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Aloha! Part III: Land

May 5, 2010 in Drinking, Eating, Exploring, Shopping, Traveling by Colleen | 3 comments

This final Hawaiian post is a long one.  Grab a beverage or a snack and sit for a spell, won’t you?  We’re starting out in Hale’iwa on the North Shore, the surfing capitol of the world.  There are lots of charming shops selling all kinds of goodness, and equally charming people.  We’ll definitely be back here.

Action shot!  The North Shore seems to be the shave ice capitol of the world, as well.  If I do say so myself, our combination of lemon, coconut, and vanilla was pretty darned awesome.  Soft, almost creamy, no ice crystals, and that touch of vanilla ice cream in the bottom of the cup was divine.

Anahulu stream bridge in Hale’iwa.  I love bridges.

A cute cottage for island living.

Smack-dab in the middle of the Dole Plantation.  I have never seen so many pineapples!

Highway 99 south to Honolulu.

Dining at the Kapiolani Farmer’s Market.  We indulged in an omelet with asparagus and island sheep cheese, super refreshing sparkling beverages, macadamia flower honey from Kaneohe, and abalone.  Despite being slightly worried that we were the only haolies in line for them, they did not disappoint: garlicky, buttery, slightly chewy, a bit like escargot.  What a pretty bit of “garbage,” as well.

The Kapiolani Community College (the location of the farmer’s market) has one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen.  There are a myriad variety of flowers…

And cacti…

And more flowers.  This was actually part of a hedge.  A hibiscus hedge.  It is paradise, after all!

This amazing banyan is the neighbor of the Iolani Palace.

The Hawaiian Crest, it reads:

Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono

The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness

The grand entrance to the Iolani Palace.

Still pretty grand is the back entrance, where our tour started.

The barracks – can you tell Hawaiian royalty was deeply influenced by Europe, and, in particular, Great Britain?

What a fine porch to take in a luau…

Or wait for a tour wearing our special shoe covers.  No photos allowed inside.  Trust me, it was worth it.

Twin Palm trees and a beautiful view.

The state capitol building is unlike any I have seen before.  I really liked the architecture.  It is open to the elements,  with offices around a courtyard.  The handsome mosaic, reminiscent of the ocean, is at the center.

Also on the grounds of the capitol is this quite fine and modern rendering of the gracious and giving Father Damien.  A sainted man who cared for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those with leprosy (Hansen’s disease).  He worked tirelessly for sixteen years before contracting and succumbing to the disease himself.  Mahalo.

Greetings from his Majesty King Kamehameha, responsible for uniting the Island Kingdom of Hawaii.  You can see the real cape he wore (made of thousands of red and yellow feathers) as well as other gorgeous finery on the tour of the Iolani Palace.

The grand mausoleum of King William Lunalilo, elected popularly and by the legislature.

Lunch time at the Hawaii State Art Museum.  The restaurant was highly recommended by our tour guide at the Iolani Palace.  The chef takes a “local first, organic whenever possible, and with aloha always” approach.  It is mighty fine.

A tribute to Hawaiian Firefighters.  Mahalo!

The Honolulu Brewing Company building, circa 1900.  It actually went under a $25 million dollar renovation, but, quite unfortunately, I guess they used some super stinky wood sealer, and the building remains unoccupied.  Talk about a bummer.  It was, however, used in LOST, in some scenes where Charlie was meant to be in England.  This also reminds me, we had one LOST sighting on our island adventure.  In the airport on our way home, we saw Jack’s father Christian.  He is more handsome and shorter than I expected.  Go figure.

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel grounds.  As we were walking by, we saw a couple readying for their wedding ceremony.  What a place to tie the knot!  For my Uncle Chris, and a shout out to Rick, too: we couldn’t find the place you guys had a cocktail, but no worries, we indulged in more than one delicious tropical drink requiring an umbrella and a maraschino cherry.  We also had stunning views from the Punchbowl (see below).

Pineapple County Store

An Oahu icon, we had really good burgers and the equally good company of a local who dines here every night.

