Saturday 8/7 and Sunday 8/8 - Island Hopping

Since I took a few days off the blog to celebrate my birthday, I'll try to catch up today with two days worth of recaps.

Saturday was a travel day.  Time to check out of the Outrigger Waikiki and time to check in to the Smackdown Hotel... I mean, the Sheraton Maui.  Since the islands don't have inter-island ferry service, the only way to get from O'ahu to Maui (outside of a really healthy swim) is through a quick puddle-jumper flight.

Saturday morning we were up by 6 AM and went down to the beach for one last taste of a Waikiki morning.  I think we both knew it was bittersweet to be leaving.  We were excited for the chance to experience another island (and had heard such amazing things about Maui from people who had been there) but we had had so much fun and felt very happy on O'ahu.  Still, there were other adventures to be had and a new chapter to be written...

Of course that means we had to first get from the hotel to the airport, as we had abandoned our rental car on Friday.  So we had arrangements to grab a shuttle from the hotel at 9:15 AM on Saturday morning for a 10:55 AM flight to Maui.  We figured 20-25 minutes to the terminal on a non-workday, quick security check-through, easy flight to the other island-- piece of cake, right?

A series of slight complications of course ensued: I didn't have the appropriate cash to leave a tip for the maid, Duke's didn't have the size and color of the souvenir t-shirt I wanted, and upon check-out I learned the hotel accidentally misappropriated someone's dinner charge from Friday night and I was almost charged $205 for someone else's romantic dinner at the Hula Grill.  Frantic and stressed, we ran out to Kalakaua Avenue at 9:20, panicked that we had missed our shuttle and would have to cab it to the airport.

Of course, the shuttle doesn't come until 9:45 or so, a full half an hour late.  I could see why the guy was late-- when we got on board, our fellow passengers were a combination of loud, obnoxious Australians and a middle-aged rich couple who told the driver "Our suitcases haven't come out yet" and we had to wait an additional five minutes for them to come out.

At this point my Massachusetts-bred internal monologue starts to kick in: "REALLY?  Really, lady?  We're a half hour late and your SUITCASES aren't READY yet?  WE HAVE A PLANE TO CATCH!"  By this point, I am fuming.  All I know is we have to get on a plane to Maui at 10:55 and these clowns are holding us up, while the jovial Aussies are apparently still drunk from the previous night.  I had read that road rage disappears in the calm Hawaii atmosphere; it's a myth, at least when confronted with situations such as this one.

Realizing I could do nothing about it, I tried to relax on the way to the airport.  That is, of course, until we were crawling along in traffic on the H-1, and then the Down Under crowd took their sweet time getting their luggage off the shuttle at the first terminal stop (we were the only ones still left on the shuttle, going to the second terminal).  By the time we got to the inter-island terminal, it was 10:15 and we were cutting it close.

And despite all of this stress, there wouldn't have been a problem at all if one little Dutch family had packed their suitcases more efficiently instead of throwing everything they owned willy-nilly into the different bags.  Since these jets are smaller, the island airlines are more strict about luggage weight and carry-on size.  Apparently, while we were next in line to check in, this family decided to REPACK EVERY BAG THEY BROUGHT on the floor of the terminal in front of the check-in desk.  Then the father decided to argue with the airline representative about whether his carry-on bag was small enough for the overhead compartment (it wasn't).  He was adamant that his checked bag didn't weigh more than 50 pounds (it did) and he shouldn't have to pay extra (he had to).  I guess in the Netherlands such objective measurement tools as scales and carryon compartments don't have quite the weight as someone's word.  Unfortunately the Honolulu airport insisted on the traditional measuring devices having the final word.

At last, we got to the counter to check in.  And by the time the woman finally asked us what our destination was, she announced to us that the flight we were about to get on was closed.  Apparently they close the flights a half hour before takeoff and it was then 10:26.  (Translation: we missed the standard check-in by ONE MINUTE while we were watching the Van de Velde family show everyone in the terminal their unmentionables.)

