Hawaiianizing our Home

We bought a home in Oceanside, CA last year and wanted to customize it. We spent the first two and a half years of our marriage on the North Shore of Oahu and wanted to give our house a Hawaiian vibe inspired by our time there. We are still in the process of doing more but we did a few things that really give off an island-style vibe. We started with Bamboo furniture and a lot of indoor plants. This was a good start to the process. 

All of our living room furniture is made out of this natural bamboo

Hawaiian quilt with bamboo for our bedroom

 Our biggest challenge was our yard. Both the front and back yards were very plain and boring when we bought the house. The backyard had overgrown vines that were clinging to two gigantic trees whose roots were growing deep into the yard. I spent the first 4 months taking down the giant tree and most of the dead vine all by myself. Since we lack the tools, we hired a landscaper to make our hideous backyard a tropical paradise. We put in some flagstone and a retaining wall which holds a bunch of tropical plants. We used primarily hibiscus trees, plumeria trees, banana trees and tons of palms. We also added tikis and a palapa! We put up a bamboo fence and threw in some sod and seed to grow back our long ago dead grass.

I also decided at the same time that I wanted to convert our sunroom that had not been updated since the 70s to a tropical man cave. I chose to do this one by myself while the landscaper worked on our backyard. I had to completely gut the room, start with the electrical and then insulate, drywall and panel the room. I also input in new windows and doors. We used bamboo matting as the paneling. We put up bamboo moulding as well which gave the room nice accents.

Our house went from being a typical, 1960s home to a tropical feeling, island style home. We are still working on little things but the bulk of it has been finished. Next up; painting our house....

Top 10 Favorite Hikes Around the World

Hiking is one of our favorite things to do both at home and when traveling. It allows us to be active, outdoors and explore so we love to hike. Here is our list of the top 10 best hikes around the world (that we've done!).

10. Torrey Pines - La Jolla, CA

On the beach trail

We took mom along and she loved it too!

Torrey Pines is a fun day hike in San Diego that has 5 different trails that are up on cliffs over beautiful Torrey Pines State Beach.

9. Maunawilli Falls, Oahu HI

An easy hike through a jungle setting in Hawaii leading to a beautiful waterfall at the end. Great hike if you love jumping off rocks!

8. Devil's Punch Bowl (aka Cedar Creek Falls) - Ramona, CA

Mike jumping off the rope swing

80ft. waterfall

San Diego has a waterfall? Yes, an 80 ft. waterfall! The hike itself is just average but what it leads to is what makes it to our top list. You can swing from a rope swing into the swimming hole, jump off giant rocks and slide down a natural rock waterslide.

7. Tulum - Yucutan Peninsula, Mexico
     

More of a walk than a hike Tulum is one of the prettiest sites we've ever seen. There are old Mayan ruins right over crystal clear turquoise waters.

6. Kamakao Boardwalk - Molokai, HI

An easy flat hike through a nature preserve that leads you to amazing views of the world's largest sea cliffs!

5. Tangariro Crossing - North Island, New Zealand

The Tangariro Crossing is 12 miles of moonlike terrain with steaming craters, emerald lakes and fantastic views. This hike has extremely steep parts making the hike more on the difficult side.

4. Stairway to Heaven - Oahu, HI

This hike has been closed for quite some time but that did not stop us from hiking it obviously. It is very dangerous and is the reasoning for the closure with it consisting of almost 4,000 stairs going over 2,000 ft. in elevation backed by nothing but sheer cliff, so don't slip! We had the luck of hiking here in the pouring rain to add to the adventure level.

3. El Yunque Rainforest - Puerto Rico

El Yunque Rainforest is located in the mountains of Puerto Rico. There are more than a dozen trails. We did a few and are favorite was one that led to a waterfall with a big swimming hole. The entire rainforest is as green and beautiful that you'd dream a rainforest to be.