Leonard’s makes Malasadas, the best doughnut-like baked good I have ever tasted.  Trust me, with a particular fondness for fried dough, I have A LOT of experience in this area.  We tried them plain, filled with chocolate (like a really good pudding), and a silky coconut cream, of course.  Is there a Hawaiian term for Ooh la la?

We’re at the Punchbowl National Cemetery.  Located in a crater above the city, the cemetery is a stunning memorial to the sacrifices of our service men and women.  Lady Columbia holds a laurel branch and represents the grieving of all mothers.  Inscribed beneath her are the words of Abraham Lincoln:

“The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”

Amen to that.

It is a somber place of gorgeous vistas, encompassing Diamond Head to Pearl Harbor.

The small chapel.

One of the marvelous maps detailing World War II battles.

A final view of the sea.

Mahalo much, dear Hawaii!

Aloha! Part II: Sea

April 28, 2010 in Exploring, Traveling by Colleen | 2 comments

Hello friends!  We’re back in Hawaii (at least virtually) and a tranquil day on Waimea Bay.  During the winter, this is literally the center of the Surfing Universe, with waves reaching up to forty feet!

White, very white.

I’m snorkeling in Shark’s Cove.  What a delight to have the undersea world opened up to me.  There were hundreds of beautiful fish!

Though new to the sport, the hubster is very serious about snorkeling.

Despite the simplistic nature of snorkeling, it made us super hungry.  Something about being tossed around by the sea, I suppose.  These shrimp shacks line the north coast along the Windward Shore, near where the shrimp is harvested.  This particular shack was run by three adorable local teens who were equally comfortable speaking Japanese or English, very cool.  We had finger licking good garlic butter and spicy garlic butter shrimp, served with rice, of course.  Double yum.

The view from La’ie point.  The large hole in the island was caused by a tsunami literally punching through it in 1946.  Thankfully we missed out on activity of this variety.

We still got to see some pretty serious waves and beautiful blue water.

Happy haolies.

Kahana Bay

Driving to Yokohama Bay on the Waianaie coast.

More snorkeling!

Yokohama Bay – the end of the road.  Oh what an end…

Aloha!

April 21, 2010 in Exploring, Loving, Traveling by Colleen | 5 comments

Here is the utterly divine reason for my absence from the blog.  Hawaii!  We went for just under a week and thoroughly enjoyed every minute.  We’d been meaning to go for quite some time, but didn’t actually decide on it until after my surgery.  I was at one of my check-ups when my sweet specialist Liz poked her head out the door and asked an assistant to grab her prescription pad.  My heart sank.  I thought I was doing so well and was already chock full of drugs, so I had no desire to add another to the list.  Much to my delight, she handed me a prescription that read:  Tropical Vacation.  You’ve earned it!

I got home, showed it to the hubster, and we cried a little thinking about how hard a life with endometriosis can be.  We also thought about the summer we missed post-surgery.  We didn’t get to ride bikes together, garden, play in the sun, go to the fair, or even feel normal until we were well into fall.  So began our plans.  We’d have our summer in spring!  Oh what a summer it was!

These are all pictures taken from where we stayed on Maili Point.  We rented a small cottage that was steps from the beach and firmly rooted in paradise.  From this spot we watched boats of all kinds, surfers, paddlers, snorkelers, spear fishermen, whales, and sea turtles (Oh my!).  I really don’t think it could have been better.  The funny bit about it is that when we told the woman who inspected our rental car where we were staying, she could not have been more worried.  Waianae (Why-Nigh), you’re going to Waianae?  Yes.  She frowned, shook her head, took out a map, circled the area, followed that with a giant X, and the word NO.  Well sheesh lady, it’s too late now.  We’re going.  And so we went.  Aside from the heart palpitations I had from her fear, we had absolutely no problems, though we did have warmer, drier weather than the rest of the island and all the aforementioned delights.  We did see some homeless camps, and a couple of them were really big and quite permanent, but mostly the area reminded us of Southeast Portland: a good mix of  people, some with money, some with none, but all living Aloha.

