Island Moosie ... Snorkeling, Eating, and Drinking her way through the islands

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Life is too short – Check off that Bucket List

Posted by islandmoosie on April 11, 2020
Posted in: Hawaii - March 2020. Tagged: Cats, Lanai, Lanai Cat Sanctuary. Leave a comment

Monday, March 2nd… Today is the day I am checking off a bucket list item. I have been dreaming of this for years, ever since I heard about the Lanai Cat Sanctuary and started following them on Facebook.

Woke up very early, partly from excitement and partly from still not adjusting to local time. We grabbed some coffee and bagels from the cafe at the lobby for breakfast, and joined our fellow early risers around the lobby area. Me… an early riser! Who would have thought that term would ever be uttered about me… the person who can never get going until very late morning!

Our flight to Lanai was at 11am. We weren’t sure what the traffic was going to be like from the North Shore and I was definitely not going to miss that flight, so we headed off to the airport quite early. We swung by L&L Hawaiian BBQ at the Airport Trade Center to grab some Uber Factory uber tarts as a treat for the staff at the sanctuary. Why should treats be limited to the cats? 😉

Check-in at Hawaiian Airlines for inter-island flights was a breeze. The few shops in this terminal were closed, so I had to be contented with just hanging around the gate area waiting for time to pass. Ten o’clock came and still no plane at the gate. Boarding was supposed to be at 10:30ish. Ok, not time to worry yet. Soon it was 10:30 and still no plane at the gate. We start wondering if we are in the wrong gate, but the board and the screens still show that gate to be the one for our flight to Lanai.

10:40 rolls around and still no plane. I’m starting to get nervous. We have a very tight schedule for this day trip, really just a few hours to spend there. By now the screens are saying our flight is “Boarding” at the gate we were at. Is this an invisible plane? Did we forget to pick up some magic glasses during check-in that would make the plane visible? Hmmm… Finally an announcement from the agent at the next gate that the flight to Lanai is now at that gate and boarding. Whew!

Now boarding…
An invisible plane!

The flight to Lanai was quick. Just enough time to get served a cup of POG (passion orange guava) juice cup. So cute. I feel like I’m in kindergarten drinking from the small, plastic juice cup.

Approaching the island of Lanai

The Lanai airport is small and has that sleepy island feel that we love during our usual travels in the Caribbean islands.

We quickly exit the airport and find our car rental waiting for us in the parking lot. We had gone back and forth on whether to rent a car, or just arrange for a taxi pickup/drop off, since our time on the island was so short. Car rental is expensive in Lanai, but in the end, we wanted the convenience of controlling our time and not having to wait for someone else to pick us up. We had a great car rental experience with 808 Day Trip. Everything was pre-arranged via email and text. So glad we went this route.

From the airport, we head into town, planning to grab a quick bite and satisfy my shopping fix. We somehow blinked and missed the street to turn to and ended up in the residential areas. Who the heck gets lost in town in Lanai?! Geez…

Our first planned stop was at Mike Carroll Gallery where I wanted to get my shopping fix for some local artwork.

The artist, Mike, was there and took the time to show us around the shop and chat with us. Wow. Amazing artwork, by Mike as well as other local artists. We select a few prints and some items for us, and as gifts to friends back home. This is my kind of shopping. [Side note: You can shop this gallery online and they will ship to the mainland. They are wonderful to work with. We had regretted not purchasing the koa wood frames to go along with a couple of the prints that we purchased while we were there. I contacted Mike via email and they were able to send us the frames via Fedex and they arrived in perfect condition, glass and all.]

Next stop, grab a bite to eat. We crossed the street to check out Richard’s Market.

What a nice, cute store. We comment that this is like the Whole Foods of the island, on a much smaller scale. I spot the poke offerings at the deli and we get a pound of ahi poke for a quick eat.

