One Year Ago: The Big Move

One year ago today, we said goodbye to life in Hawaii! 

We woke up early to pack our last few belongings in our suitcases, sweep the floors one last time, and give the place a once-over to make sure everything looked perfect.  I had spent the last two weeks painstakingly packing, deep cleaning, repairing holes in walls, and a million other things to make sure that the apartment looked better than how we found it.  Blake helped where he could (mostly moving furniture out and some repairs), but was extremely busy with work, so most of it was left to me.  I was proud of my work.  Before we knew it, it was time for the rental company to come do their walkthrough.

I was nervous as I waited outside for Blake to finish.  I spent my time playing with our mongoose, Squeaker, for the last time.  Our next-door (actually, more like behind and next door?) neighbors had taken quite a liking to him, so they agreed to take him on after we left.  He lived outside and didn't really need to be fed, so we really didn't change anything for him when we left.  I like to think he misses us a little bit though...

When Blake was done with the walk through, he told me that the lady was not too happy about what she saw.  I was floored.  It looked so much better than when we had moved in.  In fact, we even fixed things that were broken and holes that were in the walls when we moved in.  I was upset and angry, and let tears fall down my cheeks as I thought of all of the work I had put into making that place look amazing.  If I was having any reservations about leaving Hawaii (not likely), they were definitely gone now.

"I hate Hawaii," I told Blake.

"Yeah, look at those jerks, making you cry on your last day here."

The only thing to do when you are feeling a huge lack of faith in the humanity of Hawaii is to go to Uncle Clay's House of Pure Aloha for some shave ice.  It is really the only place I felt like we really got a glimpse of what aloha is all about.  Uncle Clay likes to get to know everyone who comes to his store and he just radiates the aloha spirit.  Everyone who works there is always super friendly and nice.  Not to mention their shave ice is made with natural flavors and is thus divine.  It was a good way to end our Hawaiian life and begin a new adventure.

We made our way to the airport and saw a rainbow in the sky, as if Hawaii was telling us goodbye.

"Goodbye, and good riddance!" we said in return.

Then onto the airplane and leaving it all behind forever. What an incredible time we had in Hawaii.  It was one of the most difficult experiences I have ever had, but we learned a lot and got to experience so many things we never would have if we had stayed in Utah.  Our life in Hawaii is such a distant memory now, but it will always have a little place in my heart, even though I would never move back there again.  We might bring our kids there someday, we'll just have to wait and see.

If you want to see the part of the story where we arrive in Utah, read it here: http://blakeamanda.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-christmas-eve-surprise.html

TBT: The Tragic Tale of the Chick and the Mongoose

I'm going to be completely honest here.  While living in Hawaii was an incredible experience, it was also one of the hardest times of my life.  There were some parts of our life there that were amazing and some that were difficult.  Because of the struggles I was having I didn't really write down much about our time there.  I'd like to add in some Hawaii stories to my Throwback Thursday posts so that I have a record of those.  I won't get into anything too deep, but rather just tell some fun or entertaining (or, in today's case, rather sad) anecdotes.  Today, I bring you the Tragic Tale of the Chick and the Mongoose.

I was at work the day that the groundskeeper came up to Blake with a baby chick he'd found abandoned, knowing of our love for cute little animals.  There are tons of wild chickens on Oahu, and lots of them hang out at the park outside the gates for Hanauma Bay.  We kept him in a big cardboard box throughout the day, but tried to let him out as much as possible because he was very upset about being in the box.

Another animal that lives at Hanauma Bay in large numbers is the mongoose.  Tourists love the mongoose.  They would always ask 'What are those squirrel things?' or 'Was that a ferret?' and we would tell them the story about how mongoose came to be in the Hawaiian islands.  Clear back in the 1800s, this island was covered with sugar cane fields.  The fields were often infested with rats.  Someone decided it would be a good idea to import mongoose to eat the rats, but they obviously didn't think it through too well.  Mongoose are diurnal and rats and nocturnal, meaning they were never awake at the same time.  Many years later, we have a huge population of mongoose that eat the eggs and young of many native bird species.  Oops.  Mongoose are sneaky, smart, and clever.  One of the rangers told me a funny story once.  A tourist had just bought an (overpriced) hot dog from the concession stand.  He was sitting on the rock wall and put his hot dog down next to him.  He was talking to someone else and was completely distracted when a mongoose climbed up the back of the rock wall and slid the hot dog right out of the bun and bolting.  The man then lifted up his hot dog to eat it and saw that his hot dog was gone! 

So, here I am with a baby chick that I am guarding very closely because I know the mongoose dart out of the bushes near our workstation all the time.  The little innocent baby wanders closer to the bushes, and so I reach down to pick him up.  Just before my hand reaches him, I see a flash of brown fur and the chick is gone.  I hear the terrifying screeches of a few mongoose fighting over a meal.  I spend a few seconds in shock and then begin to cry.  I feel guilty for not protecting the chick well enough and so sad that he had to die that way.  I cry longer than your average person would cry about nature taking its course in the animal kingdom.  What can I say, I am just a big softie when it comes to animals, especially baby chicks. 

It wasn't too long after that revenge was taken on accident.  While driving one of the jeeps out of Hanauma Bay, Blake saw a mongoose running across the road.  This really isn't that rare, and they always scurry out of the way.  For whatever reason, this one made a dumb decision and ran the wrong way, right under one of Blake's tires.  He saw it in his rear-view mirror and pulled over to see if the mongoose was okay.  Spoiler: it wasn't.  He took a nasty picture of the dying mongoose with a pool of blood around his head which I will not put up on this blog for all of your sakes.  We always joked about killing the mongoose because they were a pest around the park, but Blake felt bad for actually running one over.  We considered it karma for the life of that little chick and the balance of the universe was restored once again. 

Hanauma Bay

I know a lot about visiting Hanauma Bay because I worked there for almost two years.  As of December 2013, the park is open every day except for Tuesdays.  Their hours are from 6am to 6pm in the winter months and 6am to 7pm in the summer months.  A little secret is that if you come in before 7am, you don't have to pay for parking or admission.  Parking is $1 and they take cash only so be sure you have some handy before you get there.  On busy days, the parking lot fills up early and you will have to wait until someone leaves before they'll let you in.  Admission is $7.50 and kids 12 and under are free.  There are lots of extra costs once you get inside the bay.  They have snorkel gear to rent, but if you are planning on snorkeling more than once during your trip, definitely bring your own or rent from a company that does weekly rentals.  There is a tram that takes you up and down the hill for a fee.  When I worked there, it was $2.00 for an all day pass.  There are also food concessions that are rather overpriced, and a gift shop.  People always ask me where the best place is to snorkel.  It really is about the same everywhere inside the reef.  If the water is calm, and you are a good swimmer, I recommend going out the channels and exploring outside the reef.  (Talk to a lifeguard before you go out.)  Please do not go in deeper than your knees if you can't swim.  People drown here all the time in water that they can stand up in.  For reals.  Ambulances are a weekly occurrence during the busy summer month.  Of course, this beach isn't a dangerous one, in fact it's one of the safest.  It just has a higher number of tourists who don't know what they're doing.  If you want to know more, ask me about it.  Let me know if you want to know more about what it's like to work at a touristy beach, I have lots of stories. :)

Octopus

Outside the reef

Outside the reef

There are tons of wild chickens here, and often chicks!

Monk seals sometimes hang out on this beach

Hanauma Bay was closed down because of jellyfish once when we worked there

This chicken liked to catch rides on our tram

I did not take this picture, one of the regular visitors did

Sea turtle rescue in progress

Kualoa Ranch

Kualoa Ranch was one of my favorite things we did in Hawaii.  We were able to find a Groupon that made it very affordable.  Their current prices and offerings are on their website: http://www.kualoa.com/.  We chose to do the 1-hr ATV tour, the movie sites tour, the catamaran ride, and Secret Beach.  We loved all of it.  At Secret Beach, they have paddle boards, canoes, hammocks, and pretty much anything else you'd want at a beach.  It had been a dream of mine to sit in a hammock on the beach, so I was pleased.  The movie sites tour was really fun, and I loved how our tour guide snuck a dinosaur into a picture of us with the tree from Jurassic Park.  He was a really fun tour guide.  The catamaran ride was beautiful, and we got to see breathtaking views of Kaneohe Bay.  The ATV tour was fun, and just the right amount of time, because my hands were starting to get tired by the end.  If you get a chance to visit Kualoa Ranch and can fit it in your budget, I highly recommend it.

Sea Life Park

Sea Life Park was one of my favorite things to do when we lived in Hawaii.  It was very close to our house so I could just pop in for the 12:30 Dolphin Cove show thanks to our season passes.  You can see their current hours and prices on their website: http://sealifeparkhawaii.com/.  They have three big shows, each of which are fun.  One is dolphins, one is seals, and one is a mix of several kinds of animals.  My favorite is of course the dolphin show.  They also have displays of many kinds of sea animals and birds.  They offer animal encounters for an extra fee.  I was lucky enough to be spoiled by my husband on our anniversary when he booked me a dolphin adventure.  I had done one at Sea World many years ago, but this one was more fun because you got to get in the water with the dolphins and even take a ride on them.  Of course this park doesn't really compare to Sea World, in both size and in how nice it is, but it makes for a fun day and I really enjoyed it.