At this point I was beyond fuming.  I think steam was literally coming out of my ears.  I pretty much lost the ability to speak English or to comprehend anything the woman was saying to us.  Thank God Jen took over and handled the rest of the transaction.  She must have operated quite smoothly with the clerk, because somehow we got not only ourselves but also our checked bags onto the flight.  Whew... crisis averted.

This plane and this tarmac were a sight for sore eyes.

So needless to say, Maui started off on a negative note.

I don't want to rant any more, but here's another difference between O'ahu and Maui: we had to trade in our sweet Volvo convertible for a Ford Mustang.  Normally this is not a big deal as a Mustang is a pretty sweet car, but when I saw the car they gave us, I just had to laugh.

I mean, it looks like a blue highlighter pen.  Did Digger Phelps pick the paint job on this car? 

Alas, this picture would be more effective if I could have found one in which his tie and highlighter were blue.

The '64 Buick Skylark convertible, as seen in  "My Cousin Vinny"

Are we in "My Cousin Vinny" here?

Either way, it was time to move on.  The airport on Maui is in Kahului, the largest town on the island which is also located right smack in the middle of the two "eggs" that make up the island.  Our hotel was in West Maui, so after a quick lunch at a townie restaurant in Kahului we got on the road to Ka'anapali and the Sheraton resort.

Maui is a lot different from O'ahu.  First of all, there are no freeways on Maui.  Honolulu is a legitimate city, and there are a number of different routes and exits you could choose to take to get to Waikiki.  In contrast, there is only one road in and out of Ka'anapali, a two-lane road that hugs the coastline called route 30.  From the airport to the resort, it's about a 25-mile drive along this road.  Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the nice coastline drive because Jen crashed in the passenger seat for the drive, and I try not to click and drive.  Sorry.

The Sheraton Maui area is so different from Waikiki Beach.  Instead of a large number of hotels tightly packed in on a four-lane urban artery, tucked among high-end shops and other buildings right along the beach, the Sheraton is one of five or six large, land-rich resorts which sprawl on the ocean side of a golf course-lined parkway.  The vibe and the feel is so much different from the Outrigger.  Consider some of these images of the grounds on this page.

From the patio of the room, pool to the right, ocean off to the right

Man-made waterfall, which took the place of an actual shower for me a couple of times.

After the fiasco of a day we'd had so far, I don't know if I was in the right frame of mind to truly enjoy the Sheraton and give it its due.  And I'm afraid I'll come across as too critical of Maui in general on this blog, which I'm not at all.  I guess I had just heard from everyone I'd talked to that Maui was an unbelievably ridiculous place which was so much better than Waikiki that I may have built it up too much in my mind.  That, combined with my reluctance to leave the Waikiki scene, made us kind of lukewarm about Maui.  Not to say that it wasn't amazing (which it was; it's hard to be dissatisfied with an oceanfront Hawaii resort after all) but comparing resorts in Hawaii is like a wedding day in South Carolina-- it's all relative.

Oceanfront patio looking west at the Pacific and the offshore island of Lana'i

There were some great things about the Sheraton and the Ka'anapali resorts.  For example, the beach wasn't crowded.  With everything more spread out, there is more sand for everyone.  Also, the pool at the Sheraton was unbelievable.  It starts out as a large pool on one end, but then it continues into kind of a lazy river with waterfalls and a mini-water slide for the 30-something crowd....  er, I mean, for the kids.  The poolside bars at the Sheraton were literally poolside, making it really easy to sit in a lounge chair and order frozen fruity drinks.

Main pool area... that's the Black Rock in the back

Lazy river...

Finally, the other end of the pool

There is also a great concrete walking path that runs on the oceanfront side of all the resorts and gives an easy right-of-way down the beach to the other hotels and to this nice shopping area called Whalers Village which had a food court, an ABC Store (they're EVERYWHERE), and some nice shops.

Every night at sunset, the Sheraton is the site of the Black Rock cliff-diving ceremony.  One of the young Hawaiian guys who works at the resort grabs a torch and runs around the property, lighting up every tiki torch, before climbing up to the large Black Rock which juts out into the ocean next to the edge of the resort.  He pauses atop the rock (and often makes a great silhouette into the setting sun) and then performs a ceremonial cliff dive into the water below.  Apparently this is a time-honored Hawaiian tradition meant to honor one's ancestors.  The video we took is not loading right now, so I will try to post it on a later blog.