We sit on a bench outside the store and enjoy the yummy poke while admiring the park across the street. Lanai has pine trees next to palm trees. Pretty neat! Aaaah… the simplicity of life. Sitting outdoors, enjoying something tasty, watching the everyday goings on in town. 🤗

With our bellies full and time ticking, we zip on over to the sanctuary. I am beyond excited.

We arrived and were given a brief overview of the sanctuary and its mission. I’ll admit, I wasn’t really listening as I already knew this and was eager to get in and love on the kitties. They give visitors a bag of treats to hand out, but we had a whole tub! Actually tubs of treats. We took one of the tubs and left the others with the rest of the donations we brought. A gang has formed by the entrance door as they knew that visitors meant guaranteed treats.

The cats immediately surround us, all meowing a chorus of “Hurry up and hand those treats out lady!” Well, technically they were just meowwwwing, but I’m pretty sure that’s what they were saying.

The cats follow us as we move around the expansive place. It’s like we’re rock stars with our posse who follow our moves. They surround us when we sit. Perhaps it has to do with that tub of treats. Ha! I’m in cat heaven.

Cat lady alert! 😹

The Lanai Cat Sanctuary is a wonderful place to visit for any cat lover. At the time of our visit, they had something like 640+ cats. The setup is very nice with lots of areas for the cats to lounge in, and for the visitors to just sit and enjoy being surrounded by the lovable Lanai lions. The cats are well cared for and fortunate to have a home at the sanctuary. I walked away without feeling like I want to take all the cats home, which is usually how I feel when I see cats in shelters or adoption centers. Hats off to the organization, the staff, volunteers, and supporters that make this place so special.

I encourage anyone to support their work. Donations can be made online on their website. They are a 501c3 organization, so if your employer matches your donations like mine does, don’t forget to register to get that match. Win-win!

Cat lovers should put this on their list of places to visit in their lifetime. Make it happen. Life is too short to have regrets! ❤️

We spend a couple of hours at the sanctuary and soon it was time to go. We quickly zip to town to top up the gas in our rental, then head back to the airport to catch our flight back. We leave our car rental at the airport parking lot and text 808 Day Trip that we were done for the day. Easy peasy.

Lanai Airport (LNY)

A quick flight back to Oahu, with another cup of POG to quench our thirst during the flight.

The Honolulu airport is busier at this hour. We exit the terminal and head to the parking garage. This does not look familiar as we walk the rows of cars in the garage. Hmmm… pretty sure we correctly noted the level and row where we parked the Jeep. We continue to walk around each row and do not see it, and the configuration does not look familiar. Errrmmm. This will be really embarrassing if we have to ask for help finding our car. We decide to backtrack after a while, going back into the terminal, and retracing our steps to where we entered that morning. Bingo! Now things look familiar and we find our Jeep exactly where we left it that morning. There is even a rainbow to greet us. All is good once again.

We swing by L&L at the airport trade center to grab another takeout plate of kalua pork and pork laulau combo, some saimin, and of course, more uber tarts. By now it is rush hour time on the freeways and there is no rushing going on. OMG the traffic! We live in the Washington DC area where traffic is horrid, and we used to live in the Los Angeles area, another hotbed of traffic mess, but Honolulu traffic is right up there.

It was a long day but well worth it. We loved the small town feel of Lanai. We loved the cat sanctuary. We talk of spending a few days there to explore the island. I’m pretty sure that will be on the itinerary on our next trip to Hawaii.

Bucket list checked! 🤙

Tonight’s dining delight…

Kalua pork and pork laulau
BBQ chicken saimin

Cats cats and more cats! 😻🐾

 

Making New Friends

Posted by islandmoosie on April 7, 2020
Posted in: Hawaii - March 2020, Oahu. Leave a comment

 

The winds are howling like crazy when we wake up on Sunday. It sounds like there is a hurricane, but then I look outside and there are a few people below standing around taking in the serenity of the early morning hours before the crowds hit the beach. They don’t look like they are about to be blown away by the wind gusts so I guess it sounds worse than it really is.

