Hawaii: Day 8 (09 June 2009)

Day 8 had to be my favorite day of all! It was incredible, especially the parts that we hadn't planned. We started out by going with Amy and Juan to a little secluded beach accessible only by boat. We took a little ferry across a small fresh water lake. It was a beautiful day and the view was amazing.

Jordan settled in with no problems and made himself right at home.

They had kayaks for us to cruise around in and of course I choose the one that had a leak! If you look at me on the bottom left my butt is riding pretty low compared to everyone else. It was fun just same even with a wet rear end. Following the beach and a few games of volleyball we headed for our next stop...
A bus tour of Kualoa Ranch. Amy works as a receptionist there. It is a beautiful ranch known for the many movies that have been filmed there; parts of Godzilla, Pearl Harbor, George of the Jungle, and many others. It is always nice to know a "local" with connections, our tour was free!

This is a view of the valley in the ranch.

Prime Real Estate.

Location, location, location!
Another big show that has been filmed here is the TV series "Lost".

Jordan looks a bit too proud to admit it but that sign fits him pretty well! Just kidding Jordan, we'd all be lost without you! Remember in "Jurassic Park" when everyone was running from that herd of chicken looking dinosaurs? There's the log they hid behind.

Great view! Not a bad place to work for the little wife of a poor college student.After the Movie Set Tour at Kualoa the real fun and excitement began!
Jordan, Amy, Anne, Laura, and I decided to go for a hike. I don't remember the name of the place we planned to hike but along the way we started talking about the Haiku Stairs better known as the Stairway to Heaven. For those of you that don't know what the Stairs are here is a brief history.

Built in 1942 for a Navy antenna site, 3,992 wooden steps were built right along the ridge of the mountain. In 1957 they were replace with metal steps and soon after the antenna site was abandoned and later the trail was opened to the public. In 1997 the Stairway was closed due to vandalism and costs to maintain the safety of the trail. The state spent nearly a million dollars to repair and upgrade the stairs and trail but it has yet to be opened to the public again. So, yes, it was technically off limits... forbidden... and yes, maybe even a bit illegal to climb the Stairs... With that being said...

We soon found ourselves walking or sneaking our way to the trail head.

Of all present Laura and Anne were the most nervous and to put it bluntly scared! Of course it didn't help that Amy was always shushing us and creeping around corners and looking as if we were trying to rob a bank or something. I'm sure if I had asked Laura wouldn't have thought twice about turning around and getting out of there. Anne on the other hand started having guilty feelings for all the times she made Laura do bad things when they were young, she said "now I know how you must have felt".

Anyway, after 30 minutes or so of sneaking through the jungles, walking the back roads, and climbing under fences and even being spotted by what looked like construction workers we soon found the trail and finally relaxed a bit. Then we looked up the trail... yikes!

Up, up, up the Stairs we went! Have you ever got on a stair stepper and just started climbing stairs? Well, this is nothing like that at all! The stairs are all at different angles, they're narrow, and in lots of places it's more like climbing a ladder than stepping stairs!

It wasn't long before I was huffing and puffing with my calf's and butt on fire. I couldn't stop thinking about those poor privates that had to build this amazing climb all those years ago. It's hard to imagine how they did it.

As we quickly rose out of the trees and found ourselves high above the ground the view was awe inspiring.

Looking back at the way we came was a bit dizzying. Just one false step could send you tumbling thousands of feet to your death! On the plus side we found the stairs to be in great shape and very sturdy. I never felt in much danger of falling, Laura was doing alright too!

Though the trail was long, steep and hard we couldn't help but be amazed by the views that opened up to us at every step.As we made our way to the top the clouds started coming in and as the name implies, we were climbing into the heavens.

It wasn't long before the top was obscured and we were walking through the clouds.

We finally made it to the top, it took a couple of hours but we had made it and it was totally worth the burning buns! At the top we found the old antenna station.

uhh... no comment...

The way down was the same as the way up but it sure was easier going! Anne lead the way and took off like a rabbit... she had to pee. There wasn't a lot of private space to relieve ones self after all.
What a view! Jordan couldn't get enough of the sights either.

That hike was incredible. It was something that I will never forget, none of us will ever forget. By the time we made it down and got back to the car it was pretty dark. As we all climbed in, dirty, tired, and hungry we were relived that the "caper" went off without a hitch. It was a day to remember and we would all sleep good tonight!