I heard a clueless guest from the Samaritans once yelled "DON'T JUMP."  Must have been really awkward.

After the stress of Saturday, Sunday was intended to be a low-key beach and pool day.  We had a complimentary breakfast buffet at the hotel, then grabbed two lounge chairs right next to the pool near the lazy river segment.  Around 11:00 we rented some snorkel gear and did some snorkeling around the Black Rock, which was reputed as one of the better spots on Maui, an island that is renowned for its great snorkeling. 

Black Rock under the sea

How'd all these Hell's Angels get across the Pacific to Maui?

After snorkeling for an hour we drove down to Lahaina for lunch.  Lahaina is about 10 minutes from the Sheraton, and it is pretty much the only place on Maui that has a real downtown area.  There are a ton of oceanfront restaurants and shops on the streets; Jen remarked that it reminded her a lot of Martha's Vineyard and I thought it was a lot like a Hawaiian Newport.  After some research, I figured out why-- Lahaina was founded by missionaries from New England in the late 18th century, and for many years was the world's busiest whaling port, which would certainly explain the Colonial style houses and the general New England fishing village feel of the place.

Before we left O'ahu, a girl who worked at Duke's suggested to us to go to Kimo's, which is their sister restaurant in downtown Lahaina, right on the waterfront.  Fantastic place for lunch.

Oceanfront cheeseburgers and grog.  What's not to love?

Thankfully, plenty of shade to protect our skin from the lunchtime sun.

Looking from the edge of the deck a Kimo's toward Lana'i

I'm not too proud to admit I drank my share of fruity drinks.

The rest of Sunday was stocking up on supplies at the Safeway, going back to the beach, watching the full Black Rock ceremony, hitting the food court for pizza, and getting to bed as early as possible.  A new adventure awaited us on Monday morning, one that would show itself at 10,000 feet.

Sunset before the sunrise...

TOMORROW: Haleakala, the "House of the Sun"; Ryan dances the hula and Jen has video to prove it; and a small medical issue inspires Ryan to go on a nationalized health care rant.

Friday 8/6 - Top of the World

Every place you visit has one of those tourist things that you pretty much have to do when you go for the first time.  In Boston you have to go to Faneuil Hall or Fenway Park.  In New York you have to go see the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty.  In Philly you have to drive past Boyz II Men's high school while blasting "Motownphilly" in your car stereo.  (Everyone does that, right?)  In Waikiki, you have to climb Diamond Head.

Diamond Head is the large volcanic crater visible in the background of so many Waikiki beach shots.

This book (HiStory of Santa Monica) is written by a friend of mine, Mike Atwood.  It's a collection of short stories that are set in Santa Monica and in New England.  Here's my official plug to buy the book; it's good, interesting reading.

Seeing that the crater is only about a mile and a half from the beach, a lot of people walk directly there from their hotel and then to the top, but we were out the door by 7:30 so we took the rental car out.  I mean, why spoil a perfectly good vacation with some extra exercise, right? 

About one minute into the trip, however, the exercise gods sent us a sign that they didn't look kindly on our choice to drive to the crater: I killed a bird.  Ran it right over.  I think it was some kind of seagull, just hanging out in the middle of an otherwise deserted Kalakaua Ave, probably itself enjoying a nice Waikiki morning like we were.  I figured it would get out of the way (like birds tend to do-- it was after all George Costanza himself who articulated that getting out of the way of cars is part of "the deal" between humans and pigeons) but it never did, and ended up meeting my front left tire treads.  I felt really bad.  But I felt better after realizing that the principles of natural selection imply that a bird so unaware of its surroundings that it allowed itself to be run over by a slow-moving convertible probably wouldn't have survived in the long run anyway.

So with the birdslaugher behind us, we made it up to Diamond Head, drove through the tunnel to the inside of the crater, found a place to park, and started the hike up.

