Entry 5--Letting go of working for two weeks (including blogging)
Hawaii Trip 2025
Buttery fish
Welcome to the 5th entry of My life and letting go. This entry is a little different, I’m starting this from JFK airport in New York, waiting with Sara to board a flight to Phoenix, final destination is Honolulu.
I’m 65 now and when I finish writing this entry I’ll be 66. Mim, my oldest sister suggested the Japanese restaurant Yanagi Sushi to celebrate my birthday. So I’m looking forward to having Miso Yaki Butterfish there; it’s a popular dish served in Hawaii. In fact when I visited Hawaii last, I ate fish practically every day.
Up in the air
Sara and I are now in the air flying to Phoenix. The passenger next to Sara has the window seat and is keeping the shade down, unfortunately. I think if you get a seat next to the window you should open the shade so those around you can look out at the view. Right now the passenger next to the window is sleeping. I know I shouldn’t complain because I’m fortunate to be able to be on a vacation, but it does make a difference in the quality of your plane ride to be able to look out the window at the clouds, sky, light, or the changing landscape below you. It’s not often that I get to see a view from a plane since I don’t fly often.
Finally some light and seven more hours
After having the window shade closed for nearly the entire flight (four+ hours) during the last hour the passenger by the window finally opened the shade! It was nice to see sunshine and the distant mountains of Arizona through the window as we descended.
After a short stopover, and sharing a ham and cheese sandwich purchased at the Phoenix airport, we’re now on our final flight to Honolulu, a seven hour flight mainly over the Pacific Ocean. On the last flight we were served only a small packet of two cookies and a beverage. On this second flight we were served the same type of packet of two cookies and choice of beverage. We thought because our second leg was a longer flight by three hours, we’d get more food? Nope. We’re sitting two rows in back of first class and I can’t help overhearing and observing the flight attendants as they pamper the first class passengers with full trays of food with a choice of an enchilada dish or chicken parmigiana with pasta, offered a choice of a biscuit or croissant from a bread basket and served with tongs, a choice of different snack chips, served a butterscotch cheesecake dessert, and given a hot towel to refresh themselves between meals and before landing. The aroma of their chicken parmigiana wafted to my coach seated nostrils. Strangely the flight attendants didn’t even announce to coach passengers that food was available for purchase. The fellow across the aisle from me had to ask the flight attendant if they sold food. Looks like he bought cheese and crackers.
In addition to the lack of food, on our flight from Phoenix to Honolulu, the row we were sitting in was being blasted by cold air. We weren’t the only passengers to be shivering and the flight attendant couldn’t make our row less cold and told us, “The back of the plane was warm.” When Sara asked for a blanket the flight attendant said they didn’t have one to offer. But when we landed as we walked through first class, we saw each seat had a blanket and a pillow. I would have bought a blanket from the flight attendant. Luckily it was still cold in New York so we had our jackets to help keep us from freezing.
Unless you fly first class, domestic airline’s service is not what it used to be (I hear non USA airlines treat all their passengers much better). Sara and I chuckled at what we observed in first class versus coach. This plane ride was a stark reflection of our society; more money means you will be treated better (or should I say humanely) even though the majority of the passengers on the plane were in coach. Sara and I even paid more for extra leg room. I told Sara I can understand why some airline passengers can become unruly; being hungry and cold for seven hours can flip anyone out.
Aloha paradise
The view above Hawaii when the plane is approaching the islands is breathtaking. Looking through the plane window you can see the Pacific Ocean with its different hues of blue ranging from deep indigo to light turquoise near the shoreline, waves frothing and sparkling in the sun. It’s wonderful to fly over Oahu and get a bird’s eye view of lush green mountains, valleys, and meadows not visible if you are on the ground. The perspective of seeing the craters of Koko Head, Hanauma Bay, and Diamond Head from a plane is so cool.
Once we landed, I paused blogging to truly give myself a vacation (and finished this back in NYC). After we got our luggage and rental car, we drove over the Pali highway to Mim’s home in Kailua. It was night time when we drove over the Pali but during the day we enjoyed the beauty of the unique green vertical mountain peaks of the Ko’olau Range.
The next day for lunch I bought a BBQ chicken musubi from L & L Hawaiian Barbecue and from Safeway supermarket, some delicious purple Okinawan potato salad that had a subtle coconut flavor. After I ate, I took a three hour nap. I never take naps but I was definitely jet lagged and enjoyed the long snooze.
