Sunday Morning Edition.

Ok so I've never really been one to go to church. I still consider myself a spirtual and god loving person. So I've come up with an idea. Every Sunday I am going to walk the Kailua Beach and pray and reflect. It is a nice walk and takes about an hour. What better way to connect with god then to be in his great outdoors! This Sunday was a beautiful and I took a few minutes to take some pictures of my new church.

Hawaii Bridal Shower.

The wonderful ladies of the Charlotte threw me a bridal shower at PF Chang's. The food was good and the company even better. Since the boys are all gone it was the prefect excuse for a ladies night out. My sponsor, Melissa, planned the event and I can't thank her enough. THANK YOU MELISSA! I recieved some wonderful gifts as well and I can't wait to use them!

 

The wardroom ladies.

After the shower, Melissa and I were joined by Alana, the birthday girl and Diane. The four of us walked around Waikiki. Now as some of you LOST fans may know, Saturday was the premier night in Waikiki. There were having a party about a block from PF Chang's. When we exited the resturant the starts were showing up for the party. I saw the back of Hurley's head, thats about as much action as I saw.

 

The LOST Fans. Hurley's head is in there somewhere!

PS- For my non-navy people wardroom is a term referring to officers on the submarine as a whole. Ther is a more techincal version, but this is how we used the term.

Trash.

The theme for this week's edition of Fifty-Two Wednesdays was trash. Another strange theme. So I began look at trash cans and walking around my complex to find litter. I must admit that the grounds keepers do a great job around here picking up trash. None was to be found. Then I remembered that Wednesday was trash day.

The trash men came roaring up my hill to get the dumpsters. As soon as I could see it come around the bend I couldn't help but think, "wow, that looks like a big yellow jacket." I find this fitting as yellow jackets always seem to gather around trash cans.

Peacocks.

So if you walk around my neighborhood you will probably run into some of the wild chickens. Which so graciously start to crow around 3 am. I think the are a little confused, ok or just plain stupid. On occasion, if you go for a morning walk you can see the wild peacocks. Check them out.

Hickam and it's wildlife.

Missing Man

This week I went to Hickam and took a few shot out on this point. This is located on the channel for Pearl Harbor. When I was looking in the water I saw some interesting creatures.

Sea Turtle!

I hope this sea turtle doesn't run into any of the submarines. I guess it was a little lost, there aren't really any beaches this way. Maybe it was after some fish....

Can you see the Sea Slug? Its the redish thing in the water. 

I remember sea slugs from snorkeling. You can pick them up, they are kind of velvety, but you do not want to squeeze it. You will be sorry.

I can't get over how pretty the Hibiscus is here!

That is it for now! Check back soon!

It has to End Somewhere?

A water tank that marks the beginning of the trail. 

 So we decided to go hiking again. This time on the Likeke Pali trail, which begins on the old Pali highway and takes you to one of the tunnels on the Likelike Highway, or so our book says....

Old Pali, you can barely see the cobble stones.

 The beginning of the trail was really pretty. In the first half mile or so you go though a monkey pod patch.

Monkey Pods.

Then you come upon these waterfalls and pools of water. I climbed up one of the boulders to get a better look at the falls and naturally got stuck there! Luckily after some coaching and JJ climbing to get me, I was able to get back down.

Upper and lower falls.  

We continued on the trail, our book said that in about two miles we would reach the tunnel. We walked up and down old stream beds that had dried up. Slowly ascending up the mountains, we passed by a boy scout camp. We found an old shelter that someone must of built a long time ago; Alana decided to check it out.

Alana in a hole. Alana in a tree.

Then we came upon an area with these huge trees. We think this is the arboretum we were told we would pass. There were also spots with great views up there, although, it was a voggy day.

Beautiful tree.

Please excuse the Vog.

Then we went through a bamboo forest. At this point we knew we had gone over two miles. We figured the trail would eventually take us to the tunnel. We started to be able to hear the highway, but couldn't seem to find it. The path narrowed, but was still marked. We had to walk through brush that was on the path, which at this point was more of a ledge then a pwth. You didn't want to slip at this point, the tumble didn't look fun. We were debating whether or not to turn around, we had gone for a long time. We decided to move on since we knew that the trail would end near the tunnel. We were rather certain that we could get to the likelike overlook and have someone pick us up! Problem was we could still hear the road, but couldn't see it.

At this point we were waiting for the trail just to end and we would need to return to where we came from. Finally we saw the highway, but not anywhere close to the look out. So we continued on the path. Then JJ says, "That's it! It stopped." In disbelief Alana said "No! It can't end!" and she pushed JJ through the bush. Sure enough, we found the path again. It lead us under the highway and we reached an access road. We figure this would take us some place where we could be retrieved. Eventually, we came out on a paved road which was part of the Botanical gardens.

