Sunset Bunker

Laguna Beach Canyon

Aloha!

Hiking is my all time favorite thing to do. It’s great exercise and it gets me away from the gym. Back in California, I spent the majority of my weekends hiking 1-4 hours a trip.  I loved trying to get away from the noise and enjoy a bit of mother nature. I especially loved hiking by Laguna Beach and Newport; it’s only because it brought me closer to the water. That nice ocean breeze comes in handy when you are trying to climb mountains and hills while sweating up a storm. Now in Oahu, I have a new playground. The biggest difference is that there’s always an amazing view, an ocean breeze is never hard to find, it’s always mother nature and there’s never any noise!

On a peaceful hike, it’s the girls that bring the noise!

My first hike with Joe was Sunset Beach by the school. At first I wasn’t quite sure where Joe was taking me because the trip literally starts at the school’s parking lot. There’s a little path off to the left. The first 15 minutes of the hike is pretty gnarly.  The hike starts off very steep. Fortunately, past hikers left rope on some of the trees. It makes it easier to get down safely. When it rains, the mud sure gets slippery!

A little cave at the end of the long haul up the steep hill.

A view of all the major surf spots!

My love!

This hike is tricky! There are so many paths you can take which leads to everywhere! Looking at a map on google, I notice that if I were to ever get lost, it could get ugly. It goes pretty deep east and could even take you into Pupukea and Waimea! Even though it’s been a while since Joe’s been here, he knew how to get where we wanted to go. I wanted to see the bunker! Bunkers are cement structures that the military use to occupy as a look out. It was their way to see who was coming in from sea.  After WWII, I believe the bunkers became vacant. Now the only visitors they get are from hikers and graffiti artists.

Inside the bunker you can see many local “talents” using this as their canvas.

I can definitely tell you that so far, Hawaii’s awesome. It’s only been a short while but everything is pretty amazing. I have a fantastic boyfriend, who’s family is equally amazing and the adventures keeps coming.

Next Blog: Family or Famiglia!

Mokuleia

One of our first adventures when I got here was exploring Mokuleia. Back in March I told Joe I was curious of the other side. The reason for my curiosity was because back in December, I watched my very first sunset with Joe at Haleiwa Beach Park and I remembered asking him about that mountain the sun setted on. Now everyday after Joe’s work, we would head to Alligator’s to watch the sunset except the sun has moved more towards the right and is away from the mountain. I was still curious about that mountain.   So after days of unpacking and staying in the house, Joe decided to take me  on a mini adventure.  On the next day Joe was off, we drove towards Mokuleia.  The beach is very peaceful. The water is amazingly blue and there was a zillion rocks everywhere. No one is around so if you want a private beach, Mokuleia is close to that.  It is extremely windy, I almost lost my hat a few times!  After miles on barefoot we ended our adventure and decided to head back. I definitely wanted to come back so we can mountain bike around Ka’ena Point. It looks like it could be an adventure!

 

Next Blog: Sunset Bunker!

Fade and Draw

I have been “playing” golf since 2004. By playing I mean hitting buckets at the range and not going on the golf course. I took up golfing back in 2004 because my dad started playing.  My dad is an athlete. He was a ping pong champ in Vietnam and played amateur tennis and basketball in California.  As a young girl, I was always interested in sports.  However the only sport activity I got to learn was swimming. I was the kid that had the tutoring and piano lessons after school. I remember joining an after school sports program in middle school and having to lie about why I was home late every day.  I played outside all the time. Despite my mother always putting me in a dress, I manage to still play just as hard.  In high school, I decided to go after tennis and basketball. Why? Because my dad played it. I wasn’t great at tennis so my major focus was on basketball.  I played basketball for 3 years in high school.  I played very well my 2nd and 3rd year. I was 1st string and won awards all three years: most improved, MVP and I cant’ remember the last one.  I left my senior year because I couldn’t stand Coach Martin. I then assisted the freshman coach and help coached for a year. After I graduated high school, I coached a couple years at the local church’s girl league. Those were good times!

In 2003 my dad’s knee took a turn for the worst and he wasn’t able to play tennis or basketball. Even though I was already in college, I still wanted to play the sports my dad did. So I went on ebay and hunted for my first set of golf clubs. Boy was it brutal. My arms hurt and my dad made me practice the golf swing position over and over. I would go as far as 4 bucks in one practice. That’s over 600 swings! Regardless I was with my dad at the Aliso Country Club for many months perfecting my driving swing. I’m pretty good at my drive. Besides golfing with my dad, no other man has ever made the cut with me when it came to golfing so my efforts after that were minimal until I met Joe.

I told Joe I golfed when I first met him. We were at his house for drinks back on my first trip here and he had a putting range that I immediately went towards. I didn’t have any intention on being impressive, I was just being myself. I started talking about last week’s tournament. Tiger Woods did poorly and I had no problem explaining why. So since then, Joe and I golf every Tuesday. I learned from Joe that my swing tends to fade. A fade is when the ball goes right. A draw is when the ball goes left. He’s been the only person who has been able to consistently get me to golf. I love golfing and because Joe is so freaken good, it’s so much fun learning from him! The only course we’ve been on together has been the Turtle Bay Resort. It’s an amazing golf course. There are two, The Palmer and The Fazio. The Palmer is insanely difficult. I always dread going on it because I can guarantee you I’ll lose about 6 balls. The Fazio on the other hand is difficult but so much easier to learn on.

If anyone wants to learn how to golf, definitely get a good set. It matters so much! Also you must hit the ball a zillion times on a golf range. Having a good swing is so important and being good at putting is even more critical. I need a lot of work on my short game. Some days I’m in love with golf, other days I want to break up with it. However every game there’s always an amazing hole that keeps you come back for more. It’s like an abusive relationship, I keep coming back to golfing!

Next Blog: Mokuleia