We were only able to hike four miles in, but we enjoyed every second of it. Thank you for checking out the video, I hope it gives you some incentive to visit the amazing island of Kaua’i.

After some much needed rest, a bag of stinky beef jerky (stinky is a good thing), some trail mix and  ice water, we decided to press on to tackle the second peak. We were beginning to get tired and a little hot, but the thought of turning back after one peak was too unsettling. Especially for our fearless leader David Chat, who had already reached the second peak on a previous ascent and was excited at the thought of a conquest of all three. I was excited at the idea of the conquest of more jerky.

Getting tired… but still climbing.

Lush ya’ll… lush.

Monkey business on the summit of the second peak.

Second peak done. We were only standing upright for the pic.

A view of the “butt-kicker.” Stay tuned for Peak Three…

Although Halloween 08′ in Waikiki had its fun and jokes, The Halloween Hallowballoo in Chinatown of 09′ was surely an upgrade. The enormous costume party played host to our treats and trickery (you see what I did there) throughout the night! It was a fantastic array of costumed crazy’s walking out and about the Chinatown streets. The Hallowballoo consisted of seven blocked off streets filled with drink and food vendors supplying the ammo for our festivities. It was fun filled to say the least, as Alice and I spent the night exploring the streets and the seven bars that sponsored the event. We were able to document some of our time spent in “Wonderland,” with the photos below, but as we all know, “What happens in Wonderland, stays in Wonderland.” For the full array of the the 2009 Halloween pictures, click here.

The naked guy from “The Hangover” and “The Hoff” stopped by to party.

“The Hangover”

KISS rocking out.

Hmm… apparently there were more “mad” folks than I thought…

People are strange… when you’re a stranger.

Alice looking sneaky while holding the FroYo’s spoon.

]]> http://www.danzelikman.com/2009/11/honolulu-halloween-09/feed/ 2 http://www.danzelikman.com/2009/11/a-challenging-olamana-hike-peak-1-of-3/ http://www.danzelikman.com/2009/11/a-challenging-olamana-hike-peak-1-of-3/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:51:48 +0000 Dan Zelikman http://www.danzelikman.com/?p=812 I’ve taken on hikes all around this planet. From covering the majority of the Adirondacks in New York to some of  the scarier paths that dive into the pits of the Grand Canyon. Throw in the Blue Mountains of Australia, the Appalachaian Trail of the East Coast, and some trails off the beaten path in Scandinavia, and you would say I have a decent resume of hiking trials. Hawaii… that’s its own story altogether.

Hawaii has what seems to be an endless selection of hikes and trails that span from coastal views to plush rain forest. I’ve been doing my best to tackle them one by one (whenever the ocean is flat anyway) but I feel like I would have to live here for 30 years to even make a dent. But after tackling the three peaks of Olomana, my body may have to rest for a while before I get back on track.

Along with extreme elevation changes, Olomana has a number of different environments that you experience. I dug it.

A view from the top of Peak One. Even though it took almost two hours to get here, we’re not even close to Three. Yikes.

This hike is SERIOUS business. Please, no monkey business.

The descent begins… tackling Peak Two of the mighty Olomana. Stay tuned…

The film awakens your travel bug instantly, and I found myself dreaming of a few destinations I’ve had on the brain for years. The film endures a combination of gorgeous backdrop, glassy empty sets, and the typical perfect complimentary soundtrack you can expect from a Taylor Steele movie.

Although I enjoyed the film a lot and recommend it to anyone who is a lover of surfing or travel, the film itself was not the highlight of my night. We were at a premier party with the type of spread you would expect, drinks, pupus, and few Lost cast members. You know, the uze! What I didn’t expect to see was the star of the film himself, Rob Machado, giving an interview a few feet away from me as I sipped on a beer. Naturally, I had to meet him.

Because of the intimate setting of the lounge, Kim and I were able to meet and chat with Rob briefly. His relaxed personality on film is fully transparent as he was extremely patient and engaging with us as we discussed traveling, surfing, and his movie, “The Drifter.” He later mentioned the difficult balance of taking on such a personal role with video cameras and a production crew surrounding him at all times. I think he pulled it off well. Then, I ruined the moment by awkwardly asking him for a photo. But Rob said yes anyway. Sweet.

There were a bunch of families enjoying the festivities which included some giant Christmas figurines, an assortment of Christmas tree designs, some loud buses filled with singing tourists, a bag pipes concert, and some great Christmas lights. They had a few dozen Christmas trees that were decorated by different schools and city organizations, a favorite of mine had some Batman ornaments. Even in the warm Hawaii weather surrounded by palm trees, Hawaii has a great way of spreading the Aloha through some Christmas cheer.

Our Christmas festivities continued in Times Square in New York. I took my Mom and Kimmy into the city for a day of eating, shopping, and a Broadway show. Living in Waikiki for the past year I grew accustom to the tourists walking about but somehow I completely forgot about the intense crowds in New York during the Holidays, nuts! I honestly felt like cattle walking about, so much so that I cranked a few “Mooooo’s” while passing an unsuspecting passerby. It was fun being back in the city, especially now as a visitor and not a resident. It was one of the first times I pulled out my camera and took some shots. I don’t know, I guess sometimes we have to embrace the stereotype tourist in all of us.

We didn’t get any snow that day like I hoped, but almost everything else went perfectly. I got to eat breakfast at a typical New York diner where you get served and billed in about sixty seconds, yum! We window shopped at all the Christmas window displays and imitated the ridiculous poses that the mannequins were performing. I don’t mean to pat my own back, but I think I have a career in mannequin modeling if I lose my interactive marketing touch.

Considering it was the holidays, we had to stop by Rockefeller Center and see the largest Christmas tree on the planet. It was a lot of fun seeing all my usual holiday spots again, especially since I wasn’t able to in the Christmas of 2007. We watched some folks skate and watched a whole lot more folks that were waiting in a long line to skate. Then like other typical Rockefeller on-goers, we took one too many photos of us and the tree!

After that we tried standing in line at a TKTS (a booth where you can buy Broadway tickets for almost half the price) but decided to ditch that idea when we realized the line wrapped around a few buildings and ended somewhere in Wyoming. Instead, we called Ticketmaster and got last minute tickets to Avenue Q, a play made up of puppets living life and tackling issues like making money, dating, racism, and homosexuality. Basically it was a hilarious grown up version of Sesame Street that had some major inappropriate scenes. I definitely recommend it if you are in New York and itching for a show. It was a great day in the city, Kimmy and Mom were both stoked so mission accomplished.

Otherwise, in terms of Christmas on the East, everything was great. Hopped around a lot between Jersey, New York, and Maryland. For whatever reason I don’t have too many pics from Maryland from when we visited Kimmy’s family, we’ll have to remedy that for next year. In MD we ate a lot (big surprise) played and watched some football, and finally gave Rock Band a try which Kimmy became borderline addicted too. In Jersey we ate a lot too, and somehow got addicted to a fun little board game called Apples to Apples.

All in all great times! Its amazing how a little family and friends can defrost you after stepping out in the miserable winter chill!