2. Kalaupapa Trail - Molokai, HI

This trail starts you at the top of a cliff and hikes down to the Leper Colony of Kalaupapa. Most people take mules down the trail due to the 1,700 feet in elevation trail but we decided to hike it. The 1,700 feet we had to climb on the way back made it one of the most difficult hikes we've ever done. Very difficult hike but very rewarding!  As close as you can get to the Na Pali Coast hike.

1. Kalalau Trail - Kauai, HI

 See previous post: http://seafoamandsunshine.blogspot.com/2012/08/hiking-kalalau-trail-na-pali-coast.html


















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New York Surf

We both worked in the New York area last week and met up for the weekend to have another adventure. Having both been to NY several times before we decided that we wanted to have a different New York experience. This would include surfing in NY, going to a Mets game and exploring Long Island. Our inspiration for this adventure:


Ramones - "Rockaway Beach"

On Friday morning, I caught a train to meet Chelsea in Manhattan where we took off for Long Island to get a hotel. We stayed in Jamaica/Queens, which we soon found out was crackhead central, but all that was available last minute.  

We started in typical NYC fashion going into Manhattan on Friday night to catch the Broadway Show, Jersey Boys. It was really good! 

Saturday brought more rain as we rented a ridcously overpriced F-150 (again all that was available being the last rental left at JFK - don't wait last minute to book anything in NY!) and drove up to Montauk and the Hamptons to check out the surf culture and waves. Montauk was a solid little town with a bunch of surf breaks and a cool light house. We went into a few surf shops and asked about the breaks and then drove around in the pouring rain for a few hours and did not get the chance to break in the Right Coast surfing due to the crazy thunderstorms that were going on. From what we could tell, Montauk had a core group of surfers and a vibrant surfing scene. We really liked it there. The Hamptons as expected were full of a bunch of really wealthy, elitist people who won't let you park on near their beaches, so we couldn't really scope out too much of what was going on there. The beaches were pretty though. 

Montauk Lighthouse

The Hamptons

We drove through the ghetto of Flushing to go to CitiField, where the Mets took on the Braves and got smoked. It was a really nice stadium and we ate at Shake Shack, which offered great burgers and shakes. 

Sunday morning we took the train to Rockaway Beach and found an old school surf town vibe with a really old skate park and long boardwalk. I couldn't help but sing Ramones songs all day, as we were at their turf. There was a really long boardwalk and there were lots of jetties, most of which were black balled (lame). We rented a board and broke in the East Coast. The waves weren't great and the surfers were even worse, but the water was really warm around 73 degrees and it ended up being really fun!

The Boardwalk

Skatepark right in front of the beach

Mike catching a bunch of closeouts

The Rockaway experience was pretty vintage. The boardwalk provided shade for the surf rats, who tied hammocks and board racks under the boardwalk and listened to music and smoked pot and checked out the beach goers. It was like something you would expect out of the 70s...pretty cool. The beach went from nice and mellow to absolutely packed at about 1:00pm. I am talking about 100,000 people. It was a madhouse. There were also way too many guys in the water. I will never complain about crowds or wave quality ever again. It was a great experience that we both enjoyed thoroughly.

Awesome idea to have hammocks in the shade

At 10am hardly anyone on the beach

By 1pm it was the most crowded beach we had ever seen

U.S. Open of Surfing

Every year all of the best surfers from around the world compete at the US Open in Huntington Beach. It's always a complete madhouse with about 3/4 of a million people attending over the course of the week but yet its so fun we have made it a tradition to go every year. It's just way more awesome to see our favorite pro surfers surf in person than in pictures and surf videos. There are also bmx contests, skate contests, art demonstrations, tons of giveaways and free concerts all week long of the US Open so definitely something for everyone!

Jon Jon getting mobbed by fans

Awesome recaps on the big screen on the pier

Never gets old watching Slater

Simpo - HB local and 2 time US Open Champ

Julian Wilson - 2012 Winner! (thanks for the awesome pic Dad)

Skate contests in the afternoons

Event Website
www.usopenofsurfing.com