Hawaii Days

This is probably going to be one very LONG post... so bear with me as I try to describe how much I love Hawaii!! I went there for the first time with my friend Bev... she was 62 at the time I believe. It was great fun. We stayed for 2 weeks, In Honolulu. We did travel around the island a bunch and did touristy things like see Pearl Harbor, Surf Lessons, Parasailing, Polonesian Cultural Center (PCC) Snorkeling at Panama bay, beach bumming and shopping (at the swap meets of coarse). People told me that Hawaii was the greatest place on earth before I went... and then after I went I was the one telling people that it is the greatest place on earth.

BTW This same guy STILL works there!

"Ah!" I thought to myself, "well this is bliss!"

AND THEN... the story goes... Jeremy's sister and her husband planned to go to HI for their anniversary, but then Brians' family was going to be there... so sure..some of Lexies family should be there too! So... Lexie brings up the idea to us on Sunday night... we toyed with the idea... Wednesday night around 11pm we bought our tickets and then we packed and left around 3am to make it to the airport by 7am the next morning- BEST LAST MINUTE DECISION EVER. OF COARSE.

Day 1: Thursday

Above is all 4 of us' luggage... basically just a tent, sleeping bags and a couple bathing suits haha

 We got our rental car- a Honda FIT- SOLD forever...that car is sweet! We went to Costco to stock up on food and had lunch. We then drove up to Sunset beach to look at the waves (where I quickly got caught in one and soaked my pants!), and headed over to the North Shore, we did a hike called Temple Look out (I think) over Waimea beach where there were some killer waves.... 50 feet high!!

Above pics taken at Sharks cove.

We hung around and watched the crazy surfers. After, we got some dinner and headed over to Lexie's friend Kari's house to crash at for the night.

 Day 2: Friday

We rented Paddle Boards (thanks for the military discount kari!) and went to Lanikia(?) Beach. We paddled out to a little island to have lunch, paddle surf, snorkel and check out a bird sanctuary.

What a stud!!!

Poor Jer cut up his feet on the coral reef while paddle surfing :( He was such a trooper though.

THEN We headed out to hike the Stairway to Heaven/Haiku Stairs

This hike is not open to the public and we had to avoid a guard and a few fences to get there... but it was Aloha Friday...so No big Deal

Lots of Banboo

Pretty hike to get to the stairs and THEN... We see them!

"The station and trail were closed to the public in 1987. Some hikers ignore the No Trespassing signs and continue to climb" 

 In 1942 wooden stairs were erected to enable antenna cables to be strung from one side of the cliffs above Haʻikū Valley to the other

In the mid-1950s, the wooden stairs were replaced by sections of metal steps and ramps — by one count, 3,922 steps.

That's 3,922 steps up, and 3,922 stairs down 

A building to provide a continuous communication link between Wahiawā and Haʻikū Valley Naval Radio Station was constructed at the peak of Puʻukeahiakahoe, elevation about 2,800 feet (850 m). The antennae transmitted very low frequency radio signals from a 200,000-watt Alexanderson alternator in the center of Haʻikū valley. The signals could reach US Navy submarines as far away as Tokyo Bay while the submarines were submerged.[2][3] Testers for RCA picked up signals on Long Island, and the signal also reached India, 6,600 miles 

(10,600 km) away 

Hawaii Can you get any more beautiful???

This is the thing to do!!! Super scary. Super rewarding.

No Trespassing, No hunting, No Hiking... No problem.

When we got back down my legs were shaking SO much I thought they were going to give out. Think stair stepper for 3 hours...

Anyway, it was great! THEN we went over to Kailua and got some Thai food (we were starving of coarse!).. and Lexie got a yellow currie...we all mostly ate hers! and now Jer and I have this crazy obsession with yellow Currie which we now get at our local Thai restaurant at least 1-2 times a week!

Day 3: Saturday

We left pretty early in the morning and checked out some fruit stands and visited a Macadamia nut Farm... DELISH!

