Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Woke up at 7:15 AM—a normal time! Chris got Portuguese donuts called malasadas from Leonard's this morning—they are deliciously decadent! Chris uploads some of my photos to his Flickr account. A joke I thought up today: What do you call the rear end of a man from Hamburg, Germany? Answer: hamburger buns! Chris worked on his term paper and I worked on Lodestar. Nate had a final to administer. After Nate got back, we drove to South Shore Grill: mahi mahi plate for me, BBQ chicken and diet pepsi for Nate, BBQ chicken no rice extra cole slaw and cherry pepsi for Chris. We then drove to Pali Lookout, the site of a historic and decisive battle in 1795 called Kaleleka'anae in which many soldiers were forced off the edge of a huge cliff. The battle led to the crowning of Kamehameha I as the first king of the Hawaiian islands. The lookout is at the top of a road crossing the island's mountains, and it has panoramic views of the land and ocean below. We took a few photos. It was chilly and very windy, and it was the only place on O'ahu I felt I could use a jacket. Stopped in Waimanalo at a grocery for drinks and snacks. Drove to Kailua Beach, briefly watched a game of football, walked along the beach for a bit, watched a Caterpillar machine move sand around. Here I got a really great set of photos which, when stitched together, will create a panoramic 360-degree view of the beach. When I have some time, I'll try to figure out how to make a QuickTime file of it. We then drove to Lani Kai, which is said to have some of the finest (powderiest) sand on the island. We walked along the beach for a bit. Then we drove to another lookout called Makapu'u, hiked to the top, saw the lighthouse below. More beautiful views, but no whales—the season had just started. We made it back to the car just as the sun was setting against the full or nearly full moon. We hit unusually heavy traffic on H-1 coming back. The traffic was so bad we turned the car around and stopped for dinner at Greek Marina in Hawai'i Kai. I had Greek steak and hot chai tea, Chris had a gyros plate and water, Nate had chicken souvlaki and water. We drove home the long way to avoid the traffic which we feared was still around. I finished The Time Traveller's Wife, liked it a lot. Sleep.