Mike and I went to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary trip. Although we went a few months before we actually hit 10 years. We had to go when we could and April was the only time we could go. It truly was an amazing trip. Unfortunately I didn't do the best job of tracking our Hawaii trip but thankfully Mike did. He wrote down what we did each day. I am so grateful for that. So, this blog post is written by Mike.
Day One Friday
We got to the airport really early, waited for awhile. The flight wasn't bad, I watched a lot of walking dead and slept a little, Melissa slept a lot. We got here, got our car, drove to our hotel. Our hotel is really nice, right by the beach.
After checking in we walked around the area to find a light lunch, we found a Subway. We stopped at a couple ABC stores on the way back, bought some rice mats, bought some chocolate covered Macademia Nuts, amazing. We then went down to the beach for a little while and hung out. We tried to swim but the ground was a little to rocky for my liking. So, we decided to go buy cheap inner tubes at the ABC store, which ended up being a good move. We brought them up and then decided to go to dinner at Shore Bird. While we waited to be seated we came up to our room to watch basketball for awhile. Then our thing vibrated so we went down and ate. I got ribs, Melissa got a Kabob. At the restaurant you grill your own food. It was also right on the beach creating a really fun environment.
After dinner, we got went and sat in the hot tub until nine and then came up and went to bed, trying to catch up on jet lag.
First thing in the morning, we got ready, walked over to convenience store for a doughnut. Then we went down to the beach, we laid there for awhile relaxing then decided to take our brand new inflatable inter tubes and float out into the ocean. We ended up getting really far, not sure exact distance but it was a long ways. The booeys were maybe one third of the distance we went, they got to be really small from a distance. Melissa ended up able to go way faster than me, I think because she was on her back and I was on my stomach. Anyway, she ended up seeing a sea turtle. While we were out it started to rain really hard on us, a good portion of the beach completely cleared because of the rain. After we got really far we decided we should go back in, but it was still really shallow even though we were really far out. Anyway, at about the time we got back in, it started to rain really really hard. We couldn't sit on the beach anymore so we went and sat in the hot tub for awhile, we met a nice family with a couple of their boys and talked about our trip for awhile.
At that point we came up and the maid was in our room so we decided to walk and find lunch somewhere. We ended up findings Subway again, it makes for a good light lunch. Then we came back to our hotel and got ready.
Then, we drove up to the Paradise Cove Luau. While we were waiting for the luau to start, we found a little beach and saw a seal sleeping on the rocks and saw a Sea turtle near the shore. Some guy loved seals and told us all about how they were trying to save the seals.
When the luau started they gave us the nastiest virgin drink. Then we got in there and there were a bunch of activities to do for awhile including conoeing, making leis, a bowling game, throwing a spear, learning how to dance, etc. We hung out for awhile. Then we got the best drinks, called Lava Flows, virgin of course. The bowling game was completely dominated by me and Melissa, we didn't see anyone dominate it like we did. Then we went and sat on some bleachers while they showed us the pig and told us what we were eating for dinner.
We then got a buffet style dinner which was amazing, it included pork of course, along with fried chicken, salads, rolls, pineapples, jello, rice, amazing chocolate cake, brownies, etc.
Finally there was the show which was a typical luau show and fairly entertaining. We started the luau off with a prayer where we had to hold the hands of the people next to us which was interesting.
We got back, we went to bed and now it's Sunday morning.
Day 3
Since it was Sunday we decided it would be appropriate to make it a site seeing day. After waking up we quickly got ready and walked over to Subway to get breakfast. We then drove up to the Dole Plantation. There, we had lunch, both had Pork along with Dole Whips which was pineapple sorbet ice cream with pineapples, really really good. We looked around, took pictures, Melissa bought a pearl from an oyster and held strong as the salesperson tried to convince her she had to buy jewelry with it.
From the Dole Plantation we drove to Pearl Harbor. This was fun, we just walked around, read some of the things and just tried to wrap our minds around what happened. It was nice.
We then drove to Diamondhead, then hiked it obviously. The hike wasn't too hard but was fun. The scene from the top was incredible and we spend quite a bit of time up there just enjoying the scenery and taking pictures. When we got to the bottom we shared a shaved ice, which was really pretty good. The flavor was Rainbow, Pineapple, Blue Raspberry, and Strawberry.
After Diamondhead we decided to explore all of the Southshore beaches. We stopped at quite a few and made our way to Hanauma Bay. Hanauma Bay was really pretty, we just looked around and took pictures, but the beauty was beyond belief.
