Mal and Lauren

August 6, 2026

It is just a short flight from O’ahu to Kaua’i but the two islands are quite different. Kaua’i is much less developed and is more mountainous and more lush. We started our exploration of the island by driving up to Waimea Canyon, which is sometimes known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. It may not be as vast and majestic as the actual Grand Canyon but the vibrant greens and reds make it particularly striking.

Our next stop was the historic little town of Hanapepe, whose main claim to fame appears to be that it is the principal inspiration for the town where Lilo and Nani live in the Disney Lilo & Stitch movies.

We stopped by Art and Soul Gallery, where we met owner and watercolorist, Mercedes Maza. Mercedes was born in Colombia, spent here childhood traveling far and wide with her parents, before moving to Kaua’i in 1975. We bought one of her works so she can now add us to her extensive list of illustrious patrons. A list that apparently includes Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lionel Richie and Taj Mahal.

It being afternoon coffee time we decided to head directly to Kaua’i Coffee Company plantation. With about 3,100 acres and four million trees, it is the largest coffee farm in the United States.

After getting sufficiently caffeinated we got back on the road and headed north toward our AirBnB in Princeville. Along the way we took a short detour to check out Wailua Falls.

July 31 – August 4

The rest of our time in Oahu was spent alternating between taking road trips and hanging out at the beach or by the pool. Among other things, we hiked up to Waimea waterfall

And visited Dole pineapple plantation where the girls chose their own pearls straight from the oyster.

And Mal pointed out the way to New Zealand

There was a fun train ride through the pineapple fields

A lot of time was spent at the beach

Followed by Mai Tais at the hotel bar

We quickly became fans of the little roadside shacks where you could buy food, drink and a wide variety of colorful clothing. By the way, if you find yourself in Hawaii and are in the mood for poke, then do what the locals do and head for the nearest Foodland supermarket, which will have an extensive selection of some of the freshest poke on the islands.

No trip to Oahu is complete without a trip to Waikiki and a luau at one of the beachside hotels.

July 30, 2026

Over the last couple of months we have been sworn to secrecy as our son, Ben, has been organizing a surprise marriage proposal. His girlfriend, Taylor, was already in Hawaii with her family on vacation. The rest of us, surreptitiously, flew in on the day of the proposal. Ben surprised Taylor on the beach with a ring and after she said yes, we all joined them on the beach for a picnic. Here are some photos from a beautiful evening.

July 23, 2026

Balboa Island is a man-made island in Newport Harbor, connected to the mainland by a bridge and to the Balboa Peninsula by a historic ferry. It was created in the early 1900s when a developer dredged Newport Harbor and used the sand to build up what had been a tidal mudflat. Lots initially sold for as little as $25. Today homes on the island typically range from $3.5 million to $8 million.

The residents of Balboa Island are either slow taking down their Independence Day decorations or are the most patriotic people in America.

These folk even had their own Statue of Liberty

While these settled for red, white and blue penguins.

There were a number of quirky touches, ranging from this old couple sitting on a bench.

To this statue, complete with bible saying

To these lifelike busts, including one, randomly, of Abraham Lincoln.

To this T Rex hiding in the garden.

To this Cadillac golf cart.

But the quirkiest was, undoubtedly, this house stuffed full of teddy bears.

Here are some other photos from our exploration of the island.

Being a jewelry enthusiast, Lauren liked the street names

This was undoubtedly her favorite.

The iconic ferry began operating in 1919 and has been running ever since, taking cars and people on a short three minute ride over to Balboa Peninsula and Newport Beach.

One last quirky fact about Balboa Island, it is the birthplace of the frozen banana. The classic version is a ripe banana cut in half and inserted onto a wooden stick. It is then frozen, dipped in melted chocolate and rolled in toppings such as peanuts, almonds, sprinkles, coconut or crushed cookies. There is some controversy as to who actually first invented this frozen convection and on the main street we saw two shops that claimed to be the first.