A full breakfast sounded good this morning so we decide to hit the hotel’s Pa’akai restaurant. Not a lot of selections, which is a good thing, as it doesn’t get overwhelming trying to make a choice. I’m in love with kalua pork and go for the kalua pork hash. Hook settles for the local north shore eggs. The food was good, very, very filling.

Who do I spy at the hotel’s Guidepost station as we walked around after brekky? It’s none other than Pono! Turtle Bay’s ambassador canine. Squeeee! I was giddy with excitement. I have been following Pono’s Instagram since I found out about him. Pono, on the other hand, didn’t quite share my excitement. Oh well, it was Sunday after all. A doggie deserves a day off. 🐶

We continued to walk around some, checking out the different areas of the property, including the various gift shops. The prices were surprisingly not bad, and we managed to pick up a few “Ooh isn’t this nice? I need this. I need that” items.

Despite it being windy, the beach is busy. We decide to go out for a ride. We drive towards Kahuku and keep going, just a leisurely drive on a quiet Sunday afternoon. And quiet it sure was, with almost the entire town closed except for Mickey D’s. It later dawned on us that we were in Laie, a predominantly LDS town, hence everything is shut on Sundays.

We start heading back, with the goal of stopping at Kahuku where Hook promised me some seaglass jewelry shopping. I have visions of perusing cute boutique shops looking for that perfect, local, handmade souvenir.

Errrmmm… are we in the right place?? This isn’t quite what I was expecting…😑

Ok, ok, to be fair there was a seaglass shop off to the right with local, handmade jewelry. Just not quite the “boutique” shop I had envisioned.

Hook makes up for it with a shave ice treat. We shared an azuki bean shave ice with ice cream. Ahhhh…soooo good! The shave ice so fine and light. Things are looking up!

There was a Fumi’s shrimp truck outpost at the same spot. Hook has talked nonstop for a month about Fumi’s since he read about it. This was the number one food truck must do on his list. He goes to grab us some takeout for dinner.

Nice bag Hook! 😂

 

While Hook waits for our meal, I go off to make some new friends. Or shall I say, furrrriends. I had spotted cats by one of the stores when we first got here. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I love cats.  L-O-V-E.

The cats are skittish and would not let me pet them. They look well fed as one of the stores look after them. It makes me sad nevertheless to see so many of them in the area.

I finally tear myself away from my attempt to make friends and we head back to the hotel.

That evening we dined on Fumi’s takeout of garlic shrimp, fried cod, some uber tarts for dessert, and finished it off with gin and tonic. Not a shabby way to end the day. Cheers!

Some photos around Turtle Bay Resort

 

 

Fan girl moment

Posted by islandmoosie on April 5, 2020
Posted in: Hawaii - March 2020, Oahu. Leave a comment

 

Our next stop is the ‘burbs to run an errand.  We head out to Kapolei where I saw that there is a Petsmart.  Nice area, new shopping centers and homes.  Definitely suburbia.

We are taking a day trip on Monday to the Lanai Cat Sanctuary and I wanted to bring some donations along.  I start throwing tubs and tubs of cat treats in the cart, along with cat toys.  I then add a Sherpa soft-sided carrier to the cart, reasoning that they might need one should someone decide to adopt one of the cats.  Hook gives me the side eye and says it’s probably a ploy on my part in case I fall in love with one of the Lanai lions and want to bring it home.  Ha!  Well, we did adopt one of our cats from the small island of Carriacou in the Caribbean from one of our trips…😺

The cashier is amazed at the amount of cat treats and toys we were buying and asks how many cats we have.  LOL.  I assure her these were going to be donated, and that no, I wasn’t really a crazy cat hoarder!! 😹😹

By now it was just about time to head to the Monkeypod in Ko’olina for some grub and live music.  This has been the plan all along when I saw that Shawn Garnett was playing there at lunch that day.  Shawn is better known as Cousin Flippa on Hawaii Five-0 and I am a big fan of the show.  I was super excited to see someone from the show in person.

