Tourist-Colored Glasses

I've spent the last seven days viewing O'ahu through tourist-colored glasses.

My dear friend, Carey Matthews, joined me on the island last week in search of relaxation, a bit of adventure, and some stories to bring home to Minnesota. Well, we found just that...and a little more.

In one week, Carey and I managed to cover pretty much the whole island. We rolled down all the windows in the truck, opened the sunroof, and blared tunes from my iPod as my trusty beach vehicle, the 1993 Ford Explorer, brought us from Kapolei to the North Shore to Kailua and of course, to Waikiki.

We meandered in and out of the artsy shops of the North Shore, sunbathed on Sunset Beach, and discovered a great little bakery in Halewia. We nearly blew away as we took in the breathtaking view from Pali Lookout and later took respite in the serene surroundings of the Byodo-In Temple. Great fare from Buzz's and shaved ice from Island Snow (my fave Kailua stops) filled our bellies and gave us energy for the hike through the mountains to Manoa Falls.

In a pre-celebration of Independence Day, we traipsed down to the end of my road, set-up lawn chairs on the hill (well, more like a mountain to me), and watched the fireworks in the distance fill the sky over Honolulu.

I was also hoping (and Carey gratefully humored me) to get a glimpse of the "once-in-a-lifetime" comet/NASA probe collision. We sipped our local brews as the sky turned dark and familiar constellations came into view...however, 7:52pm (local time of the collision) came and went without any great explosion to be seen by the naked eye. Arg....

July 4th was spent barbecuing and surfing at Barber's Point with a few of Mitch & Em's friends. Carey and I bravely waded into the waves and mounted our boards in hopes of, well, attempting to surf. My one (count 'em, one!) surfing lesson with the wife down in San Jose del Cabo came in handy as I attempted to instruct Carey on the basics of surfing.

My confidence soared as I successfully caught a wave (however, it was more of knee-boarding than surfing) and continued to paddle out time and time again hoping to get a hang of this surfing thing. Meanwhile, Carey was enjoying hanging out on her board in the middle of the ocean all-the-while watching me develop my surfing skills.

After exhaustion got the best of us, we caught a wave back into shore and refueled on brats and grilled corn-on-the-cob. We said our good-byes and thank-yous and headed for a night on the town in Waikiki.

Carey and I joined the throngs of tourists out celebrating the holiday and met up with Sidhartha, a friend of a friend, who was in town for a wedding. I happily took on the role of tour guide and led Sid and his posse of wedding guests from one fine drinking establishment (Duke's) to the next (Bobby G's).

Before we knew it, Carey had one day, one day only left on this beautiful island of paradise. And what a better way to spend your last day than in true Hawaiian tourist style. That's right. We went to a luau.

Carey and I put on our best tourist-like clothing and headed to Paradise Cove for an evening of feasting on roasted pig, drinking fruity beverages, and true Hawaiian entertainment. We were greeted with Mai Tais from a lady in a coconuts, had our photo taken with a shirtless oh-so beafy man, and learned how to shake our hips hula style.

The true highlight of the evening was the after-dinner show. The Paradise Cove dancers performed traditional hula dances and wowed the crowd with their Hawaiian moves and as a finale, death-defying fire twirling.

But no, our adventures did not end there.

On the way to the airport, we made one last stop at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet so Ms. Matthews could fill what little space she had left in her suitcase with a few island trinkets.

And with that last stop, Carey's vacation came to an end as the reality of boarding a plane back to Minnesota came into view.

We will both have our memories and photos of our great seven days viewing the island through tourist-colored glasses.

But I, my friends, still have 30 more days of adventures to go...