Pooks Canyon

 I am sitting on the plane getting ready to fly home. So excited to see Jon and Axel and the rest of the fam. Last night Robert and I had a last hurrah at Gen Korean BBQ in Honolulu. Robert said he’d been waiting to go there when he was with someone who knew how to grill meat. I had never been to Korean BBQ before, it was so much fun. We grilled chicken, pork belly, brisket, marinated steak, and shrimp. Robert took some photos of the action. Seasoning the meats. Shrimpies! This concludes the travelogue. See you all on the mainland.

 Today we set out with another trip to the Kountry Kitchen, in which I had the Elvis Waffle. The Elvis Waffle is a large waffle topped with peanut butter and sliced bananas and coconut syrup. Robert had a much more sensible omelette. Half of my waffle is still in the fridge. It will likely make a good dessert since it was sort of like ordering a cake for breakfast. Does it make it sound better if I mention that I also ordered a side of crisp bacon? Anyway, let’s just say I was well-fueled, possibly over-fueled, for the next activity. Surfing! Robert drove me out to White Plains, a great surf spot and ocean hangout, one of the several beaches here in ‘Ewa Beach. White Plains beach is part of the old Barber Naval Airfield and the rental concession requires military id. I got a sweet board (no soft top == no rash) and surfed until I was exhausted. Robert reported the total fee was $5. Other amenities available to military here at White Plains? Beach cottages ranging from 1-3 bedrooms,...

  Robert has been such a wonderful tour guide around Oahu. By far the most exciting thing was getting a private tour of the USS Hawaii, the Virginia Class Fast Attack Submarine that Robert spends his time on with the US Navy. Where do I start? First, no photos were allowed, but I found a pic on the interwebs for you, below. We started by crossing the brow and walking around on top of the sub, which as you can see in the picture, curves down toward the water. The surface is non-skid so traction was good. Then we climbed down a hatch inside the sub. There were crew quarters named after each of the Hawaiian islands (Robert stays in Hawaii, fancy) and each had a door curtain with the name and a large depiction of the island embroidered. Most rooms had six bunks each but more than six crew would be assigned and they sleep and work in shifts. Downstairs there were a bunch of torpedoes and piles of mattresses, apparently when they have extra guests they put up racks in there and the guest...

 Step one in making my way back from Maui was to go to Oahu and visit my nephew, Robert, who is on a rare shore leave right now. Lucky me. He also owns a house in Ewa Beach (pronounced evah) with rooms he rents and one of the rooms happens to be empty right now. So I am not staying on the couch. I relished my own room last night because I was quite unwell from Fauci Ouchie dose 2. Went to bed feeling rough, woke up at 1am with extreme joint pain in my left arm. The fingers in my left hand were painful to move. I was feverish and   sweating. Then, by 9am, all better. Well, 90% better. This morning we went out for brunch and split a Loco Moco and Mac Nut Pancakes. Yum! This is Robert as we were waiting for a table. This is a certificate my “shellback” nephew was issued upon crossing the equator. Today I get to go on board the USS Hawaii, the submarine my nephew spends a bunch of time on. No photos will be allowed, of course. Here is some more Navy stuff of Robert’s. He has appar...

 Today I took the rented GoPro out to try and film myself surfing. This was hard as I did not have a mount; I had to actually hold it in my hand the whole time. I did manage to catch one small wave on film, below. I apologize for the part where I paddle, the camera had to paddle also! Catching a wave. The view at Ukumehame.

 My mom said I should get a waterproof GoPro and film the turtles. Done :)

  I’ve got nothing much for you today. No surfing and mellow yoga, no one even did any splits. It is 4/20, which has become National Marijuana Awareness Day. This is celebrated by consuming such great quantities of cannabis that one is no longer aware of much of anything. I will give you a relevant New Yorker cartoon:

  Just when I thought the work Monday was going very smooth, at 4:30 mountain time I got roped into some after-hours work. What’s a girl to do? Take her laptop surfing. Okay, not on the board, but in the trunk. I paddled out for 45 minutes and then checked back in. Not the most relaxing way to play in the ocean, but better than no ocean at all. The view from where I was sitting on the beach. The waves were basic today, but I did get in some fun rides. I was playing the Narrabeen Classic (surfing competition) on YouTube this morning. These waves were not like those waves.  There were three young women out surfing with me, cheering each other on. They came here from Brooklyn on a work share program. Basically you volunteer to work on a farm for two months in exchange for room and board and surfing opportunities. They reported being very happy with their choice to work on a farm in Maui. Speaking of work, here is me logging in to work from my car.  Not the highlight of the ...

 Today was very relaxing. I started by not trespassing on Oprah’s land and then returning the bicycle. Then I walked to a 90 minute yoga class where the teacher revealed she was 57 years old. Later she did the splits.  One of my favorite sayings is this: you will never be younger than you are right now. I have so much gratitude for my 44 year old body and I have an intention to maintain that gratitude at any age.

 This morning started out with a plan: rent a bike and ride on a neat little road from Wailuku out to Julia’s Banana Bread in Kahakuloa. By the time I got to my starting point it was raining. Cyclists were literally pouring in, looking very wet. And I was to set out into this? I think not. Since I was in Wailuku I decided to browse this seven level antique shop, Antique Freak. There I ended up purchasing a small vintage painting of the desert by Annette Brovan, a US Navy - Hawaii pillowcase from the late 1940’s, and a racy Goya print - La Maja desnuda. My kind of souvenirs.  Sometimes you start off bike ride and end up shopping for art instead. After that, guess what I did? I’ll give you one guess. Yeah. Surfing! Ukumehame has become my happy place. It was raining there too but the turtles and I didn’t mind the rain a bit. On the way home I found a place selling Birds of Paradise flowers. I bought three just to look at in the condo. I don’t presently have any tattoos but I am...

