Always in spontaneous fashion (aka lastminute and unorganized), we decided to go to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics! After Beijing we decided we would try to make it to Vancouver in 2010 for a couple reasons: a.) we hear it’s gorgeous. b.) we love the pacific northwest. c.) it’s the Olympics! However, that didn’t stop us from waiting until the last possible week to book flights, find tickets, find hotels, etc… Regardless, we both seem to work better under pressure and always end up finding better deals if we wait it out a bit…which luckily happened to be the case for Vancouver. So, now we are officially on our way to Vancouver this week. We’ll both be flying into Seattle on Wednesday then making the three-hour drive up to Vancouver the next morning. We are staying in someone’s flat about 3 minutes from the main Olympic venue so it should be pretty central to ‘all-things’ trendy and cool in Vancouver (or so we hope).
As far as tickets go, that minor detail has yet to be worked out. The darn Canadians are charging 6x the price of the face value, and that’s just on average. It is soooo unlike the sweet and gracious Chinese who only charged twice the price! ;)
Food:
If you know us, you know one thing-we love food! We love to eat. We are really looking forward to all the food in Seattle and Vancouver! Lately, I’ve been on an Iron Chef kick, watching countless videos of Cat Cora and Bobby Flay so, needless to say, I am looking forward to really great restaurants and really great food! There are a couple places on our list but we haven’t really decided where we want to go exactly. Living in Honolulu, having Asian food is almost a daily occurence for myself. I am a bit hesitant to have Asian cuisine on this trip but recently, we’ve been reading about the great Chinese restaurants in Vancouver’s Chinatown so I promised Kate that we would definitly be going. I am hoping to incorporate food and restaurant ‘reviews’ into this blog so be sure to check them out!
The great thing about the Pacific Northwest is the fresh seafood!
See ya in Vancouver! -Natalie
Today, Kate and I went whale watching right off the coast of Maui. Between November and May , a majority of North America’s humpback whales come to Hawaii for mating season. During this time many of the tour companies in Maui offer whale watching excursions off the Maui coast. After researching, we decided that the Pacific Whale Foundation’s tour would be our best bet. The tour seemed the most legit being led by certified marine naturalist and having 100% of the proceeds go to whale research and education programs. Highly recommended!
Trying to spot one!
My best shot of the day!
After the tour, we finished up with Hard Rock Cafe for lunch in Lahaina and then made our way over to Maui Brewing Co. before our flight back to Oahu in the evening. What a great trip! Definitely a nice vacation before the start of my second semester, and Kate’s LAST semester of undergrad! Almost finished!
If you get the chance, please check out the Pacific Whale Foundation’s website and their mission to save whales: http://www.pacificwhale.org/
Today, we drove the Road to Hana! The famous drive goes from the town of Paia to Hana, along the northern part of Maui, all on one stretch of road. It’s full of winding roads and usually takes up to four hours to drive, although it’s only a 35mile drive!
Paia: The town of Paia actually marks the start of the ‘Road to Hana’. We decided not to stop because we figured we would hit it on the way back, if we had time. We thus began the start of the famous drive. Some of our stops below:
Our First Stop, Ho’okipa Beach Park!
Mile 11: Puohokamoa Falls Hike
We stopped here because there was a 70ft waterfall that we planned on going to see. However, we ended up stopping a little too early and ended up at the Puohokamoa trail. We decided we would just do a ‘mini-hike’ around the trail.
Between Mile 22 and 23: Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside Park
Time for lunch! As we were driving we saw people in their bathing suits walking across the road, so we decided we would hit Pua’a Ka’a falls for a quick swim and lunch.
Mile 32: Black Sand Beach at Wainapanapa State Park
Our favorite stop! The Black Sand Beach at Wainapanapa Park was sooo beautiful! definitely my favorite place to stop. It was easy to get to and the view was just beautiful.
Hana
We finally made it! Hana is a really small town, comprised of a five-star resort (one of the nicest in the USA), Oprah’s house, a school, and a red sand beach. These things make up Hana…just kidding… kind of…
Kate on our way back from the Red Sand Beach!
The way back: The way back went a lot faster! We made it back to Paia, but this time we stopped for dinner. Had fish and chips at a little place called Paia Fish Market Restaurant which sits on the corner of the town’s intersection (you are reading that right). Hard to complain about the long day when we were able to end it with a cold Primo and the best fish and chips on Maui.
