Surfergolf or Surfershop

Picture perfect day

Without a big activity planned for the day, I initially planned on Surfergolf II. In the morning, I found Chava (see earlier blog post) and for $20 got a surf board for 3 hours. I also confirmed an earlier thought that Chava will say anything to make things sound better than they are. Examples: I checked out the surf before I found Chava and saw that it was smaller and less consistant than Monday. But one of the first things Chava said was, "It's much bigger today." Then while taking a break, during which time the surf had dropped to almost nothing, Chava remarked, "It's high tide so the surf will start getting better now." Unfortunately, you can't BS a guy with an iPhone who's naturally skeptical. Sure enough, high tide was 90 minutes away, which meant it wasn't getting better any time soon. He also recommended that I stay away from the next break east, "It's only two feet deep and has lots of sea urchins." So as soon as he left, I went to the next break and surfed some nice waves for another 30 minutes. In the grand scheme, it's no big deal that Chava "Tells it like it's not," I also lied to him when I said that I'd been surfing a dozen times.
While I surfed, Luella made plans for the rest of our afternoon. So instead of Surfergolf, I ended up with SurferShop as we headed to Kapaa to shop for tchotchkes, gifts, and souvenirs. Alas, being the good husband, off we went. We found some good stuff. One of the more interesting places was a bamboo store that sold bamboo timber of any size for crafts all the way up to construction size timbers. I thought that was cool. I could easily imagine Luella designing some piece of furniture that I would have to build out of bamboo. Sadly, this place is much further than our local Home Depot.

Banyan tree's outside of Keiko's Paradise

We finished the day at Keiko's Paradise. According to our guide book, this place is either loved or loathed for it's over the top fake polynesian decor. Having been weaned on the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, I loved it. I even had the ribs and chicken just like the RH in LB. We had a great table with a view of some spectacular banyan trees out front. The Hula Pie for desert could literally feed a family of six (as the next table demonstrated). Fortunately, they had a "Chef's Bar Menu" size that "only" had about as many calories as my LoseIt app said I could eat the whole day. You're not in Kauai often enough, so LoseIt had to be spurned.

Down time

At the midway point in our stay in Poipu, our bodies (and good vacation convention) dictated that we have some down time. So while the picture is of an endangered monk seal taking a nap on the beach, it could have been us. After breakfast we took naps. After lunch, we went exploring and found Maha'ulepu beach (aka Shipwrecks) which seemed like a good place to take another nap.

By mid-afternoon, we were recharged and visited a Farmers Market on the way home. There we bought a mango for $4. As I tweeted at the time, I'm fine with supporting local farmers, but do we have to pay for his Lexus?

Luella also bought some fresh shrimp, salad, and green beans that she transformed into a gourmet dinner. (Thanks Luby!)

Before dinner, my frenetic vacation style was back so I was able to sneak in a sunset run.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Lawai Rd,Poipu,United States

Never to old to discard long held self-convictions and Surfergolf

On Tuesday morning I (Luis) took a private surf lesson. I rationalized the touristy nature of this exercise by convincing myself (and hopefully my readers) that it's no different than a golf lesson - an expert with a good eye for the sport tells you all the things you're doing wrong. Unfortunately, like golf lessons, you inevitably try to fix every flaw on every wave (or swing). My instructor was Chava Greenlee, a professional surfer, surf-school owner, and motocross rider who competes in Surfercross (Day 1 Motocross, Day 2 Surf competition at San Onofre.)
So after watching me get up on a few waves, Chava suggested that I change my stance from "Goofy-foot" to "Regular-foot." Now, I have a 35-year history of goofy-footing, going back to my first skateboard, through snow-boarding, and surfing. And Chava was asking me to mix it up? As you can guess from the title of this post, regular stance was a success. My takeoffs were generally smoother, which made for better take-offs and riding more waves. Who knew? Maybe now I'll start to vote Republican too! Nah, the Republicans are "Goofy-brained" right now.

In the afternoon, Luella and I completed our version of "Surfergolf" with a round of golf at Poipu Bay Resort Golf Course. I really enjoyed the round. The course was in excellent shape and the rough was tightly mowed (just like us "Resort" golfers like it.) The course offers great views of the cliffs to the east of Poipu, Shipwrecks beach, jungle mountains to the north. and 180 degrees of ocean to the south.