We were treated to glorious sunsets every single day.  As our friend Kelly would say, “That’s why it’s paradise!”  We had a brilliantly beautiful night sky, too, with Venus just above the horizon, and stars, so many stars!

The cute cottage.  The flowers are plumeria and smell like paradise.

Our sleeping quarters – I put a vase of plumeria flowers next to the bed for sweet slumber.

The living room.  We moved the coffee table and practiced yoga in the morning.  Nothing like stretching to the sound of crashing surf.

Eat here.

Staring at the Sea.  Also a great album by The Cure.

We made a concerted effort to buy everything from locals and look goofy while preparing them.  Aside from the milk, yogurt (Nancy’s from Oregon!), cereal, and peanuts, we ate Hawaiian.  I’m making Kalua pork (bought in a package – I didn’t have the time or inclination to roast an entire pig underground) with cabbage and pineapple.  It was yummy.  We also liked the Pipi Kaula.

A view from our hammock.  Hammocks are good.

Another view from the hammock.  Palm leaves blowing in the breeze sound like rain falling and home.

I saw so many ladies with flowers tucked behind their ears that I could not help but join the crowd and squint happily!

The handsome hubster.  My favorite haolie boy.

The Night Time is the Right Time…

December 8, 2009 in Traveling by Colleen | 2 comments

As promised, evening photos of our sojourn to Seattle – beautiful, a little blurry, and very chilly, but no rain!

We’re here!

After Etta’s.

So much neon!

Like candy canes.

For one of our favorite little friends.

Bookstore Bar.

Evening sculpture.

The name says it all.

The Harbor Steps.

Here’s the soundtrack.

Seattle Getaway – In the Light

December 2, 2009 in Admiring, Traveling by Colleen | 2 comments

What better way to spend Thanksgiving weekend than with a bit of travel?  The hubster and I made the three hour trek with the greatest of ease, relishing the sunshine and all the wonders of our favorite city to the north.  Here’s a bit of what we saw by day.  Night time photos next week…

This is what Mt. Rainier looks like when you drive by really fast.  Zoom!

I love photographing bridges…

Leaves fall like anywhere else.

Making friends.

Olympic Sculpture Park

Wandering Rocks

Tony Smith

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

The handsome hubster keeps his ears warm while looking at art.

Love and Loss

Roy McMakin

This Eagle has landed.

Alexander Calder

We feel blue.

Let it shine.

Rose hips and habitat restoration on the Sound.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer – it’s digital.

These are a few of my favorite things – art, bees, flowers, and words.

Hello gorgeous.

Fish.

Details like this are the tops.  How long do you reckon this has been here?

The Seattle Public Library

Rem Koolhass, Architect.

Through the mesh.

Evocative.

It means what it says.

We saw twirling square dance dresses – do-si-do.

Volunteer Park Conservatory

Oxygen rich, warm, and humid.

Smells like heaven.

Cooper and Sohn at SMITH.

Another bridge and beautiful sky.

Happy 87th Birthday Grandma – we love you!

Many Firsts

October 20, 2009 in Admiring, Being, Remembering, Traveling by Colleen | No comments

Hello Everyone!  Will you look at that grin plastered on my face?  It’s me, quite giddy that I’ve bridged the twenty years since I’d been in the presence of my friend here, someone very dear to my heart, Ann Balderston.  Actually, now she’s got another “B” name but will always be Balderston to me.  We met in first grade, and though I have zero recollection of our actual meeting, I feel fairly certain that it must have been like lightning striking, because we were pretty much attached at the hip for the next two years.

Every day, on my way to school, I walked to Ann’s house and picked her up before spending the day at Thomson Elementary.  As we both had Ms. Weiss (my favorite elementary school teacher – I had her in first, second, and sixth grade, lucky me!), we’d spend the whole of the day in each other’s presence and rather happily, too, class, lunch, recess, walking home.

As one might expect, I would, quite often, spend the afternoon at her house, playing house, or with dolls, creating wonderfully imaginative schemes to keep us entertained for the ages.  It was such a special time in my life, full of magic.

