La'ie Falls Hike, gardening, cat(s), Mt. Tantalus

Aloha!

I've been lazy in my blog writing and I apologize. Hopefully you'll find this blog sufficiently interesting to make up for it.

Everyone in Sam's CE squadron were required to hike up La'ie falls trail today for a fitness challenge. It took us 3 hours round trip. It was a good hike, very pretty, but the falls weren't that great. The water was muddy and the falls weren't that big. It also didn't help that when we got there all the guys stopped for a smoke, clouding our fresh air. It's another 2 hour hike to the summit. We almost did it except that Sam had to be back to work by 1 pm, so we had to turn around. A little bummed we didn't. 

 These got mixed up a bit. This is us at the falls. I looks so gross....

Local Hospitality 

Atop one of the mountain ridges. It sheers off on both sides. 

Nope, don't know these people, just looking back on the trail. 

I think this is the only guy who swam in the falls. Like I said, kind of muddy water. 

This was a cool part of the hike. We were enclosed by these trees that looked like mini madrones. It got really muddy through these parts. 

The damage- and this was only at the half way mark!

On our way back we stopped for some grub (literally) at the "Shrimp Shack". I ordered spicy garlic shrimp and Sam got the coconut shrimp. Both were really good. Mine was a bit messy because I had to suck and peel my shrimp free. Worth a stop for anyone in the area.

Oh, and we saw this store on the way...

When I got back I decided that since I was already muddy and gross from the hike to finish up planting in the front yard. I've developed a love for growing things. We have a vegetable garden outback, including cucumber, tomato, a pineapple plant, bell peppers, and beans. It's growing really well. It's amazing what you can do with a little sunshine and water. 

I've just about completed the front yard.

Ta-Da! So let me tell you what I did. If you'll remember, Sam repositioned the cement stones into their current configuration. We then filled up the space with left over grass clippings as filler and top soil. I wanted our yard to maintain that tropical feel, so I planted golden duranta (which I love- can't you tell?), which usually grows into a bush, but I'm going to try and keep as low as possible (ie, ground cover). I don't remember the name of the bright red plant- I've been googling it and I can't find the name. Anyone know what it's called? Next to it are Hawaiian green ti plants. The palm trees were already there when we moved in.

It took me some time to figure out what to do for the next patch. I didn't want to recreate the same plant work in the other section, but I wanted to tie in similar elements. I did that by including the golden duranta again. Next to the golden duranta are two celosia plants. They can grow to a good size, about 2x2 feet. In front of the bright blue pot are two dwarf/Mexican false heather plants. They got a little thirsty being out in the sun, so you can't see their bright purple flowers, but they are there and they look great. Hickam has a no "no planting" policy that a lot of people ignore and they let you get away with for the most part. They still don't let you plant trees, so I'm not sure about what to do with the two palm fronds. I might risk planting them or find pots for them. Overall, I'm proud of myself! I can't say I have a green thumb, because I only just planted them- heck, they may all be dead in a week (knock on wood).

And the tail-end bits of the blog.
I finished reupholstering the outdoor lawn chairs. The fabric doesn't quite match like I thought it might in the store, but eh, anyone who sees them will know we've been to Hawaii! Our owner Scruffy (he adopted us, not us him) made it his new hide out. I don't mind so long as he doesn't pee on them. I smell pee it's dead kitty for dinner. 

Don't look so innocent cat. 

Scruffy has also attracted a friend we've affectionately named crack head- okay, that's not his real name. His actual name is "the cowardly tiger" because he has stripes. We called him crack head because he has big, wide eyes, and he's very skittish and has jerky movements. Basically he acted like a cat on crack. We've now decided that he's just very timid, hence the cowardly tiger.

My photography skills leave much to be desired.

Anything else...Oh! Sam biked up Mt Tantalus last week. I would love, love, LOVE to live on Tantalus, heck with the commute. The city is tiresome, and the wind and the views are amazing. It's not a far out dream because people do live on the mountain. It's quite an amazing sight to see these homes resting on the ridge of the mountain, taking a beating from the wind. There are several hikes around Tantalus and I'm excited to do them all.

Living the Pono life,
The Groovers

Girl's Camp and other randomness

Aloha!

