i feel like i'm stating the obvious here, but our trip to hawaii was awesome!
hawaii was not what we had expected.
we pictured it being like any other state, just on an island.
but it certainly has a different feel.
a lot of the time we weren't convinced we were even in america anymore!
i'm sure the fact that we were away from a lot of touristy stuff made it feel less america-y.
we spent all of our time on oahu. we stayed in a condo in makaha, on the west side of the island.
makaha is about an hour drive from the honolulu airport and waikiki.
we had been given lots of suggestions of places to visit on oahu - some from our friend who grew up there, some from our friends who now live there, and some from friends who went to school there.
there is no way we could have done them all! but we enjoyed having so many ideas to choose from. and we loved all the the things we did have time to do.
we spent a lot of our time on the west side of the island, but also we made a couple trips up to the north shore and one down to the south to see waikiki.
my parents visited the east side after we left and they said we missed out..
so i guess we will have to go back :)
my favorite part of the trip was just playing at the beach. easy.
the ocean is so warm and clear over there. it puts the water here in california to shame.
we spent days and days playing the sand, and water, and SUN!
it was my kind of vacation, for sure.
with that being said, we did have a day and a half of rain.
we arrived in the afternoon and it was rainy.
but we still insisted on getting the the beach that night, despite the weather!
matt was really the only one who went swimming.
he tried to peer pressure me into joining him, but it was a little too chilly for me.
thankfully, i was near the water when he dropped his wedding ring in sand though.
he was pretending to toss it to me, and ended up dropping it. [nerd!]
so we both were frantically searching for it before the next wave hit.
and, just in the nic of time, i felt it. and saved the day :)
and that was the last time either of us wore our rings that trip.
it was super annoying to go without mine.
i never take my ring off. so every time i noticed it was gone [which was dozens of times a day!] i would have a little freak out.
we arrived in the afternoon and it was rainy.
but we still insisted on getting the the beach that night, despite the weather!
matt was really the only one who went swimming.
he tried to peer pressure me into joining him, but it was a little too chilly for me.
thankfully, i was near the water when he dropped his wedding ring in sand though.
he was pretending to toss it to me, and ended up dropping it. [nerd!]
so we both were frantically searching for it before the next wave hit.
and, just in the nic of time, i felt it. and saved the day :)
and that was the last time either of us wore our rings that trip.
it was super annoying to go without mine.
i never take my ring off. so every time i noticed it was gone [which was dozens of times a day!] i would have a little freak out.
monday [the first full day we were there] it was overcast and kinda rainy too.
so that was our one day of non-beachy adventures.
we decided to drive up to the north shore.
along the way, we drove past the pineapple fields at the dole plantation where matt discovered that pineapples do not grow on trees. the grow on the ground.
and it was life changing!
[later in our trip we went back to the plantation to learn all sorts of stuff about pineapples].
what i learned on our drive was that oahu is smaller then i imagined.
i knew it wasn't very big. but knowing that we could drive from one side to the other, in such a short period of time, really made that fact sink in.
when we flew into oahu it was cloudy so we didn't get a chance to see much before landing.
but, when we left the island, the skies were all blue and as we got higher in the air we could see the entire island, and the water all around.
it was a crazy thought - to think that we were there on such a tiny plot of land in such an enormous, powerful ocean.
that makes me feel small.
but, i'm getting off track..
[later in our trip we went back to the plantation to learn all sorts of stuff about pineapples].
what i learned on our drive was that oahu is smaller then i imagined.
i knew it wasn't very big. but knowing that we could drive from one side to the other, in such a short period of time, really made that fact sink in.
when we flew into oahu it was cloudy so we didn't get a chance to see much before landing.
but, when we left the island, the skies were all blue and as we got higher in the air we could see the entire island, and the water all around.
it was a crazy thought - to think that we were there on such a tiny plot of land in such an enormous, powerful ocean.
that makes me feel small.
but, i'm getting off track..
the drive along the north shore was fascinating - there were some huge waves.
and some crazy surfers out there riding them!
while up north we visited the laie temple, checked out BYU-H, and made a quick stop at the polynesian cultural center.
we had full intentions of spending more time at the polynesian cultural center but we didn't end up getting there until late-afternoon, and figured it was too late to start.
next time.
on the way back we stopped for lunch at kua aina and for shave ice at matsumotos, in haleiwa.
the shave ice was delicious. chet and holden loved it.
the shave ice was delicious. chet and holden loved it.
the next morning, the sun came out!
so we hurried down to the beach.
we spent the next 2 days bouncing between makaha beach and ko'olina.
ko'olina is where the marriott and disney resorts are. they have 4 lagoons along their beaches that are perfect for kids to swim in.
the waves are small and the water is pretty shallow.
apparently there are no private beaches in hawaii.. so we got to use the snazzy marriott ones without paying to stay there. score!
oh ya, and matt and my dad also squeezed in a golf game some where in there.
they both said they played awful.. but the views were amazing.
so we hurried down to the beach.
we spent the next 2 days bouncing between makaha beach and ko'olina.
ko'olina is where the marriott and disney resorts are. they have 4 lagoons along their beaches that are perfect for kids to swim in.
the waves are small and the water is pretty shallow.
apparently there are no private beaches in hawaii.. so we got to use the snazzy marriott ones without paying to stay there. score!
oh ya, and matt and my dad also squeezed in a golf game some where in there.
they both said they played awful.. but the views were amazing.
we saw two seals on the beach tuesday morning. and we were so sad because we thought they were dying.
we thought 'if we could just push them back into the water...'
and then this seal watcher came overand told us not to disturb the seals because they were resting.
good thing we didn't start trying to roll the beasts back into the water.
haha that would have ended poorly.
