Hawaiʻi Five-0

Our last day on Oʻahu.

To check out of the condo, we just entered a code in the keyless entry to let them know that we were leaving - totally contactless! We would definitely stay here again!

Then we drove over to Diamond Head Market and picked up some goodies from the bakery.  Clockwise from the top left:  Diamond Head torte (peanut butter cheesecake, chocolate pudding, bananas, Oreo crust), chocolate ganache cake, blueberry cheesecake scone, and lemon crunch cake. Although we are all about the food, dessert for breakfast is a little much, even for us. So they all went straight into a cooler bag for later enjoyment.

Climb Every Mountain

One of the things that was on our must-do list for Oʻahu was a pillbox hike. So after we finished lunch, we drove over towards the windward side of the island to tackle the Kaʻiwa Ridge Trail up to the Lanikai Pillboxes in Kailua.

Mighty Mo

Remember how I said that tours to the USS Arizona Memorial were set to resume in time for our tour today? 

Well, yesterday the NPS posted on their Facebook page that all programs out to the memorial have been paused "out of an abundance of caution." Since the safety concerns were in regard to the shoreside dock, we wouldn't even get the opportunity to board a shuttle boat for a "float by" viewing. So disappointed! 

Time for Plan C - visiting the Battleship Missouri Memorial ("Mighty Mo") instead. 

Rainbow Connection

R was up and out the door early this morning so that he could get malasadas from Leonard's Bakery for the fam before the lines got too long. What a guy!

And in case you were wondering if the four of us ate all of those malasadas in the picture, the answer is "NO!" He bought enough to share with his cousins, who were coming over to visit today.

Backup Plan

Knowing that tours to the USS Arizona Memorial have been cancelled in the past due to high winds or dock repairs, when I made reservations eight weeks ago, I bought tickets for both today and Monday, just in case. The cost was minimal ($1/person), so it was well worth it to give us two shots on goal.

As it turned out, all tours out to the memorial were suspended the day we arrived on Kauaʻi because the shoreside dock required repairs. I have been stalking the Pearl Harbor National Memorial Facebook page for updates ever since. Yesterday I saw a post that visits were set to resume tomorrow. Yay!

So, our backup plan for today was a scenic auto tour around the island!

Island Hoppers

K is usually on her way to work by 7:00AM, so the boys got up early to take a pic with their cousin since we were flying to Oʻahu today.

After saying our goodbyes and packing up the rest of our stuff, we decided to head to the airport early, return the rental, and wait in the terminal until our 9:35AM Hawaiian Airlines interisland flight. 

Surf's Up!

R's cousin A arranged for surf lessons for M and J with his buddy Kevin, owner of Heʻe Nalu Surf School. Since Kevin scouts out several locations for the best conditions each morning, we were up early, eagerly awaiting the notification about where to meet up. By 8:30AM, we were at Kalapaki Beach in Lihue. A was already there, ready to go out on his foil.

End to End

We were out the door early this morning to visit Waimea Canyon and Kōkeʻe State Parks. It was raining steadily as we drove around the southern end of the island, but when we stopped at the Hanapepe Valley Lookout, we were treated to this sight.

Totally Tubular

When I started planning out our itinerary, one activity I really wanted to do was mountain tubing. The pics I've seen of friends floating through irrigation ditches looked so fun! The 10:00AM tour was the only thing we had on the schedule for today, so we didn't have to be up too early since it would only take us about 15 minutes to drive to Hanamāʻulu. (Stupid chickens didn't get the memo! Grrr!)

After we checked in with Kauai Backcountry Adventures, we were provided with helmets, head lamps, and gloves. Then we boarded the truck with the rest of our tour group and headed up to the lands of the former Lihue Plantation.

Up the Creek

Yesterday we saw so many different varieties of wild chickens roaming the island and thought they were really fun.

This morning at 3:00AM, not so much.  

Hey Siri, can you kill feral chickens on Kauaʻi?

Cock-a-doodle-booooo...

The Garden Isle

One thing to love about UCLA being on the quarter system is that the boys were finished with their finals on December 10. This meant that we could time a trip to Hawaiʻi before the prices on lodging and rental cars went up for the holidays. Another incentive to traveling off-peak would be avoiding crowds (and hopefully COVID!)

On the topic of COVID - all four of us have been vaccinated and boosted, so we were exempt from having to pre-test or self-quarantine upon arrival per the state's requirement. United even had a customer service counter in the terminal at LAX where we could show our proof of vaccination to get a wristband to bypass the verification line after landing in Lihue.

3 F's

Saturday, September 11

Food

It should come as no surprise that we live to eat, more than we eat to live. But unfortunately the capacity of our stomachs puts limits on our intake (unlike that guy from Strictly Dumpling who can pack away absurd amounts of food!) Every time we come back to Illinois, we hit up our most favorite places but seem to run out of meals before we can get to them all. It has been way too long since I've had wings from Buffalo Joe's, so I was determined not to miss out this time around. Knowing that we were going to have Lou Malnati's with family for dinner, we headed up to Evanston for an early lunch. Careful planning maximizes opportunity, people!

