We left on Friday, July 16th. Our plane didn't leave till 11ish, and it was really nice not having to get up super early to make our flight. We met my family at the airport and our long journey began! The flight over was a bit long- Jack was really not interested in sitting still for as long as we wanted him to at a time. Thankfully, we were able to take many walks down the aisles to visit grandparents and aunts/uncles, and we got many extra packs of Biscoff cookies from the very nice flight attendants (lets be honest though- I ate most of those...)! We made it through the flight and landed in Honolulu at 2:30 PM.
After making our way down to the Alamo where we had an economy car reserved, we found out that they had no more economy cars left... or standard... actually the next thing they had for us was a convertible! So we were upgraded free of charge :) Jack, unfortunately, was not a fan of the whole roof-coming-down-on-you thing, and we ended up swaping him as a passenger with my parents for my brothers so he could ride in the normal car :P A few hours later, after dealing with just a few problems that came up (the original convertible being too small, our cars being rented at different rental agency locations, and 9 very time confused Utah natives), we ended up at the beautiful Ilikai resort and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Outback Steakhouse :)
Saturday was a jam packed day of fun! We started out early, hitting the Dole pineapple plantation on our way out towards North Shore. We enjoyed some fresh pineapple and Dole whips, and looked around at all the varieties of pineapple grown around the world! We next cruised on down to Ted's, a little bakery and sandwhich place that Kim wanted to hit up, for lunch. It looked like a total dive, but was wonderful! The Polynesian Cultural Center was our final stop for the day- where we saw some great shows and displays. Steve even got chosed to participate in one of the shows- he was known only as "Utah" and rocked the house! We enjoyed a luau and a show that evening.
Sunday we kicked back a little and had a nice calm day. We attended a LDS ward that morning. It was really neat to be a part of that ward for a short time. One thing that was particularly notable happened at the end of the meeting, after the closing prayer, when the whole congregation sang "Aloha Oe" to a couple that was moving out of the area. It was very sweet :) We stopped at Pearl Harbor for a short time, but the tickets to board the ship were out, so we just enjoyed what we could from the shore. Kimmy wanted to show us around where she had lived, so we spent the rest of the day up in North Shore. We visited the LDS temple and visitors center, the BYU-Hawaii campus, a few of the apartments Kim had stayed in, and the Temple beach. It was so beautiful and I would love to spend more time in that area next time I visit Oahu!
On Monday we decided to do some serious beaching it up. We tried to get out early enough to see Haunama Bay, but had some more car trouble :s and got there too late to get good parking. We decided to go to Waikiki Beach, and stopped on the way there to try some famous Acai bowls (per Kimmy). We thouroughly enjoyed the sand and the waves :) We had a flight over to Kauai that evening, but were able to hit up a little seafood place called Nico's before we left. We learned about it on tripadvisor, and found out that Guy from Diners, Drive-in's and Dives had featured the place on his show! It was very tasty, very fresh fish, and so fun!
We checked into our resort in Kauai late Monday night. Tuesday morning I woke up to the most beautiful site! Kauai is so much more what I pictured Hawaii to be- so green and such beautiful beaches! We spent the day just relaxing. Kimmy borrowed some surf boards and taught anyone who wanted to know the basics of surfing. Even my cool dad got out there! That evening Steve and I went to the restaurant at our resort, the Hukilau Lanai, and it was fantastic!! Probably one of the best meals we've had this year! We had lanai seating, overlooking the meticulous grounds, and my wonderful parents were kind enough to watch Jack for us! It was a very romantic meal :)
Wednesday we took a fun adventure and went on a helicopter tour of the island! It was so fun. Jack was not so much into the whole safety gear thing, but fell asleep shortly after takeoff :) The top of the island was clear for us, which is apparently pretty rare (3-4 days out of the year), so we got to fly all the way up. It was beautiful! Afterwards we stopped at some little touristy shops, grabbed some lunch at a nice Italian pasta place, and hit up a farmers market. It was so cool to see all sorts of tropical fruits/veggies being sold by people who had picked them in their own gardens that day! We bought a pineapple, avacados, apple bananas (mini bananas), mangos, and lychee. While getting a last few groceries at the local grocery store, we happened upon their fresh fish section.... um wow! We just had to take advantage of the opportunity, so we snagged some ahi tuna fillets to grill. We threw some fresh pineapple on the grill as well... =heaven!!!
Thursday we took another adventure and did some fun zip lines! We split up into two groups so that we could all go (except Jack- poor guy!). Steve and I went with Aubrey and Kimmy. We had a lot of fun- and some great laughs. Our guides told us about some great food to try in Hanalei, so we headed there right after to try it! We tried a classic Hawaiian dish- the loco moco! It's got to be the most unhealthy food on the planet- a hamburger patty smothered with brown gravy and a fried egg, all served over white rice :) And it's tasty! That afternoon we went to a beach closer to Hanalei called Tunnels beach to snorkel. I've never snorkeled before and it was quite the experience. For the first little while I was very disoriented as I tried to learn to breath only through my mouth and figure out how to position myself. When I finally figured it out- it was super cool to see the many fish and even a couple of huge turtles! The turtles were content to be very close to the shore, and at one point I almost stepped on one as I was walking up to the shore to adjust my flippers. It kinda freaked me out, I screamed, and pretty much everyone around got a good chuckle. :) That night we utilized the resort grills again and made some grilled bbq chicken pizzas from our favorite recipe- so great!
Friday we sadly packed up our things. Our flight didn't leave till 5 that evening, so we spent some time looking around the island. We even found time to stop by the Marriot Resort in Poipu to get a pina colada for Steve (we all joined in as well on that little tasty pleasure). That evening we flew out of Honolulu :( We made it back to Utah County at 8 AM Saturday morning. It was a beautiful trip, and we feel so blessed to have been included on such a wonderful experience! Thanks Mom and Dad!
1 comment:
looks like such a fun trip!!
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