More adventures with Uncle Ken and on to Maui

Sorry, I've been a little behind here, still haven't found a cord to import the pictures into my computer.

So, anyways, after I posted last time, I put away the computer and continued drinking in the hotel bar. I don't think I mentioned that I had been drinking while blogging, but I had, and Jenn and I just continued drinking.

I had a drink called a "Poi Pounder" which is really just guava juice and rum, but it's tasty.

I was also drinking Tanqueray and tonics (the bar didn't have Sapphire) and by the last drink I was pretty drunk. I told jenn I couldn't taste the gin. She took a sip and said it was like a forest of pine trees in her mouth.

At this point the bartender, Wade, asked if there was something wrong with the drink. I assured him that the problem lay solely with me.

Jenn also had a variety of tropical drinks, which she says she doesn't normally drink, that's why I had to take a picture of said drinks.

This is the "Lava Flow"

This is Jenn with a "Banana Cream" which is an alchoholic smoothie.

This is Wade, our excellent bartender.

The next day (Saturday) my Uncle Ken again toured us about the island. We went around Diamond Head and continued along the coast to Hanauma Bay where we took many photos.

We stopped at the Halona Blowhole and while the blowhole was not as spectacular as supposedly it could be, I still got a few good shots.

Uncle Ken wanted to stop for a swim, so he did a bit of body surfing while Jenn and I stuck our feet in the water.

After that we continued around to the windward coast and stopped for plate lunch at Keneke's in Waimanalo. Then we took Interstate H3 back to the Honolulu side and went to see if Great Uncle Kazu was home.

He wasn't, so we head up to A'iea Heights to see if Great Uncle Kiyo was home. He wasn't either so we headed up to Kea'iwa Heiau State Rec Area where we went for a hike on the trail there. We didn't know exactly how long the trail was, but we headed out, Jenn and I not very well prepared to hike, as I was wearing my Crocs, and Jenn, her leather sandals. The hike did afford us some awesome views, and picture opportunities, and even some birdwatching.

We got to about the halfway point, ran across a couple hiking the opposite direction on the loop, who asked us how far it was. We said about 2 mile, they said it was roughly the same from where they had started. I had an ominous feeling when I realized how much of the second half of the hike was downhill. I knew we'd have to go back uphill to regain some of the altitude we'd lost. We did eventually end up at the bottom of the valley and had to climb back up to the trailhead. We were very sore after that.

Coming back down the mountain, we stopped for a drink. Jenn got an Arizona Iced Tea Green Energy Drink which she made me take a picture of as it's unusual.


We then stopped back by Great Uncle Kazu's house. He was home along with Cousin Glenn. We talked and they fed us. I had to give Uncle Kazu my dad's email. Uncle Ken dropped us off back at the hotel after that.

We stopped for a drink at the hotel bar and then went to the Sheraton Moana Surfrider to the Beach Bar for a drink as that's where John and Jason from the other night work. We got drinks underneath the banyan tree and eventually moved to the bar where John gave us another drink on the house which makes up for the fact that the 3 previous drinks cost $25. Well, our previous drinks were pretty strong, but the last one from John was really strong. It was GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN! and tonic. Like four molecules of tonic. It was a very drunken walk back to the hotel.

Yesterday, Sunday, was my birthday. It was also one our interisland travel days. Uncle Ken picked us up from the hotel after we checked out, and we stopped by this store, Don Quijote, which is full of everything from food to electronics and clothing and anything else. It's the sort of store Dad loves, but Mom hates.

Then we walked through the Ala Moana Center which is a cool open air mall that has fish ponds down the middle. Then we headed out to a swap meet at Aloha Stadium. There were many deals to be had. I bought some car decals, another Aloha shirt, some board shorts, a beach towel and also car seat covers for the Saturn.

We got dropped off at the airport, had some lunch, and flew here to Maui. We got shuttled to the rental car place, and waited for a while for our car. We were supposed to have a Tore-ass, but the one they were going to give us was all dented up. Instead we got a Grand Prix. It's a better choice.

We drove down here to our condo, got to the office just in time to check in and then went for a swim in the ocean at the beach across the street from the condo complex. It was excellent. Then we went for dinner at Sansei, which is a very nice Fusion Cuisine restaurant. I had a grilled ahi, which was really good.

Today, we drove up Haleakala. It was really spectacular at the top. On the way up we stopped for lunch at the Kula Market, and while eating there was a lady giving a job interview, and she was like, really, like, new-agey. It was kind of funny. Anyways, we made it to the summit, and took lots of pictures, which eventually people will see.

It's hard to describe what it's like at the top of Haleakala, but it's almost like a different world. It's surprisingly cold, but it's 10,000 feet up, so that's part of it. There's just so little vegetation or any other life, other than the tourists. Very starkly beautiful though.

We came back down the mountain, had some dinner at Maui Tacos, shopped a bit, and went swimming in the pool, and now I'm just finishing up this post on an unguarded wi-fi router. Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, but I'm sure we'll figure out something.

Aloha.