TravelStream™ news feed for member enderwiggin on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/enderwiggin en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:40:21 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1225064880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1225064880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1225064880/tpod.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:40:21 -0400 Hawaii, Oahu

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Waialua, Hawaii, United States

Okay, tonight I saw one of the wierdest things I've ever seen in my life. A short interlude in my adventures, before I put up the more interesting adventure things. So to set the scene a little, this weekend it had been a rainy one, and tonight it was just hot enough you wanted to turn on the AC but would feel guilty about using the power, but not cool enough you feel comfortable. So the sun had gone done a bit ago, so I thought I'd take a walk out in the cool night air and give the Trade Winds some time to cool off my house. I was really enjoying my walk out in the cool after rain night air, so after the usual mile or two I decided to keep going. Around that time I was coming up on the farm/ranch/plantation house area and thats when i saw it. I saw a few white or light colored things in the short grass, and as I got closer I could make out they were little furry animals. Dozens of cats lounging about, sitting in typical cat-style with paws tucked under, having what looked like some kind of love in next to this field on the street corner. They weren't all huddled together, but strangely evenly spaced out about 5-8' away from each other, spread out over like a 40-50' patch. It was very surreal.. like something you'd see in Pet Cemetary but never in real life. I know no one would believe me, so tried taking a picture with my camera on my phone, but even with its flash all you could see was black with street lights. As I got close to a few I noticed no collars, and not one of them was skinny or scraggly.. counted over 16 of them, and probably missed a few in the higher grasses. They must be having the good life out here near the coffee/chocalate/pineapple fields, plenty for them to hunt down. They were giving me this look like, "hey bro, move along.. you're uh... interrupting" so i just kept on with my walk. On my way back, I passed them again, and they were still all out there hanging out still. I used to have this cat that we called "The Lover", as he didn't like fighting with other cats but tried to get close and hang out with them (especially the ladies... oh yeah!) Now when he'd try lovin' up on some neighbor cat, he'd inch closer and closer, and get the typical raised fur, hissing, and growling and then the inevitable chase. But not these cats, they were just all hanging out together, not close enough to be in each other's space I guess, but close enough you could call them a gang or "pride". Tried searching online for a good picture of something close, but of course, not even among pictures of Lions could I find something similar. only thing that would have been weirder would have been to see a dog or two in there. :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1220269500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1220269500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1220269500/tpod.html Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:33:59 -0400 Hawaii, Oahu

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Kalaeloa, Hawaii, United States

