Lana'i Lookout

Have I mentioned how much I love the weekends here? It's like a little vacation every week.

Saturday, Jon's friend was back in town. He was on his way back from spending 2 weeks in Guam. He's in the Air Force Reserves so Pearl Harbor was kind of a must-see for him. Because of the wacky time change he slept pretty late so we didn't end up getting there until about 1:40. I figured they'd be out of tickets because all of the guide books I've read say you need to get there way before noon so tickets don't run out. Plus, last week when we went we had to way an hour and a half before it was our turn to go to the memorial. Well, sleeping in paid off. It felt like a dead day at Cedar Point because we walked right in and got tickets for 2:00. Granted, by the time we left an hour later they were out of tickets, but I think it's safe to say if you go in the early afternoon you'll be dealing with a lot less people.

Sunday, I had to go to work for register training. Yes, they just didn't believe me that I seriously already knew how to do everything from working at Gap for 5 years. I was reminding the person training us what all she hadn't shown us yet. It was kind of ridiculous but I got paid for 5 hours.

When I got home it was like noon and we decided we were going to try to hit up Hanauma Bay. This is a really popular tourist and local spot and it's also a nature preserve. Because of this they actually have to limit the amount of people that can go in an they are closed on Tuesdays; they want to prevent erosion. So anyway, we figured there was a good bet they were going to be full for the day but we tried anyway. Yeah, they were, so we just kept driving past and we ended up pulling over to this scenic lookout point to figure out what we were going to do next. We were actually going to try to find the Halona Blowhole because it was nearby. Well, this particular scenic lookout point was absolutely the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my life.

This is Lana'i Lookout. I guess on clear days you can see the island of Lana'i. This is most definitely my favorite spot I've ever been to on earth. It was just unbelievable. There were only a handful of people brave enough to climb down and walk around and we were 2 of them. It's just completely undeveloped and almost escapes tourism. I love love loved it! Also, on the other side of these rocks is Hanauma Bay. And they filmed some of Lost here.
See all the people behind Jon? That's how far we had climbed down. Googling the area later told us it was pretty dangerous to go down but it was soooo worth it. And, really scary by the way; I kept thinking I was going to slide down and kill myself.
Wandering around the rocks. This is some of the area where they filmed some episodes of Lost. It was also super windy (we are on the windward side of the island, guess it makes sense). I was so scared I was just going to get blown away into the ocean.
The waves were so rough. I definitely would not want to go swimming here.
See the waves breaking on the rocks? It was so amazing.
Jon's brave. I wouldn't climb down that far because I thought I was going to fall.
I had to prove I was there!
We were pretty close to the edge!
This was after we left Lana'i Lookout and headed towards the Halona Blowhole. That beach took a lot of work for the people to get to.
The Blowhole. I guess the day we went was a good day because it was super windy so it was supposed to blow more water out. That's about as high as it got. I probably could have been more impressed. I also wish we would have seen some humpback whales.

So anyway, that's my photo tour of the most amazing spot in the world. Seriously, the plane ticket was worth going to that one spot alone. I want to go there and just sit for like hours everyday. The water was so blue and the waves were so big. It just makes me want to get out and keep exploring this island. And then go to Maui!!!!

Oh yeah, I also practiced snorkeling! Well, just in our pool, but I was scared to do that. I got pretty comfortable with it though, so I'm excited to go to Hanauma Bay next weekend to try it out in the ocean. I know I'll probably freak out when salt water touches my lips, but I'm sure it will be pretty amazing. I think we're also going to try to hit up Sandy Beach (which is a really popular beach) and hopefully the North Shore! So I should have lots of cool pictures to share.

Also, we started moving into our new apartment yesterday. We've got almost everything. We're both already so much happier here. There's carpet and walls and a big kitchen and outlets in the bathroom! And even though it's about 60 sq. ft. smaller it feels so much bigger. I love it!

Thanks for reading :-)

Another (few) Day(s) in Paradise

We're moving! Haha, I know we've only been in our place a month but we're kind of sick of it. Mainly, the kitchen is way too tiny. I feel cramped pouring a bowl of cereal. And Jon doesn't like the lack of walls (because the front and back of our apartment is just windows with screens, no glass). So we found another apartment in this same complex, but it's a little smaller so it's a little cheaper. Even though it's smaller the kitchen is a lot bigger and it just feels nicer. Plus there are walls. So we'll be moving out of this apartment and in our new apartment sometime within the next week.

