Sad Day

Today was a very sad day, it was the day we had to come home.  We had packed almost everything the night before so there wasn't much to do that morning except put the last few things in the suitcases and go.  But before we left, we stopped back by Leonard’s for some malasadas.  Really, we stopped to buy some for other people, it wasn't our fault that we ended up eating some too.  Our trip to the airport was detoured by us in order to take a drive by picture of the headquarters for the Hawaii Five 0 tv show.  We were starving and still had a few hours before our flight so we stopped at McDonalds for one last local deluxe breakfast; I'm gonna miss those.  We made it to the airport, and through security, in plenty of time.  At our layover in Maui I stumbled upon my brother.

At this point of the blog, I don’t think I need more details other than we got in at 11:25 pm and my super awesome mom picked us up from the airport.

Saturday

Since we missed out on breakfast on Tuesday, we drove back out towards the North Shore to go to Ted’s Bakery.  I had the Spam and eggs breakfast while Jeremy went with the Portuguese sausage and eggs.  Both breakfasts came with cornbread which was the most light and moist cornbread I have ever had.  Overall, I would consider the breakfast worth the trip.  I read on their website that they had a chocolate macadamia nut pie so Jeremy went in to see if they had a single slice.  He didn’t find that, but he did bring out a slice of their famous chocolate haupia cream pie.  I don’t care for coconut, but haupia is delicious and the chocolate haupia pie was even better.  My only regret was not purchasing a whole pie.  So what to do after breakfast, but go to Matsumoto’s for shave ice.  The prices were very low and the flavors were delicious.  I got the tropical which was guava, lilikoi and papaya and Jeremy got the rainbow which was strawberry, lemon and pineapple.  We both loved our respective ice.

It was with sadness that we bid farewell to the North Shore.  After a quick regroup at the condo we walked across the street to the Honolulu Zoo.  The zoo was way smaller than Point Defiance, had a pretty awesome bird exhibit, but nothing was over the top impressive.  It only took a few hours to do so we still had the evening left.  I did my most favorite thing of vacation; I spent time in the laundry room washing our clothes.

After dinner at LuLu's yet again, we went to the actual beach on Waikiki for the first time since we arrived.  We walked along the shore and a little ways out onto the rock wall.  Coming from newly found sand connoisseur, that sand was so fine and easy to rinse off and I’d give it a 10/10 for fineness and color.

Based on a suggested from our Oahu Revealed guidebook, we visited the Snow Factory.  What is snow you ask, well, we're not really sure.  It's like they took an ice cream base and shaved it into long strips and put all sorts of happy things on it.  The consistency is comparable to frozen cotton candy.  It's super light and not once did we get brain freeze.  Mine was vanilla base, macadamia nuts, condensed milk and mochi.  Jeremy's was a mango - passion fruit base with condensed milk, mochi, mango bobba and passion jelly.  Both were amazingly delicious!

Friday

Friday Morning we woke up reasonably early so we could start our trek up Diamond Head.  We not only wanted to beat the heat, but needed to beat the crowd looking for parking below.  The hike up Diamond Head wasn't easy and it did take me a bit longer than most people, but unlike others, I didn't turn around and go back, I made it to the top.  It was 1.6 miles of uneven terrain, a 225 foot tunnel where you couldn't see the daylight from the other side and 176 stairs.   The views were spectacular and Jeremy seemed to also be excited that we were in an old military bunker.

The 99 step stair case...

After an appropriate cleansing when we got back to the condo, we met with Jeremy’s friend for lunch.  We went to Jimmy Buffet’s where the food was so-so, but the air conditioning was nice.  We walked into a Lappert’s Hawaii in the Hilton Hawaii Village and got pretty delicious ice cream, then parted ways.  I seem to remember us taking a nap when we got back to the condo as we had been hiking/walking all morning.  For dinner we ventured to the Ala Moana shopping center to go to California Pizza Kitchen.  While we were waiting for our table I bought my token Bubba Gump Shrimp Company t-shirt since it was right across the from CPK.

Best Wednesday Ever

Today was one of the days I had been most looking forward to.  We got to go on a guided tour of LOST filming locations!  We did the afternoon tour so we did breakfast at the condo, lunch at Lulu’s (have I mentioned I love their guacamole?!?!) and were ready to go by that afternoon.  We went through KOS Hummer Tours (yes we rode around in a hummer) and our guide was awesome.  We stopped at a few places such as Locke’s dad’s house, the spot where Jacob’s house was, the pier and a few other places before we went to Kauloa Ranch; the mecca of filming locations.  While on the ranch, we saw the golf course, the bomb tower, where Hurley’s joyride took place, Richard’s house…I suppose I’ll stop with Lost references and mention the other things.  We saw a dinosaur footprint from Godzilla, the field where the dinosaurs were running Jurassic Park, where Adam Sandler was trying to stop Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates and where a few scenes of Hawaii Five-0.  Want me to name the best thing I saw on the tour?  I saw the submarine that was “used” to transport people to the island!  Jeremy is still laughing at me because I saw it and started doing a happy dance when I saw it and told him to come with me.

