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A Visit To L.A., Then Back Home

5/17/2022

Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

A VISIT TO L.A., THEN BACK HOME

...Continued from previous post:
On Saturday, April 16, Tom and I flew from Honolulu to Los Angeles to spend a week with our daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughters.
The following day was Easter, which I expect was what gave me the idea to have for the girls, if not an Easter egg hunt, an Easter gift hunt. I wrapped about a dozen little gifts that I'd brought then hid them around the house for the girls to find.

The Easter gift hunt was a grand success.

In the afternoon we went to the nearby town of El Segundo to a pretty outdoor mall called The Point,

...where we joined the crowd out enjoying the sunshine, blue skies, and balmy weather.

We had lunch at a burger spot called Hopdaddy,

...where I had a kale salad topped with an outstanding burger cooked exactly the way I like it: as rare as is permitted by law.

After lunch we drove back to Manhattan Beach where we took a stroll along the seaside walkway known as the Strand.

Among the scenery were some of the impressive homes along the Strand,

...and the cute neighborhoods of walking streets that run into the Strand.

The next day, Monday, it was back to school, back to work, back to all the daily things,

...the ordinary things,

...that are, somehow, so dear.

When the following Saturday rolled around it was back to the airport for Tom and I,

...then back home, 'til next time.

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Aloha Hawai'i, Then On To More Sunshine

5/16/2022

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

ALOHA HAWAI'I, THEN ON TO MORE SUNSHINE

...Continued from previous post:
On Thursday we were up before sunrise to drive to the eastern coast of the island,

…for another visit to beautiful Lanikai Beach. (See post from 4/25/2022, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/beautiful-lanikai-beach)

…where I once again left the swimming and snorkeling to the others while I waded in the surf and snapped the scenery.

On our way back to Honolulu we had to stop to take in the views from an overlook along the highway.

The following day, Friday, was our last day in O'ahu. Tom and I took a final walk into downtown Waikiki by way of the Maile Garden, one of the botanical gardens on the grounds of the Hale Koa that opens to Waikiki,

...the beach,

...then on to the city.

This day we walked a mile and a half down Kalakaua Avenue,

...to Kūhiō Beach Park, a popular stretch of Waikiki Beach,

...where the beach and the water were so crowded that I couldn't understand the attraction of the place,

...unless maybe for some folks the crowd is the attraction.

However Romaine and Stanley, in searching out a spot for a final round of snorkeling, discovered Sans Souci Beach, just a half-mile past crowded Kūhiō Beach, where there were few people and, they said, the snorkeling was wonderful, even better that day, they thought, than either Lanikai Beach or Shark's Cove.

On Friday night we walked next door to the Hilton Hawaiian Village,

...for dinner at the Hatsuhana restaurant,

...where we had some great sushi.

...and fish.

After dinner we took a last walk along the stretch of Waikiki that we came to think of as "our" beach.

...then once more around the grounds of the Hale Koa.

The following morning, Saturday morning, April 16, Tom and I said our good-byes to Romaine and Stanley then we joined those travelers saying their alohas to the Hale Koa.

We said our alohas, too,

...then left for the Honolulu airport.

But our aloha to Hawaii wasn't as sad as it might have been, since we were not flying straight home to Columbus, but would spend a week in Los Angeles, enjoying the beautiful sunshine there.

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Ono Kine Grindz At The Honolulu Farmers' Market

5/12/2022

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Enjoy the blog?

Check out the books!

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

ONO KINE GRINDZ AT THE HONOLULU FARMERS' MARKET

...Continued from previous post:
On Wednesday evening we went to the Honolulu Farmers' Market on Ward Street in downtown Honolulu,

...where one could procure both fresh local produce,

....and fresh-cooked, interesting ono kine grindz,

...which is Hawaiian slang for delicious food.

Romaine and Stanley tried plates of spicy duck noodles and nachos,

...while Tom and I split a couple of soooo tasty roast beef sliders with hot, crispy seasoned fries.