This was the best thing I did Labor Day weekend, and well since I got here (maybe not as good as the Volcano tour I took, but I digress.. get to that entry another time.) So I wanted to get a lesson that they were very patient, as I didn't want to repeat my experiences with learning to dance (because I didn't want to learn to hate surfing before I even got any good at it.. :) So I asked around my neighborhood what they'd recommend and at least 2 people and one place online recommended the Hawaiian Fire surf school. http://www.hawaiianfire.com/&nbsp; They only had the early morning class open, so I had to drag myself out to the beach by 8:00 which sucked a little, but the experience well made up for it. It was awesome! I have a new sport I love and want to do more of. &nbsp; The instructors took the time to explain safety first, of course, then they got down to basics and what you'd need to know. Surprisingly that was very little.. but then you gotta learn to crawl before you can walk or even run I guess. I wish I'd signed up for two classes, as now I have not wheels so getting another lesson again will be awhile. I even looked into buying a board but they start at like $600 for a decent one (unless you want to get one from Costco .. they sell them at the one here. :) So think I'll just rent one a few times and see if my love for it continues. So after showing you teh basics of getting over and catching waves, they made you do them on the beach on these foam boards in this beautifully secluded&nbsp; <i>Kalaeloa Beach<i> (so you don't have people running into you all the time, which they said can happen with other schools in Waikiki.) Then after that, the instructors went out a bit and waited for people to come out to them. Then when you got out there, they'd line you up with a wave, tell you to "Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!" and shove you out to catch a wave. Seems like cheating, but the cool side is that you don't spend most of the day missing waves, but getting the hang of what to do when you do catch one. For some it was just hard enough to get up without falling. The guy that sent me out was impressed... got up on the first try and rode aways. He asked me if I'd ever surfed before and was surprised when I told him no. I did tell him I'd body surfed, water skiied/boogie boarded, and snowboarded, and strangely it was most like snowboarding(which I picked rather quickly as well. Maybe because both have alot to do with balance, and got alot of training in that from martial arts). Everyone else was taking breaks, hanging out after a bit, or going in and beaching after a bit. I was kind of surprised I was the only one that just kept going out constantly, looking for someone to shove me onto a wave. Fell half the time, but usually becuase I was tying to do something to quickly/impatiently or trying to be cool and do something I'd seen the instructors or people on TV do... and promptly falling of course. After awhile one of the guys asked me if I worked out all the time. I was surprised by teh question, and told him I liked swimming, but wouldn't say alot. He said "Huh, usually everyone is tired by now.. must be the swimming." (HA! Take that terrible-date-girl and your "doesn't look like it" comment! Wish I had a recording of that so I could e-mail or text that to your ass with a "so doesn't look like I work out eh?") They were very encouraging towards everyone with the cheering and such when people got up as well. One of them told me I should keep it up, and don't do like the tourists and just do it once a year; you can't get good that way. Funny thing was, I was flicking channels looking or a movie to watch one night, and came across (the travel channel maybe?) that was doing a "like a millionare for a day" in Hawaii. I had to laugh when they went on what looked like exactly the same surfing class I took.. but htey paid like $1000 ea. Guess they gouge the millionares, because even the private lessons aren't that much. :)&nbsp; http://www.hawaiianfire.com/video/movie3.mov (and I didn't have my camera or phone handy ofr the lesson, and wasn't going to pay the $$$ they wanted for the picture afterwards, so I have shamelessly stolen the images from Google image search. none of these are my own and I don't think anyone, Hawaian Fire least of all, wants to sue me over them. )
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1220079120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1220079120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1220079120/tpod.html Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:47:18 -0400 Hawaii, Oahu

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Manoa, Hawaii, United States