**There will be a whole separate post with just pictures from Lost so be patient.

Little Puffs of Heaven

Per the recommendation of my coworker, we went to Leonard’s Bakery to try malasadas.  Best.  Recommendation.  Ever.  Malasadas are Portuguese doughnuts that are like little puffs of heaven.  I can’t even begin to describe how delicious they were.  Seriously, go to Hawaii and buy them, it’s worth the trip.  We still had some time to kill before we traveled round the island again so we went to Punchbowl National Cemetery to look up a few names from Jeremy’s family.  Not only was it astounding to think that people were buried inside of a crater, but there were walls of names of soldiers who died and haven’t been found yet.

That afternoon we trekked to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We first went to the village of Samoa and learned quite a few things about coconuts.  The presenter was hilarious yet informative.  I tried my hand at making fire from two pieces of wood and got a reasonable smoke going.  I feel that in a situation that lacked man made fire making abilities, I could do it old school.  We also went “fishing” with a stick, a string and a bent wire.  We weren't successful, but we only had three chances to try to catch a fish.  After all of the village festivities were over, we made our way to the luau.  Nothing was remarkable about the food (except I tried poke for the second time and still liked it) and the emcee was like a cheesy lounge entertainer.  After we had stuffed our face, we made our way to the gift shop to indulge my needs.  Seriously, we had like an hour to kill before the show, what else would you expect from me?  Anyway, the show (basically a story through dance) was pretty cool, my favorite part was the fire dancing because I like fire and dancing.  I think out of everything I did at the PCC, the show was my favorite part.

Just Your Average Tuesday

Tuesday was a delightful little day.  We started out by driving 13 miles in the wrong direction for a turnaround thanks to the Waze app which meant we missed the breakfast we planned on having while we were at the North Shore.  A+ for me packing a PB&J for lunch that way we actually had something to eat.  What were we doing on the North Shore you ask; you know, just hanging out in the middle of the ocean in a metal cage, surrounded by sharks, the usual Tuesday.  First and foremost, the surf was incredibly choppy and 3 people provided nature’s chum on the trip (not Jeremy or myself).  Being in the water just holding onto the cage, you got thrown around a bit.  There were quite a few sharks swimming all around the cage, none came up to nudge the cage which I had hoped for (sorry mom, it’s true though).  Jeremy, who isn't big on the whole being in water thing, actually was in the cage with me which was awesome.  Forgot to plan ahead though and the mustache was creating an issue with sealing the mask…on him, not me; I have no mustache.

While the boats aren't allowed to specifically chum for the sharks, the sharks do attribute food to boats.  When boats originally went out there to fish/crab, they’d throw leftover bait and too small of catch overboard prompting the sharks to come eat.  Over time, the sharks learned that the vibration of the boats typically meant food.  I’m a little concerned looking back that they expected food and we showed up in a cage…  Food or not, it was not a shark petting expedition as the tour guides explained, but it was a great time for the once in a lifetime photo op. (I count 6 in this picture)

After the shark-capades I led Jeremy to what he thought was a random beach, Mokule’ia Beach.  Why was this beach so important for me to go visit?  Insert LOST reference now – that’s where the pilot episode of Lost was filmed (plane crash obviously).  I totally geeked out taking a million pictures and may have left with a little trinket of sand.  On the drive back from where we came, we passed by Camp Erdman, where the houses that “the other’s” lived in.  We didn't stop, but I snapped a series of pictures passing by.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, we took a nap, ate some late lunch at Tiki’s (reasonable food, delightful view) and frankly, I don’t remember if we did anything else.

Sunday we went to experience Pearl Harbor.  If you've never been, it is definitely something you need to do.  It was mind boggling being on the Arizona memorial, smelling the oil that was still seeping out of the ship, knowing that there are still people trapped inside from when the ship sank.

We finished touring everything on the Pearl Harbor side and took the bus to see the Battleship Missouri.  Jeremy and I had previously been on the Midway, but the Missouri still seemed huge.  We were almost done touring the inside of the ship and only had the bridge left when the monsoon hit again.  We thought we’d try waiting it out.  Jeremy went on the interwebs on his phone and found that we were under a flash flood warning because it was raining 4 inches per hour.  Did I bring my umbrella?  No.  I will say that I have one of the best husbands because he braved the downpour to go to the gift shop to buy us ponchos.  He was completely soaked through when he got back.  We had spent our entire day doing this and we didn't have time to go to the aviation museum, so we decided to come back the next day.  A + for Jeremy buying the pass where we could return.

