Aloha!

As most of, if not all of you know by now, we went to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary. (I'm a little behind on the blog.) We went in May with Krista & Jonathan and Tyler & Lauren. We left on Thursday morning and flew to LA and then from there to Honolulu.

Honolulu

Thursday PM- arrived late in Honolulu because of delays in LA. Tyler and Lauren picked us up at the airport and we drove to dinner at House Without a Key. It was pretty, open air, restaurant right on the ocean at a gorgeous hotel. The waves crashed right into the side of the patio where we were sitting. After dinner we went to our hotel, The Aqua Palms. It was really pretty. From our room, we had views of Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach. We all wish we had gotten to stay more than just one night. Fri (a long, but great day!)- Ate a great breakfast at the hotel and then piled in the car to see Pearl Harbor. Arrived around 9 AM, not too long of a wait. We walked around and took pictures until it was our turn to see the movie and then go to the Memorial. The memorial was great, very interesting. They were very serious about being reverent to the fallen soldiers while on the Arizona Memorial. We actually saw an entire Asian family be sent back to the visitors center b/c the man was speaking too loudly. It was kind of funny, you'd have to be there... Pearl Harbor did not take as long as we thought so we headed to the Dole Plantation. It was really pretty, beautiful gardens and fresh pineapple treats! We had dark chocolate covered pineapple spears and they were AMAZING!!!! After that we still had extra time (before our flight to Kauai) so we headed up to the North Shore to check out the sites and eat lunch. We found a great burger place with the biggest burgers ever! After lunch we went to Matsumoto's Shave Ice (had seen it on Food Network) for dessert and quite an experience. Combine a snow cone on top of black beans (yes, I said black beans) and vanilla ice cream. Not the tastiest combo. I'll admit I took the safe route w/a regular old snow cone but everyone else wanted to "do as the locals do". Bad idea, but fun. Then we finally went to the airport. Kauai

As soon as we got to Kauai (after some luggage issues w/ K & J) we headed to dinner. We had a reservation at The Beach House in Poipu. It was beautiful. It was right on a point surrounded by the ocean and dozens of surfers. The view and sunset were amazing and the food was great too (banana foster dessert, yummm). Then it was a long drive to our condo and straight to bed. Saturday-We had pastries from a local bakery and then headed to the nearest beach. Our first stop was Tunnels Beach. It was huge, with a lot of shallow reef and good snorkeling. The girls snorkeled for a while and then laid out, while and the guys followed a sea turtle around the reef. When we got back to the car we got our first souvenir of the trip, a parking ticket! Lovely. After sorting that out we found some lunch and went to Anini Beach for some more relaxation. It was not a great snorkel spot but it was a long beach and a great for walking. After getting cleaned up we had dinner at Duke's Canoe Club at the Mariott resort. It was pretty, we ate on the upstairs deck looking over the bay. The meal was good but the salad bar was great! It's rare to find a salad bar in Hawaii, much less a good one. While we ate, some cute little ladies came by and played music for us. After dinner we walked around the resort and hung out on some hammocks. Sunday- We picked up breakfast at the local grocery store and headed to Ke'e Beach and the Kalalau Trail. The trial is an 11 mile hike along the Napali Coast, rated and 8/10 for difficulty. It was a beautiful hike with unbelievable views! It was quite an adventure. Some parts were steep, muddy, and over grown. It was a great workout with a huge reward at the end, the most beautiful beach we had ever seen. The sand was gold and black. It was secluded, had a mountain stream that ran down to the ocean with huge cliffs and caves we just had to go explore. Then we hiked back (with blisters and stubbed toes) and rested/snorkeled at Ke'e beach. After working up a hunger we headed to Puka Dog. It was quite a drive but well worth it. Puka Dogs are hot dog/sausages in a special bun filled with a spicy garlic sauce and your choice of fruit salsa. Sounds odd but OH MY! UMMM UMMM good! After lunch we went to a local blow hole, Spouting Horn, and watched it and then headed to Poipu Beach to watch the sunset. So pretty! After that we went home, grilled out and collapsed in bed! Monday (my fav day)- We had a quick breakfast at Java Chai, a great local coffee house. Then we sped (we were late) to the Princeville Ranch for a horseback ride and waterfall trip. We quickly mounted up and headed out. My horse was Manini, which meant little fish, but there was nothing little about him. Adam rode Poi. They were great horses (fat and happy) and we had freedom to take them anywhere we wanted along the trail. After about an hour and half, and a water break, we reached the end where we were to hike to the waterfall. It was about 5-10 minute hike down to the double falls. We all changed into our bathing suits and went in. It was chilly but felt great after the long ride. After some pics and a quick soak we climbed up to the top pool, underneath the top falls. We ate lunch there (wraps, fruit and cookies) and then hiked/climbed back up to our horses. The ride was gorgeous, we were in the foothills of the mountains on a working cattle ranch. Yeee Haa! After our ride was over we went to Hideaways Beach. It was secluded and a slippery hike down but it had great snorkeling and pretty shade trees. After some rest and a shower, we went to dinner at Cafe' Hanalei. It was at a very $$$$ resort and had the MOST AMAZING views of the entire trip. The food was okay, but you don't go there for the food. You go for the views and the sunset! Tuesday- We had smoothies for breakfast and then headed to the airport. Not to leave, but to take a HELICOPTER tour of the island. It was so much fun. So worth the $$$!! Kauai is largely uninhabited and there aren't roads to most of the island so the only way to really see it, is it to fly. It was such a rush! We flew all over, saw places we had been/hiked and saw other places not many get to see. We saw places where they filmed movies like Jurassic Park, King Kong, Indiana Jones and South Pacific. If you ever go, go with a quality tour company and pay the $$! It's worth it and Adam would say so too. ;0) After our tour we got lunch at burger place overlooking the beach and then the guys wanted to go exploring... One place you can get to by car is where the gates were in Jurassic Park. We decided to go try to find them. It was scarier than the movie! We were in the middle of the jungle on a dirt rode with potholes that could swallow our van! I'm not joking. After lots of starts and stops (mostly b/c were scared to go on) we did it! We got there! It was pretty and we took a few pics and then had to make the crazy drive right back so we didn't miss our flight to Maui.