Oops.. I've been a bad boy.. a whole month without an update... and I have all these pictures just sitting on my laptop. Well, without further ado, I guess I should get to it so my mother an stop asking me when I'm going to get around to it. Have I mentioned how gorgeous it is here? And I'm not talking about just the women, though there's plenty of those.. .in all shapes, sizes, colors. In Taiwan you couldn't swing around a dead cat without hitting a pretty girl, and its the same here, but.. how can I put this lightly. Its like if you're a car lover, and your in an area where there's all these great cars but they're all Toyota's or something, but here, there's every kind of car under the sun, with just as many shapes, models, colors, options, you name it. &nbsp; So speaking of gorgeous things, I went on one of the greatest hikes the weekend of Labor Day. Think it was Saturday or Sunday, can't quite remember which one now (as seems ancient history being a few weeks ago :) The crazy thing about this hike is that its very near Honolulu and its the wildest, rainforest hike I've been on yet. I've gone hiking all over Colorado, some in California, South Dakota, Taiwan, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, even Jamaica, and I don't think I've said "wow" so many times on a hike before. It was that cool.. Everything about Manoa Falls was so gorgeous, like walking through a paradisic rainforest, like the movies. Its no wonder they shoot Lost, Gilligan's Island, Jurrasic Park and many other shoots out here on this island. http://www.hawaiiweb.com/html/hiking/manoa_falls_trail.html&nbsp; The setting is perfect for wooing, and not surprisingly I saw many a couple out there. I only passed one other guy going the other way alone, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.. "Where's my bikini clad Linda Carter when I need her?" Well, maybe not exactly what I was thinking but you get the point. Even the parking area was awesome (see pict ).. must do something to people.. get them all feeling romantic, so what better thing to do then to carve your undieing love into this tree But the coolest by far was this tunnel made by the twisting branches. This part of the trail was well groomed, which if you're like me you don't really care for. You could tell they tried to make the part leading up to the falls very "safe" for your average American (and by that I mean your average overweight american who doesn't get out much) as it had pletny of trail groming and the slick parts were reinforced with non-slick bits of wood or in the tougher parts (like this tunnel) that might get washed away, a full on metal horizontal ladder like structure, so you're guaranteed not to loose your footing. That was cool, since my hiking boots were still in storage at that time, so I was out there in my sneakers, so at least on that part they didn't get very muddy. But of course I fixed that soon after I got to the waterfall. :) But before I got there, there was this one last bend and when i came around the corner heard this really loud bird and saw this flower and freaked out a little. Thought it was some Macca(?) going to fly at me and bite off my face.. just had this visiion of that beak that I remember hearing can put out some impressive psi, just flashed through my mind. Used to running into bears, snakes, maybe even a mountain lion, but face eating birds is a bit of a new thing for me I guess. :) Getting to the falls was just the first 1.5hrs of the hike, and then it got interesting.. now interesting for me is, when I go out on a hike, the more rural, untended, wild the better. Having to work in high tech field all day, when you go out on a hobby, its good to get away from that (guess why I like camping away from civilization so much too) If I had my way, I'd like to just get dropped from a helicopter with a backpack of stuff and then wander my way out. :) The trail got really hard to follow, and lost it a couple times, but was definately the best part and some of the coolest images. I only wish I'd had my hiking boots with me so I could go farther. After falling 3 or 4 times, figured I'd better try it another time just in case I broke my leg out there with no one in yelling range, so headed back. At that point I found it funny that I could still see houses out beyond the "wilderness". They seem to put housing anywhere theres a view or beachfront. :) But one other thing freaked me out on the trail, was this "tunnel" through the foliage of so many roots.. they looked like that scene in Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark when they threw down the torch.. all those writhing snakes slitherin around. Couldn't get that image out of my head as I was walking along this "root" path. Kept wondering when one was going to react to me stepping on them, hissing or taking off. And then when I came back, kept getting asked how it was, was it worth it, etc. Had to tell all the couples it was worth it with a wink. Gorgeous trail, especially if you keep going past the waterfall. Most of them though didn't have the shoes for it so warned them it gets slippery and muddy in parts. Speaking of slippery and muddy ,had to laugh at this sign. Never seen something like that before. Well, on to the next entry about surfing for first time!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1219527000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1219527000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1219527000/tpod.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:06:26 -0400 Hawaii, Oahu

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Waialua, Hawaii, United States

