Life of Larisa or LOL

Learn something new everyday. Today, I learned there is a lovely neighborhood park in walking distance from my house...and a fabulous hiking trail just behind that!  Today we were finally able to go on a hike---without driving (well, sort of...more on that later). We simply geared up, walked out of our house and to a trail we'd never explored before. Adventure Saturday! Today's hike was 2.2 miles (one way) on a partially old paved road, winding around the back woods of Mililani, down to Kipapa Stream, back up to...Costco in Waipio. Say what? We truly had not planned on arriving on the oustskirts of a farm that is directly across from our local Costco. Hiking truly lands you in the most unexpected places.   Along our route we encountered dirt bikers, a small band of pre-teen scooter riders, a couple of farm hands in a truck, a very intimidating junkyard dog, zero other hikers, and a friendly Starbucks Barista.  That's right, after our Saturday surprise hiking adventure, we f

Re-runs, leftovers, re-boots. All of us enjoy some form of repeat. Last year we made our best attempt to hike a different trail every week. We were fairly successful---you can read about all of our hiking excursions in my O'ahu Exploration Blog Series.  The past few weeks we have kept up with our good habit of hiking, even if the trails have been repeats of some of our favorites. We even invited a few new hiking tagalongs to join us.  This past weekend we prevailed against gale force winds to reach the top of the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail. The bonus of the winds? New hair styles and zero sweat climbing up. This trek we unfortunately did not get to enjoy views of the lighthouse, as it was under construction. Good thing we've seen it before. Our hiking crew expanded from four to five with the addition of grandma. She loved the views, and of course, outdoor time with the grandkids.  Our second trail revisited was Ka'ena Point (Northshore side). It was another windy day so

Happy 2017 from on top of a mountain! We tackled our first trail of the new year today. Along the crystal blue shores of Makaha you can see fishermen, boaters, surfers, sea life, sunny skies, and a little mountain known as Mauna Lahilahi.  On countless trips to Makaha we have glimpsed hikers going up and down what appeared to be crazy, jagged rocks. We glimpsed the Hawaiian flag glistening in the sun with a beautiful tapestry of blue behind it. We all wanted to take a closer look! Today was that day. We parked in the neighborhood at the base of Lahilahi. Conveniently, the street name is also...Lahilahi. From the car to the top, we let instinct guide us. There was no clear path. This is not a state sanctioned trail and there are signs warning of danger---mostly (I'm guessing) from falling off rocks and rocks potentially falling on you .  Should you choose to throw caution to the wind and blaze a trail of your choosing up the side of this mountain, make sure to wear a hat, shades, a

Since our family has been hiking for most of 2016, I thought it fitting that we end the year with a hike...a hike while we were on Christmas Vacation with out of town relatives. That's right. Grandma and Poppa joined us for the final Majors family hike of 2016! Our vacation rental was nestled nicely on the sandy shores of Laie. We decided to stay close to our vacation spot and headed to Hau'ula for an afternoon hike.  The entrance sign has seen better days, but we didn't let this deter us from an adventure. December rains meant that we immediately encountered some slippery terrain and mud. And our old pals the mosquitos! We can't escape them. One stream crossing under our belt and we quickly found ourselves trekking up, up, and up. Forrests surrounded us and only the smallest of holes between branches offered views of the Pacific.  This was our first time taking Zach (5) on this trail. Also a first, dragging the grandparents through mud with us. And finally, a first for