Some of you may know about the frozen banana business from the classic comedy Arrested Development that ran in the early 2000s. In the show, the Bluth family owns a frozen banana stand on Balboa Island that is an ongoing gag through the series. We didn’t try the bananas but did have an excellent homemade espresso gelato.

July 9, 2026

After our tour of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, we walked next door with Kylie and Oli to visit one of LA’s other architectural gems. Designed by the acclaimed firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Gensler, the Broad art museum is covered in a white honeycomb-like exterior that filters natural daylight. The interior atrium, by contrast, is rather cave-like.

The museum opened in 2015 and such was its popularity that for years it was impossible to get in without lining up for hours. Even now it is very popular. At the moment there is an ongoing exhibition of Yoko Ono’s art, entitled Music of the Mind.

Like much of Yoko Ono’s work, many of the pieces were interactive and came with instructions. This one was pretty self-evident.

Here are some of the others.

This installation, called Bag Piece invites viewers to interact with the black sheets. Lauren performed a dance.

Here viewers were invited to draw an outline of their shadow on the canvas in a work aptly called Shadow Piece.

This piece called Painting to Hammer a Nail shed visitors to nail something onto the canvas. Kylie added a photo of Oli.

Oli’s visit was also memorialized in this installation called Add Color (Refugee Boat). At the start of the exhibition, the room and boat were completely white. Visitors are given blue markers and asked to white or draw anywhere in the room. It gives some idea of how many people have visited the exhibit so far.

This piece, entitled My Mommy is Beautiful asks viewers attach photos, note and objects relating to their mother.

Some mothers were apparently more successful than others.

The permanent collection features some of America’s most important contemporary artists, including Jeff Koons, whose Balloon Dog (Blue) was an inspiration for one of Kylie’s tattoos.

Other artists included Andy Warhol

Roy Lichtenstein

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Cindy Sherman

Jasper Johns

Kara Walker

Barbara Kruger

And Kehinde Wiley

And no exhibit would be complete without a giant table and chairs, courtesy of Robert Therrien.

The Yoko One exhibit continued alongside the museum. This is the latest rendition of one of Ono’s most popular artworks, where visitors are invited to write a wish on a small paper tag and tie it to a branch of the tree. After the exhibit closes, the wishes are sent to Ono to become part of here ongoing Imagine Peace project. Millions of wishes from around the world have been gathered over the years and archived.

We don’t think this puddle was part of the Yoko Ono exhibit but it could have been. We can imagine Ono giving instructions along the lines of “make indention in the pavement so that when it rains the resulting puddle forms a heart.“

July 9, 2026

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of the world’s most celebrated concert halls. With our daughter-in-law Kylie and our grandson Oli, we decided to check it out. We will have to return at some stage for an actual concert. Opened in 2003 in downtown LA, it was designed by the late great American architect Frank Gehry, in his signature flowing curves.

Surrounding the hall, there is a serene rooftop garden.

The centerpiece of the garden is a fountain shaped like an open rose blossom with water gently flowing over its surface. It was designed by Gehry for Lillian Disney whose $50 million gift had launched the concert hall project. Gehry had learned that Disney had a lifelong love of roses and gardening as well as a special fondness for Royal Delft blue and white porcelain from the Netherlands. To create the fountain, more than 200 Delft vases and around 8,000 porcelain tiles were deliberately broken into pieces and then reassembled into a shimmering mosaic.

While the outside of the hall is shining stainless steel, the interior is lined with Douglas fir and oak, woods which are apparently known for their acoustic qualities. Musicians and critics consistently rank the hall as among the world’s finest because of its rich, clear sound.

Oli also approved.

July 7, 2026

Sunset is a classic little Californian beach community lying between Seal Beach to the north and Huntington Beach to the south. We started off walking down the long sandy beach. To the north we could see a navy ship, no doubt loading up munitions at the Naval Weapons Station at Seal Beach.

