John flew from San Francisco to Honolulu last Friday evening to see his childhood friend Hand Ole, his wife Trine and his two children Mathilde and Villads. John arrived in time to host them for sunset appetizers at the apartment while they enjoyed the Honolulu Yacht Club members showing off their beautiful sail boats on their way to Diamond Head and back. So great to see them and there was much talking until the Outrigger Club closed down and there were no more creme brûlée and s’mores left.
They met Saturday again and decided to head to Kualoa ranch to try to see many of the sites from the Jurassic Park trilogy. They drove straight there, but no tours were available until Tuesday. They decided to head north but only after enjoying yummy burgers at Seven Brothers in Laie. In the end, Hans and his family ended up booking a tour the following Friday and love it.
Trine was excited to try the shrimp at Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck, but as it was only a mile or two from the burger shop, they decided to leave them for later. Next stop was Waimea Falls. A beautiful walk through a botanical garden that ended up in a plunge pool where loaner life vest was available.- entrance optional. After the walk up, the light rain was refreshing.
By now there was a bit of room in the stomach, so they stopped at Ted’s Bakery in to taste the famous pies. Villads went the BBQ chicken route and enjoyed it fully. Slowly crawling back towards Honolulu they passed the shrimp truck again and couldn’t resist. Trine went for the shrimp, while the rest sunk their teeth into corn on the cob. Eventually, all had corn – some more than one, and all were stuffed to the point where they thought none of them would ever eat again.
On Sunday John picked up a rental bicycle and put it to good use throughout the week. The final number was more than 150 miles ridden in and around Diamond Head and Honolulu.
John worked throughout the week, but the time difference allowed them to catch up in the afternoon. Monday afternoon was spent at Bellows Beach followed by shaved ice at Island Snow in Kailua. John had a 02:30 call and got up in the middle of the night. Whether it was exhaustion or old age remains unknown, but the keys to the apartment were left in his pockets when he went in the ocean with a bodyboard and was (of course) nowhere to be found once they returned to the apartment at 9 in the evening. To make matter worse, John lost his wedding band when he returned to the ocean a few days later. Not so fun!
Olivia came over Wednesday evening to join the five. She stayed until late Saturday, and she and Trine had lots to catch up on. The word “shopping” and phrases like “where do you think I can find…” were heard on a fairly regular basis.
Thursday’s dinner was at Doraku Izakaya and Sushi. Delicious but the teriyaki chicken left a hole in the stomach big enough that Mathilde stood in line on Kalakaua Avenue for almost an hour to get shaved ice as dessert.
John and Olivia picked up new Bodyboards on Friday after they had replacement keys made for those the ocean swallowed. It was late by the time they returned to Honolulu, and they decided to relax in the evening and watch a movie. As usual, Olivia had the best intentions of making it past the halfway mark, but at the time of writing, she’s still not sure how the movie ended.
Saturday was mainly spent at the beach once John finished his bike ride. The new body boards were a lot of fun, and the waves kept coming. It was soon time for Olivia to leave, but Hans and Trine treated all to a delicious dinner at Restaurant Suntory, where the chefs prepare your food right in front of you.
John left mid-day Sunday after a farewell lunch at the Outrigger Club. Hans, Trine, Villads, and Mathilde left Monday evening on a three-leg journey with a change of aircraft in San Francisco and Toronto. It was great to see them and John and Olivia are already looking forward to the 90-years (combined) birthday in March.