Part of that, I’m sure, stems from the many firsts tied to our friendship.  She was, my first best friend, the first person to whom I told my secrets and dreams and felt a deep spiritual connection.  It was at her house that I first heard a foreign accent in person, for her mom, ever so sweet and kind, was from England and spoke like someone out of the movies.  Also, it was at Ann’s that I first had tea with milk (and lots of sugar), wax beans, and SPAM – such an adventure!

On another magical occasion, my very first sleepover, I remember sitting in my night gown at the table in the kitchen, sipping tea while Ann’s mom told us a story of some sort.  I wish I could remember what it was about.  We retired to the basement and our sleeping bags and giggled well into the night.

Quite appropriately, it was with Ann that I first found my love of dancing.  This was well into second grade, and being the time that it was, our school was hosting an afternoon fundraiser in the form of a disco.  We played Abba record after Abba record, dancing queens holding hands and twirling around her living room getting ready for the special day.  Sadly, my Dad decided I was too young for such adventures, so Ann went solo, and I imagined us spinning like tops under a glittering disco ball.

Then, as it happens with magic, the spell wore off.  Ann’s family moved to Florida, and I to other friends, other wonders.  She did return the next school year, but by that time we were different somehow, and though nothing happened to make us drift further apart, nothing happened to keep us together either.

But now, in the ever sweet present, we have found each other and a bit of that magic again.  It seems, on many levels, we’ve led parallel lives, both with sweet husbands, cats, bubbling concoctions, gardens, and peaceful, earth-loving ways.  I guess some things don’t change at all.

Also, more photos from my Colorado trip.  Top to bottom:

The Arvada water tower, The North Wing of the Denver Art Museum (Architect Gio Ponti – gosh, do I ever love this building!),  A horse sculpture and beautiful paintings inside the museum, and the last four of Golden, Colorado, home of Coors Beer (my dad worked there for more than thirty years!) and the School of Mines.

Here and There

September 22, 2009 in Exploring, Traveling by Colleen | 2 comments

I’ve got good news friends!  I am back in the world of exercise!  Yay!  And I’m not afraid to show my enthusiasm via exclamation points!  There’s four in a row, eek.  Okay, I’m calm now.  Yes, today was the first day I ventured back to the community center to work out with weights and attend my favorite Nia class, not to mention seeing my old work out pals – so very nice.  After being reassured by my doctor yesterday that I would not hurt myself if I was sensible and listened to my body, I was raring to go.  I halved my pre-surgery workout before Nia and felt really good, certainly a bit weaker, but nine weeks without it will do that.  Unfortunately, Nia class was canceled, so I went ahead with the Cardio Pilates they substituted.  It’s certainly no Nia, but it was fine in it’s own right.  I was able to keep up the pace without feeling like I was going to die and had a good time, too.  Major progress while I inch back to a new normal.  Phew!

In other news, here are more photos snapped while in Colorado, more specifically, Boulder and, even better, while the G-Man was still with me.  It was a beautiful afternoon on the Pearl Street Mall.

Though there aren’t many in the photos, there were lots of people on hand, the diverse mix that is ever so Boulder.  Pictured above is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants ever, Juanita’s, at the west end, beyond the majority of the chaos.  We haven’t been in a while and didn’t even go that day, as I had a hankering for Pad Kee Mao, but it does look just the same.  There is always comfort in that.

We also walked the neighborhood surrounding Pearl for a bit and encountered this lovely wall.  I am a sucker for fine masonry and this handsome fella.

This church is no longer a church but either residences or an architecture firm.   My memory fails to recall which.   I love when buildings that have outlived their use aren’t torn down, especially when they are this pretty.  This reminds me, there was a church on the Auraria Campus in Denver that was converted into an art gallery.  I used to love to visit it.  Having a great reverence for art, it was magnified in such a special space.

Away we go – I snapped this as we were driving back to Denver.  Bye, bye Boulder, see you next time!

