While on the flight to Hawaii from Phoenix I learned what a philtrum is! Stupid fun knowledge ahead –> The vertical indentation in the midline of the upper lip.

For details on the trip click on (more…) below. There are at least 3-4 days worth of thought so putting it all on the front page just didn’t make that much sense to me. Mahalo for stopping by and reading. (Thanks.)

Ali has posted some thoughts to her site – http://emmapoeta.com
06/09/06
9:21AM local time

A high pitched noise at the airport, baby whimpers, and some other intrusive uncommon noises to my ear welcomed me to gate 2 for flight 64 on American West. Flight 64. I don’t know if there is a better way to start a honeymoon.

Audio blog from Phoenix Airport.

Some shout outs before my body is hurled through the air… Thanks for watering the plants Richie. You’re such a woman. =P To the otosan (emma’s pop) domo much for the ride to JFK. SLC peeps, you know who you are.
The Audio blog kinda didn’t work. Service is extremely spotty. In the post I thanked the Wanns for their extreme generosity. Yummy fruit and cookies were in the room along with a super cool note.

06/10/06

730 woke up
make shift breakfast – thanks again to the wanns’s
we walked the grounds – in daylight this time
read and played by/in the pools (salt and chlorine)
lunch at Ilima (on site restaurant) yum
we have ESPN2!!!
napped for 2 hours
worked out
walked the grounds, again
ventured out (off site)
ate at the Bamboo Grill – more yum
06/11/06
5:41 local time

The sounds of the crashing tides and squawks of frogs greeted us this morning on our short and brilliantly colored walk to the beach. With a PowerBook under our arms we decided it was finally time. Time to write and bask in our first sunrise in Hawaii.

Things have been, how can I put it, hmm, perfect? Without exaggeration, yes. Perfect. The people both guests, natives, and those taking a stab at Hawaii’s work opportunities have all been marvelously kind and happy. ‘Curmudgeons wouldn’t fit in here.’ At least that was our perspective last night during our extremely fair priced meal at the Bamboo Grill.

Jolly, perky, plain and simply – up. This is Hawaii. Tito (teetoe, not t-toe), our afternoon waiter balanced the fine line of server, native, and human being as though it were a field of study. I do not have a bad word to say about Hawaii. Yet. With my experience so far I expect not to have anything negative to say about the native people or the place itself.

I could describe an experience in which two, one in particular, women from the mainland were obnoxious and had no interest in the upkeep of this lands aura. I could say they were trying to figure out if their selected alcohol selection was “enough”. I could even say that they were so loud that everyone else was quieter than they might have been under normal circumstance. I could.

But, as it turns out, I’m not going to go near that experience except to say I understand why we, Americans, are viewed so negatively outside of the US. Drinking, sure it’s a part of the world’s culture but there is no need whatsoever for that to be the singular topic of interest no matter where one is.

What would it be like to live here?

Yes, just like every other person that has travelled to Hawaii, we have talked about moving here. Would we, no. The food. Oh. My. The food. It is impeccably fresh, filled with natural taste that seems fake. How can food ACTUALLY taste like this? Simple, nix the chemicals and let nature do its thing. Mmm, hmm, good. The fruit, the veg, the chicken – all of it has impressed us like we couldn’t imagine.

Funny. I haven’t snapped a picture yet. There hasn’t been the desire yet. Fear not, there will be pictures.

To those that travel to the Kaua’i area, more specifically the Poipu area of Kaua’i, venture out to Big Save to pick up some daily items. Water, cereal, milk, snacks, etc. It’s a 15 minute drive from the Hyatt. Expect to see customer’s without shirts picking up a few things. Even in the evening. It’s all the rage. =)

I don’t know if I will see a more accommodating and peaceful place in my life. Hawaii IS peace. The language is aural in its history. The concept of written language wasn’t brought to the native people until the English was brought here. Something like 12 letter only, of English, are used in the Hawaiian language. T? What’s a T used for? No matter, there are plenty of vowel sounds. Storytelling indeed.

It gets me to think of War Music.

6:18 local time.

We’re going to walk the “Sunrise Walk” – one of the activities available to all the Hyatt’s guests. The gym has other activities they we’re both interested in that we’ll, heh, squeeze into our ever busy days. Yoga, finally, here I come.

11:21 local time

What a great walk. My back is sore because they’re loosening up finally. That or the muscles got a workout and are just confused with how to handle this relaxed thing Hawaii is giving to them. 12 people strong we walked 2.5-3.0 miles through the golf course with no leader. The call came to cancel the walk at about 7:10ish. The walk was schedule to start at 7:00. Someone dropped the ball this AM.

