The island tells you things, you just have to understand how to listen to the island and decipher the message. We weren’t listening very well for some of the morning today, but once we figured it out things turned around.
Mike had a seven mile run scheduled and we planned to meet at Le’ahi beach at the end of his run so he could jump in the ocean. He ran, I walked to the beach, plopped down, read and had some morning coffee. It was perfect, men fishing, families swimming, dogs playing catch and just a calmness for a Sunday morning. Mike arrived, jumped in the ocean to cool off and enjoyed some coffee with me. The island was telling us, this is how we are meant to live, we received and understood that message.
Once home it was time to make a proper breakfast with all the lovely food items we picked up at yesterdays farmers market. Scrambled eggs with swiss chard, topped with green onions and papaya boats filled with greek yogurt, granola and drizzled with lilikoi. Perfection, the island told us. And then we stopped listening.
We debated on which farmers market to visit this morning, I was thinking we should visit the Miliani one because we’ve haven’t explored that area for possible retirement, which has affordable housing for us. But we choose Kailau because five years ago we had gone to that one. We remembered plenty of parking, great veggie/fruit options and a vibe that was laid back. We choose wrong and the island mocked us at the farmers market. Parking had less options than the past, food stalls outnumbered farm stalls and the attendees were of a higher social class, very upscale and we didn’t fit in. We weren’t dressed to impress. We left without buying one thing.
Next stop was Foodland in the area. We were hunting down a plastic pitcher to put homemade fruit juice in. We thought Foodland would have it, no. Ok there is a Target nearby, quick go there. We spent over 25 minutes trying to find where a pitcher could be, it wasn’t in a logical place, please get us out. Next stop lunch…
Oh let’s try Lanikai Brewing, I thought they had a food place now, nope not open till noon, we were at 11 a.m. Ok let’s head back over to our area of the island and try this lunch place, that looks good. We made it over the Pali Highway, found the building, spendt 15 minutes looping in the parking garage, we find a parking spot and get to the restaurant to be told there is at least a 45 minute wait. We look around and realize the food may be awesome, but we aren’t dressed for that restaurant.
What to do, where to eat?. Learn to listen to the island. In our way over to this fancy place, we had to snake through an industrial area in Kaka’ako that had amazing murals, but to some people this area would look sketchy despite the stunning artwork, not us.
We had passed Waikiki Brewing Company on Queen street and it didn’t look busy. So we returned to that area and guess what? We found parking (a feat in and of itself in this area) and the place wasn’t packed. We sat at the bar, ordered beer and food.
Sitting there, we realized the island was pointing us to places where we fit in. We’ve been to this brewery before but in Waikiki, we said at that time when we visited it, one and done. I remember the food being good, beer ok, and the customers were the vacationing Waikiki crowd (yes I see the irony in that), just not worth a repeat visit. This location was a different experience for us, a much better one. We fit in.
After lunch, we knew the next stop was to pick up poke. Tamashiro Market was our choice. We had purchased poke from them before, some of the best on island and known as a locals place, you just don’t see tourists here. We picked up 3 types of poke for dinner.
We returned home for some afternoon downtime, much needed after a morning of running around and failing to listen to the island.
Once rejuvenated, we prepped dinner of greens, sea asparagus topped with one of the pokes and then grabbed some crackers for another of the pokes. We packed our cooler and set off for Ala Moana Beach Park for dinner with a sunset view.
Well the island agreed with our plan, no traffic and parking was easy. We even found a great place to sit. The people watching here is fantastic and the views stunning even before the sunset.
Dinner was simple, elegant and perfect.
I think the island thanked us finally for listening because sunset was the prettiest yet. You see, we have learned the island picks you, but today we understood that said island will also test you and make sure you are listening to find where you belong. Message received Island!
CTHikergal Travels 
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