Liking hiking
A trail I’ve never done and wanted to do on this trip was the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Trail. It’s about a 2 mile trail on a paved road with breathtaking scenery of the coastline and Pacific Ocean. The trail starts off going uphill so the return trip is all downhill. My athletic high school classmate Lokelani, who asked that I use her middle name, agreed to hike it with me and we met up at the trail at 7:30 in the morning to avoid the afternoon heat. Along the trail we stopped at a couple of viewing points to take in picturesque views. Lokelani brought her binoculars and we saw several whales spouting. It was a clear day and across the channel we saw a light silhouette of the island of Moloka’i in the distance. We went a little off the paved trail to climb higher to a concrete bunker leftover from WWll. From the bunker we could see all the way to Diamond Head. It was very gusty that day and I made sure to hang on tightly to that bunker so I didn’t go flying over the cliff. After working up a sweat hiking Lokelani suggested we cool off by taking a dip at nearby Sandy Beach. Then we had sandwiches at Kalapawai Café & Deli in Waimanalo.
The next day my thighs were hurting a little from the hike but the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Trail was easy compared to a previous hike Sara and I had done with Lokelani when she asked us if we wanted to do the trail to Ka’ena Point, the most western point on Oahu. We did a two hour hike along a rocky coast line to the point then hiked two hours back along a bumpy dirt road. We saw whales in the ocean and a bird sanctuary near the point. Good thing it was cloudy that day otherwise we would have roasted. Although Sara is not a big hiker and her toe turned purple afterward, it was a beautiful hike that I’m glad to have experienced.
Ono local grinds
As any islander returning home, I had a desire to eat local foods of the islands (like the previously eaten BBQ chicken musubi). I feasted on the best Ahi from Paia Fish Market, manapua, Apple bananas, a haupia and purple Okinawan yam dessert, and Leonard’s Pao Doce (sweet bread). So I didn’t eat too much sugar I resisted buying butter mochi and Chinese sweet rice cakes.
One night Sara and I were over at my sister Mel’s place. Mel’s high school friend Jill was there. We were laughing and chatting about how the island dish poke is now popular outside of Hawaii (I even saw a poke restaurant in Paris).
Jill said, “I would never eat poke on the mainland!”
I said, “Yes, me neither. I don’t trust the poke outside of Hawaii.” I never eat poke served in New York City. To me, poke is a dish best only eaten in Hawaii.
Then we also laughed about the fish tilapia with Jill saying, “Now the mainland serves tilapia as a fancy dish. That fish is found in the Ala Wai Canal!”
I thought the same about tilapia and we all laughed out loud. The Ala Wai Canal has a reputation of being polluted and growing up in Hawaii, locals were taught that tilapia was not a good fish to eat because it lived in the canal. I get a kick every time I see tilapia being served in a restaurant in New York City and being sold in stores here. Once I did eat it here in New York when Sara and I were at a friend’s home and they served it, I didn’t mention anything about the tilapia stigma in Hawaii. Surprisingly our friend’s tilapia dish was good. You never know, it may become a popular dish in Hawaii one day.
On this trip I was interested in eating at the Waiahole Poi Factory. Lokelani offered to drive us to the restaurant in Waiahole; it’s basically a humble old wooden store front with a tin corrugated tin roof. You order from a small window in the front and there’s only outside wooden picnic benches to sit at complete with chickens running around.
At the ordering window a young man greeted me with, “Hi aunty, can I take your order?”
In Hawaii, people use Aunty and Uncle as a title of respect and endearment to elder they are not necessarily biologically related to. With that greeting I liked this place already before even tasting their food. Seated outside on the picnic benches while we shooed away the chickens, I enjoyed a plate of pork and butterfish Laulau, Lomi salmon, poi, and a small square of fresh haupia. I also bought a small brick of kulolo, a sweet taro root and coconut pudding dessert that I nibbled on for a week.
My nephew’s wife who loves Hawaiian food and the Waiahole Poi Factory suggested we take the food and picnic at Kualoa Park, not too far up the road. Even though we had already dined at the picnic benches with the chickens, Lokelani offered to drive us to the park anyway saying jokingly, “It was part of her sightseeing tour.” Part of the park is the small island of Mokoli’i also known as Chinaman’s Hat, located a third of a mile off Kualoa Point. Lokelani explaned to us that when the tide is low you can walk out to Mokoli’i as she did when she was younger; even saying that she climbed to the top of the small island. In fact when we got to the park, we saw several people on Mokoli’i and walking to and from the island in chest deep water. Some people were kayaking to the island as well.
After the park I made a request to stop at the Leonard’s malasada mobile parked at Windward Mall. There were no complaints to this request! It was Fat Tuesday and I saw on the local news that Leonard’s was advertising it as malasada day! A hot Leonard’s original malasada to me is, as we say in the islands, “broke da mouth.” At a family gathering Sara and I brought a box of malasadas for dessert, a photo of it is posted.
