Houseguests

Lori arrived for a 10 day visit on Monday. The first thing that Luis and I like to do when we have visitors is march them outside and insist that they admire the ocean in our backyard whether they want to or not. Lori could quickly see there was no use in protesting and acquiesced graciously.

Saturday Hike

This is my first posting in Saucy Sauce, and I hope that the psychotic Army job I have allows me the time to engage in more writing. When I was in Iraq, I worked every single day for over 15 or 16 hours, and sometimes more. Here, I've been working around 14-hour days, at a pace that is often reminiscent of my darkest Tikrit hours. However, all I have to do at the end of the day is drive to our fantastic beach condo, where Heidi often is waiting for me drink in hand and a Puerto Rican meal on the stove, for me to realize that this ain't no Iraq. We live in heaven, and all hell is bearable in this paradise.
Today we went on a hike on the Southeastern side of Oahu, climbing atop one of the coastal mountains there to go whalewatching. This is the time of the year when humpback whales migrate to the South Pacific, and practically anywhere you look you see these "roaches of the seas" cavorting, breaching, and splashing. This is further evidence that we're in paradise - to be able to see whales practically every time we look out of these shores is for the two of us the equivalent of a religious experience.
The photo on the left was from one of the mountains we climbed today, looking along the Eastern side toward Waimanalo. The beaches on this side of Oahu are simply stunning; off in the distance in this photo, way back there, you can see the long shore that makes Lanikai one of those places that, were you a Japanese officer from WWII and so inclined, you'd choose for final self-evisceration. The water's hues go from light blue to almost purple, and visibility for snorkeling and scuba is fantastic.
We've just returned to the house to clean up and get ready to visit tonight our favorite Japanese steakhouse in Hawaii, Ninniku'ya (which we believe means "garlic"). Those of you who know me already know why this place is my favorite; redolent of the most glorious and sacrosanct of all herbs, I shall escape this place tonight with the distended belly that other South Pacific cultures know as "pigbel," after consuming the most amazing steer flank I can tolerate. I can't wait!
Love, Luis

Photos from Kaena Point hike

Weekend Warriors

Since Luis is putting in some pretty serious hours at the office, our joint excursions are limited to the weekends and we've crammed in some significant sightseeing during those precious hours. I'm lucky enough that I get to do pretty much whatever I want during the weekdays and the question (frequently asked of me) of what the hell I do all day will be answered in a future post.

Late last year we took a hike up the northwest coast of the island all the way to a place called Kaena Point. It's the only part of the coast that has no road since it was washed away years ago. The only way to reach the point is by hoofing it and even the hiking path is partly washed away in a few places. The total hike was about 5 miles and it took us a several hours because, as you can see in the accompanying photo, we stopped to take in the beauty of the rocky coast.

Once we reached the point where the west coast of the island met the north shore, the rocky path turned to dunes and we saw a number of Laysan albatrosses, some on the nest, and a small lighthouse. At one point you could see down both sides of the island from the same spot. A monk seal was lazing in the sun on a little beach.

I'll put up some more photos in the next post because I haven't completely figured out how to format the photos in this thing. Maybe a 14 year old with a MySpace page can help me out.

You can also go to this website: http://www.fmschmitt.com/travels/Hawaii/Kaena-Point/index.html
if you have a burning desire to learn more about Kaena Point and see some great photos taken by someone besides us.