Hawaii.
It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. It all happened rather suddenly. We'd talked about it for as long as I can remember as our tenth anniversary trip. For a lot of reasons, that didn't work out. But with a lot of help from Grammy and Pappy, it happened this year, just after our eleventh anniversary.
We left on a Tuesday afternoon. It was a long, long day of travel. Our flight left around 1 o'clock our time, and we didn't arrive in Hawaii until nearly five o'clock in the morning our time. We had very brief stops in Dallas and Los Angeles before our final arrival in Honolulu.
Our first stop was Waikiki, which is only about 20 minutes from the Honolulu airport. It was a massive hotel in the heart of the shopping district, which meant there was plenty of shopping and restaurants within walking distance. That first night we crashed into our room on the fourteenth floor. We woke up early, before the sun, to get ready for our orientation breakfast. We booked through a travel group, so it was a free breakfast and discounted offers for local attractions. We enjoyed the breakfast, then we also purchased the token picture above before cutting out early.
Our first day was dedicated to nothing other than relaxing. We dropped our towels on some chairs by the "adults only" infinity pool, and then headed for a stroll down the beach. The beach in Waikiki (and most of Hawaii, for that matter) is not what you expect if your used to places like Florida. The beaches are small, and interrupted by rocks and reefs and ledges. They almost look man made in their perfection, and you can only walk about 10 or 15 minutes before you reach the end. So we explored a little, then headed back to our chairs by the pool to relax and soak up the sun.
We finished our first day by going out for dinner at a nearby restaurant and walking down the main shopping district where we looked but didn't buy much (Chanel, Louis Vitton and Tiffany's are a little out of our league). We did get a little spend-happy at Quicksilver and Roxy. I might be a surfer girl at heart, as I could have bought just about everything in the store.
Our next day began early at Pearl Harbor. We purchased our tickets, strolled around the grounds until it was time to watch the brief documentary and board the shuttle out to the U.S.S. Arizona memorial. Though a bit commercialized, it's still a must-see. It definitely makes you stop and think and appreciate the sacrifices of so many. We also toured the U.S.S. Missouri warship where the war ended, and the U.S.S. Bowfin submarine.
The rest of day two was spent on a drive around the island. Oahu is relatively small in size (though not in population). I think we put about 300 hundred miles on our rental car in three days, and there were days we didn't drive much if any at all.
After Pearl Harbor, our first stop was the Dole Plantation. We shared the largest ice cream I have ever seen at the gift shop. Next was the North Shore, where we lucked into a parking spot at a busy local park. We walked on the beach and watched the huge waves crashing down. There were a few people trying to surf that day, but the waves were breaking early and it wasn't good surfing water. And then we just kept driving around. We stopped at a local boat dock and a few other local parks to take some pictures. Every where that you went it was picture-perfect and absolutely beautiful. My favorite spot was a local park on the northeast side of the island. There was a beautiful beach that went on for quite a while, small chain islands just off the beach on one side and mountains behind the park. It was something I could not have imagined.
Our third day we planned to hike to Diamond Head. We ended up hiking a lot longer than we imagined, because the parking lot at the base of the trail was full and we had to park down the mountain at a local community college parking lot. We also had to pause on the way up both times (driving the first time, walking the second) to allow for unforeseen circumstances. The television show Hawaii 5-0 was filming on the road to Diamond Head that day. We got a sneak peak of some car chase scenes (silver Camaro, no less) going around an amazing curve and also a quick view of Scott Caan driving. The hike up wasn't too bad, but there were a lot of stairs at the top. The panoramic views were stunning. It was well worth the extra effort we ended up having to make.
Because we started early, we also got to spend the last half of our last day relaxing at the infinity pool. It was a little piece of heaven on earth. The water of the pool was freezing, which made it acceptable after you'd baked in the sun for a few hours, but you cannot imagine hanging on the edge of the infinity pool, looking straight down into the crashing Pacific Ocean. So amazing.
Saturday morning it was time to pack up and head to the Big Island (or Hawaii Island, as the locals call it). Since our initial arrival was in the middle of the night, this flight gave us the chance to see the beautiful blue waters from the sky. This was the Hawaii I had always imagined - those bright turquoise waters, interrupted with white sand beaches and black volcanic rock ledges. We arrived at Kona less than an hour after we left.
The Big Island was a step back. Waikiki had been busy, urban and full of people who spoke more languages than we could identify. The Big Island was very different. We de-planed down a ramp onto the actual runway. The airport itself was a series of canopies and walkways that was entirely open-air. It. Was. Amazing.
We picked up our rental car and headed toward Kona Town, which is where we were staying for the rest of the week. We arrived early, but the hotel let us do a pre-check-in and park our car so we could do some exploring. Kona Town is more like a Florida beach town, with lots of shops and restaurants on the edge of the coast. There were places where you could get wet walking on the sidewalk, because the sea wall was right next to you.