We then drove back, went to dinner at a a New York style restaurant where we both got pizza. Afterwards we walked over to coldstone and got ice cream, and here we are, very tired, laying in bed.
Day 4 Monday
We wanted to make today a beach day. We slept in a little, when we woke up we decided to make it a two meal day so we went to Dennys around 1030 and planned to then skip lunch. After a delicious breakfast we came back to our hotel and got ready for the beach. On the beach we went down quite a ways the direction towards Diamondhead, I think east. There was a nice swimming area there with not so many rocks, so that was our reasoning. We sat there and relaxed for quite awhile. I read the majority of the book, Calico Joe, which I'm really enjoying, Melissa napped.
After awhile we decided to go swimming. We didn't need our tubes so we put those away after a minute. We then just played, fought the waves, and had little kid fun for awhile. When we got bored we went back and laid down. We felt some rain drops and it started blowing and got a touch chilly, so we decided to walk back toward our hotel. But, we decided to walk along the road, along all the shops. We kind of wanted to see what was down there. Melissa bought a cookie, we did some window shopping, and walked back.
We then decided to get ready for dinner, but first we called the kids, Melissa talked to her dad about things at home and I read up on the upcoming Mariners opener. We then decided to walk to dinner, we went to a place called "blazin' steaks". It was pretty good, basically it was chopped up steak with rice. The steak was really good and the rice was rice, but we like the authentic rice. Afterwards we started walking some more and ran across a Farmers Market. That was fun, we bought some chopped up pineapple, mango, some orange chicken (which we ended up tossing bc it was cold and didn't want to get sick), some banana bread, macadamia nut banana bread, and a macadamia nut brownie. We stopped for a bit while we ate some of it. The fruit was AMAZING, of course.
Next we walked past a store and bought the kids some shirts and Madelyn a cute hawaiian dress. Then we got to a place we wanted to try a shave ice from called "Hula Dogs". We also decided to try a hot dog from there, just to share, that was interesting. It had this mango relish and sweet mustard and was in white bread, like a sub. It wasn't bad, wasn't great, wouldn't buy another one, but wanted to know what a Hawaiian Hot Dog would taste like. The shave ice was great, we got a combo of strawberry, passion fruit, and coconut. The ice was really soft like Bahama Bucks, but the flavors were absolutely excellent.
Afterwards we walked along the street with all the shops and came home. The nightlife here is like Vegas without all the filth. It is really busy, with tons and tons of stores, and tons and tons of tourists. Also, lots of people passing out cards, but clean things, not dirty things like in Vegas. Anyway, here we are, back in our hotel. Tomorrow will be a North Shore/Polynesian Cultural Center day.
Day 5 Tuesday
We woke up sort of early today to head up north. After getting ready, we quickly got in the car and started driving. We skipped breakfast, deciding to eat an early lunch when we got up there. The drive up there was nothing short of incredible. The views and scenery were amazing. The road was bordered by the tall green mountains and the amazing beaches. We took pictures the whole way up. The road basically traveled right up the eastern side of the island, right along the ocean. We saw the Chinaman's hat along with some huge waves. We also drove through a lot of small hawaiian neighborhoods which I really liked. Parts of it remind me of a third world country, of the Ivory Coast in particular, but it's not really poor, its just the lifestyle and the tropical climate.
We went to McDonalds for lunch but they happened to be temporarily closed for thirty minutes, no clue as to why. We drove to a nearby Taco Bell and had lunch there.
Finally, we got to the PCC at about 11:45. We picked up our tickets and then went and found our tour guide. Our tour guide was a BYU-Hawaii student from Thailand. Basically the PCC tour consisted of going from show to show and demonstration to demonstration, showing us cultures of the polynesian islands. Almost all of the employees are BYU-H students who are from the respective countries. The Samoa show was by far my favorite, the guy doing it was older, but was super funny. He also showed us how they make coconut milk, break a coconut, climb a coconut tree and make fire with two pieces of wood. The Tahitian show made me dance a little, which was awful.
In the middle I happened to get to watch BYU lose to Baylor in the NIT final four using the watch ESPN app, so I was distracted there for about two hours.
