Tag: blogging

Hawaii 2026

Oahu and the Big Island

Planning 😁

Meeting up with Krystal and Randy and the kids on Oahu.  I will hang out with them for a week and then fly over to the Big Island solo to blog and decompress.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  I’m doing carry-on only for this trip.  I know, I know, I have talked myself out of it in the past but I will be flying to two islands and I want the flying situation to be as simple as possible.  I don’t want to drag a giant bag and have to check it and then wait for it at baggage claim. This does pose a problem though.  No self defense weapons are allowed in your carry-on.  Well knives and I don’t know about pepper spray.  I will probably be fine in Oahu with Krystal and Randy but once I get to the Big Island I want to be prepared.  I’m going to ask my local sporting goods store what is legal to pack on board.  I guess when I go through TSA I will find out.

So, what’s on my packing list? I need to pack light and in the past I have always over packed.  I also need to be able to lift it above my head into the bin lol.  I’m not saying that I will be packing (Kris) light lol. I need more than three pairs of underwear and a swimsuit.  So somewhere in between, Kris and Krystal (who packs her whole closet) 😂

I will have my carry-on suitcase, backpack and pillow.  The backpack houses the stuff I can’t live without.  Like my iPad, headphones and car food.  For those of you that don’t know what car food is, it’s quick food that I can stuff in my mouth if I feel my blood sugar dropping. I keep a bag in the car and try to remember to bring it when we go out on the boat.  I am gluten free, dairy free, apple free, onion free… the list goes on. So, protein bars, nuts and fruit snacks.  Maybe a little candy too lol.  I’m flying Delta and I don’t know what the food situation will be.  Normally I go with Hawaiian Airlines and they always feed you but I couldn’t get any flights out of Eugene that I wanted.

I will wear all the bulky stuff that takes up a lot of room in the suitcase.  Water/hiking shoes, pocket jacket (with all my important stuff in the internal pockets) some stretchy pants with shorts underneath, headphones and a hat.  I have found if I wear a hat and headphones my seatmate won’t try to make idle chit chat with me.  No, I don’t need to know your life story and although encouraged by the government, I won’t be wearing formal attire to ride six hours on an airplane lol.

2/27/25 Thursday 

Up early wondering what I am doing today.  Oh wait, I’m picking Krystal up from the airport lol. I still can’t believe it.  That is the epitome of spontaneity.  Something I definitely am not.  I have no idea why she is like that😂

Technically today and Friday were free since I couldn’t book the waterfall rappel without a partner 🙄 it was through the same tour group as yesterdays hike.  I talked to the guide and he said maybe he could fit me in as a single on Friday depending if they were booked up enough.  Oh well, I will need to drag someone back to Kauai with me to do it at a later date.  Would Krystal do it?  Highly unlikely 😂

I spent 2 hours on a live chat with Hawaiian Airlines trying to switch my flight to Krystals.  I found out that I could cancel my flight but I would need to book a new one since hers was on Alaska Airlines.  Even though the two companies have merged everything had to be done separately.  At least I got it done in time to pick her up from the airport.

Picked Krystal up and the first thing she wanted to do was go to the beach.  Right off the airplane.  So we went to Lydgate Beach which was only about 10 minutes away.  

Swam around and walked a little farther down the beach.  Picked up some plastic garbage for my collection. Every year I go to Hawaii I bring a little garbage back with me🙂

We decided to go to a chocolate tasting at Lydgate Chocolate Farm.  

Drove up into the mountains and found out the tasting room was actually downtown Kapa’a😂. The address we used was that of the actual farm where the cocoa beans are grown.  For a fee you can do a tour of the farm and learn about their chocolate.  We opted for the tasting room instead and drove back down to Kapa’a.  

We found the store and tasted a bunch of different chocolates.  I mean so many and they weren’t tiny pieces either.  I was on a chocolate overload lol.  It was delicious!

We walked up and down the streets of Kapa’a and went into all of the cute little shops.  Krystal wanted a coconut drink.  Which was an actual coconut lol.  I got regular water.

We drove back to the Condo to check Krystal in and go to the swimming pools.  Took a walk around the mouse maze of condos and houses to see if we could get to the beach for the sunset.  That’s a no.  We are on a cliff lol.