We started heading to Laie, but the traffic was kinda bad, so we pulled over and hung around on the beach for a while- snorkled a bunch, ate lunch and took a nap... there are very few places in the world that you can just pull over to the side of the road and find yourself on a beautiful beach!!

We got Star Fruit, passion fruit, coconut, and pineapple.

Jer and I really wanted to see some turtles, so while Brian and lexie went to surf, we went to Lanikai and made some turtle friends :)

Hi!

Then we went for a snorkel in Sharks cove... It was really cool, but the waves were still pretty scary and kept pushing me toward the rocks, so I let Jer do most of the snorkeling.

(This was at the macadamia nut farm)

-sorry the pics are a bit out of order) but the first thing we tried to do that day was hike over to the China man's hut... The tide wasn't right so this is on our "next time" list.

Then off to have some dinner at the Kahuku grill for some coconut shrimp. YUM!!!

Look at the size of those shrimp!!! and then we had warm peanut butter rolls with ice-cream for desert.

We fell asleep in a tent out on the lawn/beach of the Poppletons holiday rental, to the ocean waves and rustling palm trees in the wind.... This is the ONLY time I will be fine with sleeping on the floor.

Day 4 Sunday:

First of all, we woke up to this-

We had some breakfast and got ready for church in Laie.

Then Jer and I went over to see the Dole Plantation. Notice the amazing colorful tree and fun maze!

 Then to Ted's Bakery for some burgers and Chocolate Haupia pie.

We then grouped up and went on the Sacred Falls hike. Soooo pretty!

I must say- marrying Jeremy has opened my eyes up to many things that I found I enjoy, that I probably never would have found. I'm definitely not as daring yet, and was definitely the only one that was FREAKING OUT as we were climbing along a slippery, wet and muddy cliff while clinging for my life on a couple of vines... but hey, I'm alive!

These little leaves are amazing and very shy.... when you touch them they fold up!

Oh and BTW.. this is how we started the hike... once again climbing fences for thrilling adventures... but Brian knew the guy who's yard it was, which makes is completely fine and legal.

After this we went back to the Poppleton's and had a shower and a BBQ. 

Great food, great company!

DAY 5, Monday:

Since it was pretty rainy and we didn't have a rain guard for our tent, we decided to rent a little hut to sleep in. It was awesome! We woke up and did some yoga stretches on the beach, then got ready and headed down to the Polynesian Cultural Center. 

This was Jeremy's first time there!

(here he is again!)

We visited all the villages, saw the I-max show, ate the Luau and saw the night show.

I love love love all the culture and the people who work there who share their talents with us.

Day 6, Tuesday:

 our last full day.

We started with a visit to the Temple and attended a session there. 

It was great of coarse :)

We then said goodbye to our little hut. 

And had lunch at a shrimp shack.

This pic above is a view from the wind tunnel we stumbled upon. It was crazy cool and I will never again think that wind is a sissy pants element because I felt, for the first time in my life, how STRONG it can be.

Here we are in with the Banyan trees at the Judd Falls hike.

I swear Jer was like a kid in a candy store this whole trip :)

Here is this 'natural rock slide' into the water. I was not prepared with my bathing suit, but we made it happen anyway haha...Lexie and her peer pressure!

She is saying "you're welcome Tess" haha

Can I have one of these in Bakersfield please?!

We actually did this before we left the North Shore, but Bri needed a 'surf sesh' with some of his pals, so we hung around and watched him surf a while.

Playing in the sand.

SO PRESH!

After all of this we went down to Honolulu to find me some of these Hawaii sandals shoes I have always wanted, and with some trial and error, we found them and I now wear them ALL THE TIME because I love them...and they were $5! We went back to Kari's house to shower and talked until we all fell asleep.

We said goodbye to Hawaii and got on the plane heading for LA. So many great memories! This trip definitely ignited our 'Travel flame', and we have already started making plans for our next destination. If you would like to visit Hawaii for under $500.00 and stay for the week, ask us- it is possible!