Life of Larisa or LOL

Rainy day delights usually include warm Pho, an episode or a hundred of Friends, or reading the latest Bravo Housewives Memoir.  Last week, the rainy day delight was hiking.  Marina, Sarah and I hiked in the rain.  We did not intend to hike in the rain.  We drove to town with sunny skies surrounding us. We were happy to finally see blue overhead.  And then we arrived at our hiking destination in Manoa, only to find the one rainy spot on the island was exactly where our Tuesday Trail was leading us... We have all done the usual Manoa Falls Trail.  Recently we three also embarked on a failed journey to find another lesser known waterfall in Manoa and we had fun on that adventure despite not having found the secret waterfall.  But this trip we weren't looking for a new to us waterfall (but we did get to take in Manoa Falls).  We were headed to another trail off of a trail situation.  Aihualama Trail is located off of the Manoa Falls Trail in Manoa OR via Pauoa Flats Trail whic

One of my favorite areas on island to hike is Tantalus.  Located close to Honolulu, Mount Tantalus has numerous trails to explore.  The trails range in length, views, difficulty, plant life, and terrain.  Many of the trails merge with one another and lead you to unexpected places.  Recently I found myself hiking with several ladies on a personal favorite trail called Pu'u Ohia.  The thing I love about Pu'u Ohia is that it provides access to a number of other little trails that you can not readily access from a road, in other words, you have to take a trail to a trail to another trail to find some hiking trail gems.  Hiking Pu'u Ohia last week with the ladies reminded me of a gem I had yet to explore, Nu'uanu Trail.   Nu'uanu Trail follows a ridge beside the Pali Highway but you can access the trail two different ways (that I have found).  My first attempt to hike along this connector trail was yesterday.  The sun was out, few clouds in the sky, but humidity

I never would have considered a walk by, beside, or on the beach a hike before, but...it is.  Hike can be defined as a long walk in the country or wilderness.  So we will count the beach as wilderness.  I definitely consider the Northshore country, so there's that too.  And this walk/hike is listed officially on the AllTrails app...so I'd say it can be considered a hike for the purposes of this blog post. I heard about this beach trail from another hiking momma and my hiking app on my phone.  There's not too much to this short trail.  It is located on O'ahu's wonderful Northshore.  If you are extra adventurous you may want to bring your surfboard or fishing pole to participate in some water activities after your beach hike. And for those who think that a beach hike is a piece of cake...maybe a hard piece of fruit cake.  It's not as easy as you may want it to be...on your calves anyway.  Hiking through sand is no joke.  Hiking through sand in the hu