We wrapped up the day with drinks and appetizers at the Grand Hyatt Resort. It's a pretty amazing property. We had front row seats for the Torch Lighting Ceremony. But this also meant we had no overhead protection when the beautiful rainbow morphed into the tropical rain. Still, a running for cover from a rain storm during vacation, always makes for fond memories.  

Non-native plants and other creatures

Tuesday morning was our kayak trip up the Wailua River. The trip included a hike to Uluwehi Falls (ironically aka "Secret Falls" but the crowds tell you otherwise.) Having had our introductory kayaking lesson a week ago with our friends in Newport Harbor (Thanks Deidre & Tim!), Luby and I were old hands.
As the only navigable river in Polynesia, the Wailua is broad and slow moving. It was easy to imagine the rivers in "Love in the Time of Cholera" looking like this when GGM's book was based 100+ years ago (Mental note: When I produce the remake of the movie, since the first version was so universally panned, use this as a shoot location.) Paddling upstream was actually much easier than facing the headwinds on the downstream paddle.
In a few miles, the river narrows so that the jungle canopy meets overhead and the kayak "steerer" (me) had to try (unsuccessfully) to keep the "stoker" (Luby) from running right into hanging vines. You can imagine how that conversation played out.
The jungle hike up to waterfalls was slippery and full of lots of flora and fauna descriptions and stories  from our river guide Renee. She is with Kayak Wailua (Thanks Nora for the recommendation.)
Everyone at Kayak Wailua was fun and friendly. We really liked our guide, Renee. Like most guides, she was full of facts, trivia, answers, explanations, and opinions. We'd read in our guide book that a lot of what local guides tell you is either incorrectly passed down or just plain made up on the spot. We learned a lot from Renee, but I couldn't help wondering if she was just making stuff up. I know I would, if I were a river guide.

Renee clearly loves Kauia and is really protective of the island. She particularly disdains non-native, invasive plants and animals. Of course, she's okay with non-native tour guides (as she is from Indiana by way of Brooklyn). Oh well, we all have our inconsistent beliefs.

The waterfall was spectacular. The water was brisk but not freezing cold. Standing under the falls (hoping not to be hit by a falling rock) was a rush.
The entire trip was 5 hours and a great value for the price. We wrapped up the day with snorkeling at Poipu. Great fun.

The Old and the New

On Sunday, we attended Mass at St. Raphael's, the oldest Catholic church on Kauai. The first Mass was celebrated on Christmas in 1841. The church building, seen to the right, was dedicated on October 24, 1956. While our Mass was held in new church building, very modern open-air Hawaiian style, daily Masses and 7:00 a.m. Sunday Mass is still celebrated in this building. It is impressive that the building has withstood 150+ years of this rainy place. 

From the old to the new, our next stop was the new Wal-Mart in Lihue to stock up the condo with food and supplies. We've talked with some "locals" who feel that Wal-Mart is destroying local commerce and local farmers (hardly a fresh accusation). The local farmers are fighting back by strongly promoting farmers markets. We also did our part by buying some things at Living Foods. This place is a "Whole Foods meets Hawaiian food prices." They actually sell a dozen eggs for $9.00+. In this case, we had to opt for the Wal-Mart eggs. 

After some snorkeling at the Beach House reef, we cleaned up and had dinner at Merriman's. This restaurant is also new in Poipu. They specialize in locally caught seafood and locally grown vegetables and produce. Our meals were spectacular. The ambiance and views were great. If you ever eat here, try to get a table on the veranda. We weren't able to but if we had, here would have been our view. 

Half hour before sunset. The ocean view is to the left. 

Naming Chickens

Okay. Enough social media rants. Our Hawaii trip started off much better than our last trip. Not only did we make it in time, we were able to stop at the Hubers for some of my mom's buñuelos before heading to LAX. We made our flight as did all our bags.  Always a welcome sight when your golf clubs are headed up the luggage belt.