The hotel room. The first thing that happened when we checked in was unexpected. We heard the words “We’ve upgraded your room to a king size bed with an ocean view.” Um, Rock. With the paperwork finished up we walked back to the car and zoomed a little zoom over to the closer parking lot. With the car parked, in what I thought was a good spot, we walked. Stopped. Walked some more, Stopped again.

After a few attempts to find our room we asked for help. To our surprise the answer was literally to our left. Elevators. We thought we were on the first floor but in fact we were on the fourth floor. This was one floor up from where we were when we were outside. Brains juices were confused and tired after 19 hours of travel. A good word to insert here would be d’uh.

Two floors down we found our room and stared jaws agape at the fruit and cookies on the table. A card? Inside the card read:

I love you for what you are, but I love you yet more for what you are going to be. I love you not so much for your realities as for your ideals. I pray for your desires that they may be great, rather than for your satisfactions, which may be so hazardously little. A satisfied flower is one whose petals are about to fall. The most beautiful rose is one hardly more than a bud wherein the pangs and ecstasies of desire are working for a larger and finer growth. Not always shall you be what you are now. You are going forward toward something great. I am on the way with you and therefore I love you. — Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

Aloha!
Uncle Alan, Auntie Barbara, Tamara and Jesse, and Zane

It took us a while to realize it was from them. We were so hungry we gorged on the food that smiled at us. It was so fraggin awesome.

Until yesterday the night stands next to the bed had remained untuched. Last night though, we opened both to find. On the right, the yellow pages. Score. On the left, the Holy Bible. Sigh. But what was next to it on the left… Huh? The teachings of Buddha?! Hella cool! The first, and likely only place, this is bound to happen. Hum-ding’in cool. Buddha!? Keep on rockin Hawaii. Keep on keepin on.

Travelocity has taken to overseas phone support. We called and spoke to two (a man and a woman) about a tour we booked when we purchased the plane and hotel tickets only to find out we A- Are apparently idiots. Either we are or they are. B- We have to call back because their systems weren’t working properly. Much grr on this front. If you book with Travelocity call and ask about your extra activities before you leave. Save the hassle and/or frustration.

21:18 local time
Driving at 40 MPH seems like torture. Just thinking about the speed is slow. 35 MPH? How would you like that, in first or second gear? 25… Ahhhahaha. Okay that’s just funny. Sure, 25, in neutral. All of these thoughts fit in back on the mainland but not in Hawaii.

We drove to Blossoming Lotus, a vegan restaurant in Kapaa, at the approximate speed of, I’d guess, 35 MPH. That’s right, an average of 35 MPH. Top speed was about 55 for less than 10 seconds. Why? Traffic just moves slower here and it isn’t a big deal. I felt like I was speeding at 45! Freaky cool.

There are so few major roads it’s easy to get around. Having driven the road once I feel good to go with the general lay of the land. We’ll likely explore further tomorrow. A hike and/or some snorkeling are tentatively on the schedule.

Eating in Hawaii is proving difficult for the both of us. We’re used to small size meals during the day. A large meal for us, which is often small compared to the standard US plate size, for dinner is much larger than we could have anticipated. We’ve eaten full meals for the past two days and our bodies are reacting negatively. Sure we’ve eased the morning meal by purchasing cereal and milk but second breakfast doesn’t exist for us here in Hawaii.
Tomorrow we aim to adjust our Hawaiian eating habits. Our tummies need a break from the pressure we’re putting on them. A holiday does not equal gain weight nor does it mean tummy pain.

It’s 11pm local time and emma is asleep and has been for an hour or two. We woke up at 430 this morning. I took a long LONG (2 hour plus) nap. I needed it big time lotsa. My eyes they’re heavy now so It’s time to stop.

The first thing I do in the AM will be soccer related. US Vs. Czech Republic at 6 AM local time on ESPN2! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

06/13/06
21:41 local time

Yesterday’s game was painful to watch. Sure the US controlled the ball beautifully when receiving and passing the ball but that was about it. Saturday AM the tube will be tuned in. It was a disappointing opening yes but there are still 2 games left. Nothing is locked in stone just yet in the ‘death group’. Nothing at all.

Every night I think it’s raining. Why? When the wind blows the palm trees sway. Their ‘branches’ hit it other often. Ding! My brain says “More rain?! Hum’dum rain!” Their texture works perfectly to create sound like a foley artist would dream about. I must admit it’s frustrating. I like rain so every now and then I’d like to SEE the rain I hear. Grah! Damn you trickery! Damn you!

