alyssa's adventures

home on oahu and beaches

2009-01-28T15:32:00.000-08:00

this is clares house in the valley nu'u'anu

i took the bus to kailua one day... it was beautiful

it was a nice change from waikiki

kailua is on the windward side so this was an exceptional day

the beach below was called cockroach cove... i dont really get the name?

clare and kaione at sandys

pu'i pu'i and kaione playing on the beach at sandys

clare and i

so when im not running around trying to find adventures by myself i get to spend good quality time with clare. weather it is hiking, eating :) or relaxing on the beach, just having fun together is so nice.

when i took the bus to kailua it was the first bus i had ever been on. and of course i had a bike to bring so i had to figure out what to do with it. the bus driver looked at me like i was very special when i asked him what to do with the bike. apparently everyone should know how to mount a mountain bike to the rack on the front of the bus. anyways after a few minutes of maneuvering i stepped onto the bus and was about to put a $20.00 bill in the machine when the driver exclaimed, "No, no, dont put that in there... you need exact change!" woopsie daisy. that was close. of course i only had 90 cents in change instead of exactly 2 bucks. he let me on anyways because i had now prolonged the rest of the bus users journey by about 3 minutes. once i sat down i was dripping in sweat and was beat red from embarrassment and i noticed two younger travelers watching me and laughing. ha oh well. once i got to kailua i rode to a neighborhood beach and just enjoyed the day. kailua is a cute little beach town with some character. it was a fun day to say the least!

KOKO HEAD

2009-01-28T14:41:00.000-08:00

i know it looks like a tiny ant hill, but it was much more than that

before...

this part was kind of sketchy cause the bridge was about 10-15 ft off the ground and there were loose planks of wood...

dont look down

at the top

over looking sandy beach

over looking hawaii kai

yes! downhill is my favorite!!!

haha after :) so gross

so clare and i hiked koko head a few weeks ago and when we finished it felt so good! it was the never ending natural stair master. we said we were going to do it once a week till i went home... we still havent done it again. haha oh well we still have time, we have 15 more days!!!!

heyyyyyy

2009-01-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

sorry i didnt get back on here yesterday but weve been busy. i leave early tomorrow morning for kauai. ill be there till saturday afternoon. please feel free to call me and fill me in on your busy lives! i miss you all and love you! aloha!

Hello!!!

2009-01-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

So these are only a few of the pics but i have to go. the hostel was obviously super nice and i don't know how ill feel when i get to the next hostel on kauai next week. im a little nervous! ill post more tonight... really i will. and ill show you guys some pics of the waves on the north shore, the koko head hike and some of the beach days with pu'i... love you all!

one of the kitchens

just inside the front door

at the top of the driveway

one side of the hostel

my room in the hostel... shared with david and his sister (from israel)

clare, aimee and me

smile:)

dancing it up with clare and friend noah

hey there! i suck at keeping this blog updated, im so sorry if you check this regularly. anyways i got back from the north shore on thursday afternoon and it was a great experience staying in a hostel and just relaxing in the "country". The hostel i stayed at was amazing as you can see in the pictures. the location want too shabby either... right between pipeline and sunset beach. i brought clares bike up on the bus with me so i rode the bike down the beach path everyday. it was awesome. the waves got pretty big up there and i sat on the beach and watched for hours on end. when i got back to honolulu thursday afternoon clare and i went to a place called Mai Tais for her roommate Aimee's graduation party. I just relaxed at clares all day on friday and we went to the beach up on the north shore together on saturday. we ate lunch at a mexican food place called Cholo's and got margaritas . it was very fun. today we are going to kaiones brothers house on the windward side to watch the football game. clare and i are just excited cause we get to play with pu'i (kaiones puppy). haha.

hi!

2009-01-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

im sorry i have been slacking on the blogging front. clare and i have been having a great time hanging out and catching up. we hiked koko head (basically a natural never ending stair master) who needs a gym pass when you have that? weve gone to a few different beaches.

i took the bus for the first time on friday to kailua on the windward (east) side of the island. it was a beautiful day! anyways ive been staying busy and enjoying my time out here. ill post a more detailed blog with a lot of pictures when i get back.

im heading up to the north shore via the bus (literally called The Bus). anyways ill be staying in a hostel for the first time. its located right across from pipeline and sunset beach. there is 10-15 foot swell expected. i am SOOOOO excited to see it. dont worry mom, i wont be going in if its that big :) i will take a lot of pictures though and ill write all about the experience when i get back.

i also just booked a trip to maui and kauai so im going to be a busy girl coming up. hope you are all doing well and email me updates of your lives too!!! i miss everyone

love lyss

happy new years!!!!!