We did quite a bit of walking and a little bit of shopping. Then we checked into our hotel and settled in for the week. Our room here was on the ground floor, which wasn't our first pick. We did have a balcony twice the size of everyone else, so that was a plus. But everyone walking by had a view of the balcony and the room, and the nightly festivities got kind of loud at ground level.
Again our first day was spent lounging by the pool. Well, the pool and the ocean. They were side by side after all. It was a nice lazy introduction to the island. We walked into Kona Town for dinner again that night.
Monday was our first day of adventure. We drove down the coast, stopping first at a black sand beach and then making our way to the Volcanoes National Park. This was the only day it rained on us, which was kind of disappointing, but the southern end of the island seems to get more unpredictable weather than the rest. And mother nature gave us a break in a few places, like when we hiked through the Thurston Lava Tubes and when we reached the end of the Chain of Craters Road. After driving and wandering around through a place that literally looked like the end of the earth in places, we ended up continuing our journey around the southern tip of the island. We stopped at a local place for some amazing Thai food for lunch, then kept driving. Our next stop was the Lava Trees State Park. It was interesting, but small. It could theoretically be skipped if you're pressed for time. Our last stop of the day was essentially the other side of the Chain of Craters Road, you know, before the lava flowed directly over the road for several miles and made it impassible. It was a two-hour drive from the other end of the road.
Monday was by far our longest day. We started early and got home really late. We were exhausted. So of course we got up early on Tuesday and started around the north side of the island. I like to call this our waterfall day. We stopped at a few other places, but most of our destinations were waterfalls. And Josh was kind of tired of my picture-taking obsession, so many of our pictures were taken while driving down the road. We started at Akaka Falls, just outside Hilo. And then we went to Rainbow Falls, also near Hilo. We ended the day by stopping at Waipi'o Valley overlook. And this was one of the more stunning views you could find on the island. A huge drop into the valley, a black sand beach, and tall cliffs dropping straight down into the ocean. Amazing.
Wednesday we drove an hour or so north again, this time stopping at Hapuna Beach State Park, one of the larger white sand beaches on Oahu. We spent a few hours catching some sun, and Josh even spent some time actually getting into the ocean. I took my pleasure in walking along the beach for a few minutes - about fifteen total and you could walk up and down the whole thing.
Wednesday night we had made reservations at our hotel for the luau. It was definitely an interesting experience. Josh and I were not huge fans of the local food, but I for one enjoyed the local mai tais. And the show was impressive, lots of different cultural dancing styles and one of the island's best fire dancers had a two-part act. It was a fun, festive way to experience local culture.
On Thursday, we took another lazy day relaxing by the pool. For me, that's an important part of a Hawaiian vacation. Enjoying the downtime, with a beautiful view, the sound of crashing waves, and lots of sun and water. Josh had a little too much sun from our beach adventure the day before, so he opted to read in the shade of our balcony most of that day.
And Friday we checked out of our hotel around lunch time, and then had the whole day to finish exploring. Our flight didn't leave until 10:35 that night, so we once again drove north to do a little more exploring. We went to the northwest tip of the island, to visit Pololu Valley. It was equally stunning to Waipio Valley, with the same basic elements. We also drove down a narrow, one-lane road to check out an impressive windmill farm just above a smaller airport. There were stunning views from here to nearby Maui island.
We ended our day back at Kona International Airport. And it was a fitting end to an amazing 10 days in Hawaii. We checked our luggage, then waited in the open air courtyard for our flight. Even when we moved back to our terminal, it, too, was open air.
It was a long trip back. It got progressively worse. We left sunny and 80 degree open air terminals for rain in Los Angeles and Snow in Chicago. It was 20 degrees when we made it back home.
It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. At times it went by way to quickly, and at times it felt like we had been there for weeks instead of just days. It was incredibly sunny and warm. Every where that you looked was a picture-perfect view of something, whether it was crystal clear waters, white or black sand beaches, valleys and mountains, or something else altogether. I took countless pictures, and while beautiful, most of them do not even do it justice. The Flickr album is HERE, and it's only a fraction of the pictures I actually took.
Special thanks to Grammy and Pappy. They kept our boys at home, keeping their routine as close to normal as anyone could do. They took care of the boys and spoiled them, the way only grandparents can do. They helped us use Facetime to talk to the boys several nights while we were away. They went above and beyond, making sure we not only took the trip, but that we could really, really enjoy it. Mahalo, Grammy and Pappy, mahalo.
It was amazing. Once-in-a-lifetime. Magical. Worth every penny. Worth waiting for. Something we will always, always remember.