Our flight was uneventful other than the 65 children on board. I got to sit next to George (dad) and Georgie (4-year old with 35 toys for this flight alone). I spent the flight reading, napping, and retrieving characters from "Toy Story" that had dropped (been thrown) under my seat. 

Awesome view on its own but better from upstairs. 

Our condo in Lawai is spacious but on the first floor. Consequently, what could be an awesome view is a small ocean peak-a-view.

As Cecilia knows, Luella and I play a modified game of "Punch Buggy" on our vacations. The idea is to pick something common to the location we're visiting, e.g. nuns in Rome, etc. For our Kauai trip we decided to create the "Punch Chicken" game. Every time someone sees a Kauai feral chicken, they can the pop the nearest person on the arm. After beating each other's arm senseless in the first few hours of the game (in other words, the feral chickens are everywhere), Luella decided she would rather give each chicken a name based on their looks and personality. So that's our new game, create meaningful names for all the local chickens. With that, I present to you Justin Timberlake Chicken. 

Social Media Overload

Welcome to our travel blog for our Kauai trip in July 2011.


Since our last travel blog in 2008, a lot has changed in the social media world: Facebook has exploded, Twitter, FourSquare, Instagram, Google+. So while this is my first blog post of this trip, I've been updating every thing else with absolutely no plan or purpose. Think of a quip? Tweet it. Snap a photo? Instagram? Arrive at a cool restaurant? FourSquare. All the while pushing out to Facebook, but never consistently. Consequently, I haven't a clue as to the best social media strategy for documenting this trip. Should Facebook get everything? Nah. Too annoying? Should Instragram get all the pics? Nah. Distribution too narrow. So I haven't figured out the best strategy. If anyone has worked out a good plan, please add a comment. For now the blog will contain the detailed itinerary, and the long-form musings. All the other platforms will get what they get.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Maui Trip 2008 Checklist as of 5/29/08

OK, what have we done on this trip? Let's see...

• Golf at Makena South Golf Course (check)



• Spend time at the condo pool reading and relaxing (check)



• Explore Kihei, Wailea, and Makena on the southside (check)



• Luis did the Heleakala sunrise bike ride (check)



• Full day snorkel trip with stops a Molokini and "shark fin" off Lanai (check)



• Dinner at Mama's Fish House (check)



• See and investigate lava tubes (check)



• Road to Hana trip with hike up to falls through Bamboo forest (check)



• See beautiful waterfalls and black sand beaches (check)


• Swim in a pristine secluded tropical pool that we had virtually to ourselves (check)



• Watch the sunset from the beach while enjoying the view and discussing our future together (check)



• Play 18 holes at the Planation Course in Kapalua (check)



• More pool time at the Ritz Carlton (check)



• Cool Luau dinner and show in Lahaina (check)



• Spa treatments at the Ritz (pending)



• Plans to find a little island home for Luby, preferably in Hana (pending)

Stay tuned...

Old Lahaina Luau

Aren't we cute? Spent the morning working on our laptops (yuck!), but rallied by lunch to go down to the pool. Luis brought his laptop an continued to work, but I turned mine off. The weather in Kapalua is definitely different on this part of the island. The wind hasn't stopped blowing since we got here. All in all, Kapalua is beautiful, but I've never been a big wind fan. With some sun by the pool and a few drinks, it still didn't suck.

This evening we went to the "Best Luau on Maui" according to our guide books and have to say we really enjoyed it. It was low on the cheesy factor, the food was pretty good considering the number they had to serve and the show was great. It wasn't your typical... here's the pretty girls dancing and now let's get some of the other yahoos up here to join them and look stupid. This show actually told about Hawaiian history with their dance and was entertaining and informative. Very glad we booked this one. The location is Maui is nice and the sunset was beautiful.

Hike to Waimuku Falls

On Memorial Day we took the hike to Waimuku Falls in the Haleakala National Park. This trail takes you from the ‘Ohe‘o Gulch (aka Seven Sacred Pools) up the Pipiwai trail to this 400 ft waterfall.

