hawaii trip, january 2015

january is always rough for me. the holiday sparkle ends, the salt lake city smog death cloud settles in, and summer seems like it will never come. this year with travis gone, january's dreariness was accompanied by my lonely heart. so spur of the moment one morning in the beginning of the month, i booked a flight to oahu, my favorite place in the world and the place that felt immediately like home. 

family and friends helped with remy, so i was flying solo. although i moved out when i was 18 and lived on my own in several places, included when i moved to hawaii and didn't know a single soul, living somewhere and taking yourself on vacation are different situations. when you move somewhere, you are busy setting up your new home and getting settled into a job or school. when you take a vacation, you don't really have anything to do. my first night, after the long flight, finding the rental car place, negotiating with the rather rude rental car salesman, finding my way from the airport to laie without GPS, (sent a prayer heavenward and then felt very guided, and if you know me, you know that my sense of direction is completely missing.) ended up eating dinner very late, and then realized every member of my little family was 2000 miles from each other, i was feeling pretty lonely and wondering if i'd made a mistake in going alone. 

but a good night's rest helped, and the next morning i decided i would embrace the alone time and just do whatever i wanted for the next four days. i started the day by walking through my old neighborhood to hukilau beach. my hair had inflated several inches from the humidity, and the old smell of tropical flowers and salt water comforted me. 

beautiful hukilau beach at sunrise.

these steps where i finished my morning runs, had deep conversations with friends, and kissed a cute boy, back when i called this place home.

it was wonderful to feel that sense of peace and joy i only ever feel near the ocean. 

after breakfast of macadamia nut pancakes at the hukilau cafe, i headed down to kailua in search of better weather. (laie is the rainiest place on the island of oahu.) lanikai beach was everything i wanted in a relaxing beach day. sunshine, white sand, clear water. i napped for a few hours, finished my new book, and didn't change a single diaper or wipe a snotty nose. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lunch was teri beef at fat boys, which was AMAZING.

i headed out in time to catch the sunset at sunset beach on north shore, but had to stop to photograph this scene, in kaneohe bay. one of the great things about traveling alone, is that you can stop and get camera happy any time you want without worrying about slowing anyone down or dealing with a screaming child.

i made it to sunset beach just in the nick of time to catch this beautiful scene.

seriously, this is a real place that exists all the time and why do i not live there. is what i think every single day of my life. after the sunset, i stopped at ted's bakery and devoured an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich for dinner. and then of course i stopped at angel's and shared a shave ice with bonnie after she got off work, my sweet friend who still lives in laie and who i stayed with.  poor sentence structure.

the next morning i slept in a bit, had a simple breakfast of groceries i'd bought, and then headed down to kailua again. i decided i wanted to kayak out to the mokulua islands, which are right off lanikai beach.

it was rainy when i got to kailua, so i had an acai bowl for lunch from lanikai juice while i waited for clearer skies.

i rented a kayak and hauled it from the rental place a few blocks away from the beach. i looked quite the sight to passersby tugging a little trailer with all my might down the road in my swim suit.  i started the journey on kailua beach and passed lanikai beach and then headed straight out towards the mokes. 

this picture was taken at almost the halfway mark of the trip out there. round trip it took about three hours. 

there were two decently big waves coming from opposite directions when i made it to the island, so my landing was far less than graceful. it seemed as though everyone was staring as i heaved the kayak up to the beach. the island appeared to be a good party spot. i smelled marijuana and a lot of alcohol. everyone was smiling and laughing.

a few minutes after arriving, a woman approached me and said in a thick new york accent, "i told my husband and sons i had to come over here and ask you, did you kayak out here all on your own?" i told her yes, that i was in oahu alone. she gripped my arm and exclaimed, "honey, are you in the coast guard? the military? i can't believe a teeny thing like you paddled out here all alone!"

so yeah, my day was made.

i awkwardly asked a guy to take my picture. it was so beautiful with dark volcanic rock and blowholes splashing up.

i hung around for about a half hour, got hit on by a group of the guys drinking and asked repeatedly, "did you really paddle out here all alone?" 

i forgot what it's like to not have a baby with you all the time and to have the attention of dudes. it's weird. 

loaded up the kayak and headed out to rough waters. luckily a giant hawaiian man took pity on me and helped me launch and keep from drowning. i made it to kailua beach and basked in the sun for a few more hours. then my stomach begged me to go to ted's and get another teri beef plate. which i did. also chocolate haupia pie. 

i ate. all. of this. 

then walked down the road to sunset beach to see the show / sunset again. i didn't have my real camera with me, but i snapped this on the phone. 

the next day was saturday, and bonnie was off work! i was getting a little bored of being by myself, so it was great to have a human to hang with. we headed up north shore and found the volcom pipe pro surf competition. 

the last surf comp i'd been to on north shore, was the day after thanksgiving. i had been walking along the beach on my phone, talking to my mom. an enormous wave came crashing up further than the previous ones, snatched me up, and pounded me around until the phone was dead and i was bleeding from the forehead. as i scrambled up the beach to safety, the announcer called out, to the hundreds of people watching the surfers, "remember to stay away from the surf people." 

this time i stayed safely away from the water and had fun playing with my new 70-200 mm travis bought me for christmas. i was pretty happy with how this shot came out, considering i wasn't using a telephoto lens. 

pretty soon bonnie and i got hungry and headed to, you guessed it, ted's. where she had a teri beef sandwich and i devoured this shrimp plate. 

then we drove up to turtle beach and saw a handful of turtles! took some pictures, sat in the surf, and got all caught up on each other's lives. 

there are probably way to many bikini shots of me here. but i work freakin' hard for my body.  thanks bonnie!

that night her husband, rhett, met up with us in haleiwa for thai food. we tried haleiwa eats, but they are still closed (major bummer) so we found a pretty good thai truck. and a lot of mochi ice cream. i found remington a cute stuffed lobster. stuffed animal, not like an actual stuffed real lobster.

we stayed up late talking and laughing. how i miss my friend!

the next day was sunday, my last day. of course i spent it at the beach. the sun was hot, i swam in the ocean and felt completely joyful and at peace. read a book. met a older man who told me all about his line of lingerie for men that is based on cave man days and prehistoric furs. he got a little too friendly and told me i could move into his apartment above his garage. this was about the time i decided to leave the beach.

and go to ted's. again. and eat a teri beef plate and chocolate haupia pie. again.

after hanging with bonnie's family and playing games, getting showered and packed up, we said goodbye and i headed to the airport. which is an entire story in itself, as i got really lost and came pretty close to missing my flight. two layovers and a sleepless night later, i was back in slc and feeling the landlocked blues.  

luckily this boy was waiting for me with a big kiss and hug. 

great trip seeing my friend Pacific. 

xo.