I recently received a church calling as a young women's advisor. As such, I got the chance to attend Girl's Camp this year. Girls Camp is a chance for girls 12-17 years old to "rough it" for 4 days. They learn survival skills, make friends, go on hikes, eat tons of junk food, get minimal sleep, and have camp devotionals. It was a unique experience to attend girl's camp as a leader in a predominantly polynesian stake. Our group is the only "haole" ward, which put us white folks in the minority. What a great experience! Once we broke the ice and got to know everyone, it made girl's camp so much fun, and so rewarding. I made great friends with the leaders in my ward and the girls. The camp schedule was a lot more lax than when I went to camp, but it was better that way. We had more time to socialize and to play in the ocean- and how many camps get to do that!!! I boogie-boarded until my abs hurt and water poured out of my ears (any surprise I'm sick now?). I didn't take as many pictures as I should've but here you go.

Setting up Camp

The girls made our camp a banner and pasted cut outs of ourselves on it. I asked them to make me one and this is what they made. My nickname for the rest of the camp was "Sister Groovy", which is preferable to sister Grover. 

It takes a lot of time and patience to organize a camp and to get a bunch of teenage girls moving. Don't even get me started on bathroom trips...

 They set up their tent themselves!

 To show I was there.

Halawa Ward Leaders. I'm the one pulling the "shaka"

This video sums up the experience.

The polys are so friendly- they also have a really dry sense of humor. You can't always tell if they are teasing or being serious. I just laugh because they could seriously beat me up. A few girls brought ukeleles on the hike and gave songs on the radio a Hawaiian flare. That's definitely a skill, let me tell you.

And finally, the food- don't worry, I didn't eat eveything on my plate!!
Even so, operation "diet" is currently in effect.

Each ward (and there were 9) represented a different country- ours was Korea. We made "Chop Chae", a glass noodle dish. There was also vietnamese, japanese, phillipines, malaysia, hawaiian, United states, Portuguese, Thai, and one other I'm forgetting. So what's on my plate you ask? Let me tell you.
1) Green thing in the middle: Lau Lau. A hawaiian dish in which you wrap a meat of your choice (usually fish) in taro leaves and cook it all day. The leaves take on the consistency of spinach. I didn't find this particular laulau very appetizing.
2) The gloopy stuff on the bottom was very tastey. It's a type of banana mash tapioca. Once you get past the consistency it's pretty good.
3) The stringy brown/red stuff top left corner is cat food. Okay, not cat food, but that's what I'm calling it because that's about what it tasted like. I don't think anybody liked it. It was a stringy meat/bean mixture that was waaay too salty.
4) The noodles up top is Chop Chae. Pretty good stuff.
5) The green pea stuff top right is a portuguese. I've had it before and I keep wanting to call it "sabogado" but I'm not sure that's the right name. It tastes like a bright tomato paste mixed with peas and meat. It's okay.
6) The fried looking stuff with ketchup is supposed to the "Japanese" food dish. I've never seen anything fried like that at any Japanese food court. Tasted fine though.

What's hard to see on the plate is a macaroni salad and a light fried rice.
In the bowls:
1) The blue bowl is a vietnamese dish made of white noodles and a very light broth-like soup. It reminds me of a very light chicken noodle soup dish with a subtle hint of spice. Not bad, but maybe a little bland.
2) The white cup is full of a thai coconut soup with chunky pieces of chicken. Any good Thai restaurant worth its salt serves this dish. It's one of my favorites (although this version wasn't quite up to par).

What you don't see on my plate that I loved was a plain dipped in coconut milk. Very yummy and easy to make. You pour a can of coconut milk into a pan then bake biscuits right on top. Wa-la coconut biscuits. Very delicious.
Overall a fun time at Girl's Camp, but I'm definitely happy to be back in my home with a bathroom within a 1/2 mile of where I sleep at night.

So here's the random catch-up part of my blog.
Our Commissary is prepping for the London Olympics. Can you tell what they used to make the designs? I was impressed.

Your tax dollars at work :)

Kaena Point, Memorial Day, fruit hunting

Aloha!

I'm listening to some Dean Martin, totally gets you in the blog writing mood...right? Okay, maybe I should try the Hawaiian station- wait...okay, there. Now I'm feeling the palm tree vibe (as opposed to the mobster- Italian vibe).

