Capturing the Moment

Lea Ready to Roll   On my circle island tours I drive past the huge Kualoa Ranch all the time, yet I have never ventured deeper into the ranch itself. There are several tours that allow you access to the ranch lands varying from movie location bus tours, to ATV tours, to horseback rides, and jungle vehicle tours. I knew that Lea is always on the lookout for famous movie locations so we jumped into the remodeled school bus for an hour long tour through Kualoa and Ka'awa Valley, or as I like to call it 'Jurassic Valley.' Sugar Mill Ruins WWII Bunker   On the way to the movie locations we passed the ruins of the old sugar mill, hearing the story of how the 9 year old son of the plantation manager slipped and fell into one of the boiling vats of syrup back in the 1860's. We passed WWII pillboxes and a massive bunker that housed some rapid fire guns that could have aided in the defense of the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base. ATV exploring On the Set of Jur...

   A smooth transition always makes a move feel a little bit easier. Everything came together for our island hop move from Maui to Oahu. We shipped our car packed full of our stuff. We bumped up to first class on the plane to get more bags checked. Our rental car was super cheap thanks to the low season. I did notice a few new scratches in the car when picking it up from the shipping dock but they just blend in with the others so no worries there.Then we drove to Manoa to get all settled in at Heidi's family friend's place. I felt like that was a pretty good setup for day one in a new place.  So we set of in our rental to explore the island and hopefully meet up with old friends.  Manoa itself is a green oasis sitting up the slope from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. There is a beautiful view of the cityscape from our temporary backyard.   Heading over the mountains we checked out the cool town of Kailua. Lots of boutiques, health food stores, and...