All Done Undergrad

And here I am. 4 years later and I'm done my undergrad. I'm still awaiting a few grades, but I'm sure I passed. Time for some new adventures! I am incredibly excited to be going to India this fall to volunteer with Girl Guides for 3 months. (September - December) I plan on blogging that trip, so I figured I'd try and get a bit of practice in this summer. Which is why I am blogging today. The last couple of days have been pretty exciting.

I finished my last exam on Thursday evening and had my final presentation for Honours on Monday. The presentation went ok, I got pretty nervous so I think I was a tad shaky. I most definitely turned red at some points, (one of the lovely bonuses of being blond) but I was told it was good. I'm not happy with how it went, but that's life and I'm sure I'll have plenty of more chances to practice my presentation skills. :) After the presentation I went out to dinner with my class. We went to this really hip place called Su Wu's. The walls were black, but it was very well decorated with plants and mason jars hanging from the ceiling. It gave it a very dark look from the outside, but a really nice green atmosphere inside. I had my first deep fried mars bar for dessert. It was pretty great!

The next morning a few friends and I went up Mont Royal to see the sunrise. It was pretty spectacular. I spent the rest of the day packing and relaxing. I met up with my friends from res to watch Birdman and hang out. I was not a big fan of the movie. I really liked the filming and the music, but I don't think I would watch it on my own. 

Now I'm on my way to Kitchener-Waterloo to celebrate Grandma's 95th birthday. Looking forward to a more relaxing week. :)

Montreal before sunrise

Sunrise on from Mont Royal

Last full day in Hawaii

For our last full day in Hawaii, after Margot visited the spa, we went on a hike to the Manoa Falls.  Saw a few birds on the way (including a Pekin Robin).

Then we went to the Lyon Arboretum.  Beautiful "wild" style garden / arboretum run by the University of Hawaii.  There are wild ockatoos there too.

Finally, went to Kailua Beach.  Really nice swimming, great sand and a good beach.  Would come back to this one (lots of people kayaking and stand up paddle boarding ... too calm for surfing).

And then dinner and a last stroll around Waikiki

Shangri La

Took the Honolulu Museum of Art tour of Doris Duke's Shangri La.  This was the home of billionaire Doris Duke who collected Islamic art.  After her death, the house was restored and opened to small tours.  It is quite interesting.  Many amazing pieces including the ceilings, doors, windows and furniture.  Unfortunately, you can only take pictures outside.

From the contemporary collection of the Honolulu Art Museum

After lunch, we went to Waikiki beach.

Up early

Got up early to head out to Diamond Head before the sun heated things up too much.  We were at the trail head by 8AM.  Nice hike.  The 2nd last staircase is long and steep, but the view from the top is great.  That and military part of the area is also interesting.

After that we drove to Pearl Harbour.  We went on the Bowfin submarine, checked out the Bowfin museum and went to the Pacific Aviation Museum.  Also, the USS Nimitz air craft carrier was in the harbour and we were able to get a reasonably good (if somewhat distant) look at (especially using the sighting binoculars on the deck of the Bowfin).

Ended the day going to the hotel pool.

Slept In

Checked out some of the "mountain" neighbourhoods in Honolulu.  Then we drove over to the leeward part of Oahu only to find out the weather isn't necessarily the same everywhere on the island.  As we reached the mountains, we encountered rain.  Drove along the coast (south) until we reached Sandy Beach where it was no longer raining.  Nice beach, but it has a steep drop-off and big waves and the Lifeguards had the red (do not swim) flags out.  It was pretty cool watching the surfers.

Finished the day with dinner at the BLT steakhouse (which is in the hotel).  Food was good.  They make their own sauces and desserts.

Winter arrives

OK, no snow, but it rained most of the day (varied from drizzle to real rain).  So we did the museum thing (Bishop Museum).  It has lots of hawaiian and pacifica artifacts.  It is really well laid out and in some cases informative (like the giant feather dusters), but not so much in some other areas.  We also went to the giant flea market / swap meet at the Aloha Stadium.  We were late and with the rain, some of the vendors were packing up early.

The valet gave us a great tip and we went to Leonard's Bakery and bought Malasadas -- like a Portuguese donut made fresh when you order it.  Delicious.