2/26/25 Wednesday 

Da Life Outdoors Waterfall hike and swim. Check in was at 10:30am so I left at 9.  Good thing I did.  Their directions were a little sketchy.    They didn’t give an actual address.  They gave directions and geographical coordinates (21°57’16.3″N 159°23’06.8″W) The coordinates didn’t work.  It led me to the middle of Lihue.  So I looked at their turn by turn directions.  Kauai Community College was close by so I put that into the GPS and went from there.  I made it to the driveway marker.  A big orange rock.  Turned down a red dirt road all while I was thinking that I was probably getting kidnapped or something. There was another woman there with her daughter. They were waiting for me lol so I had to admit I got lost.

The hike to the waterfalls was pretty easy.  The first one was small  but the next one was probably 30 feet high.  I climbed up the rope ladder and went underneath it.  Very refreshing having the water pounding down on you.  I went to the lower level and jumped in and swam around.  Then we hiked back.  The lady and her daughter had taken an Uber there and the guy dropped them off at the end of the driveway lol. They had to walk the half a mile down the road.  I gave them a ride back to the main road and they called the Uber.  Who takes an Uber to go hiking?😂 I mean maybe to the Mall.

Going under
From the top

Stopped at Kukui Grove Center.  Found a pedicure place.  My toes have been bare.  I looked down at my feet and legs. They were still muddy from the hike lol.  I’m sure they appreciated that😂.  It was a little bit of torture.  She used the cheese grater and then cleaned my feet and legs with a brush.  Yow! My fault though for showing up all dirty😆

 

Drove to Lydgate Beach.  Nice. Lots of parking. Long narrow sandy beach.  I walked down a little ways and there is a man made pool for worry free swimming lol.  Perfect😁

Drove back to the room.  Went down to the pool to disinfect lol.  

I’m relaxing by the pool, blogging and I get a call from Krystal. “Mom, look at your text message “. Ok.

She just booked her flight and will be here at 11:00am😂😂. A two day vacation lol.  I can’t believe it!  She wanted to surprise me but she was afraid I would be off on some adventure and out of cell service.  She is crazy! 

Well, since Krystal will be here in the morning I need to tidy up.  My way of organizing my stuff while on vacation is to have it all out where I can see it lol.  I know, weird but it works for me.  So time to pick up my stuff😂

2/25/25 Tuesday 

Kauai Backcountry Adventures tubing.  Drove to Lihue.  A 27 mile drive south took an hour because of construction and the weird way they block off half the north and south lanes.  I assume it’s for people who are working.  There are three lanes and they will allow two lanes north and one south and then switch it back.  It causes some slow down on both sides.

I got checked in, bought some bug spray and scarfed down some car food just in case my blood sugar went weird.  I got my helmet and I’m ready to go.

We rode a trolley over to the canal and on the way had a “get to know each other session”.  We had to say our name, where we were from, tell something we loved doing, what our spirit animal was and what sound they made. Well I was last and the guy before me said he loved cats and meow😂😂So I said, ” hi, my name is Tami, I’m from Roseburg Oregon, I love water skiing and wake surfing and my spirit animal must be a fish since I love the water”. Then they asked me what does a fish say so I said glub, glub? lol.  Good thing I didn’t say fox 😂

We got our safety lessons.  You wear a head lamp so you can see when you go through the tunnels.  If they yell, “butts up” you better lift up or you will drag on the rocks. 

The water wasn’t very swift or deep. If you fell off you could just stand up to avoid drowning. Nothing like tubing on the North Umpqua in Oregon lol.. While in the tunnels I was on the lookout for spiders and bats but I didn’t see any. The last tunnel was super long and very dark.  They had us shut our lights off and it was pitch black and disorienting.  They told a scary story lol. Creepy.  

Towards the end of the float, I ran into the bushes that were sticking out on the side of the canal.  I floated a little farther and the guide wanted to get a picture with me. I think she felt sorry for me because I was there by myself 🙄. I said okay and we took the pic.  Then she looked down at my shirt and said, “oh my god there’s a centipede on you!”😲  I looked down and there was a six inch centipede on my chest.  I froze and screamed.  She quickly plucked it off me and flung it onto the bank where one of the other guides stomped on it lol.  I was so creeped out!  So glad it didn’t sting me or bite me or whatever they do.  Then I was thinking, what if Krystal had been here?  She probably would have fainted and fell off her tube😂

Look closely at my chest next to my phone strap!

Had a quick pit stop for lunch and a port-a-potty (no I didn’t pee in the canal lol and drove back to the warehouse. Of course they had the pictures for sale and of course I bought mine. Normally I don’t let myself get pulled into that tourist trap but the centipede…..