In the end we never saw the tunnel, but I don't think we will go back anytime soon to find it!

 

Tunnel Vision.

Queen Emma's Summer Palace.

So this week's photo blog theme was the letter Q. Which is difficult when the Hawaiian alphabet only has 14 letters, and you guest it, Q is not only of them.  The only thing I could think of was Queen Emma. There are a few streets and places here named after her. So I decided that I would go to her Summer Palace that I've passed several times on the Pali Highway.

I arrived right as they were opening at 9am. It is not what you would think of a royal home. It is very modest, comprised of only six rooms! There really isn't even a lot of things in the house. There is beautiful Hawaiian furniture made of Koa. I'm sorry, but inside photography is not allowed so I do not have images of the inside.

I did get to take some pictures in the gardens and has many of the native plants. There are these wonderful trees. It really is a beautiful home and is located in an odd area. It almost looks like it is displaced.

 

Native Plants.

 

Hibiscus.

 

Bird of Paradise.

I love the texture of these palms.

The house.

Now my disapoint with the house. Can you believe that don't sell a ton of Queen Emma souvenirs? I was really looking forward to a key chain or magnet or something! Oh well!

Mornin' Light.

I

I just love the morning light over the water and mountains here.

Birthday Bash.

I had a wonderful birthday this year! I want to thank everyone for their well wishes. I felt very loved on my birthday and it wasn't just the martinis!

So for my birthday we started off Saturday night by going to Lucy's in Kailua. The food there was amazing! We had a lot of seafood appetizers including a calamari steak, which I suggest you don't really think about! ha! I had a chocolate martini and some lycee martinis which was interesting, I had never had one before. It looked like a melon ball in the glass, but unpeeled is a very odd looking fruit.

Strange huh?

After a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday and a chocolate cake and ice cream concoction. We traveled back to our apartment where we carried on until 4:30 am! That was a surprise! Security was only recieved two noise complaints, so I guess thats good! haha!

Wii Playing!

On my birthday I jumped out of bed before my alarm went off! I'm not sure how this happened. I guess I was excited for the next Birthday phase, Champagne Brunch! This was fabulous! I wish I had pictures! We spent a few hours at the Ala Moana looking around. We are still in the hunt for wedding rings so I talked JJ into go to Tiffany's and Harry Winston's. No purchases. 

New FABULOUS bag from JJ!!!!!!

Sub charms! So cute!

JJ and I ate on our lanai and watched the sun set over the mountains. JJ also surprised me with a birthday cake. I'm so glad I didn't have to make one!

 

The View! Photo of the Day!

 

Red Velvet! yummmm.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Diamond Head.

 Action Shot! This was the first time I tripped, while taking the picture!

Saturday I went with a group to hike Diamond Head. It is not a difficult jaunt, it took us about 90 minutes round trip. The hardest thing about the hike is remembering to look down as you walk. You can't ready walk and admire the view. I will let pictures speak for themselves. Below is a little bit of history and info about the hike.

The boys. (JJ, Jeff and Art)

The girls. (Me and Alana)

 

Love the lighthouse! Look at the color of the water! Photos of the Day!

 

Honolulu.

 

Are you seeing double?

The way back down.

The most famous volcanic crater in the world is Diamond Head, located on the South-east Coast of O'ahu at the end of Waikiki overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was originally named Laeahi by the ancient Hawaiians. The name meant "brow of the tuna" and looking at the silhouette of the crater from Waikiki, you can see the resemblance. The current name came was given to the crater by British sailors in the 1800's. When they first saw the crater at a great distance, the calcite crystals in the lava rock appeared to glimmer in the sunlight. The sailors mistakenly thought there must be diamonds in the soil. Diamond Head is a crater that has been extinct for 150,000 years. The crater is 3,520 feet in diameter with a 760-foot summit. When the United States annexed Hawaii in 1898, harbor defense became a main responsibility. One of the major defense forts, Fort Ruger, occupied the Diamond Head Crater. A battery of canons was located within the crater providing complete concealment and protection from invading enemies. An observation deck was constructed at the summit in 1910 to provide target sighting and a four level underground complex was built within the walls of the crater as a command post. A 580-foot tunnel was dug through the crater wall to provide easier access to the Fort.


The observation deck and underground complex is now abandoned with the advent of radar but evidence of the command post is still present along Diamond Head Trail. The trail is paved almost the entire way but can be steep in spots.


There are two sets of stairs, one with 99 steps and the other, 76 steps. There is also a 225-foot unlit tunnel. The hike is classified as easy to moderate in exertion but is certainly worth the breathtaking, unparalleled view of the entire west side of the island, from Waikiki to Koki Head.