Big Island big love
The next morning Sara and I took a flight to the Big Island to visit our friends Kat and her husband Todd. I love the view through the plane window looking down as we pass over the other islands of Moloka’i, Lanai, Maui, and Kaho’olawe, and viewing the old lava flows on the Big Island as we approach our landing.
Kat is multi-talented. She’s a published writer and poet. Kat is also a talented songwriter, singer, and musician. There’s a lot of creativity in my friend’s family, Kat’s husband loves acting and has done some local theatre work, and their daughter is a talented artist and illustrator. Sara is also a writer and poet so one night we had an informal “open mic night” where Sara read some of her poems and then Kat played the guitar and sang a song she wrote. Check out Kat’s Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/lovelineslifelyrics and her YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@lovelineslifelyrics
Prior to open mic night we went to the beach at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. To get there you drive on a road past an exclusive golf course neighborhood, all built on lava rock. Then to park, a guard in a booth has to admit you to the parking lot. When we got there the guard said the lot was full, but as we were turning around to exit the guard said someone was leaving and we could go ahead. When we got there, we noticed there were a lot of spaces available. Sara joked, “The next time we come we should bring the guard some food.”
This beach was heavenly. Not too crowded, clear blue water, gentle waves, and sandy bottom. If the hotel wasn’t there, we’d have a picturesque view of the beach against the mountain slopes of Mauna Kea. While in the ocean we enjoyed watching a sea turtle swim back and forth under the water near the shoreline. From head to flippers the turtle measured about two and a half feet in length and could have been a Green Turtle, the most common turtle species in Hawaii. This sighting was a treat for Sara who had never seen a wild turtle swimming in Hawaii’s oceans before.
On the morning we had to leave, Todd prepared a wonderful breakfast of fresh home made coffee cake, spinach omelet, and fresh local papaya with lemon wedges. In addition to acting, Todd has a natural propensity for cooking and baking. One night he made us a dinner of panko covered fried Mahi-mahi accompanied by home-made tartar sauce—it was deeelicious. On our outing to the beach he made us some delicious turkey sandwiches with all the fixings. During another visit Kat spontaneously asked if Todd could make blueberry muffins; shortly thereafter a fresh pan of made-from-scratch muffins were on the table!
We always enjoy spending time with Kat and Todd. When our daughters were young, they hung out together when we visited; it was always sad when the girls had to say goodbye back then. It was sad now.
Maile is cool
The day we arrived back on Oahu from the Big Island we had dinner with my high school teacher Maile Yawata. Maile was an assistant teacher in my art class at Kalani High School in the mid 1970s. She’s now a prominent artist in Hawaii and has had her work exhibited in the Honolulu Museum of Art and at the Art in Public Places Collection of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Maile’s work includes drawing, painting, print making, and mixed media. Her current work includes whimsical ceramic and mixed media pieces.
When I was young and interested in being an artist, she was a mentor. In fact here’s a story I like to tell. One day Maile invited me to a life drawing class, I believe it was at the University of Hawaii. I must’ve been 16. She picks me up in this VW bug, a blond dude is driving, I figured he was an artist also planning to do some drawing that day. I also thought he might be Maile’s boyfriend (at our recent dinner she confirmed this was true). When we get to the classroom I find a seat in the front. Then all of a sudden (or it seemed to me) the blond dude is taking off all his clothes! This was an eye opening experience; my face was flushed with embarrassment! Maile’s boyfriend was the model. This was the first time I had attended a life drawing class with a nude model and Maile didn’t tell me what to expect. We shared a good laugh about this.
Another memory with Maile was visiting her while she painted a mural at the Palolo Valley District Park Swimming Pool in the 1970s. I don’t think the mural is there any longer but I believe it included a portrait of a swim coach. She also invited me to the presentation of a beautiful commissioned stone piece attached to a wall at the Honolulu International Airport that she created. I believe it was unveiled during the 1980s; the piece is still there.
I enjoyed learning a little about Maile’s upbringing in Palolo. While a student at Kaimuki High school she made some money sewing and selling prom dresses to her fellow students. Today Maile stays fit by swimming at the beach regularly. She’s aged well over the years and I think I look older than her! She said her husband says as we age it’s important to “keep moving.” As we parted ways, Maile said something about me being like a daughter; that was, and she is, so cool.