Played a game of Lost Cities.  Don't think Margot is planning to play again for a while.

Polynesian Culture and Big Waves

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center today.  Took in a number of shows from many of the different cultures there.  Each was very well done and engaged the audience.  A bit theme-parkish, but overall worthwhile.  And we saw the IMAX-style movie about Hawaii which was good too.

Then we drove past the World Surfing Championship at Sunset Beach.  Huge traffic jam.  We went to the next beach (Waimea Beach) where we hung out for a bit and caught some big waves (see video too).

And a video (click on picture)

Iolani Palace

Went to the Iolani Palace.  This is the home and state house of the last four Kings/Queens of Hawaii.  The building has been restored and is worth the visit.  You also get a history lesson with the Hawaiian historical perspective which we found to be very interesting.

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch in Chinatown -- this appears to be the Eastside Vancouver of Honolulu.

Then we saw the Waikiki Holiday Parade and the fireworks.

Here is some video we took (click on picture)

Travel and Turkey

Today is Thanksgiving in the US and a travel day for us.  We are leaving the Big Island and headed back to Oahu (Waikiki Beach).  When we get to our hotel, we are upgraded (again).  So we have a really nice suite.

A lot of things are closed (as you might expect).  We didn't do a turkey dinner -- actually we had pizza.

Abandoned Hawaiian Village and Hapuna Beach

Started out today driving north up the coast to a historic Hawaiian village (abandoned in early 1900s probably because they ran out of water).  Some parts of structures still remain.  While we were there, we saw (at quite a distance) a whale in the ocean.

From there we drove south to Hapuna Beach.  It's reputation is that it is one of the best beaches in the world.  I haven't been to nearly enough beaches to compare, but yes, it is an awesome beach.  It is a big beach with nice sand which goes way out into the water -- no coral or lava rocks.  The surf is steady without being scary and the water is a nice temperature.

A day of vacation from our vacation

We always seem to have a very busy schedule when on holiday.  Today was a day to take a vacation from our vacation.  We enjoyed our morning at the Hilton Waikola, the mother of all resorts!  It was built here in the 80's.  We are staying down the road at the Kings Land Hilton Club resort.  Our benefits include the opportunity to use the Waikola pools etc. Just jump on the shuttle bus and off we go.  We walked around the beautiful grounds, along their small beach and enjoyed a nice lunch by the cantina.  Spent the balance of the afternoon at our own pool swimming and reading.  A nice bbq steak and pineapple for dinner and we are ready to explore a bit of this part of the island tomorrow!

Over the saddle road

We said goodbye to Barry -- one of our hosts at our cabin in the woods in the morning.  We went back to Volcano National Park.  We wanted to do a small hike through the steam vents.  This part of the walk reminded Stewart and I a bit of Yellowstone.  Steaming vents, sulfur crystals and multiple colours around the vents.  We continued on and ended up on another trail that took us through  more of a  rain forest.  We lastly visited the Jagger Museum.  A last look at the steaming crater and off to Hilo.

We stopped in the cute shopping street by the bay in Hilo. A quick stop at Rainbow falls. Not the time of day to see the rainbow and certainly not enough water flowing.  But we did see a couple of incredible Banyon trees.  One was so big it just reminded you of the tree house tree in Swiss Family Robinson.
We took the Saddle road from Hilo to our new home near Waikola.  This road had been rebuilt and runs up over the island.  We climbed out of the rain forest and into the desert.  Watching the GPS, we went from sea level to over 6000 ft.  Our ears were feeling it.  There is not much up there.  Lots of scrub, lava fields, and an air force base.  I am sure the members of the forces are thrilled to be posted to Hawaii, but when they show up to this base, they must wonder what they did to be posted to this desert!  We did pass the famous Hawaii Observatory and it was still a few thousand feet above the road.

We arrived at our resort located in this green oasis by the ocean with the lava fields and desert behind.  This is truly a place built with the phrase "If you build it, they will come!" We spotted a bit of smoke on the mountain behind us as we were arriving.  By the time the sun went down it was a full forest fire up the mountain.  It was under control a few hours later and we did not hear anything about it.