All about the Road to Hana: http://www.mauiinformationguide.com/road-to-hana.php
Late last night we decided to go watch the sunrise on top of Haleakala Crater. We had to get up around 2:45am just to make the 2.5 hour trip to Haleakala Volcano National Park by sunrise!
I was pretty excited to get up to 10, 023 ft. I didn’t think it would be THAT bad and that it would be a fun experience. The entire way up I was doing ‘ok’ until my vertigo kicked in at around 7,000 feet. The road up is a constant winding road and there aren’t many guard rails…so let’s just say I was happy Kate was driving! At around 9000 ft, we made it to the entrance gate of the park before we headed up another 1,000 ft to make it to the observation deck. When we got there and there were about 15-20 cars so we were happy we didn’t miss it or get blocked out (once the viewing area is full, National Park Services block the observation deck/parking off). We made it to the top with about an hour and half to spare so we figured we would go up to the deck and just check it out for a bit. When we stepped out of the car, we got a nice surprise! The weather went from perfect Hawaiian weather (75s-80s) to about 30 degrees with a lot of wind up at 10,000 ft! We were in shorts, because who in their right mind packs pants to Maui? People thought we were crazy in shorts but we both had been in worse I guess (we’re from Ohio!) so it didn’t faze us too bad. Despite getting up early and the cold, the view from Haleakala for sunrise was beautiful and well worth it!
A Few Pictures From Haleakala:
Waiting for the sun to fully rise!
Here is a little bit of info on Haleakala: http://gohawaii.about.com/od/mauiland/a/haleakala_dawn.htm
The trip down was much easier…especially, because it was light out! Stopping for breakfast at Kula Lodge didn’t hurt either! If you make the trip, I highly recommend it: http://www.kulalodge.com/
We arrived in Maui! We got in around 8am and everything went pretty smooth…for about an hour! We went into Lahaina to get breakfast and to waste a couple of hours before heading to our hotel since it was too early to check in. Lahaina is ‘the’ main city in Maui. It is a cute town with tons of restaurants right on the harbor. It has your common Hard Rock Cafe, Bubba Gump, oyster bars and fish restaurants. We couldn’t really find anything we wanted because we were too anxious to check into our hotel and get to the beach. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as smooth as we had planned. We got back to our rental around 10am and as we started to head down the street (no faster than 20mph) someone suddenly crashed into the driver’s side door of the car where Kate was driving! LUCKILY, no one was hurt. The Canadian driver’s car had no damage, but our rental needed to go back to the dealership. After an hour of waiting around and talking to the rental/insurance companies, we decided to head back to the airport-an hour away! Normally, I would have been pretty upset but we didn’t let this ruin our time. The weather was beautiful and we still had a lot of the day left so once we got another car we headed to Kaanapali Beach where our resort was! The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool!
Today is Saturday, December 2nd, 2010. It has been a whirlwind couple of days. Natalie and I left from Cincinnati on Monday, December 28th, and we have been going non-stop ever since. We got into Oahu on Monday night and were picked up at the airport by one of Natalie’s friends from school. We dropped off our luggage at her apartment and met up with some of her friends for drinks at the Yard House in Waikiki. The Yard House has more than 140 beers on tap, so needless to say we drank several drafts. Tuesday we woke up and went for a run on the beach, then ate lunch downtown at an AMAZING dim sum restaurant: Mei Sum. We spent the afternoon poolside at the Hale Koa, then went to a bar on campus, Anna Banana, for a barbecue/birthday party. Wednesday we woke up early and stood in line at Eggs n’ Things for breakfast. We were finally seated after waiting for over an hour! We were given a free Portuguese sausage plate because we had to wait so long, and it was amazing! After that we hung out at the beach all day and then met up with some of Natalie’s friends at one of their favorite bars near HPU, Dolan’s. Thursday, New Year’s Eve Day, we hiked Maunawili and swam in the falls. It was so muddy, which made the hike more difficult, but helped to work off some of the indulgences of the previous night. Thursday afternoon we laid out at the beach and rested for the evening’s events. At midnight we toasted the new year with champagne on Waikiki Beach and enjoyed the fireworks. Then, we met up with some people at the Hale Koa for drinks. Afterwards, we made our way to Level 4 nightclub where Paul Walker and David Hasselhoff were hosting the evening’s events. We stayed there for about three hours, then made our way home, but not without a late-night snack at Ono’s Cheesesteak: DELICIOUS! New Year’s Day we made sure to wake up in time to watch the Rose Bowl and cheer on our Buckeyes. We ended up watching the game at Jimmy Buffet’s on the biggest screen in Waikiki, then we moved to Moose McGillycuddy’s to watch the UC-FL game. Today, we went to the breakfast buffet at Duke’s. It is, in my opinion, the best breakfast deal in Waikiki. We booked a trip to Maui and are leaving first thing in the morning. We both could not be more excited! Natalie has never been before so I hope to show her a good time. We will be staying at the Sheraton Maui on the historic Black Rock at Kaanapali Beach, which is supposed to be a great hotel! We will definitely be posting about our experiences in Maui, so be on the lookout!
