The Story of the Best Birthday Ever!!

On April 17th, my 27th birthday, it started out just perfectly. John and I woke up BEFORE the crack of dawn so that we could, in fact, catch the crack of dawn. We sleepily stumbled to Kailua Beach to watch the sunrise. It was amazing. Pics to come, trust me.

I had an original Hawaiian breakfast (Spam, eggs, and rice at McDonald's...hey, I tried it) and then John and I were off on our own for the day.

Two days earlier we had headed to the North Shore of Oahu to check out the surf towns and to "Lost" hunt. We hiked (literally) to a couple of beaches that were supposedly regular film sites. Beautiful beaches, but no Jack or Sawyer so we moved on.

I completely freaked out when we drove and drove and finally found YMCA Camp Erdman where The Others made their homes on the island. It was instantly recognizable and I got so excited. We took a few photos, but didn't stop because it's quite obvious it's private property.

Anyway....on my birthday John asked me if I wanted to go back to the Lost beach, Papa'iloa Beach. We knew the show was still filming, and wondered if they had packed up this beach yet. He said he had a feeling. I was kind of like "oh, whatever, no biggie". Mostly because I didn't want to waste anymore of his time since he's not a fan.

But we went and once we made the loooong drive, found the hidden road with the hidden access path to the public-but-inaccessible beach, something caught our eye. A blue tarp behind some trees in the distance.

We walked on. And lo, and behold, there was THE CAMP. The Survivor's camp. Right there on the beach, set up exactly as it is on TV. Sawyer's tent, Claire's tent, everyone's tent. We had expected a fence to be set up around it, but there was nothing between us except a nice, old security guard. "How close is too close?" John asked. He motioned for us to come on up.

Suddenly, I'm there....in THE CAMP. I could walk behind the camps, I could get inside them, I could touch the plane seats inside the tents. I got behind the counter of the kitchen distribution center, touched Dharma cans of food. Saw pieces of the plane, airplane blankets, suitcases. Everything was there. Like I could lay down and hang out for Kate and Hurley and Locke and Sun and all the others to get back from whatever adventure they were on.

And then, Wonderful Husband asked if I could get into Sawyer's Tent for a picture. INSIDE SAWYER'S TENT. The security guard was nice enough to pull back the airplane blanket cover so I could get inside, hence the money shot picture in this post.

Look at me!!! I'm all "hey Sawyer, Dude, come home. Let's hang out. Blow Kate off, I'll hang out with you. My husband said it was ok. Bring Jack, too. We'll all hang out on this island because I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE! I'm in your tent, Sawyer. It's, like, the coolest thing ever".

Then we found out no security fence because filming was about to start!!! Crew people began to arrive, we chatted with them, all very nice. Since it would be a couple hours before personalities came out, John and I ran into town for lunch. When we came back, we had to stay 400 feet from the camera shot as they were already filming. But there they were, filming down the beach. With a boat (there's your scoop, Emily...that's all I could get).

Holy cow! So no face-to-face meetings or anything...but so very close. Thank goodness Wonderful Husband John pushed me to go, thank goodness for his feeling. It was SOOOOOO cool to be hanging out in a place like that!

I ended the day with dinner, shopping, and sunset in Waikiki. Absolutely perfect birthday present.

I love you, Honey, for experiencing this with me and taking my picture and listening to me call my fellow Lost lovers. I really do love you more than Jack or Sawyer. It was the best present you could give me!!

Scroll on down to the next two entries to see pics from the survivor's camp tour and The Others camp as well. And then TRY TO TELL ME THAT'S NOT COOL...you can't because it's TOTALLY AWESOME.

I got Lost on Lost!!