Per Kris there is a Costco on the island so I stopped there on my way back.  Eating out is a crap shoot when it comes to ingredients so I went there for precooked hamburgers but found chicken burgers instead.  They will do.  Seriously I wish there was just a breakfast / lunch / dinner gum.  Like on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  (I’ll skip the blueberry pie though lol iykyk) Life would be so much easier.

I went down to the swimming pool to disinfect from the canal water😂and blog.  

2/23/25 Sunday

Travel day

Up early for the shuttle.  The Radisson advertises hot breakfast so I went down to check it out.  It had the standards.  Eggs (hard boiled and scrambled) ham (looked too floppy),waffles, bagels, cereal and some chopped up fruit.  Not a lot for me to eat being gluten, egg and dairy free so I took a chance on the bread and made a PB & J both with and without bread lol.

Check in went smoothly.  Since I used my Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard to book my flight my checked bag was free. 

I got in line for TSA and it was pretty quick.  The agents were friendly and engaging and they even told me happy early birthday lol.  Everything was fine until my backpack went through the scanner.  My bag got flagged for search and the TSA guy said we have to open it. By “we” he meant him because when I reached over to open it he told me, “don’t touch it!” Then he opens it with gloves that have probably touched 10000 other germy items.  He pulls the zipper back and before I could stop myself, I blurted out; “eww don’t touch my pillow!” He gave me a look and proceeded to pull my pillow out and then open the small bag that had my travel food in it. He also took out my Kindle and swabbed it for explosives.  All the while I am dying inside watching the germs crawl off his dirty blue gloves and onto my belongings.  For the flight back I will put my pillow in my checked bag.  Which weighed 40 lbs😲. I hope I don’t buy anything lol.

No Starbucks by my gate so I went to Burgerville for a breakfast hamburger.   Lol.  Delicious.

Boarded.  Seat 15J.  Window seat with no window.  😂😂 I guess no one will be asking me to switch seats with them lol.  I was so looking forward to that.  That’s only happened once.  That was the trip to the Big Island.  I was in First Class on Hawaiian and they wanted me to switch to the middle aisle seat.  I said no lol.  

The flight was fine.  Well except for the couple that sat next to me.  The woman smelled so heavily of perfume I choked when she sat down.  I reached up to turn on my air vent but it wasn’t blowing much.  It was super stuffy so she pulls out a little fan, snaps it open and starts waving it on herself and all of her stink onto me. I sneezed and it wasn’t a quiet, dainty one either.  Haha. I think I scared her.

There was free movies and wifi which was nice. I was able to text and watch movies at the same time.  

I will say I usually don’t pay much attention to my seat belt but with all the airplane mishaps lately I made sure mine was ratcheted down. Lol.

So annoyed.  The guy in front of  me wouldn’t lower his window shade.  The entire six hour flight.  Even when the Captain suggested it.  Moron.

Next flight boards at 2:20pm so I’ve got 10 minutes to find my gate.  Because of this they let me off the airplane first😁

Quick 25 minute flight from Maui to Kauai. Looked for whales but didn’t see any. 

Got my rental car and drove north to Princeville. Checked into the Bali Hai and it took 20 minutes to find my room.  Total mouse maze and if you know me you know I don’t do directions so when the staff was telling me how to get there….well at least they gave me a map lol.

The condo is on the second floor.  When you walk in there is a big kitchen/dining area, a living room with a sliding door off the Lanai, a large bedroom that also goes out onto the Lanai and a huge bathroom.  It also has a washer and dryer so technically I could do laundry before I leave.

Oahu

Day 4 Tuesday

Pu’u Pia hike. 1.9 mile out and back. Or should I say up and back down. Elevation was 721 ft. Very beautiful hike. Through the jungle with vines and vegetation all around. Muddy and slippery at times with tree root steps. Yes there was falling involved lol. Just on the way down. Me and Camden. We made it to the top and the view was amazing. Took a group photo. The last one was four years ago. We added one small human👶

Back to the room. Since there was no running water we went swimming instead. I took my muddy shoes and scrubbed them with sand. Refreshing 😁

Hard Rock for dinner. It reminded me of the old days. Traveling and eating out with the kids. Even though they are grown it’s still the same. Although Krystal didn’t get nachos and Kasey didn’t get chicken strips lol.

Day 5 Wednesday

Tragedy. Camden dropped his lip balm in the toilet. I said five second rule. He got it out of there pretty quickly and the toilet hadn’t been used. I said clean it with a disinfectant wipe but Krystal didn’t agree and threw it in the garbage. 😭

Thrifting at Savers. I found some t-shirts and a small carry-on for the trip back. I think my stuff expanded lol.