Well, well, well.. here I am in "paradise"! What do I think? well, it's all that its cracked up to be, that and a bag of chip, amazing, stupendeous, and any other adjectives you like to insert here. But then I'm in the honeymoon phase, so everything seems great, golden and cheery. :Will see if that changes in next couple months. :) Though the first time I saw my new place, I'd have to say it was a bit of a disappointment. A friend of mine warned me that all the "modernization" that has happened here happened in the 60's, and well in some places it shows. Not many buildings or places have been renovated or just bulldozed down and started over. Strange, considering a small island country like Taiwan can afford to take down and put up a new building in two weeks, but here on the island things have kind of stagnated in infastrature or urban renewal. Maybe its the magical laid back atmosphere that seems to soak into your pores by just being here. But I digress. My place, don't get me wrong, is awesome on the inside, and fits my needs just right. But outside you wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't in the projects someplace in Aurora. While many people have told me should have got a place in Honolulu, but then it'd be no different from getting a place in San Franciso. Even on the weekends, during the middle of the day, there's rush hour and bumper to bumper traffic. Everything seems fast pace and packed in.. strange for a tropical island thats known for its laid back attitudes. So being out on the North Shore seems to be the smartest move I've done so far. Now don't get me wrong, my place has been "Renovated" (that is it has all new appliances, cabinets, fixtures and painted well :) and from the 5 pictures I saw of it before coming out, yeah it looked all nice and modern. Though should have asked for more shots or just bit the bullet, came out stayed in hotel, and got a place that way and paid someone else to mail my stuff... but I had work computers that had to overnight over the weekend at the latest, so didn't really want to move all that stuff twice. Eh.. I'm here for 3 months then month-to-month, so I have 1-2 monthes to figure out if this place is for me, then give notice and move on if not. Not a bad deal either way. So the downside, as mentioned is that the neighborhood is like Lafayette in Colorado... from block to block things can change dramatically. You have the Japanse style house with amazing Mr. Miyagi wonderland next to "I don't care, I'm not lifting a finger to improve my place" white trash neighbor. Makes life interesting,eh? :) &nbsp;My place is 500ft from the beach, less than a normal block away, but what they left out or expertly danced around when I asked, is that its not a real "swimming beach" that's 500ft away. &nbsp; From the pict you can see its a bit rocky and has that lovely metal pipe sticking out from it (seems common at all the "public access" points on the beaches, still have yet to figure out what and why they're there.)&nbsp; But I did find just another block west from there, is a beach park. There its definately worth swimming and such, as I've found out first hand, and further down I see plenty of people surfing from their beach homes. Speaking of which, check these out from one of my many walks down the beach... can't tell if I want to get the DREAM house version or the FUN house version.. :) Both I wouldn't mind. Out of curiosity I picked up a flyer (not for one of these, something a bit smaller) to see what they were going for.. it was on the beach, a 2bdrm, 3bath place with 2-car carport... $750k.. :) From the move, you expect something to get lost or broken right? I was thinking.. sure, don't mind most anything getting messed up, as long as its not my computers... I just had to say that right? My work computer got lost, and after a frantic morning of trying to track it down, as it has sensitive data on it, not all of it recoverable, and put my boss on edge... it just showed up in their warehouse and got delivered the following day. At elast&nbsp; got a 1/2 day to unpack and 1/2 day at the beach out of it... on FedEx (as they had to refund me the shipping... well, are supposed to refund me.. still haven't yet.) Then I thought it couldn't get much worse, my personal computer finally showed up Friday and ust yesterday got a chance to try and set it up on my lovely new computer tower/cart... it looks like someone in heavy boots kicked in teh sides like 3 or 4 times. The hard drive bracket was broken and it was loose and possibly flailing around inside the whole time.. my CD Burner was the same.. broken bracket rattling around. THe back barely screws in and the side panel screws don't screw in anymore. Hoping they'll rfund me the $500 it was insured for and I can get new computer, or at least a new hard drive as it won't boot at all. I get the lovely "disk boot error please insert system disk and press enter" error. Also the USB key receiver for my mouse is gone, so my wireless mouse is useless til I can get a replacement or unlikely find it. I'm hoping UPS will at least reimburse me for the hard drive, so I can get a new one, put the new one in the machine and then whatever data I can recover from the old one move over to the new after installing. I backed up my essential data (finances and documents) but stil a major pain to go through all that to get up and running again, losing e-mails and other settings. &lt;sigh&gt; But the upside got a slim blackberry phone with GPS, and have been using the hell out of the GPS to get around and not get lost. Found all kinds of amazing restaurants and sites I would have gotten lost without it. (like my surfing lesson I took today was way out in midle of no-where... GPS saved me there... more on that later. Well, better part of a novel so far, so will close with that. More next time with pictures of the inside of my place, after I get all the boxes cleared out and things finally set up. -TIMMY!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1212758640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1212758640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1212758640/tpod.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:32:07 -0400 Hawaii, Oahu

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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