Pullman Revisited

Even though we were just here in June to visit family, we're back again in Chicago for a cousin's wedding this weekend. We got in yesterday around 7:00PM and grabbed dinner from the drive-thru at Steak 'n Shake. I was super bummed that the dining room was closed because you can't really eat Chili Mac while driving...

This morning we picked up R's dad for breakfast at Walker Bros. Original Pancake House in Wilmette. It's been ages since we've been here!

The Rookie

This marks our third time watching NBA Summer League games in Vegas. Our inaugural visit was in 2016 when we came with our good friends and fellow basketball junkies. It's pretty funny to look back on our first impressions of the rookies from that year! In 2018, we were in town for a family reunion (but without M who was on tour with his drum corps) and took the opportunity to catch a few games one day. And this year, we primarily came to watch our fellow Illini and Chicago Bulls rookie Ayo Dosunmu, but this time J is missing out.

Beginner's Luck

Our first order of business this morning was to walk over to Donut Bar to grab some goodies for breakfast! The shop is located downtown, just a couple blocks away from Fremont Street.

An Unexpected Journey

A week ago, R's college roommate G half-jokingly floated the idea of going to watch NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, in particular to see the Chicago Bulls' 2nd round draft pick and fellow Illini, Ayo Dosunmu. Despite the short notice, R found someone to switch work days with him, G was able to rearrange his daughters' schedules, and my colleague graciously offered to tend my lab experiment. By Monday night we were a go for launch!

Unfortunately, the bummer was that it wouldn't be all 8 of us. G's wife just started a new position and couldn't play hooky from work, and J had already planned a trip to Seattle with his buddies. 

And what about M?  Having turned 21 at the end of last year, of course he was all in from the moment he heard "Vegas!"

Sweet Home Chicago

Happy to comply with the CTA mask requirement

For our last full day in Chicago, we headed downtown first thing this morning to play tourist. The CTA is running a promo ($5 all-day pass) to encourage people to return to using public transit, so we drove over to the Kimball station, parked the car, and rode the Brown Line to the Loop. 

To Remember

Today we laid R's mom's ashes to rest. She passed away just before Christmas in 2019, and while we were able to hold a memorial service for her a few weeks later in January 2020, the pandemic curtailed our plans for the inurnment last summer. So even though we are a year later than intended, it is especially fitting that my in-laws would have celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary today and that her birthday is tomorrow. Always a perfect time to remember those we love...

Hot Dog!

J and M made plans to hang out with their cousin D today. So, his mom (R's cousin K) picked up the boys after she finished work at O'Hare, and then brought them back out to their house in the northwest suburbs. D scored some guest passes to his fitness center, so the three of them went to work out and then play pick-up ball. J was definitely prepared - he even packed his basketball shoes for the trip!

Somewhere under all that stuff is a hot dog

While they were out, R and I went over to Dad's place to spend the day with him. For lunch, the three of us ended up going to Byron's on Lawrence for Chicago hot dogs, although I confess that I ordered a cheeseburger (sacrilege!) It's not one of our usual food stops when we come back to Illinois, so it's been ages since we've been here.

The Road Less Traveled

Having stuffed ourselves over the past three days, my only regret was that we didn't have another meal (or stomach space) left to squeeze in a pizza from Monical's. Next time. *sigh*

We polished off the leftover bao for breakfast, and then loaded up the car to head back up to Chicago. But we couldn't leave before taking the usual photo of the boys with the grandparents.

Stamp-a-palooza

After a year with *zero* visits to any national park unit, I was determined to log at least one in 2021, even if it was a repeat visit. Since March 2020, all buildings within Lincoln Home National Historic Site had been closed to the public due to COVID. But just before we came back to Illinois, the park announced its re-opening! Yay!

And since the visitor center would be open, that also meant that I could collect extra passport cancellations towards my annual National Park Travelers Club award. Woohoo!

Bao Day

Today's activities consisted of stuffing our faces with more of my mom's cooking followed by food comas. 

(Lather, rinse, and repeat.)

If you've never had Chinese "bao", they are basically buns or dumplings, made with an exterior dough or wrapper enclosing some kind of filling. They can be steamed, pan fried, baked, etc. This website has a great compendium describing the wide variety of bao.

Breakfast: steamed char siu bao (Chinese barbeque pork) or vegetable bao (spinach, egg, shiitake mushrooms, glass noodle)

After the Blip

Everyone in our family is a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so the parallel between the fictional havoc wreaked by Thanos' snap and the global chaos of our real-life COVID pandemic was eerily obvious to us. 

Life imitating art, if you will. 

Now that we are all fully vaccinated and things are opening up, we frequently talk about life after "The Blip". Using this pop culture reference is an intentional way for me to avoid saying "back to normal", because what is "normal" really?! 

Which brings us to the reason for this blog post - traveling to see our extended family for the first time in almost 18 months! Yay!