Maui

Tues (cont'd)- We arrived in Maui in the evening and went to a local Mexican restaurant called Milagros. It was probably in my top 2 meals of the entire trip. I had crab quesadillas with pineapple salsa! SOOOO GOOD! After dinner the girls walked across the street to Ono Gelato. It was quite tasty. We then headed to our house, about an hour away. We arrived after dark but were pleasantly surprised. We didn't know anything about it, and had kept our expectations low, just in case... It far exceeded our expectations. It was new, modern, artsy, and had amazing views of the ocean and nearby islands. And did I mention it was free? Tyler knew a guy who had this house and insisted we stay there, for free (that helped us justify the helicopter)!!

Wednesday- After a good night's sleep we went to breakfast at the Gazebo. It's a hole in the wall, hotel pool hut by the ocean with INSANELY good pancakes! We had white chocolate-pineapple-banana pancakes and hash browns! WOW! After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed to the Ritz Carlton. The owner of our house had privileges there. :) The guys stayed for a minute and then were off golfing. We headed to the pool, where we were served drinks poolside and floated along listening to the palm trees blowing in the wind. It was fancy! After we ate lunch by the pool we walked down to their private beach and played in the ocean for a while until we were carter in a limo-style golf cart back to chairs at the pool. Did I mention it was fancy! We stayed all day and into the night (the guys took forever). We swam, tanned, ate, napped and even showered in their spa. Best shampoo ever! After the guys picked us up, we went to dinner at Sansei, a funky Japanese restaurant. It was good.

Thursday- We ate breakfast at Seawatch at Napili Kai. The food was good, and it was right on the beach. After breakfast we went straight onto the beach and started snorkeling. It looked very Hawaiian with the palms and pretty bay. We stayed there into the afternoon. Next was Earl's Bay, a rocky beach with crystal clear water and 1,000's of fish! When we left Earl's we went in search of Lorraine's. Lorraine wasn't a beach but a lady with a shave ice hut (in her basement/garage). We drove forever into the middle of nowhere and there she was, she and her husband at their house selling baked goods and shave ice. It was great and she was a hoot (I had the choclate dipped banana bread ice cream sandwich). We rushed back to get ready for our luau that night (we were not at all hungry).

The luau was so much fun. We got there early and walked around and took pictures and watched the locals do their crafts. They had people cracking coconuts by hand, people making poi, jewelry makers and local music. They had an open, unlimited, bar for the first part of the night so we got all we could drink (non-alcoholic of course) and got our $$ worth. After our bellies were floating with all the friuty concoctions they dug up the pig from the underground oven and then it was time to eat. The food was good, better than I had expected, and they had fun desserts. But the best part was the hula show. They started by bringing in firey torches and blowing conch shells. Pretty dramatic. Then came the hula girls, screaming and shaking their "skirts". It's CRAZY how fast they shake "it" and keep their coconuts in place! ;0) If I lived there I would be a hula dancer. They did about and hour of different dances and then had a finall dance off. After it was over the dancers were standing around for photo ops. And did I mention another great sunset?! It was such a fun night!

Friday- Was an early morning. We had to be on our snorkel tour baot at 6:45 AM. They fed us breakfast on the way to our dive site. It took about an hour and was realaxing. We went to Molokini, a crater in the middle of the ocean. It rises like a horseshoe shaped cliff out of the middle of the ocean. The water is over 200 feet deep and you can see all way to the botttom. They gave us wet siuts because to water is so cold, 45-50 degrees. There were fish everywhere. We even saw an eel. We snorkeled for an hour and then got back on the boat for lunch, on the way to our second site, "Turtle Town". It was what it sounds like, an area about 100 yds from a beach where there were tons of sea turtles. They were so sweet and not terribly shy. It was really fun! Then we headed back to the dock. From there we went up to Haleakala , the tallest Mtn/volocano in Hawaii, 10,000 ft. We actaully drove through the clouds to get to the top. It looked like we were on a different planet. For dinner that night we ate at Pacific O's in Lahina. It was a great meal (and AMAZING desserts)and was right on the beach, literally in the sand. The sunset was beautiful, a perfect last meal all together in Hawaii. After dinner we walked around the town and shopped.

Saturday- Our last day in the islands. BOOOO HOOOO! :0( We started off our day for a repeat breakfast at the Gazebo. We all had the exact thing as beofre, it was that good! Then we went back to the pool at the Ritz. After resting and swimming for a while Tyler and Lauren had to catch an early flight and the rest of us went to the Olivine Pools. They were gorgeous. You had to hike down a really steep, rocky path to the edge of the ocean to these sheltered little pools. There were 5 or 6 of them, varying depths, really clear with pretty little fish. Right on the other side of the pools was the ocean with huge angry looking waves. We stayed for a while trying all the pools and taking pics. We hated to leave but it was a fun, very Hawaiian, way to end the trip. We had dinner at Leilani's in Whaler's Village, and saw one more Hawaiian sunset and then were off to the airport.

ALOHA!