So my first full day in Hawaii, and it was going to set the tone of the rest of the trip, little benognest to me. It was great and not so great all at the same time. So got up early, enjoyed the included brunch and then hit the road to get in my living space appointments. The first was a really cheap place near where I was staying, on the outskirts of Waikiki, and found out why a 2bdrm 1bath place there was going for $1000/month... crack town. I kept driving as I didn't really have an apt yet and didn't want to bother as I'd already axed it, even if it was 10 min from the beach. Next two were in Westcliff, which surprisingly enough.. is west of Honolulu and (gasp!) on a cliff! I took a few shots of this area and the gorgeous views from there, though it was definately suburb living (would need a car at min.) had two appointments out here, one was a no show and the other had to dealy til the afternoon. I told the one in the afternoon that if he'd just give me the code, I could undo the lock box and check it out as I was right there waiting.. but was told unless I was an agent, no can do-o. ah well, looking in from teh window, it was a very nice place, so Westcliff is a good choice if I want to stay close to Honolulu but not actually in it. Next two stops were in Ewa Beach and North Shore. Ewa beach was "just like resort living without having to pay for it." That intrigued me, and went out there... and drofve, and drove and drove... thought I'd got lost a few times, but kept seeing signs pointing the way so others must have had the same exp. According to the GPS we were in nothing ville, nothing around for miles.. what gives? Then it was all explained at the checkpoint... it was on an actual naval base area. They asked my business and told them checking out rental property.. gave me a pass and gave me instructions, told me not to deviate or linger. Okay... don't want to get shot. :) got to the leasing office, and looked closed... weird. Checked the window and sure enough, sign saying "sorry for the inconvenience, we'll be closed form 11-2p" it was 11:30a.. didn't feel like waiting around for that, and well, not one for living on a base for various reasons.. what do you do for fun around there? great access to beach and all, and cheap (later found out from locals why is because they, the ministries and the high-class squaters don't pay taxes. The last group is the most interesting, as they just park their boats at various warfs around the island.. tax free. One guy was telling me that they have the highest income squaters in teh world, these boat house livers... hmmm.. now that's an idea... :) So to get to North Shore, thought I'd check out the island and ride the coast all teh way from the southern to the northern end via the east coast. Best thought I had all trip, as this was the most gorgeous and enjoyable part of my trip (besides the beach.) Later learned that the west side is the dry side (shanty town area... get to that on my last day) as all the rains dump in the center but mostly on the east side so it is the most lush and green there. making it also the most gorgeous as it has all these wonderful coves and shorelines. After hitting all the interest points with such interesting names like Tantalus Lookout, Diamond Head Lookout, Koko Crater Botanical Garden and Stables, Makapuu Lighthouse, Kaneohe Bay View point and Kualoa Sugar Mill Ruin as well as all the beaches along the way I finally made it to the Polynesia Cultural Center, where I was going to check out the center as well as the nightly Lua and evening show I bought tickets for. http://www.polynesia.com/ticketing/alli-luau.html It was very interesting hitting the various "islands" or centers of information they had, and while I didn't hit them all since I was getting there later in the afternoon (though missed the Long Canoe Pageant and <i>Rainbows of Paradise) . I only got to hit the ones on Tonga, Somoa, Fiji and Hawaii. Hawaii had teh best and most interesting presentation, not surprising, but I'm sure I would have been very fascinated with teh Tahiti one if I'd made it... more on that later. :) So the Luau was very interesting, though seemed a bit low key to me. Maybe it was my company.. :) Since I was one of the only "singles" there, they were going to seat me at this table with this chubby couple and their kid and their grandparents. I saw the japanese college girl troupe pass me by and quickly asked "Could I maybe get seated somewhere else... like over there" pointing to where the troupe was getting seated. I got told sorry, but this was the only table around with one seat available. I tried getting past this massive guy who was crammed into his seat to get to mine in the back, and the old couple must have got confused as they were trying to literally pull up the seat and hand it to me. "No, no, I'm sitting there." weird... but that was only the start. It seems little jonny and the family weren't used to beign in tthe sun all the time, and were in a really grouchy mood, and their pre-teen boy, as all pre-teen boys was doing what they do best when they're bored... annoying all those around them. Strange they weren't used to humidity and heat, as they were Oakies and Texans, but whatever. Nothing was right for them most of the night. But I got back at them later, as I was talking with their son about video games (only interestig conversation I could get started) I told him to not listen to his parents "Playing video games isn't a waste of time. I mean look at me, I'm living proof of it. It was all research, and landed me a great job that I love doing, and make a good living at." I got the stink eye for that one. :) Ah well... all the food was great even if teh conversation and company wasn't; the pork that is made by slow roasting in the "imu" all day with pinapple and bannana leave(?) delicious! Surprised my good friend Taro was there, as I thought that was a big asian thing. Taro rolls, poi(?) that me and the kid were big fans of but nobody else. http://www.polynesia.com/shows/horizons.html So the evening show Horizons was definately teh highlight. no photos there either, so you'll have to hit up the website above. I sure wish I had a website for the Tahiti part... drool... so now that I've baited you all enough, I'll explain. So the main event or dancing and show part was very interesting, with the varied dances from teh various polynesian islands, some were serious, others comical, and the most amazing and thrilling of course were the fire dances. but watching all this, something kept leaving me with a weirded out impression. It wasn't until almost the intermission that I got it as one performer was explaining a dance and that teh performers are all from teh next door BYU, which I guess is a LDS organization? Now the pieces stareted clicking into place... the women were cover from neck to toe, nothign like the typical movie or stereotype of skirt, lei and little else while the men were in nothing but grass skirts.. and well the longest boxer or board shorst I'd ever seen. One of the locals had told me about how the hula had almost been stomped out at one point by the missionaries as beeing "too lewd" or sexual in nature. Well this show didn't have anything to worry about there.. until Tahiti took stage. So the lead lady of the dance for Tahiti had figured out an ingenious way around the decency thing that my hat goes off to her. She had this white body dress, that while it did cover from neck to toe, was stunning looking on here, even from 100 feet away. It looked like it had been painted on her figure with this added red ruffle right around her middle, kind of like a tutu but higher. I was thinking, that's strange, until she turned around and did her solo. you could literally hear a few hundred jaws drop and hit the floor... it was so amazing! while the rest of her body was almost perfectly still, with only the slightest raising and lowering of her right foot and the subtlest movements of her hips... her ass was goind all over the place, and the red ruffle made it clear even to the people in teh cheap seats. OH MY GOD! It was like seeing the sistian chapel being painted before your very eyes in 10 minutes.. a true master of her craft. If I was her agent, I'd pit her against the whole Cirque Hawaii troupe anyday.. just her for like 2 hours, and I'm sure I'd put them out of business. The rest of the show was good, but that was definately the highlight for me and left me smiling all night. (this is the only link I could find that even comes close. the outfit is similar, but definately not the same girl or skill level, but you get the idea... :)&nbsp;&nbsp; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E90TRRg3hGg Driving back along the north shore at night, I got to thinking... that kind of skill would be impossible to date someone who could do that. you'd be in the biggest, heated arguement and she'd break into that move and you'd be like "AND ANOTHER THING That... I can't stand... that you.... do............. is............... (head frantically bobbing trying to keep up) ... I'm sorry, was I saying something? Do you want a hot oil massage? Foot rub? Anything?" :) It started raining on the way back so had to put up the top, but strangely took me about 20 minutes to figure it out as nothign was coming into the car... I actually had to put my hand above the glass to feel any moisture hittign anywhere but the windshield. So as I was putting up teh top, it was just a light rain.. and I was thinking. this is paradise... it rains, but only at night? How cool is that? :) Next day, my touring day so hit the bar/grill.. stayed up later this time chatting up the locals for more information on living in heavan (which I kind of already covered, so next entry..)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1212680340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1212680340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/4/1212680340/tpod.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:22:25 -0400 Hawaii, Oahu