Razor Sports. Drift carts. So much fun. A mix of Mario Kart and go-carts on tiny wheels. There is a lever you can pull to lift the back end of the cart up to drift around the corners. I think Liz screamed every time she turned a corner. Kasey and Randy couldn’t catch me though lol. Hard as they tried they couldn’t pass me and Camden was in front the whole time.

Lunch at the mall Rainbow drive in. Hamburger and rice plate. Delicious!

Beautiful sunset.

Oahu

Day 2

Woke up at 4am which was really 7am at home. Made myself go back to sleep and ended up sleeping until 6am/9am lol

We walked down to swim in the Hilton lagoon. It was a little over half a mile. It started raining but it was more like taking a shower. The water in the lagoon was a tiny bit chilly but refreshing. I walked out towards the middle and looked down and a school of fish surrounded me. Not small ones. These were around 12-15 inches long and pale blue in color. There were 8-10 of them swimming in a circle around me. So amazing. I wonder if they live there full time or got sucked in through a filter?

Kasey and Liz flew in at noon and we went to Costco to pick up supplies. It was a zoo. The parking lot reminded me of the old days when we would go to Costco in Eugene. Searching for a parking spot for fifteen minutes. The inside of the store was no better. Bumper to bumper shopping carts. I like to see what local snacks they carry and I found these. Hmm. I love crab and I was curious as to how they would taste but I just couldn’t do it lol.

Walked down to get shave ice and shopped a bit.

Day 3

Woke up early and walked down to get a Matcha with Krystal. The coffee shop we tried to find on Google/Apple maps couldn’t give us directions so we settled on Honolulu Coffee. Not three minutes later we found Dean & DeLuca lol. Oh well. Doesn’t look like they had matcha anyways so we are all good.

Drove to the Dole Plantation and rode the train. Noa loved it. No bugs this time.

Krystal chose lunch at Beet Box Cafe. Vegan organic vegetable food lol. Yes, nothing there for me to eat so I walked down the street to McDonald’s lol.

Stopped at Green World Coffee Farm and then headed back to the hotel.

Found this notice slipped under our door…. That is so awesome 🙄 in addition to not having a pool, due to reconstruction, we will not have any water from 9am-3pm.

Went swimming at the lagoon again and the ocean side. The ocean side is so much warmer. Like bath water. You just have to watch out for rocks.

Walked down the street for some Spam Musubi for dinner. Yum! Then we walked back down to watch the dancers at the mall.

Total steps today 17,531/7.25 miles😅

Yes, my feet are complaining a little. lol.

Oahu / Molokai

This trip for packing has been much different from my past trips. Normally I am packed at least three months in advance and ready to go. Not this trip. As I came across things I knew I wanted to take I put them into a big plastic container. That started three months ago but there was no organization involved. Two days before travel day I started going through what was in that box. OMG I stayed up way past midnight packing into a small suitcase and then switching to a medium sized one. I won’t go into all the details because I don’t want you all to think I’m crazy lol. I loaded my suitcase and backpack into the car and left for work. No turning back now.

Stopped at Krystal’s. They were still packing lol.

I am staying at the Country Inn and Suites, taking the shuttle to PDX at 6am. Long term parking is $10 per day and I don’t have to drive to the airport. I was assured there would be plenty of time to check my bag, get through TSA and board at 7:15 am. Makes me nervous but okay….

I got stopped at TSA🙄 No pat down this time. TSA agent holding up my backpack and waving my Nintendo Switch: “Whose bag is this? All electronics larger than a cell phone need to be taken out of your bag”, people staring…….oh well, I made it to the gate by 6:20am and I beat Krystal and Randy.

PDX

First one on the airplane and sitting in First Class. Hawaiian Airlines sends out an offer to bid up to first class and I won! Scored seat 3G. It’s a middle seat so no window but hey, first class lol. Worth it!

Mai Tai in hand. Flight attendant said she would keep them coming until I said when. Um, on number one and, when lol. Coffee please. Well one third coffee and two thirds cream lol. Does that really count as coffee? Or coffee flavored cream?

Krystal and Randy are in the back of the airplane. I think I hear Noa…

8:14am and we are in the air. There is a three hour time difference so when we land it should be around 11:14am. Coming home will be brutal though lol.

Ipad loaded with movies? Yes please. Movie=The Weird Al Yankovic Story. 😂😂 I love Rocky Road! Like a Surgeon! My Bologna! Sing it😂 If you know, you know.