So while hiking to a waterfall is cool - it's not exactly a once in a lifetime experience (think Yosemite, Yellowstone, etc.). However, along the way we passed through three bamboo forests. With clouds passing overhead, the trail was almost dark due to the density of the bamboo. Now we're talking once in a lifetime. Also, if bamboo is really as eco-friendly as we hope (?) then we're converts.

On the way down, we swam in one of the pools formed by the waterfall stream (sorry no pics). Also, one for the memory book.

Hana - Luella's idea of Heaven

Once we got to Hana, we found the Bamboo Inn. It was rated pretty well in the guidebooks, so we took the chance. It's a small place with only 3 rooms available to rent. One is a hotel-type room with a bed and small lanai. The other is a small suite that has a separate bedroom and living area, all on ground level. The one they had available for us was the one bedroom, two-story suite with kitchenette. The price was right, so we hoped for the best.

When we drove up no one was around, but there was a notice board with an "ARRIVALS" area. In an envelope were directions to the Naia Suite and the keys. We let ourselves in and within about a minute I decided that this is what heaven will be like when I die. Look at the video and see what I mean. This was exactly what I had hoped all of Maui would be like - comfortable island decor, soft island breezes, the sound of the waves on the beach right outside my door, no noisy traffic, tourists or TV's. We went off to the two stores in all of Hana to pick up supplies for dinner - just the basic necessities: some wine and cheese for happy hour and steaks for grilling later.

I told Luis that if I ever ran away from home, this is where I'd be. A little later I changed it to "when" I run away from home. He exchanged emails with our host, John, just in case he has to track me down some day.

The Road to Hana

After Mass at St. Theresa's, we packed up enough for our overnight trip to Hana. We decided to follow the advice of our many guidebooks and not try to do the trip in one day. I totally agree now that we've done it. Getting there is most of the adventure! We put the top down on the Mustang and headed out - Luis driving and me navigating via mile markers and guidebook maps. The view from pretty much everywhere is amazingly beautiful - whether you looking at the coast and beaches or driving through the tropical countryside. One town (Kahiku) was described in the guidebooks as "plant heaven" or where plants go when they die. Everything is so colorful and lush, you can "almost hear the plants giggling with joy."

There hasn't been enough rainfall this year, so the waterfalls were either underwhelming or nonexistant except for a few, but it didn't put a damper on the journey. At one black rock beach I was totally mesmerized by the sound the rocks made when the waves receded. The water clicked them together and it sounded like they were singing. I just sat their on the beach listening while Luis went exploring.

Luis had me join him in a lava tube (scary for us claustrophobes), but only the entrance was small and dark. It was actually very cool, once we got inside. There was actually a couple inside eating a picnic lunch, so they took this picture.

Oh yeah... and the pulled pork tacos at a roadside stand along the way - the best ever! We stopped there again the next day on our way back to Kihei.

First Communion - Hawaiian Style

Sunday morning we joined the community of St. Theresa's in Kihea for 9:00am Mass. Luis really loved the the island-style Jesus on the crucifix. I loved the children making their first communion along with the rest of the community. Definitely a packed house, but they did a great job. Even with the Hawaiian liturgical dance at the end, Mass was still over by 10:10am.

It was the feast of Corpus Christi and although the pastor wasn't the best public speaker, his message was great. He summed it all up in one word, "potluck." That's what we do - we all come together for a meal and we all bring something special. I loved that!

Haleakela Bike Ride

There are few things that are worth getting up at 1:30 AM. Seeing the sunrise on top of 10,000 ft Haleakela is one of them. The van picked me up at 2:10 AM and I was on the summit by 5:30 AM with Haleakela Bike Tours. After the sunrise, the van took us down to 6,800 ft level and we rode bikes down to sea level (27 miles). This particular tour company lets everyone ride down at their own pace. So in some parts it was screaming downhill and yet I was able to stop for coffee too. Very cool and lots of fun.

Drive for show

There's nothing like a new, hi-tech, oversize driver to improve your drives and enjoyment of golf. That's what happened to Luby. She loved her new TaylorMade driver and boy was she smacking some beautiful drives when we played at the Makena Golf - South Course. The course and the day were spectacular.

Despite our best efforts to goof it up . . .

