The six hour time difference is still wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule... Woke up too late today and felt sort of sluggish, so I hit the kitchen for breakfast and ended up staying there for the first part of the morning. I managed to churn out sloppy joes (for dinner later that night), a roasted red pepper and zucchini quiche, and GFree cream puffs before noon, when I grabbed Janine's bike and began a long journey to the beach. I am determined to be a good house guest for the duration of my stay and have decided to use my culinary skills to win over my host and hostess - it seems to be working (perhaps a little too well) so far!
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| Roasted Red Pepper and Zucchini Quiche & GFree Cream Puff Shells |
Below is the route that I ended up taking (with a pit stop at Whole Foods on the way back). Had to walk the bike for the first 1.4 miles as the tires were mostly flat. After filling up at a gas station, I rode the remaining 2.6 miles to Kailua Beach. The ride was rough, partly given that the tires didn't seem to want to hold retain any of the air I'd forced into them, and partly because the "shoulder" on the side of the road was about six inches wide, causing constant spikes in my adrenaline level as cars whizzed past. I was definitely sweaty by the time I got to the beach and was happy to submerge myself in the salty waters of the Pacific Ocean.
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| Bike route taken |
Kailua Beach is located on Kailua Bay, South of Janine's home. The water was a teal hue that I've only seen in Capri, Italy, so far, and
warm. None of that stick-one toe-in to check or walk-slowly-into-the-water-to-get-used-to-it nonsense. Nope. I spent a few minutes lounging on the soft white sand before the swell of the waves called to me and I abandoned my belongings on the beach for the warm comfort of the ocean. There were no rocks, no pests, no algae, no visible pollution (cough-ahem-Charlotte Beach). For lack of anyone to talk to or anything constructive to do in the water, I bobbed with the waves for a little over an hour, striking up conversations with fellow wave-bobbers (as I will now call them) and exchanging travel stories. When my fingers and toes started to resemble raisins, I begrudgingly floated back to shore, where a group of school-aged kids were setting up for crew practice.
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| Youth preparing for crew practice |
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| View from my towel as I applied SPF 70 |
As I left, stopped to watch a slew of kiteboarders drifting and flipping about further out on the beach. For those of you who do not know what kiteboarding is, check out this
video. Watching the tiny specs of people give themselves over to the waves and the wind both excited me and made me intensely fearful, the latter of which I am convinced to overcome. I must try it. Lessons seem to be fairly expensive, but I would rather try this than surfing, so perhaps I'll find a way to fund it and just eat coconuts and spam for a while, or something.
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