 Today I finally lined up at the bakery in hopes of getting their famous pineapple croissant. No such luck, but I did find a solid quantity of carbs and butter. The line. It’s worth it. A German couple runs the place and they have both European and Hawaiian style bakers making the breads. I grabbed the second to last mochi cake because clearly it must be good. These are the shelves 90 minutes after they opened. Later I took a yoga class and it was crazy hard. Lots of Warrior 3 and Revolved Crescent Moon and the splits. When we got to the splits I was impressed to see the teacher’s perfect splits. Then I looked around the room and was even more impressed to see that I was one of the few people not doing perfect splits. These people were fit!  Highly recommend Tracey’s vinyasa class at Maui Yoga Loft if you are looking for an intense hour of unifying the mind and body via advanced contortions. My splits looked like a runner’s lunge. Class got out at 6pm, just in time for me to ...

 Work, surf, repeat. This is me after 90 minutes at Ukumehame (Ooo-coo-ma-ha-may). I practically had the place to myself. Surf was good up there. No wind, glassy waves, perfect.

 Today was work plus a little bit of disc golf. No surfing, maybe tomorrow or Friday. That SSW swell we had coming up from Australia seems to be petering out. I played in another doubles disc golf tournament (random draw) and hung out with more friendly people. My partner, Charles, has only been playing since the start of the pandemic but wow is he good. Big backhand and sidearm. Accurate. Straight, solid, consistent putting. I’d say he was playing some 950 rated golf. Very young and lots of potential. We shot -5 but the winners were at least -10. My partner Charles. Russel (putting) and Jim (a fellow tourist). They were the other two people on our “card”. Mellow round for sure. Gummies may or may not have been consumed. This morning’s breakfast/lunch from That’s a Wrap Cafe. Tamale rancheros. Gina makes the most delectable plates of food. I am very lucky to have her kitchen just a few steps from my door. This little guy was so cute, and he had a friend, but they were very afraid o...

 After spending three hours in the ocean, the rest of day I still feel like I am gently rocking. Today I had a guided surfing trip. We started at Ukumehame where the waves were nice and large but close outs (they crash all at once rather than from a peak moving diagonally). I had one spectacular wreck in which the board was ripped right off the leash. Good thing I’m so buoyant. My instructor was surprised at the big waves and thought some better breaks (not close outs) might be good. So we proceeded further north, where we infiltrated the gated community of Puamana and entered the water at a very sketchy area. All this in the name of some waves that were, um, above my pay grade. I paddled out very far and observed, not wanting to get dashed on a rock by naively picking up the wrong wave. It was beautiful but terrifying and I was not ashamed to nope out of it. One can learn by just watching, right? The Puamana break from above. The area to the left of the pool is where we entered an...

 Today was a much more mellow work-Monday than last week. At lunch I went to Foodland and bought poke, seaweed salad, and fruit. Not too much poke this time- I have learned my lesson. Speaking of lessons, every Monday I have a violin lesson with Jill Good, a performing violinist who lives on a boat in Massachusetts. She is a very good teacher but, man, do I have a lot to learn. I feel like that golden retriever trying to put two tennis balls in its mouth at once. I focus on one thing only to lose the other thing. Jill assures me if I just keep going it will all come together. I look forward to that. I drove up the coast after work on the hunt for the swell and I found much more than I bargained for. Even the area with the smallest waves had monster sets coming through. Got wrecked a few times but did manage to climb up on one of them. I had to be so much farther back on the board. Tomorrow I am road tripping to some waves with my Craigslist surf instructor Christopher. I am hoping ...

 Today I played in a disc golf doubles tournament with the Maui Disc Golf club. 32 mountain, ahem, volcano holes starting in the sun and ending in the pouring rain. My partner, Bettina, and I were in the mindset of “most fun wins.” If we were only counting birdies we would have been -2 lol. We birdied the “Ma’alea Slider” and “Return to Joes” (where I hit the pin with my drive). The holes have names instead of numbers. Course conditions with two holes to go. I was assured we were not in a flash flood zone. The Hitchhiker’s Guide rule of always bringing a towel continues to pay off.

  Today I met Carol, she is a kapuna which is Hawaiian for elder or grandparent. Kapuna also means ancestor as well as being a word for the source, or starting point of growth. I first heard Carol asking something of a young man outside the pool who walked away saying, “maybe later if you are still here.” Shortly after, as I exited the pool area, Carol asked me if I could carry her walker and grocery bag up the one flight of stairs. Of course! Was this what that young man declined to do? WTF. Carol bought her condo when she was my age, in 1981. She said, “back then I was full of energy and could bounce up these stairs.” She is still doing the stairs okay but dragging the walker and the groceries is too much. I gave her my number and hope she calls me to either help again or tell me stories. I did do some bouncing up and down the stairs today myself. Where to start, oh yeah, surfing!!! The swell is down, way down, in Kihei today, so I drove northwest. I stopped at this enormous beac...

 There is a rental car shortage on Maui. Apparently the companies did their usual sell-off only to find new supply short. People are renting Uhauls for lack of better wheels. Case in point The wild chickens, on the other hand, have no lack of wheels. This morning I caught one doing to the cluck of shame exiting the driver’s side window of this truck. And speaking of birds, there is the cutest little nest of squawkers I walk past daily. They are very loud when hungry.