The tours, stations, and demonstrations lasted about until five o clock. At five, we went to an all you can eat prime rib buffet which was absolutely phenomenal. They had every kind of food we could ever imagine, from fruit to chicken, to prime rib, to fish, to everything. I also loved that there was no alcohol on the drink menu. I did try Mahi Mahi and crab. I didn't hate the flavor of either but I just hate, detest the texture of seafood. It makes me want to throw up. But dinner was amazing, really nice environment, just awesome.
After dinner we went and watched an IMAX presentation of the Hawaiian islands which was incredible, the views were amazing and the scenery was breathtaking. Finally the show started at 730. The show was great, I enjoyed it much more than the luau a few nights ago. Tons of dancing, fire, singing, and a story to go along with it. I am not sure how to put it into words, but it seemed like they did a magical job of putting all of the cultures together, tying it in with the story of one boys life, and doing a lot of singing and dancing, and a lot of cool playing with fire. In the intermission we got a super yummy pineapple and ice cream treat, which I knew going in.
Finally we got home and packed up our stuff, early morning tomorrow and off to Maui.
Day 6- Wednesday
So today was switch to Maui day. We woke up early, had packed most of our stuff last night so we just got ready and finished packing up, then we checked out, got in the car and started heading toward the airport. We stopped for gas on the way, I almost got in a wreck but thankfully didn't and then we got to the airport. We turned the car in and then took the shuttle to the terminal for Go! airlines, which was interesting, it was just really small. There was no food there other than a Quiznos. We thought we would be able to find normal food at the airport but we were obviously wrong. We had to basically pay 15 bucks for a sandwich and drink for Melissa, crazy!
After waiting awhile we got on the plane. The trip here was fun, the flight was only 22 minutes of airtime. But on the way we got to see the south side of Oahu through the air, we also got to see a large portion of Lanai and Moleki which was cool. Then we landed in Maui after taking some pictures through the air.
We got our rental car and started heading towards the west side of the island. It was interesting because right off we noticed how different Maui was from Oahu. It seemed more country like, more spread out, there were normal stores, normal mini malls. Oahu was just so jammed pack with people and was so hard to get around.
We drove straight to a restaurant called Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was in a great setting, literally right by the beach with the windows open and the ocean breeze coming through it. The cheeseburgers were extremely delicious, which I didn't expect. Following that we walked over to a shave ice place which was insanely good, called something like Ululanis Shave Ice. We got a mix of mango, orange passion fruit and strawberry and shared it. As we were finally walking to the car we walked into a clothing store where there were three girls who happened to be interns from BYU-Idaho. I was wearing my BYU t-shirt so they noticed me. After that we saw a place to rent snorkel gear so we got some.
We got ready and we went to the beach. When we got to Kaanapali beach we were amazed at how nice it was and how much nicer it was than Waikiki. The sand was softer, the ground in the shallow water was softer, it was great. We put on our snorkel gear and went snorkeling. This was awesome. I had no idea how fun this would be. We saw the most amazing fish. They were colorful and swimming right next to us and there were tons. We went pretty far out and then went around black rock and saw more and more. We got into a cove next to black rock and it got kind of rough with waves and shallow rocks, Melissa actually cut herself. We then went back in.
As we were sitting there I decided to go back out and take some video, so I did that, and that was fun, but I was worried I would lose my camera so I took it back and then went back out again alone. This time I got close to black rock and saw the coolest Sea Turtle swimming around...It was awesome. I followed it for awhile but it was faster than me, and it went in that cove by black rock which I told Melissa I wouldn't go into alone. I kept swimming around for awhile, but then went back in and relaxed for a bit. Finally as it was getting to be the end of daylight I went one more time. I just was having a blast. Its so cool how little work it is to sit there and float and just kind of hang out in the water looking at the fish.
We then met a family on the beach. He was from San Francisco, he was a Gyn Onc doc at UCSF, it turned out his best friend was Dr Monk at St Joes. That was random so we connected that way. Then we talked for a long time about our families and about medicine and academics, it was really interesting. His first name was John.
We then decided to have Leilanis for dinner because it was so highly recommended. It turned out to be great, Melissa got chicken stir fry, I got a burger, which I regretted, should have gotten steak. We topped it off with hula pie at the end which was excellent, oreo crust, macadamia nut ice cream, hot fudge and more. We may go back, we will see. But it was right on the beach.
Finally we came back and here we are!
Day 7 Thursday
We woke up today, fairly early. Melissa woke up really woozy and dizzy. She started getting ready but then decided to lay back down, I gave her a blessing, she took a bunch of meds, then got up and got ready and managed to get through the whole day like a champ. (Added by Melissa-I ended up having BPPV which my brother, Isac, was able to fix when I got back. It was awful!)
