Exploring the North Shore of Oahu

Day 5:
On our last day on the Big Island, we did a little biking before our flight. But we didn't get so far on our bike ride. The beach trail was too rocky and the only other place to ride was on the highway, so we returned the bikes and hit the beach.

After landing back in Oahu, we went down the Waikiki beach strip to a beach bar overlooking huge crashing waves and surfers. That was awesome. Then we walked out on a bridge going out over the water where we got up close to the big breakers. Nothing like experiencing the big waves (without having to take surf lessons).

Day 6:
Finally, we ventured out to the North Shore of Oahu, which feels less like a shopping mall like Waikiki did, and more like a laidback beach town. We stopped in the town of Haleiwa for lunch, rented ourselves some snorkel gear, and headed for the beach. First we went to Waimea Bay:

Then, we went snorkeling in Sharks' Cove, which has no sharks, but PLENTY of colorful schools of tropical fish. Wish I had an underwater camera so that I could share it with you all. It was breathtaking. I was in the water for an hour gawking at the fish, and it felt like only five minutes had gone by.

Sandy as ever, we dried off and went back to the airport to catch a flight home.

This will be my last adventure for awhile, but I hope that you enjoyed the pictures!

Driving around the Big Island

Day 4:
This was one of my favorite days of our trip. We rented a convertible and drove around the entire island, seeing volcanoes, incredible ocean views, and lush green forests:

 

We stopped in Hilo, Hawaii's second largest town, to have a picnic at Leleiwa Beach:

On our way out of town, some big truck cut us off. A local noticed and shouted to us, "Welcome to Hilo!"

All of this led up to arriving at our destination, Volcanoes National Park, where we saw the still-active Kilaeua caldera:

 

Steam rising from the caldera

Even though it looks like a warm sunny day, it's actually quite windy around the volcanos. And the sulfur steam smells like burning matches. It comes out of the ground in steam vents that are all around the park:

Sulfur steam rising from vents in the Earth

We drove around the caldera, then we took a short hike on the Devastation trail. Reportedly this was formed by lava flowing through the forest. 

Devastation trail

On our drive back, we drove past the southernmost point of the US, SURPRISE, it is called "south point." It really feels like the edge of the world, with nothing but fog and black rock looking out over the endless ocean:

South Point

Landing on the Big Island

Day 3:
We hit the beach in Oahu in the morning to try some stand-up paddleboarding. Wow, that is harder than it looks. I fell over 3 times trying to balance on the board. But it was fun! I got the hang of it towards the end.

Then we headed to the airport for a quick flight over to the Big Island. Got an awesome view of the other Hawaiian islands. The airport in Kona, HI is now officially my favorite airport. It's all outside. The check-in counters and gates are in a series of open-air hut-type structures. As soon as we landed, we were enjoying the island air.

On our way from the airport, I noticed graffiti in the black volcanic rock. But it's not painted graffiti. It's messages that people have left with white rocks. Here's one of my favorites:

BACON!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the lagoon, pool, and ocean around the hotel:

Return tomorrow for a recap of one of my favorite parts of our trip, a trip around the Big Island and to Volcanoes National Park.

Relaxing on the beach in Oahu

Day 1 -
10 hour plus layover flight from DC to Honolulu. We arrived mid-afternoon in time to enjoy some drinks by the beach and this sunset:

Sunset on Waikiki Beach

Day 2:

Jet lag hit me pretty hard. I fell asleep early and woke up at 3am, so I took these pictures of Honolulu at night and at sunrise:

Nighttime in Honolulu

Sunrise in Honolulu

Most of the day was spent enjoying the beach:

Sea canoes in Hawaii

Come back tomorrow to read about our trip to the Big Island.

Grand Canyon (Day 4)

On the fourth day of my trip to Arizona, I went to the Grand Canyon. Finally, the reason we were there! Some of you might remember that earlier this year, I saw the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. Now, I bring you - The Grand Canyon of Arizona! 