Human rights are for all, not just some
The next day we were meeting Sara’s friend Reka and her wife Lynne. When I was a teenager surfing the waves around Diamond Head, Lynne was my surf idol. In a sport still dominated by men, Lynne was a pioneer in professional surfing and paved the way for women pro surfers. She won the title of World Champion Surfer for two consecutive years, 1978 and 1979. In 2009 Lynne was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame. While she still surfs for fun, Lynne has turned her focus to painting beautiful landscapes of Hawaii and nature scenes. Check out her website at
On the day we planned to meet, Reka and Lynne invited us to participate in a demonstration at the state capitol. The event was held on International Women’s Day to help amplify the need for women’s health care especially regarding the right to an abortion and gender affirming care, and also LGBTQ+ human rights. Lynne painted signs for us to hold and we marched around the block while drivers honked their horns in support. My sister watched the news that night and saw Sara and I marching and holding Lynne’s signs. Never would I have thought I’d be participating in a demonstration on a trip home to Hawaii. I never thought in my “golden years” that the money I’ve been paying into Medicare and social security all these decades would be under threat. In my lifetime I never thought I’d see our nation’s Democracy and livelihood under threat.
Waikiki wahines
After spending a few nights at my sister’s place in Kailua, Sara and I spent our remaining time at a small hotel near Fort DeRussy in Waikiki. I enjoyed people watching from our balcony overlooking Kalakaua Avenue. I also liked walking through little Fort DeRussy Park and swimming at the beach there. Even though when entering the water you have to watch out for a lot of rocks, I like that this beach is not as crowded as other beaches in Waikiki. Sara prefers Kuhio Beach because there’s more people and action there, it’s like Times Square. I do like the waves and sandy bottom of Kuhio Beach; you just have to make sure you don’t get hit by a canoe, a catamaran, or a tourist that never rode a surfboard and they are headed right to you--whether you are in the ocean or on the beach.
Take Route 66 to butterfish
On our last night we had dinner with my family at Yanagi Sushi. This restaurant was the perfect place to dine on an assortment of sushi and Miso Yaki Butterfish. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my 66th.
Last year I celebrated my big 65th with my family at Roy’s restaurant. We had a great corner table with a wonderful view of Hanauma Bay Ridge and the sun setting over Maunalua Bay. The butterfish at Roy’s as was all the food there, very ono. For dessert thoughtfully my sister Mim bought a Dream Cake because our dad used to buy it for us. During this past trip I put a bunch of gardenias that Lokelani had given me on my dad’s grave.
Ohana and friends
I had a nice time hanging out with my sister, Mim, chatting late at night and in the morning during breakfast. Sara and I appreciate Mim and her husband Dave letting us stay with them. During some stays, Mim, would set out a fresh cut papaya for Sara and I each morning. Last year, Mim and I had fun swinging a large log attached to chains to ring this huge bell on a visit to the beautiful Byodo-in Buddhist Temple. My other sister Mel is a big foodie and always has shoyu chicken and musubi for me when I come over to her place. Mel’s husband, (also named) Dave, and their son, Wesley, are both excellent guitar players and gave Sara and I a live concert in their home on a previous visit. Our family is not perfect. We have our difficulties that I won’t go into. I’ll just say our mother is now in her late 80s and needs a lot of care; I do appreciate Mim and Mel as her caregivers.
In addition to my family, I also want to say aloha to some of my friends and high school classmates that took the time for a little reunion with me on past visits. During this trip Sara also had a wonderful time connecting with her dear friend Cathy, while strolling the Honolulu Zoo, swimming at the Elks Club, and chanting at the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist Temple.
Back to the concrete jungle
After a last swim in Waikiki, Sara and I headed back to New York City. This time we were prepared. We had more food with us and I brought my towel to use as a blanket in case our plane ride was cold. To our surprise, the flight from Honolulu to Dallas served food! It was a cold sandwich that didn’t taste good but it did come with Maui potato chips and a tasty packaged brownie. Thankfully I brought my butterfish leftover from the night before. Sara bought a sandwich from those ubiquitous Waikiki ABC stores. The last flight from Dallas to New York City was a replay of our flights to Honolulu, we were given that same packet of two cookies and a beverage. Also, the guy next to the window kept the shade down the entire time until we were over the airport. It was mostly a night flight but I like looking down at the tops of the skyscrapers and bridges when we’re flying over Manhattan. But it was good to be out of the plane, in our home, and back to our routine. Until our next trip back to Hawaii.
Mahalo
I hope you enjoyed this fifth installment and will continue reading my blog. Every third entry will be available only to paid subscribers including the next. Thank you to my wife Sara for editing this entry. My blog is a reader supported publication; to receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. And whether you are a free or paid subscriber, your interest and support is greatly appreciated. Until next time, thank you again for reading My life and letting go. Aloha.
hey angie thanks for the short trip back home. lots of memories! thing i miss most about hawaii? apple bananas!