After getting out the door we headed to the zipline course on Haleakala crater. It was about a 90 minute drive. We got there about an hour early so we just hung out for awhile. The zipline course was awesome! It included 5 different ziplines, each one longer and faster than the previous line. The fifth line was absolutely crazy. We went so fast, it was about 750 ft long. Interestingly one of the ladies sat too early and ended up twisting her ankle, screaming the whole way on line 5. At the end I had to fill out a witness form, but in exchange they gave us both of our pictures for free which was a good deal considering they were 25 a piece otherwise. But overall, zip lining was crazy awesome.
We met an LDS family at the zip line course from Pasco, WA. The dad was there with his four kids, they were friendly and it was fun to visit with them. We noticed the teenage girl had a BYU backpack on.
Afterwards we decided on a change of plans. Originally we were going to do the highway to Hana on Friday as an all day thing. But, since we were in the area we decided to make it half day adventure and just limit our stops. The scenery was absolutely second to none, indescribable. It is basically a long windy well paved road through the jungle, with interesting stops at every mile that take you through forests, jungles, to waterfalls and beaches, etc. It was amazing. We went about 32 miles in until we got to an awesome place that started with a W (Wainapanapa) with black sand beaches, caves, a blow hole, and a lava tunnel. It was incredible. In the end we were glad we went, but also so glad we made it half day instead of a full day. The drive out was fairly painful as it took almost 90 minutes to get out of Hana onto normal road. But, its a must have experience.
On our way out we stopped at McDonalds because we were starving, then we drove to the surf shop to see if we could rent a snorkel tour for tomorrow but unfortunately they are all full. So, we will just find our own snorkeling. We also went to Barnes and Noble tonight to find me a second book since I'm almost done with my first.
And here we are. It was a fun day, but I'm super tired.
Day 8 (Friday)
I woke up early due to the hard bed. I wrote an email to the family and went to the concierge breakfast orientation at 8:30. After coming back we got ready to head to the beach.
We spent the whole day at Kaanapali beach. Early in the day a sea turtle swam up to shore, we hurried and put our snorkel gear on and got in with the turtle. He swam right under Melissa's legs and we kind of just hung out around him for awhile. It was fun. He ended up coming to shore 5-6 more times throughout the day. I finished Calico Joe in the morning.
We walked over to the food court for lunch and had pizza and another really tasty shave ice. We bought some stuff at ABC store then went back to the beach.
In the afternoon I spent a ton of time snorkeling. Melissa snorkeled with me a little bit but she isn't a huge snorkeling fan. So I spent a lot of time out there in the ocean just watching the fish which I really enjoyed. Melissa laid out in the sun and napped and relaxed.
The waves were massive at Kaanapali which was unusual from what we were told. They stayed that way all day. We played in them for a little while, Melissa body surfed one really well, but then became a sand monster for the rest of the day.
We went to dinner at Leilani's again and got Hula Pie. She got nachos and I got a steak, both were really great.
Afterwards, we came home and sat in the hot tub for 30 minutes or so which was nice. Then we came home and went to sleep. Last day today!
Day 9 (Saturday)
After both of us slept in we got ready to go do some boogie boarding. We had heard about a great boogie boarding beach up north called DT Flemming park. We started off by taking our snorkel gear back to Boss Frog's and trading out for two boogie boards. We stopped at Taco Bell on our way up for an early lunch and then were on our way.
The beach was indescribable. Perfect waves. Perfect weather. Perfect sand. No rocks. Not too busy. You couldn't dream up a better beach for boogie boarding. We both had a blast, we did it almost all day with a couple of breaks in between, we were probably there a total of five hours. Melissa was obviously a little better than me but we both got a hang of it fast and had a blast.
Finally we walked for awhile, stopped at the ABC store to get our free gift, a little reusable bag we got for spending over 100 dollars there. Then we went home, packed up and went to bed.
And now here we are on Sunday, on the airplane, about 90 minutes from home. It was an incredible trip. We loved it. We are excited to see our kids though, just not excited to get going at 6 am tomorrow. We won't be getting in until about 10:20.
(Melissa) This truly was an amazing trip. I am so grateful for the time I had with Mike and that we have been married 10 years!
(Melissa) This truly was an amazing trip. I am so grateful for the time I had with Mike and that we have been married 10 years!
No comments:
Post a Comment