Vacation in Paradise

Well vacation has come and gone already. We had a blast but it definitely feels good to be home again. The time changes have definitely killed me though.  Here are some of the highlights of our trip.

Day one- We arrive in Hawaii around 4:00pm Hawaii time, fight traffic and finally check into our hotel. Our hotel was about 2 blocks away from the beach.  We didn't waste anytime heading to the beach to check things out. Jared and I LOVE to people watch (people are VERY interesting) and headed to the Cheesecake factory for dinner (this would be one of many stops there). Afterwards we walked around the International Marketplace. By this time it was getting late (really late by our utah internal clocks) and we were ready for bed.

This was the view from the balcony of our hotel room, if you walk out and turn right.

The night view.

Day two- We arise at 4:30am (not on purpose but it's 8:30 in Utah) We make a stop at Costco to pick up a few breakfast items for the week and an umbrella for the beach.  We head to the coast to check out Haunama Bay and just wandered and drove around for awhile checking things out.  Thanks to Jared's handy dandy iPhone that he purchased shortly before our trip we were able to navigate the island fairly simple with google maps. It was fabulous and came in very handy. That day we also couldn't miss the Jazz game. 

Day three- We returned to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling. We quickly found out that our vacation was going to be very windy, which normally was okay except for when you wanted to swim then it became a nuisance. The temperature was about 85 the whole time we were there and with the breeze it made it the perfect temperature. When the wind wasn't blowing it was a little toasty, but I'll take the toasty warm over the cold any day.  

Jared and I in front of Haunama Bay

There were a few visitors on the beach checking things out.

Pali overlook. 

I didn't realize that Hawaii was known for eating the most SPAM (YUCK!!!) While we were there they had there annual SMAM JAM.  Only in Hawaii have I seen SPAM as an item on a menu. How about SPAM, eggs and rice for breakfast at McDonalds anyone? 

Day four- We took it easy. Hung out on the Beach a lot and did some shopping. We also had to watch the Jazz game again. 

Day five- We rented boogie boards and hopped beaches trying to find a good one. We didn't have much luck. The waves were either to big (and I was to chicken, seeing that I don't know how to swim) or they weren't big enough. We still had fun playing in the ocean though. It was also Cinco de mayo so we had to hit a Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Someone told us to try Compadres and we were not disappointed. 
Day six- We headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the day.  The package that we bought included a tour guide for the day. It was an enjoyable experience but I think a little over priced. For dinner that night it was a prime rib buffet. It was a good buffet if you were a seafood lover, which Jared and I are not, so I was a little disappointed. 




Day seven- We went to the swamp meet (lots of shopping outdoors). Outback for dinner and watched yet another Jazz game. GO JAZZ!!!

Day eight- We awoke at 6:30 and headed to the other end of the island for a dolphin excursion. It was pretty cool. We got on a boat and headed out into the ocean for about 10 minutes. When we spotted the dolphins we put on our snorkel gear and jumped into the water and swam with the dolphins.  When the dolphins had moved on we jumped back on the boat and traveled to another area where we were supposed to snorkel with sea turtles and fish (the only turtle I saw in the water was the one we almost hit with the boat).  However, we did see a reef shark. That was worth missing the turtles.

Reef shark!

Day nine- Our flight didn't leave until 10:00pm and we had to check out of our hotel at noon so we loaded into our rental car and drove to the north shore. We visited the Dole Plantation and the Hawaii temple. While at he visitors center at the temple the couple serving there told us a place we could go to see se turtles, so of course we had to stop. They also told us where to get the best Shaved ice in Hawaii, so we also had to stop there. I can honestly say that the shaved ice was one of the highlights of the trip (I know pretty sad huh). It was soooo freakin' good. The consistency of this shaved ice was like snow and the flavors were gooooood and to top it off was the ice cream they put at the bottom of it. Good thing you can't find that quality of shaved ice here in Utah or I would be in BIG trouble. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Me at the dole plantation eating a pineapple sorbet. YUMMY

One of the places along the coast that we stopped at, a few guys were fishing. This video doesn't do it justice, but it was beautiful. 

Overall our vacation was fabulous. The much needed break that we both needed and I guess our kids weren't TOO bad while we were gone.