Touchdown 11:00am. I love that we have the whole day ahead of us.

Called the hotel for an early check-in. They will text me when available. Randy took the shuttle to get the rental car so we are hanging out at the airport. Otherwise we would all be grumpy lol.

Checked into the hotel. It’s in a cute little shopping area that is convenient and walkable to the beach. Five minutes in the room Noa locked herself in my bedroom. By herself. Poor baby was so scared. Ten minutes of coaxing her to unlock the door while she was wailing and calling the front desk for help. Second call stressing that she was locked in the bedroom and she is one and a half years old. Mimi to the rescue. I asked Krystal if she had any pens and used the barrel to unlock the door. I know. Genius right? lol. That’s from all my years of taking those pens apart to create chaos in school. That’s a whole other blog though.

Noa didn’t sleep much on the flight so she went down for a nap with Randy while Krystal, Camden and I walked to the beach and looked for food. We decided on PF Changs. Camden ate like a ravenous animal, devouring almost everything in sight. Poor kid was starving.

Walked back down to the beach for sunset. Perfect ending to a great day.

Oahu /Molokai

Of course. Nothing ever goes as planned. I just got notification that my return flight will be delayed two hours. That will put me back in Portland at 11:30pm. since I’m not a fan of a 3 1/2 hour drive that late I will need to find somewhere to stay the night. Which also means I need a hotel that will come and get me from the airport. So I will end up staying there the night before the flight.

Staying the night in Portland before my flight does two things for me.

1. I no longer have to watch Krystal pack the night before the flight. This is good.

2. I will be at the airport waiting for Krystal and Randy to show up to board the flight. This is bad lol.

Historically they are never early for a flight. Not “Kris” early, (5 hours before boarding and not even able to check my bag) 😂 but early like me. Normal early. Two hours early. No, they will run in with 45 minutes to spare 🙄 One time, Krystal forgot her phone and we had to drive back to the house to get it lol. They have been lucky though and never missed a flight. Yet.

Getting packed up. I am taking the bare minimum. The least I have ever packed for a trip to Hawaii. We will see how that goes.

I was asked by a reader why I blog my trips.

I blog to let friends and family know what I am up to. I blog to let others that have thought about traveling solo know that it’s possible. Once upon a time I had my doubts I would ever be able to go and see what I wanted without a partner. Don’t get me wrong. Traveling with someone is fun. Experiencing things together but it’s also exhausting. Making sure the other traveler is having fun too. You might want to go shark tank diving or parasailing and they are afraid of heights or sharks lol. But mainly I blog to remember. To be able to look back and have zero regrets. My first blog to Vegas 2016 solo got deleted off of here but I learned a lot from that trip. Part of it was saved in my personal archives and it’s fun to go back and read it. I’m pretty sure that trip was all about buffets and eating lol.

Well, see you in the air ✈️

Oahu /Molokai

Good news! I booked my flights. I decided to fly out of Portland. And when I say Portland I mean Portland Oregon, PDX. The actual flight with Hawaiian Airlines was down to $400 and adding my seat choice put me at $600. I love flying Hawaiian. You are guaranteed one meal and I always choose the extra comfort seats. There is more leg room and I’ll get a window seat. Flying out of Eugene would have been around $1300 with my seat choices. It also didn’t match up with my flight home from Molokai. This way I can stay on Molokai until the day I fly home.

Now that my flight plans are all buttoned up I can think about packing. I still plan to check a bag but my goal is to use a small, manageable piece of luggage along with a small backpack. I don’t want to have to wrangle a big, heavy bag along with my carry-ons. I will pack a weeks worth of clothing. I’ll be able to wash them at the condo before I travel on to Molokai. I wear my bulky clothes and hiking shoes on the airplane. I always bring my jacket and hat for the flight. Its usually freezing and by wearing a hat and headphones nobody will try to strike up a conversation with me. Lol. Not a fan of small talk lol.

I will be flying over with Krystal, Randy and the kids. So the night before the flight I will drive up to stay with them. I know this will probably put me over the edge mentally. Krystal has a habit of waiting until 10pm the night before to pack. The horror😂. I really don’t know where she gets her traveling skills from lol. Obviously not me. I am Ms. Prepared, most of the time. Just depends on what has been forgotten lol but I do try to write up a good list.

Well, I’ve got a couple of months to get into shape, pack and plan my itinerary.

Wish me luck 🤞🏽🤙🏽😁