Cousin Flippa is a great singer.  We enjoyed the music and, I got to take a photo with him! Yep, fan girl moment. 😎

The food at Monkeypod was very good, as expected for such a restaurant.  We had the truffle fries, the seared ahi sammie, grilled mahi sammie, a couple of cocktails, and of course, the yummy coconut pie. 

It was a pricey lunch, but we were pretty much stuffed.

We make our way up north.  It was raining for most of the drive, heavy at times.  We hit the north shore area and it is traffic galore as people were crossing the street to get to their cars to head home.

A quick stop at the Foodland at Pupukea to load up on drinks and snacks for the room.  I love to browse the local supermarket aisles at every island we visit.  I find that they usually have a good selection of locally made goodies that make for great souvenirs.  Hook gets a pound of ahi poke from the deli which we planned on enjoying at the hotel room as our dinner for the night.  After such a big lunch, we just wanted something simple.

Finally we make it to Turtle Bay Resort, our home base for the next few days.  It was still raining and extremely windy, but our beautiful room and the views of the beach more than make up for it.

By 7 pm I was yawning and could barely keep my eyes open.  Hook made fun of me as I was out by the next hour.  Hey, it was technically way past midnight my time! 

Aloha good night!

Shawn Garnett singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow 

So many choices, so few inches

Posted by islandmoosie on April 5, 2020
Posted in: Hawaii - March 2020, Oahu. Tagged: Hawaii, KCC Farmers Market, Oahu. Leave a comment

Saturday, Feb 29th, a very early start for our first full day on the island.  Awake at 3am!  Yikes!  I don’t know if it was due to being keen on getting out of this tiny, musty hotel room, or our plan to check out the farmers market, or that we were still functioning on east coast time which is 5 hours ahead.  No matter, we took advantage of this rare motivation.

We check out of the hotel and head out. 

View from the room… Errrrm

First thing on the agenda today was the infamous KCC Farmers Market. 

We were very much looking forward to eating our way through the various offerings we have been reading about.  We are foodies.  We love to try new things.  We travel to eat.  

We lucked out and stumbled onto a car pulling out of their parking spot, which we quickly nabbed.  Wow, people weren’t kidding when all the posts I’ve read said to go early because it will be crowded.  It is very popular with tourists.  I say that as if we weren’t part of the “tourists” crowd.  Ha ha.

Kona Abalone was one of the top things to try on our list.  We quickly spot their tent and Hook makes a beeline to order a sampler to share.  The sampler consisted of 3 pieces of abalone, one plain, one topped with garlic butter, and another topped with miso garlic.  We decide that the miso garlic was our favorite of the three.  They were good, but not quite up to the hype that we read.  Glad we got to try them.

Next up, the Hawaiian Cane Juice stand.  I get a cup of fresh pressed sugar cane juice.  You can get one with some tropical fruits mixed in like passion fruit, or pineapple, but I prefer the plain-jane pure unadulterated sugar juice.  😉  Very refreshing for this hot day.

https://youtu.be/q-By9PSJu60

We continue to walk around the market.  There are many food vendors to choose from, and crowds galore at each stand.  It’s overwhelming.  I’m not much of a crowd person.  I especially do not like waiting for something when there is no defined line to get to the front but rather having to push your way in.  I’m not much of a pusher.  

I thought there would be more vendors that offered tropical fruits.  I was really looking forward to that.  I absolutely love tropical fruits and I seek them out whichever island we are visiting.  We end up purchasing a papaya, some star apple fruits.  I guess it’s not sugar apple season.  I’m bummed.

We stop and admire the vendors selling tropical plants and flowers.  Such gorgeous orchids.  If only I could ship them home!

It starts sprinkling and dark clouds have moved in.  We make a dash to our Jeep and barely get in and shut the doors before the sky opened up with a downpour.  It’s a sign, time to move along.

More photos from KCC farmers market… So many choices… so few inches to spare on our waistline! 😜

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