82 and Sunny

As you all know, Hubert, Ruth, and I spent the extra-long holiday weekend in Honolulu with Gina, and we packed in a lot of stuff in three days.

Saturday morning, we headed out on a tour around the island, driving along the Eastern coast up to the North Shore, where we passed by Chinaman's Hat, and Hubert and Ruth got their first feel of Hawaii's warm waters:



We then stopped at a beach that had a big rock in the ocean, about the height of a 10M platform dive, and Hubert and I took a few jumps, including one together. As you can see, I was really timid (that's me in the foreground), but Hubert really launched himself:



Afterwards, we picked up some dessert at the famous Matsumoto's, where we got an assortment of flavored, finely shaved ice, stacked on top of red beans and vanilla ice cream. Delicious!


On the way back to Honolulu, we made a quick stop at the Dole Plantation, home of the largest maze in the world (in the shape of, what else, a pineapple). We walked around the gardens, and Hubert showed an Andrew-like propensity for useless photography. He also bought a pack of pineapple playing cards, but more on that later.



That night, we watched War of the Worlds, and I was the only one who thought it was okay. Gina and Hubert had pretty violent reactions to it. None of it took place in Texas, so Ruth seemed pretty indifferent.

The next day, Hubert and Ruth checked out Pearl Harbor while Gina and I slept in (been there, done that). We all met up afterwards at the gigantic Ala Moana Shopping Center, mostly to look for some board shorts for Hubert. No luck, so we headed to Waikiki, where Hubert hit gold at the big Local Motion store. Despite the purchase of a nice pair of black, white, and red Quicksilvers, his search for board shorts would continue and, even after a second purchase, evolve into an obsession...he's probably already in possession of pair #3 by now.

We did the obligatory walk down Waikiki beach, which is touristy, but the scenery is not to be missed:


By then, we had worked up quite the appetites, especially Hubert, so we decided to eat at Curry House, home of the infamous Curry Challenge, which Hubert was determined to conquer. Back in spring of '02, Jeremy pulled off the feat, which requires eating 1300 grams of steaming-hot rice (nearly 3 lbs) loaded with spicy curry and meat, all in 20 minutes. Jer did it in 18:10. Hubert did it in 17:56! For his accomplishment, he got a free meal, his picture on the wall, a nice case of heartburn, and much respect:


That night, we watched How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, a chick flick that Ruth bought for Gina as a thank-you gift for playing host. Then we busted out the aformentioned pineapple cards for a Hawaiian Hearts Invitational, and the damn cards were jinxed! On the first hand, Hubert had three opportunities to drop the queen on Gina, but being the generous guy that he is, he saved her for me. I retaliated on the next hand, then he hit me, then I hit him, and so on, and to make a long story short...Gina 27, Chang 59, Ruth 84, Hubert 109. Gina took down the top two seeds in the SHHNHB, and it wasn't even close!

On the final day of our Hawaiian adventure, we woke up early to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It's a beautiful, popular spot, so some of the coral is beat up, but Hubert and I found a great spot that is mostly ignored, and we saw a lot of colorful coral and huge fish. Check out Hubert's board shorts...actually, mine were new, too (my fourth pair!):



That night, we headed back to Ala Moana Shopping Center for a huge, 20-minute fireworks show, the third largest in America, behind only NYC and Boston. While we waited, we ate more Curry House and played another game of Hearts, this time with a new deck, and it was much more agreeable with Hubert, who didn't take a single queen and dominated. The fireworks show was the best I've ever seen, but getting out of the parking lot was brutal because of non-existent traffic control, except for this one idiot rent-a-cop with a power trip whose crucial job was to tell cars to alternate during a merge. What a worthwhile existence.



To end the trip, we played some Poker War, which basically merges the elements of (duh) Poker and War. Each player plays a poker hand face up, one card at a time, and the winning hand gets all the cards, but you can fold at any time and sacrifice the cards you have already played. The game was invented one night by (guess who) me and Andrew. Six games were played, and Hubert finished last in five of them. Just thought I'd mention that.

It was a relaxing weekend, and just what I needed after a stretch of hectic travel, sickness, and pain-in-the-ass moving. Thanks to Gina and her generous parents for hosting the bunch of us for the extra-long weekend! It was a lot of fun experiencing Hawaii with some newbies, and it's been great getting to spend almost two weeks with Gina in the last month. Hubert and Ruth are continuing their vacation in Maui, but I'm back for the short work week. Time to organize my new room!