Oahu: Lanipo Ridge Hike & Turkey 2K Swim

The first few days of our vacation were spent at my parent’s house on Oahu.  I knew I was home when I was back on my parents’ porch and surrounded by my mom’s beautiful orchids and tropical plants.

And then I really knew I was home because as soon as we walked in the door my dad was making his famous Sgt. Vega salsa (the recipe is pretty much boiled jalapenos and tomatoes, very good but very spicy!).  What ensued was the beer-chips-salsa triangle which happened almost daily on our vacation.  Aka the Beermuda triangle, whomp whomp 😉  Lots of Kona beers were enjoyed over spicy salsa.

Once we were refueled our first stop was [of course] Kailua.  It’s the main kiting spot on Oahu and is on the NE part of the island.  It’s probably my favorite beach town on Oahu also.  It was just windy enough for a quick afternoon kite.  Below my dad is doing his usual “checking the wind” pose before deciding what kites to rig.  I was happy just breathing the fresh ocean air and stretching out after a long day of travel.  And David will never complain about a little kiting.

The following day my dad took off work and it was not windy, so I convinced the boys of a hike (my mom was still working, she is a high school principal).  We did some internet searching and I suggested the Lanipo Ridge hike.  I don’t know why I thought it sounded pretty okay, even though the article shows it as very difficult, 7.5 miles round trip, and even says “Friends may tell you that this one is a walk in the park. Don’t believe them.”  Hmm, I somehow missed that part.  Me & Dad starting on the hike:

Most of the hike is on a ridge:

There was surprisingly a lot of uphill and downhill the whole time:

But we quickly saw the amazing views:

And then were back to a lot of up-hills:

I had my Garmin on and our pace was quite slow, so once we got to 1.2 miles my dad said “my GOSH, only 1.2 miles?!”  We continued on and got to an area where the brush and ferns were very thick and with lots of spikes.  The hike was quickly renamed “Hike Spiky-Spike”.  You can see the brush gets very thick here:

Our legs were getting really scratched (quite painful) and we were wishing for long pants.  We ended up stopping at a high point around 1.5 miles and deciding to head back for only 3 miles round trip.  I think this would be a very good hike in the future, but I’d recommend hiking boots, long pants and hiking poles if you have them.  Still a great hike if you are prepared for it.

For Saturday, I had talked David into signing up for the Honolulu Turkey 2K swim at Ala Moana Park with me.  I was super excited to do an open water swim instead of the usual Turkey Trot and I thought it would be nice to swim in clear salt water for once.  My Dad was a good sport and came out as our photographer.   Swimsuit photo in my Team Betty gear:

Then I donned my Roka, of course, because I just love this speedsuit:

The swim was pretty laid back and I thought it was very fun to be swimming without having to do a bike or run after!  I enjoyed that there were all ages participating, even small kids.  The start was a bit more of a mass start than I expected.  The 2K swimmers went in the first wave, then the 1K next.  It was just an out and back loop:

Though the water was clear, I couldn’t see much anyway with all the swimmers around.  I also didn’t need to sight much with as many swimmers as there were.  I did sight every once in awhile to check I wasn’t going toward the reef which was to our left.  I also swallowed more water than usual since there was some light lapping (maybe due to the amount of people around me), but I did my best to just focus on my stroke.  The swim started at 8 AM, so the sun was quite bright on the way back.

I laughed on the way back as a little ten (?) year old girl I had seen at the start was swimming beside me most of the time.  Darn fast kids, ha ha!  I made it back, not my strongest swim but I also didn’t have any expectations other than to enjoy it.  David got out shortly after me.  All smiles!

Much of the remainder of the day was shopping and packing for Maui, and enjoying my dad’s delicious green Thai curry for dinner.  He has become quite the cook now that my mom is working so much!

Next up Maui…