We drove up to the South Rim, which is the usual spot for tourists to take pictures and walk along the rim.  After we got our fill of the view from here, we got on the Grand Canyon Visitor Shuttle. Someone familiar with DC might ask me, why would I willingly take public transportation on vacation? (Sidebar: check out "Metro Rap" to understand my plight.)


I had put my Grand Canyon trip into the trusty hands of Mr. Moon Guidebook, which had told me, for example: "Don't bother with driving, take the shuttle, which is GREAT!" and "The lines at the entrance are SO LONG!"


The shuttle? Now I know where fired Metrobus drivers go to get a job. Our driver was completely out of it, prompting one person in the back to shout, "Snap out of it, Jerry!" which garnered chuckles from everyone else on the bus. 


Luckily, even though the guidebook I had was filled with dumb advice about how to avoid long lines of 2-3 cars,  the park ranger gave us a free guide which told me everything I wanted to know about the park, such as how to identify plants and wildlife in the park. Thumbs up! 


Views at Grand Canyon of PA: One gorge covered in trees. 


Views at Grand Canyon of AZ: 

We went to the Bright Angel trailhead where we did some hiking into the canyon. 

Hike in Grand Canyon of PA: Moderate to Strenous - lots of stairs on the path and a steep climb back up


Hike in Grand Canyon of AZ: Moderate - but with more inclines than stairs, it made it fairly easy to return back to the top


On our way home after our excursion, we stopped in the town of Flagstaff, AZ, which is halfway between Sedona and Grand Canyon. Cool town, with a main street-meets-hippie vibe. We ate sushi for dinner at Karma Sushi, because no road trip is complete without me indulging my love for tuna and salmon rolls. I may travel, but I take no vacation from eating sushi. 

Awesome Red Rocks of Sedona (Day 3)

Today's post is about Day 3 of my trip to Arizona. We spent most of Day 3 (Sunday) driving from Phoenix to Sedona. We made a short (2 hours) but scenic drive between the two. I took a lot of pictures on our drive from inside the car. Outside of Phoenix are big rocky hills covered in saguaro cacti, and as you get closer to Sedona are forest and mountains which eventually cede to the Red Rocks that Sedona is known for. The rocks are staggeringly beautiful.

I have to say that I enjoyed the scenery here even more than the Grand Canyon. I know the Grand Canyon is one of the 7 wonders of the world, and maybe it is blasphemy against nature to say something looks better than the Grand Canyon. But I have to admit that the Red Rocks are just as striking and even more fun to explore because you can see different rocks as you drive down the highway (instead of having to hike or drive long distances to see a different point of view of the Canyon). There's not as much instant gratification with the Grand Canyon.

I will never forget the hotel either. The pool and hot tub were surrounded by the red rocks - this was one pimp hotel. Sometimes with all the stress of life I forget that there are simple pleasures in life, like the feeling of warm bubbles and wind in my hair.

Floating the day away in Phoenix (Day 2)

Today I will tell you about Day 2 of my recent trip to Arizona. On Saturday morning, the first thing we did in Phoenix was to follow the advice of our guidebook and eat brunch at a place called America's Taco Shop where we ate huge bowls of shrimp ceviche. That is the way to start the day off. Tortilla chips and seafood.

For most of the afternoon, we enjoyed life and the heat at the water park at our hotel. Yes, you heard me right. There was a lazy river, a "sports pool," lots of waterfalls, and another big pool at the hotel. We swam around in the lazy river for awhile, and then we played a game of water volleyball with some kids that were in the pool. We sat in lounge chairs that had little flags to flip up whenever we wanted refreshments. Whenever I am stressed out in life, I will think of this perfect moment of floating around in the pool in the sunshine on a hot, hot day. 

In the later part of the day, we drove around Tempe, where my boyfriend used to live for awhile and also where the ASU campus is located. The Phoenix area itself is in a valley surrounded by desert mountains, and at Papago Park in Tempe there are some large rock formations. We climbed to the top of a rock called Hole-in-the-Wall and watched the sun set over the city. The city lights were beautiful. 

Phoenix, the "Dry Heat" (Day 1)

Someone mentioned to me the other day that I haven't posted in awhile, and I tend not to post when I get busy or when I've just returned from vacation. It always takes me about a week just to catch up on everything in my life after my travels! Luckily that is the case this week. In the next few days I will be sharing stories and pictures from my recent trip to Arizona.