Jen got to practice her Japanese here to get this picture taken for us.

Now, I used to hike a lot.  When I lived in North Carolina, we used to hike three or four times a week, and even hiked and camped in a rather hilly section of the Appalachian Trail at Shenandoah National Park. So since I'm a little bit out of practice (and a lot out of shape), I'll spare you the painful pictures of me walking up the crater with my shirt off from sweating too much, feeling almost as if I could pass out at one point.  Somehow I held onto consciousness and muscle control long enough to find ourselves at the top of Diamond Head crater with an amazing panoramic view of all of leeward O'ahu.

View of the inside of the crater; strangely, Hawaii used to locate its main air traffic control center here, in the middle of a giant hole in the earth.  Sounds about right to me.

About halfway up looking at crater; this is probably where I started gasping, wheezing, and hallucinating.

From near to far: Kapiolani Park, Waikiki Beach hotels, downtown Honolulu, central O'ahu

I sweat so much I could have counted it as my shower for the day.  Jen clearly held up better than I did.

Beautiful panoramic.  Click on the photo for better detail.  (It's okay to click, you won't be Rick-Rolled or anything.)

I admit, I'm kind of exaggerating the hike-- it wasn't that bad.  I think it seemed worse than it was because it seemed like half the elevation was gained in the last 1/4 of the hike, mostly through steep staircases that reminded me of a D.C. Metro station.  These staircases didn't make going down the hill much of a picnic either; one trip of my clumsy feet and I would have been sliding down 100 feet of stairs like Bugs Bunny.

President Andrew Jackson would have referred to this staircase as "the trail of tears"

Diamond Head having been conquered, it was time to explore some parts of the island we hadn't been to yet.  First off was a brief stop at another off-the-tour LOST location: the house which Hurley bought for his mother with his lottery winnings, which immediately caught on fire, while Hurley himself was arrested on mistaken identity.

From Season 1 "Numbers" - Hurley is getting arrested on his Hummer while his mom's new house burns.

Looks like too  many idiot gaping tourists were coming by the house, so they needed to erect a wall and gate.  Might want to try a moat, too.  LOST fans can be pushy.

We then drove along the coast all the way around the eastern end of the island, all the way to the windward side of the island, stopping at this odd tourist attraction called the Halona Blowhole, a bizarre natural formation in which incoming waves get trapped under the rocks and then spit out of a gap as if it were Old Faithful.  You have to crane your neck in the video below a bit to see the water coming out, and not much happens after the first few seconds, but it was fun to see for a few minutes anyway.

How could you NOT stop at a place called the "Halona Blowhole?"

After wrapping around eastern O'ahu, we arrived in the town of Kailua, kind of a slow-moving beach town which was apparently named after an obscure Chinese food restaurant in North Attleboro.  We stopped at the beach at Kailua Bay (gorgeous) and I made an effort to get a little bit of color on my back to balance out my golf tan so I didn't stand out quite so much as a solarphobic Irishman.

Everyone got their tickets to the gun show? 

By the way, this was our fifth day in Hawaii, and I had yet to get a sunburn.  That might deserve some Guinness Book recognition.  Jen, at most, had a small burn on the back of her upper arm.  Of course, we had probably gone through four or five bottles of sunscreen by this time, too.  It's rough to have light skin; I live in constant fear of the sun.  Sometimes I wonder how my brother Justin got the kind of skin where he can actually slather on tanning oil rather than have to load up on SPF 30 every twenty minutes all summer long.  Go figure.

After a couple of hours of beach time and lunch at a quiet (read: deserted, but very delicious) Chinese restaurant in Kailua, we made our way back towards Honolulu, stopping by Nu'unu Pali Drive (scene of some of the LOST sites yesterday) and wanted to explore a little more, since we hadn't gotten out of the Hummer on the tour.

This stream crossing was used in like 20 episodes, so I'm not going to find screenshots for every one.  Just trust us.

This will be part of my application to be Matthew Fox's understudy in "LOST: The Movie."  This was taken in the same bamboo forest in which the very first and very last scenes of the entire series were shot.