Ono kine grindz, we all agreed.

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The Kulu Kulu Honolulu Double Cream Puff

5/9/2022

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

THE KULU KULU HONOLULU DOUBLE CREAM PUFF

...Continued from previous post:
On our last trip to Honolulu in 2019 I discovered the Royal Hawaiian Center food court in downtown Waikiki.

What most interested me at the time about this food court was a little bakery called Kulu Kulu Honolulu that displayed the most charming little pastries.

Though I didn't manage to snag myself one of those pastries during that trip, I swore that if I ever returned to Honolulu I would.
And on this trip I did. Multiple times.
It was during our second week in Honolulu that Tom and I got into the custom, when there was time, of walking in the afternoon or evening from the Hale Koa into downtown Waikiki,

...where we re-discovered the food court at the Royal Hawaiian Center,

...and the Kulu Kulu Honolulu bakery,

...where we made the acquaintance of the Double Cream Puff.

How do I begin to describe the gustatory wonder of this confection?

The puff pastry was light and tender, and the cream...ah, the cream! It was sweet and rich and at the same time light and silky. It made your taste buds sit up and take notice. It was the stuff of dreams.
Which was what kept us going back to the Kulu Kulu Honolulu.

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The Waimea Botanical Gardens, Seven Brothers, And Shark's Cove

5/6/2022

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

THE WAIMEA BOTANICAL GARDENS, SEVEN BROTHERS, AND SHARK'S COVE

...Continued from yesterday:
On Tuesday, April 12, we drove to the north end of the O'ahu to the Waimea Valley to visit the Waimea Botanical Gardens.

The Visitors' Center,

...opened up to a trail that meandered through beautiful and lush tropical flora and fauna.

There were also facsimiles of village life as it would have been centuries ago on this part of the island.

The 3.5 mile trail - which seemed a fraction of the 1.6 mile Manoa Falls Trail we'd walked the day before (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-manoa-falls-trail) - ended at Waimea Falls, where, unlike at Manoa Falls, swimming was permitted in the pool at the base of the falls.

As Waimea was only a couple of miles from Shark's Cove, the good snorkeling spot Tom and I had visited the previous week (see www.ailantha.com/blog/sharks-cove-oahu), we decided to go there after we finished seeing the botanical gardens.
But first we wanted to seek out some lunch. This tuned out to be more of a challenge than we'd anticipated, as this was a rather rural area with little commercial activity.
However after driving around for a bit we caught sight set back off the road of a little cluster of eateries around a picnic area.

We opted for a promising-looking burger place called Seven Brothers

I ordered an intriguing-sounding menu offering: A giant onion ring over half an avocado, mushrooms and melted Swiss cheese with house dressing.

It was really good, and the French-fired potato slices were out-of-this world. The only problem was that I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to accommodate this mélange of a sandwich, so I had to go back to the counter and ask for some silverware. But that was a good problem.
After our delicious lunch we headed for Shark's Cove where the swimmers did some great snorkeling,

...while I snapped some great shots.

In the late afternoon we headed back through the Waimea Valley to Honolulu,

...and the Hale Koa,

...where we opted for dinner at Happy's,

...topped off by a nice walk around the grounds.

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The Manoa Falls Trail

5/4/2022

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

THE MANOA FALLS TRAIL

...Continued from yesterday:

On Monday, April 11, Romaine, Stanley, Tom and I drove half an hour north of Honolulu to hike the Manoa Falls Trail located in the tropical rainforested mountains of Koolau.

