Giovanni's

Worth every bit of that long line.

If you're ever on Oahu, do yourself a favor and go wait in line to get some Hot & Spicy shrimp.

Yummy.


2016::: $13.00 for plate of 12 shrimpies and rice (or Mac salad) $6.95 for half plate.

Hot & Spicy, Scampi in butter, lemon -butter. One if those last ones has awesome garlic too.

Waimea Bay Surfing

We drove up to Haleiwa today so DD could do some shopping.

Big surf and lots of traffic.

Partly due to continuing rescue efforts for the two military choppers that crashed Thursday night but mostly for big surfing waves.

We finally found a parking spot and walked back down the hill above Waimea Bay.

There was a photographer right in front of us which helped lend scale.

Most of the beaches were closed because of the big surf. Waimea was open because of a surfing competition. Big, giant, powerful waves were all over the beach.

Lots of people, lifeguards, helicoptors from both the military and the Honolulu news.

We're going to get up early tomorrow to see another surfing competition a little north of Waimea.



There was about 40 surfers way out there. My camera can barely get to where the pod of surfers waited.

There were news reporters on jetskis also waiting.

All of the photographers on shore had bazoonga long lens on their cameras.

It is awesome to see the scramble of surfboards, trying to catch the wave for as long as they could.

It was even more awesome to view these giant pipeline waves that look like they could carry houses away.


The next photos are from a little bay where they teach surfing near Haleiwa.




Yes, that's a blue surfboard popping up into the air.





The locals would get past the first breakers on their long boards, then stand up and paddle out to where the bigger second breakers were.

They would use the paddle like a rudder or oar when they caught a wave and were able to ride it all the way back in.

With this phone app, I can't adjust the size of the photos. I think you can tap or click on them to make them bigger.





DS is trying to figure out how to strap the long board from the condo onto the Nissan Yaris - which the rental company calls a compact -similar to a Ford Focus.

Bikini

First Fabric

FabricMart in Kaneohe.










The reviewers on yelp said this location was the most friendly . Apparently, some of the other locations can be quite surly although I'd like to ascertain that for myself.


About an hour's bus ride from the condo, I discovered the Kaneohe post office was on the same route nearby as well as a grocery store to buy macadamia nuts to enclose in several packages.

Hubby was playing golf with his cousin at Turtle Bay --which actually never happened because the course was too wet from the rain. { Seriously? No one cancels anything for rain in Oregon }.

DD son & daughter were hiking Koko Head aka railwood ties straight up and Diamond Head.

Diamond Head turned out to be touristy with no available parking spaces (pay) and crowded. They went out for breakfast instead.

I found out TheBus goes straight to Kaneohe and FabricMart. (Fmart.com)

Oahu has an awesome bus system and out on the east side of Oahu it is pretty simple. $2.50 buys you a ticket to people watching.










After fabric shopping - I took some photos upon entering but then got overwhelmed with Hawaiian and japanese awesomeness.

The rest of the photos came from the counter at the post office as I placed them neatly crammed them into a medium flat rate priority box.

The post office was across the street from a grocery store where I purchased some macadamia nuts for two packages.

I sent some of the red thimble fabric to friend in Japan!




It's nice not to carry it around. If you didn't know it, fabric is quite heavy!

Prices at FabricMart were around $3.99/yd - $15/yd.

Very inexpensive. They had rayon blends, polyester blends and cotton.

Most of my fabrics were $5.99/yd or less.

They even had Cotton & Steele brand fabric for $9.95. Cheaper than I can get it in the 48.


I bought 4 yards of this reversible indigo wax print.



Another lady was buying it for Pareos - cover-ups. I loved the striped pattern and that it was reversible.


TheBus was filled - standing room only - with locals and the odd visitor/old person/ tourist. I hardly waited for the bus at all. The DS took the bus into Honolulu the other day - it took two hours and 99 stops.

You just go to Google maps app on your phone and plug in your start point and your end point and it tells you when to get off, when to walk, transfer, GPS, etc. It was very easy.

I had to do P.O. today as Monday is a federal holiday.

My other must-see fabric store is Kaimuki Dry Goods in Honolulu.

We need to send DD back to Anchorage tomorrow night. . .


Yes, there was an airplane print.

Hiking And Swimming

We got up early and drove south to the lighthouse hike.

Awesome short very uphill hike.

This photo above is looking downwards.

Apparently, this is a local mommy & stroller walk. We saw one mommy running her stroller up this 'mountain'. She stopped for a gulp of water and her toddler was all like, "Mommeeee, why are we stopping?" She shouts, "Mommies tired".
And off she goes, pushing that stroller uphill.


About a quarter of the way up, I discovered I'd left my phone (camera) in the car.

I sent the son back down as we were all envisioning a 'Smash & Grab' happening to our car. I knew I'd never make it back up again (steep!).

I'm pretty sure this is why I had kids. Lol.

Smash & Grabs happen a lot at Oahu parking areas and by the time he 'trotted' down, the lot was filled with police cars and two cars got broken into with glass everywhere.

Thankfully, not our rental car.


We continued up to the top and, boy howdy, is it hot to be climbing this steep hill at 8am.

We could see the lighthouse but the approaches were under construction.
DD managed it though.

We decided not to clamber down (easy) to the tidepools because it was obvious you'd have to clamber back up (we are not mtn goats).



Then we drove to the beach at the foot of lighthouse hill and discovered a 'locals' beach. Awesome snorkeling and people watching.





This green leaved plant helps to keep your mask clear & unfoggy




Found some sea glass and tiny puka shells.


We ate lunch at Zippy's in Kailua. Local Hawaiian chain with good local food.

We finished out our day at Kailua Beach which has shade (me!) .

Family beach. Floating in the water, not flashing too many people with our ghostly limbs.


There was a photographer doing a shoot with a Japanese Bride.






And, finally, dinner at the local spot Keneke's. Kalua shredded pork wrapped in poi leaves.


***no sunburn yet.

Found Me An Airplane

Pearl Harbor.

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

Bird of Paradise flower.




Found me a Stearman Kaydet.





Runway quilt at Pacific Air Museum on Ford Island.

Could be propellers.

Each block is hand signed at center by notable people.



C-47(aka DC-3)




Wildcat




I loved this B-17 display. Crashed with bent propellers.



P-40 Flying Tiger.



Bullet holes in glass panes from December 7, 1941.


We did the touristy thing today. Pearl Harbor.

National Park Service --this is a free thing to experience.


The Pacific Air Museum costs money but I learned, on the fly, how to pay for a Groupon deal on my phone to get a ticket deal.

Both were beyond awesome and worth doing if you're ever on Oahu.

So much aviation history, so much American history.

My new goal is to figure out how to take a Bird of Paradise home...

Day Two

Drive around Oahu today. Limited time in sun - acclimating.

Getting the low-down on planning our stay here. None of us are super touristy, so the North Shore of Oahu was appealing and Waikiki was a lot of people.


Got some places to try surfing and the beaches with less people and shade.


Stopped at the foodmart for mai tai supplies.