Some of Sam's coworkers invited us out to Kaena Point last Saturday. Kaena point is at the northern/western-most point of the island. It looks something like this:

Obviously, I didn't take this picture myself- thanks to google!

The road ends about two miles before you reach the point, so you have to hike on out. We had grills and coolers, so we didn't make the hike, but set up camp along the beach on the northern side. The beach wasn't very boogie board friendly because of a strong shore break, so we tried snorkeling. There wasn't anything to see, so I don't recommend this spot for snorkeling, but it was fun to get into the water and swim around. I got so much water in my ears here! I tried the rubbing alcohol/vinegar trick, but no luck. I definitely have an ear infection, but it's not too bad, so I'm waiting it out.

"King of the rock, and there's nuttin' you girls can do about it."

;) Name that movie!

Showing off the Dole plantation shirt. Chris W, I know you want one!

There wasn't anything in the tide pools- Oregon totally has better tide pools!

I wish I'd taken a picture, but some of the guys brought fish spears (the three pronged kind). Our hunter/warriors shot some tropical fish for us, but since they were about 3x3 inches big and tropical they threw them back. I don't think "catch and release" works when you use a spear. It's more like "I just eviscerated your innards, but here you go fishy! Go be food for the sharks."

The Air Force had the Friday before Memorial Day and Memorial Day off, so Sam had a four day weekend. On Monday we joined up with our friends Dave and Amber Washer (I don't have a picture of them, sorry!) to the Pearl Harbor Memorial.We'd been to the USS Bowfin, but hadn't been to the Arizona yet.

The flags at half mast.

Okay, I can't take the Hawaiian music anymore- too sappy. Back to some Dean Martin. Ahhhh, better.

For anyone wanting to visit the Arizona, walk in tickets were free. I showed up at 8 am the day of and got 4 tickets for the 9:45 tour. It's a self guided tour, so if you want a little extra they offer an audio tour for $7.50 a piece. Sam and I paid for the audio tour, but I didn't find it very informative. They show a 20 minute video before they take you out to the memorial and I found that much more informational and moving, so I would save your money and not bother with the audio. That being said, if you go on the Bowfin, you definitely want the audio tour because it's good (oh, and if they tell you to play the "100s", play the "200s" instead. They "200s" are better- you'll know what I mean if you go).

The Arizona was busy and so distracted from some of the somberness of the memorial. Still worth seeing if just to see the video before. I would like to take Ralph out to see it if he hasn't already.

Coming off the boat to the Arizona Memorial.

 

A piece of the Arizona sticking up out of the water.

It's deteriorating significantly because of the salt water.

I really like this picture. Looking through the cieling of the memorial at Old Glory.

1,177 men died on the Arizona. 900 men are still entombed below.

This lighted opening looks out onto the water and is called the "Tree of Life".

A marine stands guard.

It's hard to see, but the black stuff in the water is oil seeping from the Arizona. They don't clean up the oil because to do so would desecrate the site. Some people refer to the oil as the Arizona's tears.

Playing on manly machine...stuff.

On the USS Bowfin.

And finally, about Hawaiian fruits. The base has tons of fruit trees if you know where to look. Our fruit hunt started when we discovered that the tree in our back yard is a macademia nut tree.

Next, we found our first mango tree. After finding this tree, we found an alley we've affectionately named "Mango alley" for its abundance of mangos.

We made mango lassi drinks. Lassi is an Indian drink made of mango, 1 cup yogurt (I used Chobani), 1/2 c milk, 2-3 T sugar, and lemon zest/1/2 squeezed lemon. I topped it with homemade whipped cream and lemon zest. I also put left over mango at the bottom of one of the glasses to eat whole. Yummy in my tummy!

Later Sam found out it's a pomelo tree. A pomelo is a type of grapefruit. I learned that pomelos are mated (right word?) with tangerines to make tangelos. We didn't get to taste it because it wasn't ripe yet. When it's ripe it should look like this:

Ours looked like this:

And because this cracked me up.

And only Frank Sinatra could use "asbestos" in a song and make it work. Geesh.

I Won't Dance

"When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle
'specially when you do the Continental
But this feeling isn't purely mental
For, heaven rest us, I am not asbestos"

Maybe I should stick with the Hawaiian station afterall :)