Walking through the streets just back from the beach, with its older, smaller cottages, it was easy to imagine that you had been transported back in time. It being so close to July 4th there were plenty of American flags on display. We noticed a number of locals gathered in their garages which they had transformed into man caves.

Feeling nostalgic, we decided to have an early dinner at Woody’s diner.

Adding to the old time vibe was this 1950s Chevrolet Bel Air.

If like the owner of the Bel Air, it’s important for you to have a clean car at all times, you may want to consider one of these apartments, located conveniently above the local carwash.

After dinner, we crossed the Pacific Coast Highway (AKA the PCH) and explored the newer and much more upmarket homes of Huntington Harbour. Created in the 1960s by dredging wetlands, to form a network of protected channels and islands, it is now one of California’s largest residential harbors. We could see how it would be appealing to boat owners, walking out your back door, hopping on your boat and heading out to sea.

June 23, 2026

Sausalito is a small waterfront town just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. With its Victorian buildings, laid back vibe and location across the harbor from a large city, it reminded us quite a lot of Devonport in Auckland. With its slight shabbiness and surrounding steep hills it also had more than a little hint of Wellington.

There is a nice view back to San Francisco

And also to Alcatraz, the infamous island prison.

Alcatraz started life in the 1850s as part of the defenses of San Francisco but quickly became a military prison in 1859. From 1934-1963 it operated as a federal prison housing some of America’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and Robert Stroud, the infamous “Birdman of Alcatraz” . Although remembered for his pioneering writings on bird diseases, Stroud was also a convicted killer who spent more than five decades in prison, much of it in solitary confinement. The prison was famous for being escape proof. Officially, 36 men attempted to escape in 14 separate attempts. Of these, 23 were captured alive, 6 were shot and killed, 2 drowned and 5 were listed as missing and presumed drowned. From 1969-1971 the island was occupied by Native American activists, an event that became a landmark in the modern indigenous rights movement.

We may not have seen the Birdman of Alcatraz but we did admire this beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk, quietly surveying the scene.

June 23, 26

Just north of Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, are about 500 houseboats lining about ten docks. Each home is individually designed, so no two are exactly alike. The community traces its roots back more than a century, but it really flourished after World War II. When the nearby Marinship shipyards closed, surplus barges, ferries, and workboats were left behind. Artists, boat builders, and free spirits converted them into homes.  

During the 1960s and 1970s, the docks became famous as a haven for painters, musicians, writers, and counterculture figures. People built remarkably imaginative homes from recycled materials, creating an eclectic floating neighborhood unlike anywhere else.  Many of the homes have gardens in pots, sculptures, and colorful exteriors that give the docks a whimsical feel.

Some of you may recognize the boats from the recent TV thriller The Last Thing He Told Me, starring Jennifer Garner.

Here is the home where Jennifer Garner lived in The Last Thing He Told Me.

It seems to us that it might not be necessarily smart to eat even those fish with less chemicals.

June 23, 2026

As our regular readers will know, we are on a quest to visit all of the historic missions in California. Mission San Francisco Solano was the last of the 21 missions to be built. It is also the farthest north and was founded in 1823, two years after Mexico gained its independence. Consequently, it is the only mission to be established by Mexico rather than Spain. The mission only operated for 11 years because Mexico started closing the missions in 1833. In a process called secularization, the church portion of the missions were kept operating, albeit by Mexican rather than Spanish priests, while the vast lands of the missions were taken from the Church and distributed to local inhabitants. Half of the lands were supposed to go to the local indigenous people, but we are sure to no one’s great surprise, most ended up in the hands of the local rancheros.

Unlike the other missions we have visited, Mission San Francisco Solano is not owned and operated by the Catholic Church. Rather, it is managed by California State Parks as part of Sonoma State Historic Park. It is a museum rather than an active parish. It also appears less cared for than the other missions but, nevertheless, was one of the favorites that we have visited.