I have a friend, Dale Yoshizu,

 who does A LOT of hiking.  Everyday it seems like he's

posting photos of these incredible places.  He even hikes with a dog hiking group.

I think that's great...the dogs always look so happy.

the other day Dale posted the most fantastic pictures.

Pu'u Manamana Peak

I think this might be looking towards Kahana, Kaawa and Laie towards the top.

when we've driven on that side I've looked up at those sheer peaks

and wondered if there were trails up there.  Skinny, steep, probably dangerous

trails it seems.

Thankful that on all of Dale's hikes he always brings a camera and shares

the beauty of these magnificent places.

Breathtaking to say the least!

Mahalo again Dale!

North Shore Petroglyphs...

the recent HUGE (50+ feet) surf that we've had here on the North Shore

has uncovered something that's truly amazing.

Petroglyphs!

these are usually covered by 10 feet of sand and 

are around 1500 years old!

I'm amazed that these are so well preserved.

My friend, Brisha-Poata Te'o shared these great photos with me.

She braved the changing tides to get them.  I must say they're well worth it.

Such a special treat and to think in a few weeks/months they'll probably

be covered again for who knows how many years.

Mahalo again Brisha for sharing.

I'd love to know the story that they're telling.

They're Back...

Peg and David are back for a little second honeymoon...

Hubby and I picked them up and went to "Uncle's" on Saturday night.

Oh, the Opah with mango salsa...

I went into Waikiki and picked them up the other day.

They had some errands that they'd wanted to do.  We went to Ala Moana to pick up a 

dress for Peggy at Reyn Spooner.  David had wanted to see if he could find

the house where he lived in the 60's.  I looked it up and it wasn't hard to get there.

Unfortunately,  the sidewalk was there, but not the street.  It's all naval housing

that's been recently rebuilt.  So we came to a dead-end.

David loves hamburgers, so we traveled over the H3 to Heeia Pier.

Burgers are good, pretty plain, but local beef.  He gave it a rave review.

after coming around the North Shore where we saw some filming of Hawaii 5-0,

spent a little rest time at our house and driving out to Kaena Pt and 

watched the whales.  We were so surprised to see so many of them

this late in the season and so close into shore.

Peg and David wanted to go to El Paleneque for dinner.

How could I say no...

At El Palenque, they actually have a caution sign about their salsa.  Peggy loved it!

Dipping her whole chip! Yikes!

David thought even the mild sauce was a little hot...

not this lady...she just about licked the plate!

We love spending time with these love-birds

our little "Hidden Hawaii" mini food crawl was great!

Nu'uanu...

Last week we had a hula practice with the musicians at a church in Nu'uanu.  

Nu'uanu is the area of Pali Hiway, which connects Honolulu to Kailua/Kaneohe.

 I took a little side trip to drive around this beautiful area.  I hadn't been up

there for a really long time and forgot how beautiful it really is.

Nu'uanu is the site of Queen Emma's Summer Palace.

It was built up there because during the summer, it's much cooler in these uplands

than down in Honolulu.

The Boy Scouts have their headquarters here.

 Nu'uanu  has so many beautiful old houses 

 Nu'uanu Pali Drive is so beautiful...only two lanes and not a lot of cars.  This 

would lead up to the Pali lookout if you continued.  I went the other way and found this...

The most famous area of Nu'uanu is the Pali Lookout.  This is

a site of the last great battle by Kamehameha I.  He drove the warriors

of Oahu up the valley, trapping them at the top of the Pali and driving them

over the side.  After this battle, all of the islands were then united,

There are lots of stories about spirits that live in the Nu'uanu area, mo'o wahine 

(lizard lady).  The one that everyone seems to know about is,

"no pork on the Pali"

don't take any type of pork products on the Hiway or up there... 

Photo of heading back towards town.

Nu'uanu really isn't that far from town, but it's like a whole world away.

Waikane Valley...

On one of our trips to the windward side, we made a right turn at this sign and 

found this...

another one of those little hidden treasures that makes Hawaii so unique.

This House...

We've driven by this house a 100 times.  it's over in Laie. Beautiful grounds, huge yard,

looks like a family compound...

this is the house where the scene in "The Descendants" that

the cousins are all meeting about the Kauai property was filmed.

Only took watching the movie about 5 times to realize that's where it was.

Oneula Beach Park...

We happened upon Oneula Beach Park the other day.  It's on the Ewa side.  

It was strange to have such a great view of Diamond Head from the beach.

We were surprised at how close this actually is to town or Ala Moana Harbor (as the bird flies).

The container ships that are going outer island go right by here,

it was fun to sit and watch them being pulled by the tugs.

Oneula, another hidden treasure.

Malaekahana

Hubby and I took a detour into Makaekahana Park.  I'd never been in there and he had, but it

had been many years ago.  This is such a pretty park.

Huge old trees, so there was plenty of shade from the ironwood trees for the camp spots.

You can see the weather wasn't so nice, but such a pretty beach.  This time of the year,

it's pretty windy over there, but still nice.  That's Laie Point off in the distance.

right offshore is Goat Island.  We found out that at a low tide,

you can wade out there, it's a bird sanctuary.

 Plenty of open space for picnicking

Makleakahana, another hidden treasure