. . . we made it to Maui. We left late for the airport, didn't allow enough time for traffic, and stopped at Starbucks anyway. The killer, though, was that United Airlines has a separate, long, slow-moving, line for those unlucky saps with paper tickets. "Paper?!?", you ask. "When did you buy the tickets? 1982?" No. We bought the tickets after Aloha Airlines took our money and declared bankruptcy! In the aloha Aloha Airlines rush, all we could get was a 2-stop, multiple airline, fare. And airlines that don't play nice together still issue paper tickets for multi-airline trips. The paper line alone took 60 minutes and it we weren't even close.

Good thing that Luella had the grace to ask Fr. O'Gorman for a blessing before leaving. Because United was able to book us on a direct flight to Maui that arrived more or less at the same time as our original flight. Whew!

So we're here. Condo is nice. Instead of a weather update I will tell you about WiFi coverage - Not too expensive $40/week but they've clearly limited upload speed. Essentially, you can read your email but not reply easily. Ah, the trials of 2008, can't really disconnect, vacationer.

More posts to follow. Aloha. Luis

Vini, Vidi, Visa

Our last day in Rome started with a brisk climb to the top of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Cecilia and I arrived at the "Cupola" line a few minutes after it opened so as to avoid the lines and the crowds. With nobody to slow us down (except some German pilgrims that we eventually passed), we made it to the top in just a few minutes. We were rewarded with some exceptional views and wide open vistas to take as many pictures as we wanted.

We arrived back down to the inside of St. Peter's just in time for 9:00 AM Mass. Although it was in Italian, we think we figured out the Gospel reading although had no clue as to what the priest preached about. Still, Cecilia did attend her first Mass at the Vatican (which satisfied one of my Godfather checklist items.)

Later in the morning we met up with Gail Fiegenbaum and her daughter Phoebe, who is a classmate of Cecilia's from Crossroads. We had also met them last night for dinner. Gail works for the Getty Research Institute and has lived and visited Rome many times. She took us on a tour of the Trastevede neighborhood of Rome. The highlight was a visit to St. Cecilia's of Trastevede. The church as a very dramatic sculpture of St. Cecilia in the posture in which she was found back in the 1800's, complete with the wounds to the neck and her hands in a trinity gesture. Here is a picture of the altar with the sculpture underneath. Despite being somewhat gruesome, we thought it a good thing for our Cecilia to see her namesake and the patron saint of music.

Finally this afternoon, after six days of mostly sightseeing and pilgrimage activities, Cecilia was able to take part in some activities much more natural to a teenage girl: shopping. Cecilia, Gail, and Phoebe took a cab to the Spanish Steps and shopped their way all the back down to the Tiber River (with barely an alley unexplored). Cecilia bought some very hip clothes and a cool leather jacket.

As I write this, our trip is coming to a close. Cecilia was so tired that (after packing) that she fell asleep in our bed. (I guess I will sleep on the sofa after I post this blog.) She has been a really super traveler – lots of fun, very interested in all my Roman, Italian, Catholic information (I have been nicknamed TGTG – Tour Guide Tio Guiso), lots of energy, and good spirits. Her company has been as much a gift to Luella and me as this trip has been a confirmation gift to her. We pray that she may get to make many pilgrimages to Rome in her lifetime and that the things she saw and learned here in Rome make her faith stronger throughout her lifetime.

Cecilia and Luby’s Happy Place

On Friday we visited Hadrian's Villa outside of Tivoli. Hadrian created an extremely sumptuous villa in the first century AD with dozens of buildings, baths, pools, libraries, banquet halls, etc. The ruin that most appealed to Cecilia and Luby was the one shown in this picture. Hadrian created this private retreat surrounded by a circular 15 ft wide moat with draw bridges that he could pull up. He retreated this "island" whenever he wanted to get away from the other guests at the villa. Naturally Cecilia and Luby thought this was an awesome idea. They immediately started to figure out how to pull it off in their current homes. While the final designs are not finished, I have been told that Luis, Caroline, and Emma will not have access to the drawbridge (Bogey is invited).

Deep pursuits and light-hearted pursuits

We got a very early start again this morning and went back to one of our local cafés for café lattes. The café's barrista/counter guy is very "Italian" cranky but his latte's are really good. When properly caffeinated, we headed off to St. Peter's Basilica. Although we had been in the square several times, this was our first trip inside the Basilica. It was nice because at 7:30 AM the crowds were still very light. Cecilia was impressed with the size, scale, sculptures, and especially the mosaics. The picture here is of Cecilia touching the foot of the ancient bronze statue of St. Peter.

At 9:00 AM, we went around to the South entrance for our Scavi Tour of the archeological excavations under St. Peter's. The tour starts at "ground" level (one level below the floor of the current basilica) and goes down from there. The entire tour is in tunnels that have been excavated out from under the current basilica. This tour is not for the claustrophic as all three of us had little bouts sweats and palpitations. Fortunately the information that we were learning was so interesting that it quickly took our minds off of the surroundings. The first part of the tour is of the ancient cemetery that was buried during the construction of the first basilica in 320 AD. The archeologists have uncovered about seven of Roman aristocracy burial tombs. However, as you get closer to the burial place of St. Peter, you begin to see early Christian burial tombs. The highlight of this section was seeing the oldest known mosaic image of Christ.

We then moved farther west to the area where St. Peter was buried. We first saw the marble table that the early Christians built around St. Peter's remains (the view from the south looking north.) Next we went to the west (looking east) and saw the head chapel (named because the altar is right next to where St. Peter's head would have been (albeit on the other side of the ancient wall). Finally, we moved around the north (looking south) and were able to look into the opening where St. Peter's bones are encased in a small glass case. Truly amazing. None of this is visible from the "public" side of St. Peter's. In fact, the guide books don't mention that Peter's remains are actually several feet to the north from where you would expect when looking down from in front of the altar. To end our tour, our guide led us in a prayer. The experience brought some members of our tour group to tears. Even Cecilia was "crazy-impressed."

After such an intense morning, our afternoon was given over to much more light-hearted pursuits. We walked (and walked and walked) through a couple of miles of Roman back streets visiting dozens of little shops and boutiques. We are happy to report that Cecilia found a leather purse (not quite the leather purse) and a cute pair of hot pink leather gloves. After so much walking, we decided to relax at a sidewalk café on Via Veneto to watch the Romans, tourists, and cute little cars go by. Cecilia decided she either wants a Smart Car or a Short Bus (picture included here) for her 16^th birthday. Luella and I brought her to Rome so the Smart Car (or Short Bus) gift is going to be up to Chris and Nora.

Spanish Steps

After we got back from the Piazza Navona we came back to the apartment to rest up a bit before heading out on the evening outing. Of course, a bit of shopping was planned, but with all of our Internet problems, blogging took a lot longer that expected and we missed out on that. Our walk to the metro was pleasant and so was the ride. We took the metro to the Spanish Steps but because there was nothing to do there accept for see the really cool view (pictured left) we caught a cab over to the Colosseum. It was CRAZY. It was like Mr. Toads wild ride. He zipped in and out of alleys so narrow (made even narrower by the dinner cafes) that you wouldn't be able to open your door four inches without hitting a table. After about three near collisions we got to there instantly mobbed by street vendors. No, I do not want a fake flower. It was really fun though.
- Cecilia

Piazza Navona - "Check!"

Not only is Piazza Navona a great place - charming, historic, vibrant, fun - but it was REALLY high on Nora's checklist of things Cecilia needed to see. I told Cecilia that I was afraid that if we did not take her to the piazza for a caffe latte, Nora would send us back. Cecilia thought that was not such a bad deal but we got her there anyway.

Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict is giving a reflection in Italian right now. Six monsignor's read the begining of John's Gospel before his reflection. This is very cool. Even though it is still very hot.

We are sitting in St. Peter's Square ROASTING! We got here early and with Luby's church lady instincts and skills were able to grab great seats. This picture is an un-zoomed view of the chair where Pope Benedict will be sitting in a two hours. It is super hot and poor Cecilia is wilting. She made friends with a nice girl from Chicago who loaned Cecilia an umbrella to shield the sun. I will try to post another blog when Benedict actually arrives.