do you remember the feeling that swept over you the first time you set foot somewhere and instantly knew you absolutely loved it? a place so overwhelmingly beautiful and majestic you wondered how you’d lived your life without visiting sooner? hawaii is definitely one of those places. seeing the striking blue/green/emerald/cyan waters rolling both gently and forcefully into the soft white/brown sugar/teeny shell particle sand surrounding oahu was absolutely spectacular.
after arriving wednesday, we checked into our hotel and hit the streets of honolulu/waikiki to explore the sights. we saw the pink palace of the pacific (a swanky hotel opened in 1927), the duke kahanamoku (the father of surfing) statue and the food pantry (our grocery store of choice for the trip). it was a relaxing first night filled with laughter and love as we were surrounded with the gentle tradewinds of paradise.
the next day brought lounging by the pool followed by sailing and snorkeling off the beach of waikiki. after donning our snorkel gear, we both experienced the unnatural “how am i breathing underwater” fear which causes rapid, almost panicked breathing patterns. after gaining control, we swam around looking for tropical fish. we were both a little disappointed not to see a large variety of fish, but we did see one sea turtle and lots of black fish. definite thumbs up.
friday was our day to explore the island via automobile so headed to the dole pineapple plantation, located near the north shore. what a cool experience. we boarded the “pineapple express” train and took a twenty minute ride through the fields listening to narration recorded by a local singing group who intermixed descriptions of the pineapple growing process with interludes of song. both of us laughed quite a bit, actually. we also toured the gardens which were filled with amazing plants and flowers and even a gecko. raymundo, our 80 year old tour guide, captured mn’s heart and, for a minute there, lucky was a little worried we’d be taking raymundo home. he picked red hibiscus for the ladies and told us where we should wear the flowers in order to send the right message regarding our “availability” for love. an unexpected shower cut our tour short so we made our way to the cafe and enjoyed a dole whip -- think a pineapple slushy.
“pineapple express” train
raymundo
continuing our tour of the island, we drove the north shore being sure to make plenty of stops along the way, such as: waimea bay beach where we saw people jumping from the rocks into the ocean (not the cliff divers we’ve all heard about, but similar) and huge crashing waves that carved out portions of the beach; banzai beach where we enjoyed our picnic lunch and watched surfers; giovanni’s white shrimp truck. who would’ve thought yummy shrimp could come from a big white truck? it was fantastic!
we saw so many spectacular sites and were continually dumbfounded by the beauty of the island.
back in honolulu, we made the rounds of places further from the hotel while we still had the rental car. this included having our first shave ice. it wasn’t as snow cone-y as we’d hoped, but we enjoyed it nonetheless, even though we got ice cream headaches (which, by the way, are caused when the roof of your mouth gets too cold).
the next morning we were up with the sun to take on diamond head crater. we hoped to avoid the huge crowds and heat of the day. the climb starts out easy on a paved path but quickly turns to uneven rocky paths often too narrow for people to walk side-by-side. there are a few sections of stairs, a long, dark tunnel and finally a 100 stair climb to what you think is the pinnacle. it’s followed by a spiral staircase, a winding path with more stairs and finally a glorious view of waikiki. completely worth the workout and again, beautiful.
we finished out the day lounging on the beach: mn under the umbrella and lucky catching as many rays as possible. the night found us sipping fruity tropical drinks as we watched the gorgeous sunset.
our biggest adventure of the trip came on sunday when we took a helicopter tour. talk about a breathtaking experience! all we could say was “WOW!” over and over again. seeing the radiance of the island from the air gave us an entirely different perspective. we saw dolphins swimming with a sailboat, miles of reef, mansions of the rich and famous (including bill gates’ and the house where magnum p.i. was filmed), sacred falls - an 80-foot waterfall, pineapple fields, military areas, suburban subdivisions, pearl harbour and the uss arizona (we could see the oil leaking into the water - so crazy to see oil leaking from a ship that sunk almost 66 years ago), and the u.s. naval base and shipyard. here are a few of the 200+ photos we took during our tour...
pineapple fields
uss arizona memorial
memorial day brought the adventure lucky had been waiting for - surfing lessons. it was exciting and terrifying and exhilarating and frustrating and invigorating and addictive and an incredible rush and she’ll definitely be doing more of it. it’s an activity that takes lots and lots of practice, but she did very well for her first attempt and stood up on her very first try.
monday night we went to a stunning event on ala moana beach. it’s called the lantern floating and it’s described on the website (www.lanternfloatinghawaii.com) as such: “Every year on Memorial Day, thousands of people gather together at Magic Island to honor ancestors and loved ones who have passed away. They watch with warm remembrance, hope for peace, and wish for a better future for the next generation as more than 1,100 candle-lit lanterns float away from shore.” even though this blog entry has overused this word, it was absolutely beautiful.
sadly, the last day of our magnificent, thrilling, spine-tingling, astonishing, moving, awe-inspiring trip arrived, so we spent time on the beach. lucky rented a surfboard and tried to get the hang of surfing without an instructor pushing her into the wave. although she wasn’t very sucessful, she still loves the sport and has vowed to be a surfer one day. oh, and she thinks she may want to learn to fly helicopters, too. we had lunch at another, and even tastier, shrimp truck (bluewater seafood on kuhio avenue) before ending our vacation by the hotel pool.
our flight back to pdx was a red-eye and one of the worst we’ve ever experienced. we took it as a sign we shouldn’t have left paradise. such is life, we suppose.
we’ve settled back into our daily routine after being dealt a major disappointment. mn’s parents were scheduled to visit us this week and had to cancel because her father is having health problems. please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
thanks for reading this marathon blog entry - we hope y’all were able to feel like you visited the island with us.
we love and miss y’all very much!