So, thanks to how much Hawaii loves us, our furniture and everything came earlier than expected. It got here on Friday so now we get to move it all ourselves to the new place. But at least we have a couch and tv and a table. It's pretty awesome.

This weekend was GORGEOUS so we took full advantage of it!

Friday: Our furniture got here so Jon took the day off. After the movers left we decided to finally make it to Diamond Head to hike up to the top. It was about 81 degrees or so and super sunny, so it was a tough hike. It's only .8 miles to the top, but it's practically straight up. There are walkways that wind back and forth up the side, then the awesome part comes...284 steps straight up to the top. It was exhausting, but so worth it. I could see so much of the island and I got really great pictures.

Half-way there!View of Honolulu from the top of Diamond Head.

Saturday: It was finally time to go to Pearl Harbor! This was the main thing that I wanted to do, since I love the movie! Lol, I know the movie is pretty far off of actual events and people hate the love story, but I'm a sap and I think it's great. So anyway, it felt really weird to actually be there. I don't know, it's hard to explain. I think the Arizona Memorial is rather ugly, but every time I see it I think of the Brady Bunch episode when they go to Hawaii. So we got there around 9:20 in the morning, but we had to wait until 10:45 before we could go to the memorial. When our number was called we went into a theater and watched a 20 minute video about the events leading up to and including the attack on Pearl Harbor. I guess it was legit footage because it looked old-timey, but I just can't figure out why there were cameras filming the Japanese army when they were just walking down the street in the 1940s. Or how we got a hold of that footage. Maybe that was what the paparazzi cared about back then when Lindsay Lohan didn't exist? Anyway, it was sad and I couldn't imagine being involved in anything like that.

After the video we got on the boat to take us to the memorial. We only got about 15 minutes on the actual memorial, but there's not a whole lot to do. There's a room with the flags of the states that had battleships docked at Pearl Harbor, the big giant center area, and a room that had all the names of the men who died on the Arizona on the wall. It's kind of weird because the memorial is really small compared to the size of the ship. It just sits vertically over this huge ship that's sitting on the bottom of the harbor. You can see parts of the smoke stacks coming out of the water and they have buoys that mark the start and end of the ship. It's just really weird...and sad. But if you ever go to Hawaii you absolutely MUST go see Pearl Harbor.

We didn't make it to the Bowfin submarine (which looks super cool because you can go in it) or the USS Missouri because they both cost money. Maybe another time.

USS Arizona MemorialParts of the ship visible from from the surface.The room with all the names. Sad :-(Notice the oil on the surface.

Saturday night we went up to Kailua for a work party of Jon's. It was at the house that he stayed at the first few nights he was here. It was a huge combo Birthday, Welcome Back, and Going Away party. It was fun. There was a Bouncy House. And a jousting thing. Jon won. I also took a picture of the tree below because it was a palm tree with coconuts and I thought of Raelynn. Dana, if you read this, please show her.

Sunday we braved going back to Waikiki. I had my camera and phone in a ziploc bag inside a bag inside a bag. And we practically had our stuff on a hotel lawn instead of the beach. We took our rafts out and it was lots of fun because the waves were pretty big. I can tell that the season is getting ready to shift here. There's basically 2 seasons and from November-April the North Shore has the huge waves and from April-November the South Shore has the huge waves. I still need to make it up to the North Shore.

I also got a job! It's just at Old Navy. Something to tide me over until I can find something else. It will be interesting to see if I can keep from buying stuff. Toodles!

Having a car is amazing!

The last few days here have been so great!

Friday Jon picked up his car and surprised me by coming home early from work. It was a pretty day so we immediately decided to drive up to the windward side and see Kailua Beach. I'd read that it was one of the most beautiful beaches in the world so I was super pumped to go. The drive there was incredible. We were driving through the mountains and they were just so huge. I kept trying to take pictures but they never made the mountains seem as gigantic as they are. We even drove through one! It was so cool! Kailua is a little small town and has a very local feel to it. The beach really was great. It was late afternoon and people were just there to brush up on their surfing and get a tan. We then drove over to Lanikai Beach which is where Jon stayed for his first few nights in Hawaii. The houses here were just GORGEOUS! Apparently it's a really ritzy area where several people from Lost have their homes. It was just all so perfect.

