewhere else to honeymoon since we're surrounded by the beach all the time.  What can I say, we love the beach.  We stayed at the beautiful Sierna Del Mar.  I think it's the only resort where you can actually see the arches.  We were only about 3 miles away from downtown Cabo, so James and I ran there a couple of times.  Good way to get exercise since we're kind of crazy like that! :) 

View from our balcony

Enjoying an afternoon at the pool

Watching the sunset

We spent Christmas break with family back in Los Angeles and San Diego and then James left to back for Hawaii on New Years Day.  I followed back a little later.

Most of the husbands in the bible study James and I are apart of are all gone to NTC (National Training Center) in Fort Irwin, CA.  They're training in preparation for deployment in April.  To be perfectly honest, I don't feel like I'm having a very hard time (yet, at least).  I think a big part of it is because I'm connected with a wonderful group of ladies.  Last night, we went to a restaurant up in Halewia (North Shore area) called Cholos.  I was actually very plesantly surprised by the food.  Granted, it wasn't like food you'd find in San Diego, but it was actually pretty decent.  The prices were a bit high, but everything in Hawaii is expensive!  I think I'll definitely have to take James when he comes back, and I'll gladly take family and friends when they come and visit. :)

Wonderful group of girl friends eating at Cholos

Cacti Spouse Day!

It's been a little while, and I apologize for not updating the blog lately.  Earlier this month, James' unit hosted a spouse day.  The batalion he works under is called the Cacti.  Within the Cacti, there are five different companies (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and HHC).  His batalion will be deploying next April, and one of the things they wanted to do was let the spouses get a feel of what a day in the life of a solider. 

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect.  We were able to participate in a variety of different exercise including battle drills and even shooting guns!  That's right, I shot an M4 and M249.  Pretty sweet! 

It was also a chance for me to meet some of wives of James' coworkers.  To be honest, I haven't really stepped out to meet the people out here.  I guess part of it is because I'm still so immersed in work that I haven't allowed myself to miggle with others.  I met some really nice ladies and I'm hoping to continue to build friendships to better prepare myself for James' deployment.  For now, here are some pictures from the Cacti Spouse Day!

Wives from James' unit

All geared out

Hiking up Kealia Trail

This past weekend James and I decided to go on a hiking trip.  There are tons of hiking trails around Oahu, especially with the beautiful mountain ranges!  James took me hiking up a trail he did with his unit a couple months back called Kealia Trail.  We entered on the northwest side of the island, but supposedly you can enter on the west side as well.  One of my fears of hiking in Hawaii is the mosquitoes.  Yuck!  Get them away.  Thankfully, this trail had no mosquitoes and another plus is that it was shaded throughout most (if not the entire) part of the trail. 

We parked our car over by the glider port area and then walked 10 minutes to the head of the hiking trail.  From there, we entered "military training area" and began our hike.  Since it was the weekend and relatively early, we didn't encounter a lot of people which was nice.  We hiked for about 1.5 hours up the trail....and it was up....all the way till we reached a view of the valley.  I love seeing all the green.  Of course, it was a lot easier to go back. :)  All in all, I think the hike was about 6 miles round trip. 

Next time, I want to go over to the west side of the island and run the trail to the lighthouse and back.  They say it's a 10 mile round trip run.  Should be fun! :)

On our way to the trailhead

View of the glider port below and North shore area

Hiking up

Pretty, but not to the top yet!

View of the Valley

   

Ko'Olina, Kayaking, Chinatown

First real weekend back in Hawaii.  We thought we wanted to relax, but that usually doesn't happen!

I think I'm so used to waking up 5AM, that 6:00 is now sleeping in.  That's what happened on Saturday morning.  6:00AM rolled around and I was wide awake!  I laid in bed for a little while and then decided it was time to get up.  James and I decided to go running.  We didn't make it too far.  I'm not a fan of running in the humidity!  Yuck!!! 

We ran over to the park, did some ab workouts, and then lunged (yes, lunged!) all the way back home.  It was probably a good 400 meters!  I didn't feel it at the moment, but man were my legs burning the next day (and today!).  

We've been saying that we want to go to Ko'Olina for a while.  Since it was still early in the day, we decided to go.  Ko'Olina is a man-made lagoon.  It wasn't a particularly beautiful day, but it's never that bad in Hawaii!  There are actually four different lagoons.  We stayed a while at lagoon #3, then decided to walk to all four.

James at Lagoon #1


Lagoon #2

We haven't really explored the west side of the island, so we took a drive along the coast line.  The west side of the island is known for it's poverty.  As we were driving down, it was sad to see all the shacks built  by locals who can't afford homes.  The road doesn't exactly connect all the way around the island, so we had to stop once the road ends.  Apparently, it's another 5 miles (dirt trail) to the very tip of Oahu.  If only we brought our running shoes!  James and I want to do that run eventually.  I think it'll be fun.  

We wanted to go kayaking, but it was too windy, so no kayaks were being rented out, so we decided to go on Sunday.  Before we moved to Hawaii, I got this book called Oahu Revealed.  It's a pretty cool book that tells you all the insider secrets.  We read there are some great kayaking places on the windward side (near Kaneohe Bay, so we drove over there Sunday morning.  When we got there, the guy said it was going out was really easy, but coming back, since we're going against the current, it will be really hard.  It kind of scared me since I haven't gone out in a while.  Actually, going out was hard, but coming back was super easy and fun!  We kept crashing into waves and getting super soaked!  Next time, I think we'll rent the kayaks, strap them onto the car and drive out to Lanikai, or a river and paddle out to the "sandbar".  

Getting ready to paddle out

After kayaking, we decided to check out the Chinatown in Honolulu and we discovered a GREAT dim sum restaurant called Legend Seafood.  So yummy!  Reminds me of San Diego, and the prices are pretty reasonable!  We walked around like tourist, bought some veggies, and then called it a day.  I think we did pretty well this weekend exploring.  Not sure what adventures lay ahead next weekend!  James has Veteran's Days off, so I might take off as well.  We shall see....:)

Acting like a tourist in Chinatown

 

Typical Asian market



Hawaii, San Diego, Hawaii

It's been a little over a week since I last posted, and let me tell you, a lot has happened.  To make a long story short, James and I went back to San Diego for about 10 days due to the passing of my grandfather.  The trip kind of threw us all for a loop as I received a call at around 4PM Hawaii time and managed to hop onto a flight with James at 9PM and arrive in San Diego the next day!  I told James as we were flying out of Hawaii, "This all seems so surreal." 

We were really only planning on being in San Diego for about 4 days however, we couldn't arrange the funeral until this past Friday, so James and I changed our flight and flew out on Saturday afternoon. 

Back in Hawaii, the biggest fear was Kayla.  What were we going to do with her for the next 10 days???  We only planned to be gone for 4 days, now it was 10 days!  Thankfully, James team member agreed to feed and give her water during the week and we came home to a live bunny. :)  Thank goodness!

So, no real updates to publish since we didn't explore Hawaii or San Diego.  We did carve pumpkins back at home for all the trick o treaters, and we took a more updated picture of Genie. 

Me, James, and Denise

Genie is sooo big now!  We took a picture and video her.  I swear, she's just like a dog.  The video might be too big for blogger because it's not loading properly.  I'll see if I can post it elsewhere.  She should be laying eggs in about a month or two.  Fresh eggs!



Genie at about 1.5 months

Genie at 5 months