In the rain

I took a last minute trip to Oahu to meet up with my best friend Robie from California and her fiancee Dan. I wasn't planning on going because of money, time off school and the fact that Greg couldn't go but Dan twisted my arm. They were staying in Kailua with one of Dan's friends and offered me a place to stay. Dan also arranged a rental car for me at the airport. Robie had no idea Dan had been secretly planning my visit. He made up a story about his friend Chip needing the rental car and left it in the garage with the key on the tire. He emailed me the address to his friend Rob's house and left a note outside, "Come on in Jen, we are out back in the hot tub". So Robie had no idea and she said "no way, no fucking way". I had an hour of sleep and did 8 hrs of flying so I was ready for some hugs, a shower, hot tub and a drink. It was a good surprise. Earlier that morning Dan and Robie had gone on a hike up to Koko Head and Dan popped the question. Robie gave a strong maybe :)

We went for a quick swim, Rob's place was right on the beach. Rob and Robie prepared a fantastic Mahi (that Rob caught) and grilled artichoke to die for. We took a nap and then headed into Chinatown for a Cinco de Mayo block party. It was raining and we went to some college bar, I drank too much and I'm going to leave it at that.

Friday we went to Waikiki to do some shopping, had lunch at Dukes, but it was too overcast to lay out on the beach. We went to Chinatown for the First Friday Art walk, a few galleries and shops, some awesome break dancers. We had some drinks at Indigo's, cool bar with $4 lychee martini's at happy hour. Then back to Kailua, it rained hard all night. It was beautiful but it poured.

Saturday we went to hike up Makapuu, an easy paved trail with views of Koko Head. We had brunch at Cafe Kaila in Honolulu. It was about a 40 minute wait to eat in a small hole in the wall in a strip mall but we waited and it was worth it. Super tasty crab cake eggs benedict and good service. After we filled our bellies we headed to Hanauma Bay. I stayed on the beach while Robie and Dan snorkeled. It was overcast and it started to rain so we headed to Manoa Falls. It was pouring rain but we were in our swim suits and it was warm. We were surrounded by nothing but gorgeous green plants and trees, nothing but green on the short hike up to the 100' ft waterfall. We stopped off for something to eat before I took a red eye flight back home. I didn't want to risk getting stuck and having to miss another day of school (I'm already on the school's shit list for attendance). They had a week vacation there and on the one day of sun they were able to take out the boat and Robie was able to catch 5 fish.