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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Strangely enough, the flight out was uneventful, considering the rest of the interesting (some might say, comical mis-happenings?) happenings while I was there. It was gorgeous from first sight, with palm tress and lush mtn landscape, and smell of tropical flowers that follows you everywhere.. even from teh airport. Headed out to the rental company, and that's when the first thing happened. So whle I'm waiting in line, I'm eyeing this Mustang convertible in the lot, thinking that its ready for me to take. When i get up to the counter and get my info, she asks "A Sebring is alright?" I asked what the hell is a sebring with a smile. She doesn't get the joke and points at the red chevy in the parking lot. "Actually, I was hoping one of the convertible Mustangs was available, like that grey one." "No, they're all booked." .... okay, no problem, chrysler Sebring is still a convertible right? Trunk was a bit hard to close when I was leaving, but they guy told me to just slam it and finally worked. What could go wrong right? So I pull over at my first opportunity, read the top down instructions and let the system rip. Ah bliss... driving around with teh top down, in Hawaii no less! Good thing they have cheap rentals, I heard online due to such fierce competition (price changed twice while I was trying to book, guess that's how fast they move around here.) Get to the hotel, try and put the GPS in the trunk, and it won't close. After fiddling around with the lock mechanism, trying to see if its out of alignment, if spring is too tight, slamming some more. Security comes by and asks if everythign is alright. I reply "Well, I wouldn't be stealing a car that the trunk won't close" with a smile. After telling him whats what, he tries a bit, and we both can't figure it out, so decide to leave it and call the rental company after I get checked in and see if there's a trick or what. Get checked in, and my room is gorgeous... the view that is. :) Room is a room. Ahhhhh! I sat on the patio for awhile, before thinking how dumb that is, and get up to call and then head out to the beach. Phone call tells me that there is a trick, one minute she'd find out.. okay, it's a known issue with Sebrings that they get out of alignment, and you have to pull the latch very hard towards you or away... I mentioned we had tried that also, but she said, try harder. Okay... (sure enough, that did it in the morning. I wasn't going to mess with it anymore. :) Ah Waikiki beach! Such beautiful turquoise waters, surf right there on the beach (you don't have to paddle out to it) and so warm! I was in heaven. Hung out on teh beach, got my feet wet, watched the sunset, then headed to the beach bar and grill nearby for something to eat and to chat up the locals. I asked them all the same group of questions I asked all teh locals I met "Where would you live if you could live anywhere on the islands? Why there? how's the outdoor activities, distance to beaches? Cost? " And its true what they all say on the internet. Hawaii locals are some of the nicest people on the planet. I thought Taiwan had nice folks, but hawaii they're more laid back and seem even more geniunely interested in chattign with you if you are serious about wanting to know more about their little piece of heaven, and what its like to live there. I learned alot just that first night about layout of Oahu, places that are of interest and up and coming.... And a few patterns that became very apparent later (that almost everyone would live on North Beach or near Honolulu if single, if married/attached/settled/not as interested in an active social life would choose Kauai.) Tomorrow was the first day of living space hunting and my first touristy activity, so took the advice of those that went before me, and called it a night early to prepare for the rest of the trip. I turned off the AC, left the sliding door open and fell asleep to the lovely sounds of ocean that night.. and every night after. sigh...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209279720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209279720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209279720/tpod.html Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:13:12 -0400 Vancouver, here I come?