We also stopped by St. Andrew's Church in downtown Honolulu, which was turned into "Oxford University" in a few episodes.  It's amazing to see how a strategically-placed camera angle can convince viewers that they are looking at England when, in fact, a distinctive Hawaiian office building is right across the street.  The screenshot to the right is from Season 4 "The Constant."  Enjoy the pictures, brutha.

"I'm looking for Daniel Faraday."

"Can you help me find a woman named Eloise Hawking?"

Somehow I think that blue office building would look out of place in Oxfordshire.

If I weren't married, I could definitely pick up chicks with this car.

Today was our last day with the rental car as it was due back at 6 PM, so there was one more excursion with the Volvo to be had: Tantalus Drive.  Tantalus Drive is long, tortuous, winding road leading from downtown Honolulu up into the mountains, and then back down.  The zig-zags and switchbacks make for interesting driving, but the views from the top were magnificent.

Almost at the top of Tantalus Road, with Diamond Head and the entire city of Honolulu sprawled out.

From one angle, you can actually see all the way to Pearl Harbor, and can visually identify the Arizona memorial.

Pearl Harbor is that big watery mass in the way back middle in front of the mountain. Great visibility.

Dropped off the rental car and headed back to the Outrigger for one last night at Waikiki Beach and the island of O'ahu.  Capped off the night with a dinner at Duke's barefoot bar... and started to read up on Maui.

Why sample tons of restaurants when you find one you love right in your hotel?

TOMORROW: The importance of packing well (especially if you have three kids in tow and there is a line of anxious travelers behind you), the difference between American and foreign rental cars, and our arrival in Maui.

Thursday 8/5 - Lost...

Mornings in Waikiki are surreal.

Having a six-hour time change certainly helps, but there is something about the morning in O'ahu which became addictive.  The air is warm but the sun isn't pounding down on your thinning hair yet; it would have been the perfect air and temperature for a nice long jog if I weren't determined to look like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man when I returned home.

The beach crowd is sparse but not empty; by 6 AM there are already a few surfers, paddle boarders, and hearty swimmers parked out at the sandbar 200 yards offshore waiting for the next perfect wave.  The small army of hotel beach employees are setting up for the day, digging holes in which to plant chairs and umbrellas for their hourly rentals, hosing down surfboards and catamarans to sanitize them for whichever tourists will use them today.

These guys must be on East Coast time... no sleep on vacation!

It is the perfect time to get a bagel downstairs, grab a chair out back and watch the neighborhood wake up and start mobilizing for another hot, beautiful Hawai'i day at the beach.  It's for much the same reasons that we enjoy going for a walk/run in downtown Boston early on Saturday mornings-- it's just a lot of fun to watch a city wake up and start its day.

Quiet morning on Waikiki, ready to get going

By 7:00 Jen and I had scoped out a set of chairs in the first row of the pool, facing the beach.  So for the next three hours, we sat there while the world started buzzing around us.  It was nice to be able to hammer out three good hours of reading-- I was reading Nick Hornby's famous memoir Fever Pitch, turned into the horrible Jimmy Fallon/Farrelly Brothers Red Sox movie, while Jen was crushing a novel called Honolulu by Alan Brennert, highly appropriate for the vacation of course).

By 10:00 the sun overhead had already peeked over the rooftops of the beachfront hotels and was barely impeded by the palm trees high overhead, so I knew our time reading in the relatively cool air was basically done.  So instead, we decided to try out a particular Hawaiian activity that we'd seen for the last couple of days and wanted to give it a shot-- riding in an outrigger canoe.

I hope we didn't disturb this guy's sports page by asking to go on the outrigger.

So an outrigger canoe is just like a regular canoe except it has like a 15-foot-long attachment which is a lateral support float (called an outrigger, hence the name) to keep it from capsizing.  A lot of the hotels on the beach offer outrigger rides all day long; for $10 you can paddle out in the canoe with a small group, and ride two waves in.  Sounds fun, right?  Turns out it was a lot more entertaining that I had thought.

