I am currently ensconced at some friends' house on the north side of Oahu. I came here yesterday afternoon; the morning was spent with my friend L on the big island. She had a pediatrics conference this week that she wanted to register for, so I rode with her to the Mauna Lani resort on the Kohala Coast, about 45 minutes from their house. It was a pretty drive - sunny, like most days on that side of the island are. The landscape is amazing, with huge stripes of lava rock alternating with patches of green. In some places there are scrubby plants growing out of the lava rock. It makes for a study in contrasts.
We arrived at the hotel and parked in the shade. The hotel was impressive, massive, and rambling with a bridge from the parking lot to the main lobby that ran over a water feature filled with large koi fish. We stopped to look at them and they swam over and started begging for food. It was funny - I didn't know fish could beg.
She signed in for her conference (she planned to attend the lectures today and later this week) and we walked around the back of the hotel to the beach. The sand there was pretty coarse, and a mixture of black lava rock and white coral bits, so it looked as if the entire beach was coated with salt and pepper. We walked along the beach a bit and then sat on the sand. I noticed the coarseness of the sand and with careful observation one could find tiny shells, like the ones that come from Ni'ihau. We sat together for a few minutes, talking and picking tiny shells out of the sand. L was excited because she hadn't seen them there before, and planned to bring her boys to beachcomb. In 20 minutes we had something like a teaspoon each of shells, so the shore was not being significantly depleted thereby.
We drove over to another spot and walked through the Puako Petroglyph Archeological District, and into this creepy-looking forest to find some petroglyphs in the interior. The woods would have made a great haunted forest, and it was shady and fascinating. It's amazing how the petroglyphs here are so similar to those we saw in Utah and Arizona this summer on our family vacation. I suppose they have to be simple if they are to be carved in a rock.
After that we drove to Kona, and walked around, did a bit of shopping, and I saw where the Ironman finished. Then back to the house to have lunch and pack, and she drove me to the airport. The airport in Kona is very open-air, more so than the other airports in Hawaii I've seen. It's surrounded by lava rock and looks pretty desolate. There are gates, but the planes load from the tarmac, also different than other airports.
The flight back to Oahu was short and uneventful and my friends R and P picked me up, and we went "for a drink and pupus" at the Haleiwa Lounge, which had beautiful decor and the food wasn't bad either. I had a very nice root beer. Out pretty server was left-handed and had the nicest dimple on her face.
Then we came back to their house and P worked on making some leather bowls for an upcoming craft fair, and we watched and discussed part of the Republican debate. Interesting. I made some chain maille pieces and then went to bed (after writing last night).
Got up this morning almost 2 hours earlier than I had planned, because I heard P walking around, and I decided just to get up. I had gone to bed at 10:30 (yawn). I think I will go to bed a bit earlier tonight. We have some plans for today but I'm not yet sure what they are, so I'll get back to you later.
blessings
w
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