Finding Ithaka

June 4, 2015

Over Memorial Day Weekend, our friend Alan visited us!

Alan was Nick’s Best Man at our wedding. They’ve been friends since they were in middle school, and over the years, Alan has visited Nick pretty much wherever he has lived, which I think is pretty amazing. It doesn’t matter if it’s been 2 months since we’ve seen him, or a whole year — Alan is a blast and is one of my favorite people.

Alan got here on Wednesday night, a few hours after I got back home from New York. I planned it that way, but I had no food in the house, so I felt really guilty giving Alan dinner from Wendy’s on his first night in Hawaii.

The next morning, Nick had to go to work, so Alan and I got breakfast and went grocery shopping (see what an awesome friend Alan is? Not just anyone will happily go grocery shopping with you during their weekend in Hawaii). Then we went to see Moana Falls. This is one of my favorite afternoon hikes because it’s all shaded, mostly flat, and in less than a mile, you get here:

After Nick got out of work, his 4-day weekend began! We kicked off this long weekend by waking up at 4:30 am on Friday to catch the sunrise on top of the Pillbox Trail. I feel like I talk about this hike a lot on here, but it’s my favorite hike on the island. And it’s the perfect place to watch the sunrise.

How perfect is this place?

After that, we got breakfast and headed to Pearl Harbor to get a tour of the USS Missouri. There are a couple of different tours you can do there, but we went on the Heart of the Missouri tour. It was all about how the ship works – we went into the Engine Rooms, Damage Control, etc. Pretty much everyone on the tour was either in the military or had an engineering/science background. I think that I would only recommend this tour to people with those kind of interests. There is a shorter tour that is included in the price of the admission to the Missouri that gives more of a broader overview of the Missouri, talking about things like the history of the Missouri, the 3 different wars it was in, and how it came to be the place where World War II officially ended. I’ve done that tour a bunch of times and it’s really interesting and pretty quick.

I was really happy that Alan and Nick got to go scuba diving too! It’s just not my thing, so Nick hasn’t really gotten to go that much. I was happy to take a few pictures and let them go on their way while I bathed in the sun. It was Alan’s first time scuba diving, and he said it was one of the coolest experiences of his life.

I still prefer to be above water. You know, where the air is.

I was so happy that we also got to hike to Kaena Point. It’s a hike along the coast of Oahu that takes you to the most western point on the island. It’s also a nature preserve where you can see all kinds of birds including albatross, and, if you are lucky, Hawaiian monk seals! These guys are one of the most endangered marine animals in the world. It always makes me happy to see them laying in the sun.

I feel like Alan got to experience all the best that Hawaii has to offer, from hiking up mountains, soaking in the most amazing views, to going underwater, swimming with sea turtles and fish. We got to hike along the coast and into the forest to find a waterfall. We got to learn about some of Hawaii’s history, and we got to lay out in the sun without a care in the world.

This weekend was amazing! We got to spend a lot of time with one of our favorite people in the world and try some new things, too. Thank you, Alan, for coming to Hawaii and spending your long weekend with us! I love you!!