A lot of times I hear, "Boy, you sure do travel a lot!" Yes, I love seeing new places, taking pictures, trying new cuisine, walking around, and hiking around in nature. I hate booking hotels and flights though. Whenever I log onto priceline.com, I feel like my soul has been crushed. Luckily for me, my boyfriend is a hotel and flight booking wizard. To paint a picture for you, he looks up hotels in his spare time for fun. He also has some pretty awesome travel benefits through work, which has afforded us an incredibly valuable opportunity to travel as often as we do. That being the case, we're a little "biased" in the hotels that we stay at, so I won't mention those by name.We want to take advantage of the opportunity while we have it, because you never know when things might change.

We left on a Friday evening after work and got into Phoenix, AZ late at night. Just about the only place open to eat was a 24-hour-diner, 5 & Diner, so we went there after a local recommended the chicken pot pie to us. I have never seen this before, but in Arizona, because of the dry heat, all the outdoor patios have misters (Not like Mr.'s, but you know, misters). Coming from DC, I had a hard time believing anyone would want to actually add humidity to the air:

I also spotted this kooky van outside the restaurant - with a wizard riding a horse, chasing a flying dragon, flying towards a tiger, outside a castle. Drug reference or mythical fairy tale?

Dirty in Jersey

This week on Lauralicious.... an episode of Jersey Shore with no Snooki!

Last weekend I went to Atlantic City with two of my favorite ladies, Whit and Lizz, who have been my friends since college. The weather was perfect, and we had a fabulous time! No, none of us really gamble, but there is plenty of other stuff to do there. Such as, you ask? We went out to some clubs, spent an afternoon at the beach, walked around the boardwalk, saw a guy ride a motorcycle in a cage, and swam at the hotel pool. Here we are before we totally had an "Incident" at a hotel buffet: 

And here's a picture of the beach:

 

 

We also were the recipients of some pretty lame pickup lines. I have heard some bad ones before, but never so many in one weekend. I will share some of these for your enjoyment: 

"Excuse me miss, you dropped something...My phone number!' 

"Did you have a good time this weekend? ...Couldn't have been that good, you weren't with me!" 

How to Make CVM: Crazy Vegetable Madness!

You know when you're camping and you get tired of burnt grilled hot dogs and hamburgers? That's when you know it is time for Crazy Vegetable Madness.

OK, but with more oomph this time.  That first time was pathetic. 

CRAZY VEGETABLE MADNESS!!!!!!!1

Ah, much better. 

Crazy Vegetable Madness I: Madness in Your Buns

Ingredients

Peppers

Onions

Eggplants

Portobellos

Food lubricant (cooking spray)

Shredded cheddar cheese

Barbecue sauce

Sandwich Buns (we used Arnold's Sandwich Thins)

It's so easy I really shouldn't have to tell you how to make it, but I will tell you anyway because I like to be consistent on my blog and describe everything. I sliced the vegetables into 1/4" slices crosswise. I applied cooking spray. By apply, I mean, I sprayed it right onto the fire as the vegetables were on it, like I had a blow torch. But this is NOT me recommending that you do that.  REPEAT, KIDS, DO NOT PRETEND TO HAVE A BLOW TORCH WITH YOUR COOKING SPRAY. Grill the vegetables until they are done. I am sure you know what a grilled vegetable looks like. Put the Madness on your buns, top with sauce and cheese. Then take pictures of it before it gets cold.

Crazy Vegetable Madness II: Just Stew Me Good 

Ingredients

Canned kidney beans

Canned zucchini with tomato sauce

Possibly more tomato sauce or tomatoes

Eggplants

Onions

Zucchinis

Peppers

Hot peppers

Water

Shredded cheddar cheese

Pepper and other dried spices

We chopped the vegetables into stew-size chunks. We de-seeded the hot peppers so the stew would not be overwhelmingly spicy. Then we poured everything in a deep aluminum pan.  We also poured in some cans of water to give our stew enough cooking juice. (It wouldn't be a stew if it was dry, then that would just be dry disgusting Madness.) We covered this all with foil and cooked it over a portable electric grill for about an hour at the max temperature. I guess if you are a stickler, you can cook it over a fire, but you will be a hungry stickler and who wants that? We stirred the stew impatiently every so often. When the stew was hot, we ate it with cheese and spices on top. 

