After a great day of snorkeling at Hanauma Bay we were ready to see more beautiful beaches. On Sunday, December 21, Merri Beth, Zander, Coco, my mom, and I loaded into the rental car and headed to the east side of Oahu to drive up the coast and to relax on the beach. Our first stop was the Nu‘uanu Pali lookout. Continue reading
Happy Birthday Merri Beth. It’s Saturday, December 20 and our fourth full day on the island of Oahu. Lunches were packed in the cooler, beach chairs were ready, the towels were in the beach bag, and it was still dark out. Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve Park opened at 6:00 am.
Merri Beth, Zander, Coco, my mom, and I left the apartment in Waikiki early and arrived at Hanauma Bay around 6:30 am, the morning dusk just starting to appear on the horizon. We loaded all of our beach gear and walked down the hill to the beach after a short safety briefing at the visitor center about dangers on the reef. Continue reading
The first half of our day, December 19, was spent at Pearl Harbor and Punch Bowl. Merri Beth, Zander, Coco, my mom, and I were heading to Chinatown to have lunch with a few friends that I met through Code for America and CityCamp Honolulu.
We found some parking in Downtown Honolulu and walked about two blocks to the restaurant that my friends selected. Continue reading
We were up early on Friday, December 19 and ready for our morning history lesson. Merri Beth, Zander, Coco, my mom, and I were heading over to the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites to learn more about what happened on December 7, 1941 and the years that followed.
We ate breakfast in our condo and were out the door before 7:00 am. We hopped on the H1 and headed towards Ford Island. Thankfully, we avoided most of the morning traffic and made great time to our destination. Continue reading
After hiking Diamond Head, we were ready to get on the water and do some whale watching. After reviewing numerous options we decided on the Star of Honolulu. They have several tours available and we chose the premier whale watch cruise and lunch.
We (Merri Beth, Zander, Coco, my mom, and I) drove from Waikiki to Aloha Tower Marketplace, found some parking, and made our way to Pier 8. After we checked in, we had a few minutes before they started boarding the boat so we decided to walk around the pier area to enjoy the beautiful view. Once we boarded, we settled in at a table and waited for further instructions from the crew. Continue reading
Diamond Head State Park opened at 6:00 am. Merri Beth, Zander, and I were up early on Thursday, December 18 to hike to the top of Diamond Head crater, but we were not timing it to get there as the park opened. On the way, we caught an amazing sunrise, then hiked into the park around 7:00 am. Continue reading
It was our first full day of vacation on Oahu, Wednesday December 17. What to do, what to do? We decided to head to the North Shore and check out the Billabong Pipemasters surf contest, the finale to the Vans Triple Crown.
On the way, we stopped off at the Dole Plantation, home of pineapples and the world’s largest outdoor maze. (Note, it’s very touristy and over-priced.) We arrived just as they were opening and managed to skip a majority of the morning traffic in Honolulu. As we zipped along the H1, H201, and H2, we saw Aloha Stadium and enjoyed the scenery through Honolulu, Pearl City, and Wahiawã. Continue reading
After weeks of planning and months of anticipation our departure date had arrived. Vacation in Hawaii was on the horizon. We just had to get there first.
Mom arrived on Sunday, December 14. We watched some football and relaxed. Merri Beth and I were getting some packing done while getting things ready for our last day of work for the year. We couldn’t wait to have a few weeks off until January. Continue reading
The training paid off. Those long runs in October made a huge difference. Despite the up and down weather in central North Carolina, the running season this November turned out to be pretty good. The first race of the season was the City of Oaks half marathon. Hilly and cold. How would I fare? Continue reading
The ideas were flowing on Tuesday night, December 2, 2014 at the monthly Code for Raleigh Brigade meet-up. We had a great group of folks from City of Raleigh staff, Wake County staff, developers, citizen hackers, and a few new people ready to improve our government through technology. Our meet-up was held at the NC Innovation Center and by the end of the night, we had 11 projects ideas whittled down to a select few to begin working on for 2015. Continue reading