Katie
Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I spent most of my time up in Westlake with my family. I am truly lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive sister and father! It was great seeing them both! I did manage to also see some old friends from high school. It was nice to catch up after all this time!
We’re both gearing up for our trip to Hawaii tomorrow! Kate is coming to Hawaii for two weeks before we both start our classes for the Spring Semester. I’m SO excited to show her around now that I semi-know my way around the island…ok, at least Waikiki and Honolulu! 
Plus, we are both very excited for New Years Eve! It’s our first one together…EVER. Kate usually makes a family trip to their place in Florida for the holidays, but I was lucky enough to steal her away this time! Aloha Ohio!
(Aloha ALSO means ‘goodbye’) 
This past week in Oxford has been great! I loved catching up with friends and seeing the changes around the Miami campus. I made sure we did a little photo tour for all my friends back on Oahu! Miami University is definitely still as beautiful as when I left! Kate and I spent A LOT of time studying and working on papers the entire week. Needless to say, it was like the ‘good ol’ times’ back up at King Library during finals week! We’re getting ready to head to Cleveland for a short break before Christmas! Excited for Christmas to roll around!
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- Upham Hall…A LOT of time spent here!
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- Uptown!
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- Inside the brand new Farmer School of Business… gorgeous!
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- My Dorm Freshman Year 2004-2005
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- Kate’s Dorm Freshman Year 2005-2006!
Made it back to Ohio! The flight was pretty long but luckily, in San Francisco they put me on a direct flight back to Cincinnati!
In Oxford we had dinner at 45 East before heading to one of our favorite pubs, Skippers! Man, I missed Miami! Glad to be back!
-Natalie
“DECEMBER 7, 1941, A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY…NO
MATTER HOW LONG IT MAY TAKE US TO OVERCOME THIS
PREMEDITATED INVASION, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, IN THEIR
RIGHTEOUS MIGHT, WILL WIN THROUGH TO ABSOLUTE VICTORY.” -FDR
Today, I was fortunate enough to attend the 68th Anniversary Memorial Service of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The event took place at Kilo Pier, a pier that sits on Pearl Harbor across from the Battleship Row memorial, which includes the U.S.S Arizona memorial. From 7:40am-9:30am, the event paid a tribute to those who lost their lives on December 7th, 1941, as well as honored those who served aboard those ships that “infamous” day in December and are still with us today. Fortunately, many of the survivors were able to take part in the ceremony.
The event officially began at 7:55am, the exact minute the first explosion happened at Pearl Harbor 68 years ago today. At the event, speakers such as Hawai’i Governor Linda Lingle, the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Patrick Walsh, and Keynote Speaker, Dr. Allan Millett, were able recognize the impact of the attack at Pearl Harbor, as well as the aftermath of the attack and its impact on WWII. The event concluded with the traditional laying of the wreaths for each ship, which was followed with a 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps. The service was a very beautiful and moving event that I was lucky to be in attendance for. Thanks Selina and Ashley for making it happen!
Some personal thoughts: If you have read my blog about my first visit to Pearl Harbor, I’m sure you are aware how much this place means to me. Being able to be there on December 7th, 2009, an anniversary of arguably one of the most influential days in United States’s 20th century history, was an extraordinary experience for me. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the survivors that have helped us to remember what happened there, slowly pass on. As this happens, stories slowly slip away from our minds and heroes are quickly forgotten. It’s so important that we continue to remember times like these in our nation’s history when ordinary Americans, under unimaginable circumstances, did extraordinary things. Never Forget.
-Natalie