We did not eat the whole pan that night. Obviously, we did not feed it to the bears either because we had sent all the black bears to the moon to cover it up so it would not be quite so blinding bright anymore. So we managed to take the stew home with us. Sorry, hungry bears. The stew held up well and I enjoyed it a couple of days later. Good thing I am not a bear.

Yes, of course we got bored waiting for the stew to cook. Here's a video of our stupid rock throwing game. 

Camping Trip, Day 3

On our way in, we had passed signs for the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. By the third day of our trip, we had to see what this was all about. 


We typed in "PA Grand Canyon" in my GPS. My GPS is Australian and her name is Karen. Karen instructed us to go down a hilly gravel road which was most certainly not the tourism-approved route. I bet the locals there on that road really hate Garmin for messing up their peace and quiet just because their road is technically faster. We did eventually get to the Canyon, which is in Leonard Harrison State Park.  The official name of it is "Pine Creek Gorge," but I have a feeling the marketing folks did not like that so much.


Did the PA Grand Canyon live up to my expectations? Well, no. It is a gorge covered in trees. It is not an epic 7th Wonder of the World. I don't know who Pennsylvania is kidding. I suggest "PA Minor Canyon" or "Junior Canyon" or "Canyon in Training." That being said, it is a scenic view that you can get at least 20 minutes "Look, things that are far away" viewing out of, and the hikes around the canyon are worth doing. 


Views from the top: 

From the top, the trailhead for the Turkey Path begins. Spoiler alert: We saw no turkeys. That would have been a trip. Grand Canyon WITH TURKEYS!

The Turkey Path goes right down the gorge, passing by a series of waterfalls along the way. I bet if water knew how amused people were by it falling down rocks, it would start charging, but luckily water is pretty clueless.

Pine Creek up close: 

Later in the evening, we went to a dark sky (astronomy) park called Cherry Springs. It is at the top of a mountain far from any city and promises spectacular views of the night sky. 


Except for that pesky full moon, they might have been right. 


The lunar timing being not so great, the full moon light up the entire sky and drowned out a lot of the stars we might have seen. Granted, we did get some pretty good looks at the craters and valleys on the moon. I was amazed by just how bright the darned thing is. I really have not seen anything that compares to this view of the moon. It was as though someone had stuck a street lamp in the middle of the woods. I could see my shadow in the middle of the night. 


These photos by Chelsea give you an idea of how bright the moon was out here: 











If it happens again when we want to see the stars, we will go up into space and cover the moon with thick black fur. Problem solved. 


That sums up our camping trip - I hope you enjoyed the recap and the pictures. Stay tuned for tomorrow's bonus camping recipe: Crazy Vegetable Madness! 

Camping Trip, Day 2

The rains continued. The power was out. You would think this would not have affected us... 

But this campground had "environmentally friendly" power-operated sensor faucets and composting toilets. And when the compost ventilation is out...well, the environment is not so friendly.

Cooking being out of the question in this storm, we frantically ran to get in my car so we could go to downtown Galeton. The main event there is a gas station with pet ducks. I took this picture so you could benefit from seeing how cute they are. 

It was in Galeton that we discovered what is our opinion, the best chain-restaurant pizza on the East Coast: Pudgie's Pizza! The sauce, the dough, the cheese, the toppings - there was nothing that we didn't like about this pie. So hats of to you, Mr. Pudgie, you sure do know how to make a pizza that we are not ashamed to eat even though Not Grilling is Against the Rules of Camping According to Somebody. 

Later that day, after the rain decided it had had enough, we took a hike around the campground down to the lake. We stopped once we got to the dock at the lake. We looked at birds through the binoculars and watched the clouds go by. It was just what I needed.


Amazing shots by Chelsea: