Lu’au

In order to squeeze in some exercise today, I decided to walk down to Dragon’s Teeth also known as Makaluapuna Point. It’s an interesting lava rock formation and is right in front of the hotel. It’s a bit rocky, but a doable walk. Some photos below:









Since the hike / walk was so easy, I headed to the gym to finish off a workout and got ready to head to Merriman’s where the wedding brunch was being held. The restaurant had beautiful oceanfront views of Kapalua:



After the brunch, I returned to the hotel and then strolled down to the beach. The sand was soft, but the waves were pretty strong and generally very windy. After about an hour, I headed up to the pool and relaxed there. A photo of the beach:



I didn’t get to nap today as I had to start getting ready for the lu’au. All the wedding guests were invited to the Pacific Drums Lu’au at the Hyatt Regency. As we arrived at the hotel, we saw a beautiful rainbow that we were super excited about and the adults mentioned it was one of the best they’ve ever seen. But one of Mindy’s friend’s daughters who is 5 years old was not excited as she declared, “she had already seen three rainbows”. Here’s a photo of the epic rainbow according to the adults…



The lu’au dinner and performances were entertaining. As I had gotten the opportunity to learn a lot about the dance culture at the Polynesian Cultural Center last week, it was fun to see again.









During the lu’au, we all got up to watch the amazing sunset - the last of my two week trip in Hawaii!

As the sun sets on this amazing vacation, with a week in Oahu and nearly a week in Maui, and a day trip to Big Island in between, I have soaked in the Hawaiian sun and aloha to the wonderful island culture here while spending time with friends and colleagues. Family, or ohana as they call it here, is the one you choose sometimes and feeling grateful surrounded by friend-family and work-family for the various experiences, laughs, and memories on my last night in Hawaii…

Mahalo

I have felt grateful for this group during the pandemic, and I’m so grateful that folks were enthusiastic about coming to Hawaii. We had been planning for months and as we celebrated the reunion of friends as we were asked what we were celebrating several times, and even made a new friend, the last two weeks have been replete with memories. Also a special thanks to our Hawaiian resident co-hosts. I learned so much about the Hawaiian islands from their point of view and got to experience why they love it here so much. Their hospitality and graciousness overwhelms me as we work to relax and continue to learn from each other.

We also learned how to make texting stickers and a series was made using photos of Baro, our favorite corgi. As such, I say mahalo, or thank you in Hawaiian the only way I know how:



The morning started off with a final beach and pool dip. The beach was surprisingly warm and we found a heart shaped rock which we would only take a picture of as it is bad luck to take any rocks or stones from the island:



Baro and Team Musubi packed up the two cars and got ready to leave the Westin Nanea:







After dropping off half the team at the airport terminal and saying our goodbyes, I had scored a waitlist reservation at Mama’s Fish House which was about 20 minutes eastward. It had been recommended by several people and we had driven by it on our Road to Hana trek. The food was delicious and pricy, but I could see why people wait 6-8 months for a reservation.

Lunch included a broccolini and asparagus bisque amuse-bouche and I ordered Hawaiian Kanpachi which is like an amberjack in a macadamia nut crust and Tristan Island Lobster. For dessert, I had their famous warm banana macadamia nut crisp:



After lunch, I headed back to Lahaina and past the Westin. As my check-in wasn’t for a few hours and I could use some steps to work off the calories, I had sought out the Kapalua Costal Trail which is about 2.5 miles roundtrip:





It was pretty humid as it had rained intermittently. Good thing I had my new Hawaiian sweat towel!



Parts of the trail were very scenic and weaves through a seabird nesting area, so dogs are not permitted…





But parts of the trail weaves in and out of development areas, so the path is paved and many resort guests lounging around:







After the super easy hike, I had exceeded 11,000 steps so I felt very accomplished and headed to the Ritz Carlton to start the wedding festivity portion of the trip. I settled in and rested before the welcome dinner at FOND, a restaurant down the road where I showed up fashionably late. The bride was concerned I overslept from a nap, but I was just resting. No worries as I’m excited to celebrate the bride and groom and it’s fun to see my colleagues in Hawaii! We enjoyed the buffet dinner, cocktails, and photo slideshow and seeing the same people we met at the engagement party 8 months ago. But it’s now time to celebrate!

Aloha Friday

Each day it gets easier to wake up at 2:30 am and work east coast hours. But today was a half day because we had lots planned. Friyay!

After some toasted bread with kaya jam courtesy of the Singaporeans, we were off to our hike at Diamond Head which is a famous state park with a crater and beautiful views of the coastline.

The ascent wasn’t too strenuous, but you definitely bake in the sun and our entry was 10 am. The hike was about an hour total and brings you to the summit. Photos of the trek and beautiful views:





















After the hike we stopped by a convenience store and bought jerky and sausage and spam musubi to snack on, as if we weren’t Team Musubi….:



We then headed to Pearl Harbor for our 1 pm entry. I had specifically asked to include this on our trip and to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. I had learned about and seen so many images of this memorial over the years when heads of state of the US and Japan have paid their respects.

Over 1,000 lives were lost when Japan attacked the United States on December 7, 1941 and the attack led the United States to enter the Second World War. What was also interesting to me is that survivors of the attack have chosen to have their ashes brought here to rejoin their fallen brothers and those who had served on the USS Arizona, but were not survivors, have chosen to have their ashes spread here. Some photos of the solemn experience:



















Our original plan was to head to the beach, but we ended up at SALT, a shopping area which our co-host likened to Chelsea Market. We bought a few items and enjoyed some gelato and waffles.



Afterwards some wanted to go back to our happy place of Ala Moana mall and I headed to the building pool to rinse off the efforts of today.

Team Musubi got dressed up for the first time tonight as we had reservations at Prime Steakhouse. We enjoyed the local fireworks which occurs every Friday night and we feasted on steak, butter fish, scallops, and many sides paired with delicious wine:



After dinner we had grand plans to walk around Waikiki, but ended up at home eating mango and kiwi, as some of us were very tired. Nonetheless, we were happy it was Friday and like how we say Friyay, here they call it Aloha Friday!

Manoa Falls

After a day of east coast work, I was scheduled to scuba dive today while the rest of Team Musubi was supposed to hike to Manoa Falls. However, due to lack of people and a missing captain able to man the boat, my scuba dives today were cancelled.

As such, I joined the rest of the group for the hike to Manoa Falls after a fried rice breakfast with egg and spam. But first, we had to run some errands and there was some hanging out in our 8 person minivan. Here we’re having fun waiting with Baro in the car:



We also enjoyed some coffee at Honolulu Coffee. I ordered a Hawaiian latte with coconut and macadamia nut syrup, but the barista called it mac nut. The coffee shop also had a cool vibe and was quite expansive:



We made our way over to the Manoa Valley which was near the University of Hawaii. We started our hike which took a little less than a hour round trip:



The foliage again reminded me of the scenery in Lost…





Here are the falls which didn’t have a lot of water because it’s the dry season. Indeed a stark contrast to Niagara Falls where we had visited for a weekend trip a few weeks ago:



To celebrate the end of the hike, we enjoyed some Dole pineapple drinks from a food truck. It felt very Hawaiian.

Then our co-hosts drove us to the Tantalus lookout which had breathless views of Waikiki, Diamondhead, and the ocean. Baro even enjoyed the view as he hopped up onto the wall:







At home, we snacked on some bread and dumplings with ketchup which were surprisingly good. After resting and washing up, we walked a few blocks to Ichiriki which is our co-host’s favorite shabu shabu restaurant. We enjoyed sake samplers, noodles, extra sausage and tofu. We were told the chanko set was the best and we all shared and ordered similarly.







Then after dinner, most of the group enjoyed lychee soft serve, but I was too stuffed from dinner.

Another Hawaiian day with eating, hiking, and hanging as Team Musubi!