Saturday, it rained all day. That's two Saturdays in a row now, so I was really starting to get bummed out. We still tried to have some fun because we finally had a car! We attempted to go to the new Target in Honolulu, but Hawaii hasn't settled down from the Target excitement so we couldn't go. The parking lot was literally filled to capacity and they were turning people away. He also took me by Hickam to show me where he works and his office and all that. Hickam Afb is definitely a little city of it's own, but I'm glad we live in Honolulu.


Sunday was perfect!! We drove out to Aloha Stadium and went to the Swap Meet, which is like a giant flea market/craft fair that takes place on the weekends and Wednesdays. It's just a bunch of booths of local souvenirs, fruit, food, etc. It was really cool but many of the booths had the same stuff. Jon swears he's buying all of his Christmas presents from there though. Then we drove over to Ala Moana Beach because it was the only place we could think of close enough to Waikiki with free parking. It was the Honolulu Festival so there was a parade through Waikiki. We walked over and found a good spot at the very start of the parade. It was definitely really cool. There were performers from all over the place and it was such a cool experience. One thing we noticed though, there is definitely not a shortage of old lady hula dancers. Also, the mayor of Honolulu is a giant.

After about 2 hours we got a little bored with the parade so we decided to leave, which was probably good since it started raining. However, we got to see our first Hawaiian rainbow! Then it cleared up and we made it back to Ala Moana in time to sit on the beach and watch the sunset. How perfect is that?

Today was also another great day in Hawaii (noticing a trend?). Since Jon has a car now he can get home much sooner than taking the bus for an hour and half. He got home around 4:30 and since it was still sunny we decided to hit up the beach. We couldn't decide which beach to go to--Ala Moana or Waiki. Tough choice, right? I said we should't bother with Waikiki because we wouldn't be able to find parking, but I also didn't want to go to Ala Moana because of all the fish. Well, we decided to try out Waikiki. We went a little farther down Waikiki towards Diamondhead and found a big park with lots of free parking. It was also away from all of the hotels and seemed a lot more local. We walked down towards the Kaimana Beach Hotel which is definitely secluded from the rest of Waikiki. It had its own little beach and since it was almost 6 o'clock it was pretty empty. The water felt great and we had an awesome time swimming and watching the sun go down--well behind the clouds really. It's just so cool to imagine ourselves on vacation all the time. It's like, Jon got off work early so we went on vacation! I love it!

Amidst all of this awesomeness though I did get some sad news. I didn't get the job at First Hawaiian Bank that I was hoping to get, so I got pretty bummed and thought I'd be coming home soon. I'm still looking for jobs but I don't know how it's going to turn out. I just want to enjoy Hawaii for however long I can be here.

Looking forward to St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and going into Waikiki for the parade. Aloha!

Hawaii kicked my butt

Sorry for the lack of updates, not too much has been going on lately. Aside from the butt-kicking Hawaii has given me. My camera was ruined at the beach, my ipod turned out to have some problems too, then my computer crashed and I had to reformat my hard drive. Nice, huh?

The ipod is being replaced for free by Apple. Sooooo nice of them to do that considering the problem was my own dumb fault. But I have should have a new shiny ipod touch in a few days. And her name will be Penny 3.0.

I also went ahead and bought a new digital camera. I've kind of been wanting a new one for awhile now but just never got around to it. I got a Canon Powershot, 8 megapixels, and it's pink! It takes much better pictures than my old one. Not that my old camera wasn't awesome, it was just 2 years old which is like years in years for technology.

We're still waiting on all of our stuff to get here. We got our clothes and my xbox on Monday. And we got our cable and internet installed on Tuesday. Too bad we don't have a TV yet. Jon is also picking up his car today so we can finally start doing more fun things! I'm so excited!

Last night one of Jon's friends had a stopover in Hawaii on his way to Guam for some training thing so we went into Waikiki to have dinner with him. It was so much fun to see someone we knew! I feel so far away and disconnected from everything. Just like when I think about it and how far away Hawaii is, and also the fact that now I'm 6 hours behind everyone, it's so weird.

So hopefully I have some fun posts after this weekend for exciting things we did. And also, I can't figure out some things on this blog, but that giant black box below is basically a link to pictures. Just click on it and you can see all of the pictures I have taken so far.

Thanks for reading!

Hawaii

That's Life

Today it was sunny! So Jon and I decided to head into Waikiki for the day. The waves were big and the water was just the right temperature. We didn't even waste time with sunbathing and reading. We got some $3 rafts from the ABC Store and headed out into the water. We were out for a pretty decent amount of time and had tons of fun.