All the Hawaii hiking websites described the Manoa Falls Trail as an easy, kid-friendly, hike offering spectacularly beautiful views. Really more of a walk than a hike, they said, and only 1.6 miles round trip. You can do it in flip-flops they said.
Turned out the websites were lying through their teeth about the flip-flops and also about this being an easy hike for kids, unless they were referring to little mountain goats. It certainly wasn't an easy hike for human adults. At least not this human adult. All right, this old human adult.
However I had an inkling that this might be the case, as I recalled the time during Tom's and my 2015 trip to Kauai when we attempted to hike the Alaka'i Swamp trail, which the Hawaii guidebooks rated as "moderate."
  About 250 feet into the trail I, a veteran hiker of the 450-mile Spanish Camino de Santiago de Compostela, threw in the towel when faced with the steepest, most slippery and treacherous patch of rock I’d ever run into. (See https://www.ailantha.com/blog/two-hikers-in-search-of-a-trail).

Hence I knew that a description of a Hawaiian mountain trail as "easy" might not necessarily be all that easy. So just to be on the safe side we eschewed flip-flops for hiking boots and Tom and I even brought along our hiking sticks.

At the trail's entrance there was, among the information, safety warnings and interesting geographic and nature facts, this admonition:

I did the chant for the protection of the goddess. As it turned out, I would need it.
But not at first. At the beginning the trail was fairly smooth. if somewhat muddy, and we were not far along before learning one thing that the websites were altogether truthful about: the views were indeed spectacularly beautiful.

Apparently Manoa Falls was a filming location for "Jurassic Park" and also for the movie "Catching Fire." One definitely felt if as one could be in Jurassic Park.

Then we came to the T-Rex.
I'm not sure how far along the .8 mile trail we'd gone - maybe a quarter of the way, maybe a third - when the smooth, muddy path became a stony, muddy path,

...then morphed into a slippery upward slope of muddy monster rocks.

It was difficult. And, though it appeared that my mate and I were probably the oldest hikers on the trail, we certainly weren't the only ones who found themselves stopping to try and negotiate a path over and around the rocks. And we, at least, had hiking sticks to help us along.
I felt sorry for all the people - most of them, in fact, probably due to the garden path they'd been led down by the websites - who were inadequately shod for the slick, rocky climb.

However, those of us who made it to the top of the mountain were rewarded with the sight of Manoa Falls.

Upon reaching the top some of us queued up for our turn for a photo op.

We saw a couple of people ignore the warning signs and jump the guard wall to climb down to the bottom of the falls,

On our way back from the falls - this time a treacherous downhill trek - we crossed paths with a breathless young woman wearing a sundress and cute but muddy sandals dragging her way up the trail.
"Oh," she huffed, gesturing towards our walking sticks. "Are there any more of those sticks at the top?"
I was truly sorry to have to tell her that there weren't.

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A Visit To L.A., Then Back Home

Books By Patti Liszkay​Available On Amazon

​​A VISIT TO L.A., THEN BACK HOME

Aloha Hawai'i, Then On To More Sunshine

Books By Patti Liszkay​Available On Amazon

​​ALOHA HAWAI'I, THEN ON TO MORE SUNSHINE

Ono Kine Grindz At The Honolulu Farmers' Market

Enjoy the blog?

Check out the books!

​​ONO KINE GRINDZ AT THE HONOLULU FARMERS' MARKET

The Kulu Kulu Honolulu Double Cream Puff

Books By Patti Liszkay ​Available On Amazon

​THE KULU KULU HONOLULU DOUBLE CREAM PUFF

The Waimea Botanical Gardens, Seven Brothers, And Shark's Cove

Books By Patti Liszkay​Available On Amazon

​​THE WAIMEA BOTANICAL GARDENS, SEVEN BROTHERS, AND SHARK'S COVE

The Manoa Falls Trail

Books By Patti Liszkay​Available On Amazon

​THE MANOA FALLS TRAIL

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

A VISIT TO L.A., THEN BACK HOME

Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

ALOHA HAWAI'I, THEN ON TO MORE SUNSHINE

ONO KINE GRINDZ AT THE HONOLULU FARMERS' MARKET

Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

THE KULU KULU HONOLULU DOUBLE CREAM PUFF

Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

THE WAIMEA BOTANICAL GARDENS, SEVEN BROTHERS, AND SHARK'S COVE

Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

THE MANOA FALLS TRAIL