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

So trip over, only thing left was the trip back.. with of course a few judicious stops on the way. And of course, border was even more packed, then a major rainstorm outside seattle... so I missed my flight. Even though i cleaned up at BJ in the casino the last night in Vancouver, and made around $200 I ended up spending that on getting a flight back so I didn't miss a day of work and cost myself even more than that. Stupid flight insurance wouldn't even cover it.. "Act of God.. not their fault" Grrr.... And the trip had been going so well.. I was ready to make the jump and move there. Stupid airlines...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209192780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209192780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209192780/tpod.html Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:02:18 -0400 Vancouver, here I come?

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Tried hitting up several un interesting places like some game stores and model shops that the other two were interested in hitting, then of course teh shops and sea lions (sorry, didn't get shots of these) So I saw first hand why Vancouver keeps winning those awards for greatest city to live.. awesome places to go see.. But I did get shots of the mtns and the lesser-cool suspension bridge (the free one) The pay one I got a sweatshirt of, but forgot my camera... (duh!) But here's a link to that place with better picts than i could take. It was awesome... like an adult tree house. :) Here's the website for the real suspension bridge http://www.capbridge.com/
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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

While I spent the day mostly couped up in various meeting rooms, there was a short time that I got to take shots of the harbor from the meeting room in the Ministiry of Finance. The unpro camera person I am, tried to do a fake panarama by combining two shots.. and failed.. :) I see why they get people to move businesses out here.. :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209018660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209018660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/enderwiggin/3/1209018660/tpod.html Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:47:25 -0400 Vancouver, here I come?

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Seattle, Washington, United States

These were from my trip up from Seattle to the border to get into Vancouver. Flew into Seattle because it was cheaper than going directly, and got to see Seattle too, and drive the coast.. ah, good times... til you get stuck at the border. :( And still waiting... What seperates us from the Canadians... wonderful monuments... Ya! made it.. :) And they weren't kidding, it is gorgeous.
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