Huge! Massive! Monstrous! These three words describe how large the serving size of a meal is at every restaurant we’ve eaten at thus-far. Stomachs fill up fast here in Hawaii. The idea of eating out everyday, twice sometimes, is painful. The practice actually IS painful. Thank goodness for the 7AM sunrise walk (2.5-3.0 miles). We walked it on the 12th and we’ll walk it tomorrow (6/14).

The gym is nice though overly crowded to please everyone. No, I don’t mean there it is always filled with people. I mean the number of machines available take up nearly all the space designated for the workout room. There is no space to simply stretch. Also for those free weight users don’t expect to bench anything because there is nowhere to set the bar up. Also don’t expect to do anything over 50 lbs. Other than those few things the space is excellent.

Back to the food thing again…

Ugh. Tummy so full! I had the THE best cheesecake I have EVER in my life tonight at Dondero’s (located on site at the Hyatt). Holy mother of cheese and cake that will ever be! I don’t expect to ever have anything this good in my life. The texture, flavor, the raspberry dip. My tummy say ouch and rumbles but my taste-buds shouted “More, more, more!” each time I took another bite.

Yuppers, the tum isn’t happy. Alas. = )

Kazi-sama! Yo! We met da hui and they offered us bread because we didn’t have any food. We didn’t fuck with da hui and they didn’t fuck with us. Today as the Poipu beach a particular da hui didn’t want to wait for us to back up out of a spot. Hey, they’re not all going to be nice right?

The story of how we met da hui is interesting and frustrating. Due to this experience we learned about a beach that the locals go to. A true B. E. A. Utiful beach on the south western coast of Kauai’i. Simply gorgeous. The road to the beach is nearly unmarked. If you were, hypothetically, trying to go to a state park, hypothetically that is, one might drive a dirt road for 5 miles. Then, at the tree, the big tree, you would, hypothetically, turn left to go to a hidden beach or right to continue to the state park.

Were you to follow for a couple more miles you would see various left hand turns directing you to the beach. Should you ignore these signs your vehicle would, eventually, drop you in front of… the state park. But don’t expect much more than beach. Yup. This is where the locals go to surf and to enjoy the sun.

One last detail about the tree. If you were to turn your vehicle to the left slow down. Sure you can drive 30-35 on the dirt road approaching the tree but after you turn get down to 2 or 3. As you roll into and out of the holes you’ll feel yourself and your rented car bouncing thanks to the canyon sized holes in the road.

I’m not exaggerating.

Had my first Shave Ice at Jo Jo’s Shave Ice in Waimea – Um, it’s really nothing special. It’s, you guessed it, crushed ice with flavor. Whoa. Pretty intense stuff. The small, 2 bucks, is massive. Remember what I said about serving potions. Same here. If you get one, share it with a friend or stranger.

Waimea Canyon provided us with the first opportunities for pictures. Many were snapped but due to a minor glitch in the matrix – aka I don’t have a cable to connect my camera to my PowerBook – pictures won’t be uploaded until our return to the mainland.

Heh. Mainland. I said to a customer service rep that I wasn’t in the US today. It feels non-US even though nearly everyone here is American.

Random stupidity. Four unfulfilling and frustrating phone calls to travelocity and two to the booking company proved utterly useless. The details aren’t important. All that matter is we wanted to go on tour of the Fern Grotto and recall added the tickets to the original order many months ago. They didn’t have it in the system. End of back story.

After the final phone call I asked emma to make a reservation with the concierge. She called and was soon put on hold. Within 3 minutes she heard the funniest and stupidest news. The Fern Grotto Tour is still not running and hasn’t been for the past 1 to 1.5 months.

?

Um, what?

Right. The lesson learned is – Ask if the tour is running. Be sure to ask the concierge as well.

It’s 22:29 and I’m beat. It is likely due to the Poipu beach fun. It wasn’t hours and hours but it involved our first ocean walk, wave bouncing, undertow, and other things that go along with a beach trip. I read Alice in Wonderland (chapter 2) while emma sucked in the rays.

It was a fantastic day. Tomorrow will be a heavily physical day because we both feel hugely bloated and need something physical in the day. Sunrise walk, weights, and then another 2 plus mile walk at Ke’e Beach (northern side). Head thump time.

06/14/06

It’s raining! It’s actually raining! Well, it was raining and that ruined the plans! Damn the plans! Alas.
We’re going to book the helicoptor tour today. Nothing above has been reviewed for any sort of logic or grammatical erorrs. I’ll do that later. For now, take it in and ask me what you’d like to know about Hawaii. If’n your curious that is.

Odd weather today. It looks mostly cloudy from the room. I’m in need of some food and some weights. 9:24 local time, we’re online because of the rain. Aren’t you fearless readers lucky.