After we got back to the hotel, we changed into dry clothes and ventured to Lulu’s which is ½ block away from us.  We split a plate of nachos and I discovered what amazing guacamole tastes like.  Normally, I do not care for guacamole, but this stuff was amazing.

Monday, we went back to finish our Pearl Harbor tour.  There was only a 40% chance of rain so I didn’t bring my umbrella and the ponchos were in the car.  We finished the tour of the Missouri and went to the aviation museum.  Oh, you want pictures from the last two days?  One word, Nikon.

On our way back to the hotel from the aviation museum, we discovered that 40% chance of “rain”.  Was it worth it to put on our ponchos to walk 15 feet to the hotel entrance?  No.  After we got back into the room and put my camera away, we walked back over to Lulu’s for a very late lunch.  Luckily, the rain had stopped.  Jeremy had the teriyaki steak bites and I ordered the Magnum PI burger.  What is on this burger you ask.  Well let me tell you what I had, cheese and bacon topped meat patty with guacamole.  Ah-Maze-Ing!  This was not only the first burger I didn’t dip n ranch or ketchup, but it was also my first adult burger that had “garbage” on it.  It only took my honeymoon to become an adult.

We still had a reasonable portion of the day left, so we went to Halona blowhole.  It was a way less intense hike than the Olivine Pools and unlike the other blowhole, this was actually blowing.  I will say, it was pretty hilarious that the biggest blow happened and my camera gave the “card is full” error after the first picture.  Pictures?  Nikon.  This is one of the pictures that Jeremy was able to get using our point and shoot.

After the blowhole trip, we needed to get back because Jeremy had more homework to do.  Since the wifi at our hotel is less than impressive, we trekked back over to Starbucks.  It was when we got back to the hotel after Jeremy finished his homework that I discovered that my Nikon SD card wasn’t being read.  Knowing that we still needed to take pictures, we trekked back to Walmart to buy me another card.  Jeremy and mine food schedule has been way off this trip so we ended up ordering Round Table for dinner at 10:00.   

Aloha Maui, Aloha Oahu

So our big plan in the morning was go back to Black Rock with a fully charged battery and snorkel.  Jeremy stayed on the beach to entertain Joe while the rest of us went snorkeling…including Indy!  Indy did awesome just holding on to someone’s hand and swimming.  We saw another turtle which was awesome.  I was going back to the beach sooner than Jason and Katie, so I took Indy back.  About 20 yards from the beach, Indy was a little tired so she rode on my back.  It was pretty fun.  Jeremy said that he and Joe splashed in the water and he had fun.

That evening, Jeremy and I went on a date up to Haleakala to watch the sunset.  We stopped at Spericos Pizza on our way up; they were quite delicious.  This is the point where I would insert pictures from the “crater” and sunset, but they are on my Nikon and if you recall, I can’t get those pictures right now.  There was supposed to be a meteor shower that night so we stayed past dark.  Combined, we saw 3 shooting stars.  Not quite the shower we had hoped for.

Saturday

Today was our last day on Maui and Jeremy, Jason and I did double breakfast.  First we went to McDonalds to have their deluxe local breakfast; eggs, spam, Portuguese sausage and rice.  It was definitely a win in my book.  We got back to the condo in enough time to pack the car and go to Slappy Cakes for second breakfast.  If you've never heard of it, you order batter and toppings and grill your own pancakes at the table.  Apparently they originated in Oregon, since I don’t often go to Oregon, I had no idea.  The pancakes were reasonable and it was fun to make all sorts of weird shapes.

At this point, we separated from the Jacobson family who was traveling back home and Jeremy & I got on the plane to go to Oahu for our honeymoon.

Once in Oahu, we made our way back to the Waikiki Grand (where we’re staying) and got rained on.  Wait, rain is too nice of a word for it, we drove right into a monsoon.  Based on the advice from two people, I didn't pack our rain jackets because “if it rains, it’ll be over in like 20 minutes”.  Yeah, the rain lasted about 2 hours.  Needless to say, we got drenched trying to get our luggage into the hotel.  There was an ABC store 2 doors down from the hotel so we attempted to go there to find me a rain jacket.  Of course they didn't sell any, super.  We then attempted to go to Walmart to find a jacket.  Again, no jackets.  I bought an umbrella and hoped that it would work.  By the time we got back to the hotel, the rain had subsided so I didn't need the umbrella.

Waterfalls, Pools and More Water!

