Hawaii--Finally!

View from the plane of Honolulu.

I have procrastinated writing my blog about Hawaii for months now. Part of it was because of school, part laziness (since school is over), and part was knowing I’m not a good writer and would not be able to give it the justice it deserves. However, as I promised I would write about it, no matter now dull I make it, I am committed to doing it. So, as with most of my writing, I will give a basic travel log of my trip.

My mom and I flew separately to Oahu Hawaii, me via Houston. Mom was lucky to have a direct flight. I ended up doing standby so that I could get an earlier flight and get there just a while after my mom. We rented a car and headed off to a B & B that was outside of Honolulu. I didn’t want to stay in Waikiki as I heard it was very noisy and expensive (especially with parking).

Mural of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial-outside.

Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial-inside.

We got up early, which wasn’t too difficult with the six hour time difference, and went to Pearl Harbor. It opens at 7:00 which was the perfect time to come. You receive a time to watch a film about Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. After the film you take a ride on a boat to the USS Arizona Memorial. You have about ten or fifteen minutes there on the memorial. When I was told that I thought it would be too short, but it was plenty of time. The memorial is very well done and so peaceful though sad.

Afterward we headed over to the stadium to do some intensive shopping. We kind of lost the car. I circled the stadium three times trying to find it. Finally a security guard came back on a golf cart and took me to the car. I was very grateful!

Hanauma Bay behind us. We are headed to watch the film before they will let you on the beach.

My marine friends. We had a blast snorkeling together.

It was mothers day and someone had done a type of sand sculpture. It seemed appropriate to take a picture with mom. The sand was like baby powder. It felt so good.

We went to Hanauma Bay the next day. It was beautiful, but I didn’t not think the snorkeling was all that great. Two marines came by and I asked them about the snorkeling. They thought it was great and agreed to take me to the place they had seen two turtles. We had a great time! They were very attentive and would grab my arm and point to the fish or come get me to show me something they had seen. I did not tell them about all of the exotic places I have been as Hanauma Bay has nothing on Fiji or the Malldives. We got out into some choppy water and a life guard came out to tell us we had to come in. I was so glad. I had been swimming with all of my strength and getting absolutely nowhere. He gave me a ride back on his board. It was a good ‘man’ day for me. ☺ One of the marines was interested in me which I found uncomfortable, flattering, and adorable. I was probably ten years their senior.

Mom and I at the North Shore saying Aloha!

We went to the temple visitor center. The temple is under construction so it's not as white as it normally is. The grounds of the temple are gorgeous with the exotic flowers.

This is part of the Pali lookout. I saw it on a postcard so we took a little detour to see it. It was well worth the detour.

We went to the North Shore before heading to the Polynesian Culture Center. It was spectacular! Mom and I send our greetings from Hawaii. Before we got there we stopped at the Pali lookout. It was so beautiful. You can’t really see the grandeur in the photos.

All of the Polynesian countries are represented at the cultural center. I really want to go to Easter Island (in real life) so I had to have a picture here. It just think that it's so fascinating!

This guy was hilarious! He showed us how to make fire and introduced the guy who climbed the palm tree. I have a short video on his act. So funny!

We loved the Polynesian Culture Center and wished we had more time to spend there. We mostly went to different presentations where they would do something related to the country they represented. Two of the presentations were hilarious! We watched the boat pageant, went to the luau dinner, and to the horizons concert in the evening. We could have used another full day.

View of Maui from the plane.

The next day we headed off to Maui. We went to Oahu because I was thinking about living there, but Maui was purely for fun and beach! It is totally different from Oahu. When you fly in, instead of buildings, you see farmland. It was beautiful.

View from our condo in Maui.

Sunset in Maui at our condo.

We stayed in Kihei which is a central location to everything. We walked in our condo and were greeted by the gorgeous view of the ocean. There was nothing obstructing our view. Mom suggested we just stay in our condo the whole time and just enjoy the view.

Twin falls (I think that's what it is called) on the road to Hana. We had to hike a bit and wade through water to get here.

Mom was a little afraid I would fall off the bridge in this picture. :) I just wanted to do something different then just stand in front of the waterfall. You can't really see the whole thing in this picture. It kind of curved back to the left.

This was a stunning waterfall. It was very tall and and just gorgeous to watch and look at. It was quite a hike to get here. Luckily I had my Keen shoes on so I could make it. Mom wished she had brought her water shoes with her, but I still don't know if she would have made it. There was climbing involved. Mom is not a hiker.

Here is the black sand beach. There were also beautiful black rocks as part of the beach.

This is where the boys (well semi-men) were jumping off the cliff. I wish the pictures showed off the colors better. The water, black cliffs, and green were stunning.

We took the ‘Road to Hana’ which isn’t really a destination, but the trip itself is the important part. There are waterfalls along the way to hike to. I love waterfalls so it was
heaven. The road is mostly switchbacks and you drive slowly. Everyone just pulls over on the side of the road to enjoy the waterfalls. We got to the midway point after being gone for seven hours. It said you are half way to Hana. We were shocked! We picked it up a little after that. We went to the state part that has black sand. The black was so striking against the green. There was some boys cliff jumping. They are crazy!

This is Haleakala crater. It was a bit cold up here so we brought warmer weather just to be here. It wasn't too bad though. You can see the crater behind me.

Haleakala was on the list for the next day. You can do a bike ride from the top to see the sunrise, but we didn’t want to get up at 3 in the morning. I wasn’t that excited about going, but it really was so striking and bare. It’s a dead volcano and has so many different colors. It was cool to see the clouds hovering –we were above the clouds.

This is the Big Beach which is supposedly really famous. You can see the crater where people snorkel on the far right. I would love to go back and snorkel there sometime. It was kind of an all day trip and I didn't want to waste a whole day, especially when mom doesn't snorkel.

This is a beach up north. I kind of just plopped down to take the picture. It was so funny. Mom and I laughed and laughed. It's hard to describe what it looked like. It brings back great memories. This beach had good snorkeling.

We went here for our last few hours in Maui. So this aloha is really goodbye Hawaii. We had an amazing time!!!

The rest of the time we spent at different beaches snorkeling and enjoying the sun. It is really so beautiful there. I would love to go back and go to Kauai. We only had time for the two islands because of school. I loved Hawaii. It is far away from Europe where there are many places I want to visit. Therefore, I don’t think I will look for a job here. Sadly enough! I will for sure go back though for holiday!