Last Saturday afternoon I boarded a direct flight from Anchorage to Honolulu. The trip takes about 6 hours, and lands around 6:30 pm. First off, I'd like to note that being 6 hours and one direct flight away from Hawai'i is easily one of the Top 5 Reasons to Live in Anchorage.
I landed, took a shuttle to the car rental office and picked up my Dodge Caliber. This car was way bigger than I'd expected, but it was kind of nice to have plenty of space for my giant suitcases. One of the Top 10 Reasons to Live in Anchorage is that Alaska residents get 2 FREE checked suitcases on Alaska Airlines flights. This was awesome for me because I camped all week. My two checked bags provided me more than enough space to pack my family sized tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, full sized pillow, collapsible cooler, and a beach chair, plus all of my clothes and sundries.
I camped at the same campground Leigh and I visited last year: Friends of Maleakahana. It's in Laie (lah-ee-ay), on Oahu, about an hour's drive from the airport on a slow 2-lane highway. The campground is peaceful and mostly very clean. It has tent camping, various cabin type structures, and full-fledged eco-cabins. My only complaint is that the campground had to close its flush toilets for ecological reasons and installed porto-potties instead. It would have been nice to get an email warning me of this, but ultimately it didn't make a huge difference to me. I still had a nice camping area and access to showers. Most importantly, I could walk from my bed to the beach in under 30 seconds. The campground comes equipped with animal friends including lots of chickens, some cats, and two dogs who I believe belong to the security guard. All the animals are friendly and get along fairly well. The dogs seemed to enjoy chasing the chickens, but never seemed intent on hurting them.
Some of the chickens are bolder than others. This guy literally stalked me the entire week. Every time I prepared food he lurked around my picnic table. Every time I went into my tent he peaked through the screen. It was kind of irritating, but he wasn't aggressive and I guess I was technically on his turf.The town has a few little restaurants, a Foodland grocery store, and is about 30 minutes from bigger towns in the North Shore. My first day in town I stopped at Turtle Bay Beach to call Leigh and tell her I was doing OK and having a nice time. At one point I stopped mid-sentence and said, "OH MY GOSH IT'S a SEA TURTLE!" This cool little guy kept popping his head up for air, then diving down under the water and sticking his little tail into the air. So cool!
I didn't do much last week, which was kind of the point. I read a few books, drove around, ate way too much, and spend lots of time on the beach. Toward the end of the week I decided I could use some exercise, so I drove 5 miles from my campsite to a trailhead I'd read about. The map said it was a 2.5 mile loop with great views. The hike itself was really beautiful and challenging with steep hills. Beautiful trees offered shade from the hot sun, and about halfway through the hike I found myself at the top of a ridge with a view of the Wailea hills peaking through to the ocean.
I didn't do much last week, which was kind of the point. I read a few books, drove around, ate way too much, and spend lots of time on the beach. Toward the end of the week I decided I could use some exercise, so I drove 5 miles from my campsite to a trailhead I'd read about. The map said it was a 2.5 mile loop with great views. The hike itself was really beautiful and challenging with steep hills. Beautiful trees offered shade from the hot sun, and about halfway through the hike I found myself at the top of a ridge with a view of the Wailea hills peaking through to the ocean.
It was a great hike and despite being reported at only 2.5 miles, it felt much longer and really woke up my muscles. It reminded me of the seemingly endless hike I took with Leigh last year where we would up scaling a rock wall at one point. I'm starting to think that either I'm really out of shape or hikes in Hawai'i are just more challenging because of the heat. Maybe both.
Ultimately the most important and most relaxing aspect of my trip was the beach at my campground. The weather was a perfect 70-80 degrees every day. The beach was clean, the water was blue, and every afternoon 20 kids took to the waves to surf. Watching those kids play in the water was a lot of fun and listening to music or reading while the sun revitalized me with Vitamin D left me feeling renewed after a long winter.
Ultimately the most important and most relaxing aspect of my trip was the beach at my campground. The weather was a perfect 70-80 degrees every day. The beach was clean, the water was blue, and every afternoon 20 kids took to the waves to surf. Watching those kids play in the water was a lot of fun and listening to music or reading while the sun revitalized me with Vitamin D left me feeling renewed after a long winter. 
Now I'm back at work and feeling much more calm and tolerant of daily irritations. The best news is that Anchorage is finally experiencing some spring weather. It's sunny and bright, the snow is melting, and average temperatures are in the mid 40s now! Evening dog walks are more pleasant and the sun doesn't set until after 8pm. Leigh and I even drove my formerly abandoned car, Betsy, to work this morning. After months of sitting unused in the snow, she started like a champ and got us to work safely. I have hope that this good weather will see us through to summer and we can look forward to evening hikes, grilling out, bike rides, and trip to the park with our dogger. Until summer is in full swing, this week away will keep me going!
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