The last few days of our trip!

July 6, 2009

Today we hung out with mom, grandma and my brother. Kind of a somber day.. We picked up flowers from just outside of Chinatown to my grandpa and uncle's graves. Grandma also got flowers for her brother's wife and grandpa's sister. We went to the Japanese cemetery (..not sure of the Japanese spelling, something like hakasho.. at least that's how it sounds like it should be spelled) first where all but my uncle are buried. It's very different from cemeteries here. We didn't take any pictures there, but I found one online that kind of looks like ours... here. Except it's out in the open with grass instead of tile, and our temple holds the wooden stakes you see behind the headstones. After we had gotten there, my mom was like 'Oh we should have brought beers for grandpa and uncle Wayne.' It's pretty common to see alcoholic beverage bottles along with flowers.

After the Japanese cemetery, we went to Punchbowl cemetery where my uncle Wayne is buried. It's the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. There always seems to be a problem with our container for flowers being missing.. but now the office has plastic ones you can use while they buy a replacement. Matt walked toward the edge of the crater to take pictures.. nice view of Honolulu/Diamond Head from here. He saw his first mongoose. We checked out the memorial, took some pictures. There were a fair amount of tourists/tour buses.

By this time it was around 2 pm, so we went to this place called Kenny's for lunch. Grandma always loves taking us here for lunch when we visit. The food isn't spectacular, but I think she likes it out of habit. While we were eating I noticed a sign for 'non-dairy' soft serve ice cream which I got really excited about. So we asked the waitress what it was made out of.. she didn't know, but sent someone else over. We asked him and he said it's made with milk... False Advertising at its finest. Bummer.

We went out to dinner pretty late since we had a late lunch. We went to Violet's Grill which is another spot we usually go to. They have pretty good local style food. I wasn't very hungry, so I just had tofu poke which is basically regular poke but with tofu instead of sashimi. Very yummy. Matt had a mix plate kind of thing with sashimi, ahi katsu and chicken katsu. We didn't do much after dinner. Hung out and went to sleep.

July 7, 2009

So the night before we slept awful! I got maybe 3 hours of sleep, and Matt didn't really sleep at all. We went to bed late and then had to wake up early. We went to the fish auction by one of the piers in Honolulu Harbor. The auction started at 5:30am and we stayed for an hour or so. It was crazy seeing all the fish being caught on a daily basis. Tons of tuna, swordfish, moon fish, some mako shark, mahi mahi.. There was even a barracuda! Restaurant chefs and fish market workers come to the auction to get fresh fish. It's freezing inside the building where they do the auction, but surprisingly it doesn't smell fishy. Outside there's a gigantic ice machine, where a guy was just filling these huge crates with ice. Being there makes you realize how much energy goes into commercial fishing.

After the auction we went home and passed out for several hours. The afternoon was pretty lazy. Getting little to no sleep the night before wiped us out. For dinner we decided on grilled vegetable sandwiches. I helped season the veggies and Matt helped grill them. They were some of the best sandwiches I've ever had! And it was just veggies and hummus (and I had a tiny bit of brie, I couldn't resist.. omg best cheese ever!).

We planned on going out after dinner, since it was the last night we'd be able to. We cleaned up quickly and then headed out, looking for a place to go. We ended up at this bar called Tiki's in Waikiki. Live music, good drinks, souvenir cups.. although mine broke on the flight back :(

July 8, 2009

Second to last day in Hawaii.. Uncle Brian, Matt and I went kayaking in Lani Kai on the northeast side. I was a little nervous about it since the weather report said 2-4 foot seas. It was also kind of rainy when we left the house. We went to the kayak rental place, signed some papers, then went to the beach where someone dropped off the kayaks for us around 9am. Very convenient. After we carried them down to the shore, we could see a squall coming in.. ack. Nevertheless, we set off for the Mokulua islands maybe a mile away. It was a little tough paddling against the waves while getting hit with rain, but we got to the island without tipping over which is always nice. Uncle and I put on watershoes, Matt didn't have any but his feet survived. We walked on the rocky the edge along the island. Matt and uncle went swimming in this creepy sort of cove that was protected from the huge crashing waves. It was a little too creepy for me, plus I was cold from the rain and didn't think the sun would be out soon to warm me up. I sat on the rocks and watched foam form on top of the water, then get blown up into the air, swirling around.. very amusing.

From here you can't continue walking around the island so we walked back to the front of the island where we landed. Put on sunscreen because the sun came out, then starting walking around the other side. There are protected seabirds that nest on this island which is why we're only allowed to walk along the rocky shore. We saw lots of bird nests.. kind of like burrows in the ground.. some had cute birds inside, I think they're Shearwater birds. We just hung out, threw the frisbee around. The nice thing about not so nice weather is that it wasn't crowded. After we had been there for a while, other kayaks starts to come out but only about 4. We had to have the kayaks back on shore by 1pm, so we headed back around 12:30. The paddle back was much smoother and more enjoyable. So glad it wasn't that choppy anymore!

After the kayaks were picked up, we went to Maui Tacos in Kailua for lunch. They messed up my taco again (although the first cheese filled bite I had was delicious) but fixed it really quickly. We went back to grandma's house and hung out for a little bit. Later on we went to dinner at my other uncle's house on the east side of the island. My aunt made sweet, sour spare ribs; oyster chicken; asian style nachos (sashimi, seaweed, green onions, natto on tortilla chips).. It was all so good! We brought dessert from Liliha bakery.. guava chiffon pie and coco puffs.. Delicious!

July 9, 2009

Our last day here was pretty laid back. We got lots of coffee and macadamia nut candy to bring home for Matt's friends at work and my lab. We also picked up manapua for the plane ride. Went on a wild goose chase looking for a box to pack our goodies in, but my aunt brought one home from work for us. The rest of the day we just spent time with the family and packed. Saw an amazing double rainbow while hanging out on the porch (lanai is hawaiian for porch).

Saying goodbye to grandma is always the worst. Never sure when I'll see her again. Hopefully she'll come visit this year. We're trying to get my uncle and aunt to come for a football game, maybe Florida/Georgia, which would be so much fun!

The plane ride back was much better than the ride there. Skinny, not crazy people sitting next to us. Didn't really sleep at all even though it's an overnight flight. Didn't eat much aside from a couple manapua. Felt the Florida humidity as soon as we stepped out of the airport.. welcome home!

P.S. I'll have Matt post the rest of the pics sometime soon!