2009-01-08T10:59:00.001-08:00

On the plane to Kona

Black lava shored island

View from the deck

Banks and the bird

The beach house

Kione, friends and the mainlander

Kiholo Bay

Happy New Year!!!

Nature Walk

Really??? Am I dreaming?

Sculpture?

Kione and Clare's foothprints

Black sand beach

The Broken Heart... see it?

Sunset

Sea Green

Turtle!

Reflections

The Jungle

Bridge over river mouth

Check out those stars!!!!

Goodmorning 2009!!!!!!!

How was everyones new years eve??? I think I might have had one of the best new years eves of my life so far. Clare and I flew to Kona on the big island on new years eve and were picked up by one of her friends. We drove about 10 minutes up the highway to this random dirt road on the left and took that for about a mile toward the ocean. Then we had to be let in by someone with a key to this private property in Kiholo Bay, a protected turtle sanctuary. There are only 3 families who own part of the property and somehow Clare's boyfriend Kaione is good friends with one of those families. We got the "tour" of the 3 homes that were in the bay, one of which is a co owner of Paul Mitchell who happen to be the only ones who permanently reside in a rediculous resort style "home" in the bay. The second property was someone else crazy like that who had some type of temple built in thailand or something, disassembled, shipped and reassembled there in Kiholo Bay.

The last property was this cool true beach house who this girl Lyssa's family owned. There were about 20 -30 people who were all there to enjoy the playground and everyones company while bringing in the new year. Some people tent camped on the beach or in the trees and some stayed in the house which was pretty much like sleeping outside cause all of the walls were huge screen doors. The place was so cool and we just roamed around the property and explored.

I had no idea what to expect on the big island since I had never been there or really seen pictures. Flying in I realized it is all black and dark from the lava rock. It is the youngest of all the islands so the vegetation is in a completely different growth stage than the rest of the islands. It was so cool though. I saw my first black sand beach! The first thing Clare and I did when we got there was take out a kayak into the protected area of the bay. Of course we had ice cold, canned beverages in coozies to enjoy during our venture. We paddling around and noticed all of these fake looking turtles sunbathing on the black lava rocks. We almost though they were sculptures because they were so bleached out and dry from the sun but then we saw some move and get into the water. There were dozens of turtles swimming around us and just chillen feet away from us. We took the kayak out to the surf (like 1-3 feet) and rode some waves and we did pretty well until we caught a wave on accident and rode it completely side ways haha. We didn't fall off until this tiny wave came and knocked us over when we weren't expecting it. It was so fun and we made sure we didn't lose our coozies:)

We played hourseshoes, wandered through the lava land and jungle, took way too many pictures (clare wanted to kill me), met new people, and enjoyed the wonderful weather. I had to take a little nap at like 8 so that I would be fully awake at midnight to celebrate. And boy was it amazing. The sky was so dark and full of stars it looked like a picture from an astronomy book. I couldn't believe my eyes. Even with no midnight kiss (besides a kiss on the cheek with clare) it was the most amazing new years eve I've had so far!

The view I woke up to the next morning confirmed my suspicions that 2009 is going to be better than I ever imagined. New years day was spent on the beach hanging out with everyone, eating, swimming, walking, and kayaking... until we had to leave:( We flew out of Kona that evening and headed back to Oahu where we've been since. There has been no shortage of adventure since we've been back on Oahu but you'll just have to check back in a few days to read more. I'm going to ride a bike down to the beach to play and get my fix of the sun. Hope everyone is doing well and if you have any advise or ideas of what to do on other islands your ideas are more than welcome! I miss you all and cant wait to hear from you:)

Lyss

aloha #1

2009-01-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

A view of Oahu from the air...

hello to anyone who decided to check this out. kristy talked me into making a blog over a year ago and i have only posted pictures haha. i never really though i had anything to talk about i guess... or maybe i was just being lazy. anyways, im going to be updating this a few times a week to let you know im still alive:)

i flew into honolulu monday december 29th at midnight... ok i wont be that detailed. haha.

one of the things im looking forward to the most on this adventure is to be taken out of my comfort zone and experience new things. well see what happens!

The 6 pack

2007-08-28T20:39:00.001-07:00

In good company

2007-08-28T20:28:00.001-07:00

Rasta Love

2007-08-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Just the two of us

2007-08-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

These were the days

2007-08-28T20:09:00.000-07:00