Unfortunately, Jon cut his foot on some rocks so he was kind of in pain. Then when we realized we really couldn't see our stuff anymore we decided to head in and see what was up. Turns out, one of the giant waves went pretty far onto the beach and completely drenched all of our stuff. Our towels were sopping wet and full of sand. My tote bag had a lake inside and was also covered in sand. My phone and ipod were, thankfully, in a zippered pocket, and thank GOD seem to be ok. I think my digital camera is shot though :-( It won't turn on and has sand all over it. Our clothes were impossible to put on. Our library books look like we just threw them in a pool. It was just a mess. We spent awhile trying to get cleaned up but we were just a wet, sandy mess. We managed to get some plastic bags to put our stuff in and made it home, but ugh it all just sucked.

Oh, and thanks to daylight savings time we are now 6 hours behind everyone. Awesome.

2 Weeks In

I have logged 2 solid weeks in Hawaii, and I'm getting pretty comfortable with it. I still wish I had my clothes, and my xbox, and oh, furniture would be nice, but we're dealing with the air force here. Apparently they have have a permanent excuse that they are the government and they can get away with whatever they want. It now might be until April 6th before we get our furniture. Which is nearly 2 months after it was shipped. I mean, I know Hawaii is pretty far away, but it's 2009 and it shouldn't take that long to get us our stuff. They just don't care. Just like they didn't care that part of Jon's contract agreement was a massive signing bonus. That means he should have got it when he signed the contract, right? Wrong, we're hoping it shows up on his first paycheck so we can pay for the apartment we're living in and what not. I didn't mean to come on and be such a complaining Cathy, but the air force just makes me that way.

I had 2 job interviews this week! The first was on Monday for Altres, which is a local staffing agency in Hawaii. It seemed to go well since they had me fill out a bunch of paperwork and choose health care and everything. In Hawaii, if you work at least 20 hours a week your employer is required to provide free health care. However, most places get away with this by scheduling people for like 19 hours, so when a job says "part-time" it's really best to check what that means. So, anyway, this place is supposed to call me with temp positions and what not with the hope that I might get something permanent. The good things are it's pretty flexible, if I want a week off I just tell them, and you get paid every Friday for the hours you worked that week; but it's a lot of clerical work and basically makes my degree useless.

I also had an interview today with First Hawaiian Bank! This is the job I really want since it's closer to my job offer from National City. I'd be starting off as a teller and there's not a clear cut advancement program like there is for National City, but I'll take what I can get. I need something that gets me out of the apartment and earns me some experience and money. I think it went really well and I should be hearing back next week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Ideally, I'd like to get a job doing you know, marketing, for like a major hotel here or something, but I've realized that's probably not going to happen. There aren't a lot of jobs here at all and it's a struggle for everyone. Our neighbors are struggling even to pay rent. We're lucky because we have degrees, but even that isn't getting us what we're worth. Oh well, it's not like Hawaii is forever (sadly).

The weather has also been really strange here. My neighbor was telling me that even people who have lived here their whole lives are finding it strange that it's super cloudy, rainy, and windy every day recently. It kind of bums me out because I'm not getting a tan anymore. Watch, as soon as I get a job the sun will come back out to play.

I miss everyone tons and thanks a bunch for reading. I like comments too (hint, hint!) Toodles :-)

We hung out with people!

Oh I'm so excited! Last night we made friends! We were going out last night to swim and hang out in the hot tub when we met our neighbors coming out of our apartment. There ended up being 4 other people hanging out down by the pool so we just hung out with them in the hot tub. They are all pretty young, just a few years older than us. There's a couple that lives right next to us, another girl, and the resident manager of the complex. We ended up hanging out in the apartment next to ours. It was so nice to meet people!

We also went down to Ala Moana Beach Park yesterday. I was expecting it to be all cold and gross since well, that's how it was here before we left. Of course it was nice and sunny at the beach. This beach was much different than Waikiki. Since there's a park too there seemed to be lots of family reunions and things going on. The beach was also way less crowded that Waikiki. It was pretty much dead. The sand was a lot more rocky and had lots of shells. And you could actually see tons of little fish swimming in the water. So there's no way I'd ever go swimming there. But it was really pretty and a lot more "Hawaii". I'm looking forward to going up to the beach on the Windward side of the island. There supposed to be just beautiful. And of course the North Shore, although we missed all the big surfing competitions :-(