lost tour

I don't watch Lost. I did for the first season and half of the second but that was as far as I got before I started working when it was on TV and I decided I was tired of all the suspense. Just tell me all ready!

But I still went on the lost tour with Emma and Rachel.

Why? Because I thought it would be fun to see the internal part of the island. I'm not much for traveling in the city. I like to travel and see trees and mountains and stuff. And besides, I didn't want Emma and Rachel to have an adventure without me.

Emma booked the tour online. She looked at a couple of different tours and found the one that sounded the most fun for the money. We were excited. Sadly, what the website said the tour was and what the tour actually was were two different things.

We did not see the internal part of the island. A lot of Lost is filmed on this huge ranch where a lot of other things are filmed also. We did not see that. We were on a Circle Island Tour meaning we went along the outside of the island on the same roads that we'd been on all ready.

The website had said we'd get to visit the lagoon where Sawyer and Kate find the guns and we could go swimming in it. There weren't many dressing rooms so we decided to wear our swimming suits there and change after. Well, we did go to that lagoon, but we didn't get to go swimming. We weren't there for more then five minutes. So we were stuck in our swimming suits all day long. I looked and felt really stupid. We all did. Because the others on the tour booked through a different sight and did not get the misleading information and were not in their swimsuits all day.

The funniest, most embarrassing part of the tour was at the end when we visited Dharma. there was a film crew from Spain going around also. Apparently Spain is HUGE into Lost and they were filming stuff for segments to air in Spain leading up to the season premier in February. So the six of us on the tour were interviewed. Yes, we will be on the news, in Spain, in January. Can I just remind you that we were dressed to go swimming, NOT to be on TV? It's hideously embarrassing. And as the news lady, Raquel, was asking us our predictions or our favorite characters or how we wanted to see the series end, all I could think was, "don't put that microphone in my face. don't ask me anything. Please just ignore me." Because I don't watch the show! So when Raquel asked, "How does it feel to be being here in Lost?" I totally spoke up because that was a question I could answer. Best part? I'll be dubbed.

Raquel's Blog Pic. it's hideous, but so funny! (do not tell emma I posted this link. she'll kill me) I am compelled to share.

It was so funny/interesting/entertaining to be in a van with six Lost fans for eight hours and listen to them go on and on about Lost. It made me want to watch the first five seasons and join into the fun in February.

I was going to post pictures, and maybe I still will, but I'm tired of uploading them more than a few at a time.

brilliance personified

My library is closed for the month for renovations. Instead of giving us a paid leave of absence we've all been scattered to other libraries. Today was the first day at my new library. I was given a locker and just as I was about to shut my new locker door I was handed the key to the locker. I thought it would be smart to put the key on my key ring so I wouldn't loose it. So I did. And then I put my key ring back in my purse and put my purse back in my locker. And shut the door. It was at that moment I thought, "crap."

So two of my nice new coworkers looked for at least a half hour for the master key which we could not find anywhere. I had brought a project I needed to work on which I then couldn't get to. I needed my chapstick, but that was locked away also. And my water bottle. My new manager is also new to that library and no one was sure if she'd have the master or when she would arrive. I was getting mighty nervous but she finally showed up around 2 and new exactly where the master was.

Anyway, nice first impression (of an idiot).

hawaii three

We went to the Punchbowl which is a crater dedicated as a memorial to soldiers who died.

We went on a hike to Manoa Falls. So different than the hike to Diamond Head. This one was green and wet and MUGGY! And there were a lot of bugs that had a feast on us.

It was kind of a crazy hike. The path was wet which made for mud which made for hard hiking. We were sliding all over the path on the way back down and most of us were in flip flops. One of Emma's flip flops broke so she was hiking barefoot down most of the trail and leaning on me so that she wouldn't slip. Rachel actually did slip. It was funny; I laughed. But only because she wasn't hurt, just really muddy. It was an adventurous hike.
sunset from our beach

Some random picture I accidentally uploaded. Pretty, eh? I actually took it from the car as we were driving. One of many I took from the car. For some reason I really like doing that. It's fun, though most of the pics aren't so great.
The flight home left Saturday night at 11pm. We were waiting for the plane to load and when Emma says to me, "are you feeling adventurous?" It was 10:30 pm (2:30 am Utah time) so of course I said, "yes!" with an exclamation point and everything. Because they'd overbook the flight they were asking people to volunteer to be bumped. We volunteered and in return we took a $600 travel voucher each and a night in a hotel.

We didn't make it to our hotel until midnight and then had to wake up five hours later so that we could leave for the airport at 6 and be on our "adventurous" flight and leave by 7:30. We had two transfers instead of the original one and finally made it home Sunday night at 11 pm. It was a long day.

On our way to LA Emma was seated next to a man who smelled like alcohol at the get go. Yes, at 7am. And in the five hour flight managed to down 8 (possibly 9-not sure if he got another one at the end to take with him) beers and two snack packs. He reeked so bad he was giving Emma a headache. She must have soaked up the stench because besides the occasional whiff, I didn't smell anything. Emma was not happy. I guess it makes sense that there isn't a limit since the airline was making lots of $ off of him, but we'd have liked the flight attendant to have said "no." It would have made our flight a lot more enjoyable.

Stepping off the plane in Salt Lake was a shock. It was HOT in Hawaii. Sticky, stifling, glistening, glorious heat all week long. Now it's dry and cold. But I only have one month of winter and then I'll be experiencing summer once again. This time in New Zealand. yippy!

Here Emma and I are in the shuttle to the airport after five hours of sleep and a long, adventurous day a head.

hawaii 2

My mom and I were the only ones in my family who wanted to climb Diamond Head. We got up early. Sadly, even at 5:30 am we managed to get stuck in traffic. It was beautiful to watch the sun rise as we were climbing out of the crater.

Looking down at Honolulu Adult illiteracy is so sad.

We also went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

I was really disappointed that the Temple was still closed for renovation. I really wanted to do a session. Instead we just stopped off to look at the grounds

Emma, Rachel and I went on a Lost Tour. Here is the survivors beach. More on this later.

We went to Matsumoto's for shave ice. It was good but I had shave ice at a different place and though I don't remember what beach it was or what the store was called, I thought it was much better than Matsumoto.

This is the sun rising over Honolulu taken from the beach behind the house. You can see Diamond Head to the right. Because of the time difference I was up to watch the sun rise most every morning.

procrastination

nanowrimo started yesterday. for the past 44 minutes i've been staring at an empty word document trying to get the motivation to begin my novel. it hasn't arrived. i'm sure if i had an idea i'd be a little further then word 1, but sadly i do not. my mind is blank. bummer

Hawaii part 1

So, we're home. We've actually been home for a while. And now that it's over and everything is as it was, it seems almost like it never really happened. You know what I mean?

My mom rented a house at Ewa beach which was literally right on the beach.

This was our house while we were there. It was really nice.

Originally we were going to go to other islands and stay longer, but trying to get nine adults' schedules aligned, as well as the money involved, changed our minds. So we stayed on Oahu the whole week we were there.

We visited Pearl Harbor:

I didn't realize that the Arizona Monument was actually built on top of the Arizona. We took about out and back. It was beautiful and very peaceful.

I stole this picture from the internet.

We went to Pali Point :

It was very windy

the Dole plantation:

We didn't stay long. Just enough time to look around, eat our picnic, and have a pineapple ice cream cone. yum

And aren't these cool trees?

Okay, so I forgot how annoying it is to upload a lot of pictures on one post.

To be continued...

happy halloween!