What’s beyond the horizon…

September 7, 2009 in Traveling by Colleen | No comments

I’m longing to see.

Time for a blog break, gentle readers.  I’ll be back next week!

In the mean time, be well.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

Colleen

Four-Four

February 2, 2009 in Remembering, Traveling by Colleen | 1 comment

I was tagged by my friend Amber to post the fourth photo in the fourth folder of my collection.  This is not actually in the fourth folder, but the sixth, because the other fourths were photos I had already posted on the blog, and redundancy is such a drag, you know?  You know?  Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

Anyway, this is me outside the Centre Pompidou in Paris about a year and a half ago.  Something about the lighting makes my head look like a giant melon, don’t you think?  That’s not the only funny bit to this photo, well not to the photo, but to the general story of the day.

This is our first day in Paris, having arrived only a few hours earlier.  We were doing our best to stay awake.  At this point we’d been up for about twenty-eight hours, and as we are neither in college, nor rock stars, this does not come easily.  However, I felt like, this time, I was going to be able to make the whole day without napping.  This time, I shall beat jet lag!

Then we entered the museum, and with the hush of the people and all of the marvelous works of art, the cadence changed.  Rather than experiencing the energetic buzz of the city, people moving, cars honking, scooters swerving, we felt the profound quiet of great art and architecture.  We became part of the ebb and flow of the museum, yet found ourselves set wholly apart from it.  The onset of fatigue was so potent that it set off a crazy chain of events.  First, we swayed like drunkards, no matter how carefully we tried to walk – left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.  Colleen laughs as quietly as she can, Gregory laughs quietly at Colleen laughing, museum-goers give sideways glances at the crazy Americans who should have respect for work that is neither silly or funny.  More laughter from Colleen, then Gregory…and well, you know the rest.

Finally, after we had seen everything we had wanted to see, interspersed with lots of breaks on benches to compose ourselves, we waved our white flags in utter defeat.  Jet lag won again.  We slowly walked back to our apartment, climbed the stairs, and collapsed on the bed, sleeping for four hours.

The Mile High City

July 25, 2008 in Remembering, Traveling by Colleen | No comments

Though, I don’t care to live there again – snow, traffic, sprawl, and housing prices, returning to Denver is always a treat for me.  I love roaming around, looking for the new, and finding myself happy to see places that have not changed.  Look, there’s the Wonder Bread factory!  I can see the School of Mines “M!”  Oh my goodness, there’s the castle!  All of it brings back a flood of welcome memories and new ideas about the place that was once home.  

This is Paris on the Platte, my absolute favorite coffee shop in Denver.  I first went with friends on my sixteenth birthday – what a joyous discovery.  I spent many a late night – chatting, laughing, playing cards.  There are some changes, but it’s heart remains the same - the checkerboard ceiling, the useless smokeeter, bread boards piled with savory goodness.   I am sipping a regular-old iced coffee here, but back in those early days, it was a Cafe Jacques with cinnamon and a slice of orange on top (no longer on the menu), with an occasional clove cigarette on the side.  I will say, no matter the drink, the company’s always been divine.

 

 

Back when the Wynkoop was one of the few “civilized” outposts in lower downtown (LoDo), I loved wandering the abandoned streets, particularly when I came upon Union Station and beautifully tiled buildings like these.  They don’t make ‘em like this anymore!

In college, The Market was my favorite hangout.  I could cross Auraria Parkway, and mosey down Larimer to grab a slice of quiche, a sweet, and an occasional coffee.  It really looks exactly the same.  The striped awning, the faded sign, the old-fashioned cases filled with cakes and deli selections, right down to the bright young faces behind the counters.  I’ll bet some of them are just as surly, too!

 

Sunset over the Flatirons.  In our restless teenage years, my friend Dionne and I used to drive this road in her Dodge Colt, at this very time of day.  We’d listen to KBCO on the AM dial, the signal fading with the light.  When it went silent, the sound of our voices and the soft rumble of the engine filled the air in the most pleasant fashion. 

Memories – all of them good.

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