Our instructor shows us how to correctly paddle the canoe (he must have been at my demonstration for the Japanese tourists yesterday), and we hop in.  Jen's in the first position, I'm right behind her, there are three people behind us, and then our instructor/guide is in the back.  We push the canoe out into the water and then start paddling, heading out to the sandbar which is a good 200-250 yards out.  Then we wait.

The person in position 1 is the most vulnerable, which is why I volunteered Jen for the job.

It's really peaceful to be out there, just floating on the canoe with the backdrop of Waikiki in front of you, surfer dudes and dudettes trying to catch their waves and not be decapitated by an incoming outrigger, and bodysurfers roaming around, dangerously in our way.  Then the big wave starts coming.  The instructor yells "START ROWING!  FAST!  FAST!"  So we row.  Fast.  Fast.  Hey, we're team players.  Then he yells "STOP!"

As the undertow is pulling us out, all of a sudden we catch the crest of a wave and the next thing we know we start seemingly flying towards the beach.  It was incredible.  I've never been surfing before but right then I knew what the allure of it is; you find yourself just relaxing and submitting to the awesome force of nature, and the design of the canoe does the rest.  We rode the wave all the way to about 30-40 yards from shore before it ran out of steam, but wow, what a ride.  The best part was that we got to go out for another one.

The second one was even more intense than the first.  The ocean went calm for about five minutes as we waited, wondering when the next big one was going to come.  Fickle thing, that ocean.  It can come with five huge waves in a row, or it can make you sit and wait for the next one.  Funny thing is that we have no power over it.  As humans, for all our technology, for all our supposed mastery of our environment and our planet, we are essentially powerless against the force of the ocean.  It dominates us.  It is really quite a humbling thing to realize.

Especially when the next big wave comes and completely sends us flying through the air towards the shore.  When we come back down, the bow of the ship clips the ocean and sends up an intense spray of sea and salt directly into our faces.  For about five seconds, I can't see a thing.  I pity Jen, who was in front of me and took the brunt of the water-beating.  I briefly pray to whatever gods there may be because I am pretty darn sure we're going to capsize out here in the Pacific.

Next thing you know, the outrigger steadies itself and we're back to riding the crest of the wave toward the shore.  I say a quick thanks to whichever god(s) answered my prayer and relax for the rest of the ride.

To cap it off, we saw a giant turtle just swimming in the water about 10 yards off the shore as we paddled back in.

Primitive shower facilities for the beach staff-- the union should complain about the accommodations.

After the surreal outrigger experience, it was time for the real plans of the day: the official Hummer Tour of LOST (and other assorted movies) filming sites!

(Again, a disclaimer: if you haven't seen LOST, you will probably be bored out of your skull by this section.  So have a good night and I'll see you tomorrow.)

Okay, they're gone.  So let's get to the good stuff.

Most of the good LOST filming sites that we didn't see on Wednesday at the North Shore are located on private property called the Kualoa Ranch, which is located on the northeast (called "windward") coast of Oahu.  This side of the island is only about a 30 minute drive from Honolulu, but it is feels so much farther away.  (Or maybe it was being in the same place where Hollywood filmed a show about people being trapped on an island which was seemingly immune to the usual laws of time and space which led to the sense of isolation?)

I hope whoever lives here never threw his son out of an 8th story window.

After stopping to pick up our tour guide companions, a nice couple a few years older than us from Perth, Australia, named Brad and Emma.  The first tour stop was a little road off one of the highways through the mountain valleys which separate the city areas with the windward coast: the house that was used as Anthony Cooper's residence (John Locke's father), on a street called Nu'unu Pali Drive.

From Season 1 episode "Deus Ex Machina."  Of course John Locke rides in style.

There was another brief stop on this road, but the next day we explored it a little more, so I'll save those details for later.

Now on the windward coast, they showed us the pier on which the Others marched Jack, Hurley, Kate, and Sawyer at the end of season 2, and where Ben gave Michael the boat in which he and Walt left the island.