Wednesday was a tourist day.  While we didn't do the Road to Hana, we did drive up part of it to get to Twin Falls.  The hike back to the falls was 1 mile round trip and totally worth it.  I have some awesome pictures from that trip on my fancy pants Nikon camera, but for some reason, my Surface isn't recognizing the SD card.  Sure, I could update the driver, but that would require me to have a reasonable amount of internet connectivity in my room, not just when we walk down the street to Starbucks.  I digress. The falls were awesome and later in the evening, Katie, Jason, the kids and I went to see the giant Banyan tree that everyone always talks about.  Jeremy had to do homework that was due that night so he stayed behind.  The tree was indeed giant and Jeremy got 100% on his assignment.

Thursday we made the trek down a very steep and rocky cliff side to get to the Olivine Pools.  Please use the Google to find out more information.  The pools were definitely warm and had some fish in them which was pretty cool.  The next stop on our adventure was to the Nakalele blowhole.  It was not blowing so we didn't bother climbing down to it.  That hole blew…see what I did there?  We still had a large part of the day left so we went to Black Rock to go snorkeling.  Again, the GoPro had died as I used it too much during the Olivine Pools trip.  It was pretty awesome snorkeling though.  We came upon a school of trigger fish (2 different kinds), an assortment of other fish and the piece de resistance, another turtle!  It was definitely a place we had to go back to.

Weddings and Pie

Monday was the day of the wedding so we didn't do a whole lot in the morning.  Jeremy and I went into downtown Lahaina and ate burgers from Cheese Burger in Paradise.  The name was better than the burger in my opinion, but Jeremy thought it was good.  Perhaps vacation food tastes better?  Since both Katie and Jason were a part of the wedding, we watched Indy & Joe that afternoon, transported them to and from the wedding and put them to bed.

Tuesday I went scuba diving in the morning with my brother (and two other people).  Unfortunately the battery on the GoPro I was borrowing had died so I have no pictures from under the sea L  While the coral and the fish weren't as cool as in Fiji, we did go into a bubble cave, see a monk seal (endangered species!) and see two turtles swim by.  I like to think that because I didn't bring the camera, we were able to see cool stuff.  Right? 

After diving, Jeremy and I trekked back into downtown Lahaina for lunch and at the suggestion of my boss, we ate at Kimo’s.  The food was pretty good, but the main reason I was insistent in going was that we had a coupon for hula pie.  The hula pie was kind of giant.  The “pie” is definitely recreateable as there are a million recipes on the internet for it.  I figure it’ll be a great thing to make for a summer party.

Aloha!

Saturday marked the beginning of our excursion to an island of relaxation; also known as Maui in this case.  The flight was long and tolerable and Indy & Joe did awesome as there was only 1 meltdown a piece which lasted less than a minute.  I'm very happy with Hawaiian Airlines as we not only got our beverage service (with snack bag), but we actually got a free lunch (over cooked, yet flavorful noodle dish with salad and macadamia nut bar) AND free glass of wine!  Katie didn't drink her wine so I got two glasses and let me say, the second half of the flight was laid back.

Both Jeremy and I spent the money to get the "all you can watch" tv/movie package (limited shows) and since Saturday, have had the American Dad theme song stuck in our heads.

Saturday was sort of a bust day as it was full of travel, grocery shopping and just plain figuring out what is going on.  Sunday, however, was spent at the beach.  There is probably a name for the beach we went to, but frankly, it didn't matter.  The view (as pictured below) was spectacular, the water was warm and the sand didn't want to come off of our skin.  Both Indy & Joe had a good time playing in the water and of course getting completely covered in sand.  We only did a small amount of snorkeling at this beach and saw a puffer fish and a trigger fish.  There was a few others, but they did not make my notable fish list...or perhaps I've forgotten the names, but whatever.

Sunday evening was spent at the Old Lahaina Luau.  Being as it was our first time in Hawaii, this was our first luau.  We were met with Mai Tais at the door and the drinks never stopped coming.  A majority of the menfolk who were with us consumed enough liquor to make the free bar worth it.  Not having had a lot of experience with authentic Hawaiian food, I will say this.  I found the buffet to taste pretty good.  I did end up trying the Ahi Poke and was delightfully surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  I tried the Poi and by itself, it tasted like flour water and with the salty Kalua pork, it wasn't that bad.  As per the wisdom of a coworker, I would like to note that we were indeed served Lomi Lomi tomato.

After dinner, we watch a show filled with hula, drums and stories of the Hawaiian culture.  While it was fun to watch, being seated on the ground was a little rough.  The plate of desserts did help keep my mind off of the body parts that were cramping and/or asleep.

Perhaps I could spend more time writing and proof reading this post, but frankly, I'm just proud of my self for getting this written before the trip ended.  Stay tuned for a post covering the adventures of Monday and Tuesday!