From the show- season 2 "Live Together, Die Alone" screencap

The Others hold some of the survivors captive and then release Michael

Pier in the distance, but background completely recognizable

Thankfully we're not blindfolded - the island in the back is called "Chinaman's Hat. ("Also, Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please." - Walter Sobchak) 

Panoramic with Asian-American's Hat in background

One of my favorite scenes of Season 6 was just before Jack and the others got on the sub (before, of course, the tragedy that occurred on the sub itself), in which Jack shoves the fake John Locke off the pier and into the water while they commandeer the sub, leaving fake Locke and Claire behind.

It looked a lot cooler with a CGI submarine parked at the dock

A very badass Jack moment from Season 6.

Now on the property of the Kualoa Ranch proper.

Most of the ranch is only accessible through ATV's or by foot.  It was pretty impressive, though, that our driver/tour guide Ricardo was able to take us over some rather unimproved terrain-- unfortunately I wasn't told that I should have taken my Dramamine before the tour.

The rest of the time, the Hummer took us all over Kualoa ranch, full of ridiculous scenery, luscious mountain backdrops, beautiful distant ocean views, and very recognizable LOST backdrops.

Yeah, I could live on this property.  Might not be quite big enough for my needs, but I could make do.

from Season 3 "Tricia Tanaka is Dead."  One of the all-time feel-good moments in the show.

Not sure I would ever want to jump-start a 1974 VW bus going down this hill.

The tour guide was nice enough to let us recreate pushing the van down the hill....

...unfortunately, this time the clutch snapped and it crashed into the rocks, maiming all on board.  Not quite the storybook ending we were hoping for.

Season 1 "Solitary."  Hurley decides to blow off steam by building a golf course.

My putt to capture the first (and hopefully, last) Island Open.

Season 3 finale, "Through the Looking Glass."  Jack and Ben sit on logs to discuss their plan of action.

Jen is definitely more devious and manipulative, so she gets to be Ben, while my hero complex makes me an obvious Jack.

Season 6 "Ab Aeterno."  Jacob gives the Man in Black a bottle of wine to pass the time.

Jen and I contemplating our future on the same log.

Also from "Ab Aeterno."  The Man in Black reflects on being the personification of Evil Incarnate.

Similar thoughts are clearly going through my head here as well.

Season 5 "Jughead."  The bomb.

Jen at the Jughead site.  This LOST tour really was "the bomb." (Thank you, I'll be here all week, try the veal.)

Season 4 "The Other Woman."  Jack and Juliet kiss at The Tempest.  Awkward seeing as how one season later she is married to Sawyer, and Jack ends up with Kate.

I hope that isn't a precursor for this couple!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the crazy polar bears that pop up every now and then on O'ahu.

Season 5 "Jughead."  In 1954, John Locke surveys the US Army camp actually used by the Others.

2010.  I survey an empty valley, but it's totally as badass as what Locke was doing.

Yeah, they filmed "Jurassic Park" at this site.

This valley shot was used a ton of times from different angles and depths.

As seen in season 6 "Ab Aeterno," this was Richard's house in the 1860's flashback on the Canary Islands.

We loved the LOST tour.  As a film teacher, I was interested in learning about the technical use of the ranch as a set.  Ricardo said a lot about the different camera techniques that directors use to achieve different effects; especially, how to use essentially the same set and manipulate it with angles and focus areas to make it seem as if the scenes are taking place miles apart on the island.  Ricardo had been a film major at Hawaii Pacific University, and had good insights for many of the spots as to what the director's intention was in the shot.

On the way back to Waikiki, we had a nice conversation with the Australians about their city of Perth, the differences between Australian and American culture, popular sports in both countries, and life in general.  Great afternoon.  After a quick (and cheap) dinner at the Maui Tacos at the Royal Hawaiian food court, I was ready to call it a day.

I was belly-button-north by 9 PM, thinking of some of the LOST sites and realizing, "We have to go back, Jen...  WE HAVE TO GO BACK!"

(From season 3 finale, "Through the Looking Glass.") "We have to go back!"

TOMORROW: We go back.  But before that, we hike to the top of a volcanic crater.  Later, more great scenic views, and one last night in O'ahu.