Hawaii-Day 4-Kahana, Maui!

Well, we arrived on Maui around lunchtime. We couldn't check into our condo until 3:00, so we spent the next three hours fixed on food. First, we went to Costco, right outside the airport. We will be spending nine nights in condos here on Maui, so we needed to get some things to ease the cost of feeding our faces. -) After that, we ate lunch and then continued on to the town of Kahana. Five minutes before arriving, we spent more food money at Safeway. It had to be done. I'm sure it will save us quite a bit making our own meals, although we're finding that the prices over here really aren't that much different than any restaurants at home! We've been surprised, really. We thought they'd be a lot more expensive. Yay!

Our condo here in Kahana is beautiful. We are beach front with a wrap-around lanai (balcony) since our unit is on the corner. We're already a lot more relaxed here having a condo to spread out and make ourselves at home...and I'm in heaven being able to sit out on our Lanai working on our pictures of the day! Here, I'm working...(really,it isn't work at all) on pictures before the sun sets.


After we got settled in, we went down to get our feet wet. Oh, the water is so nice and warm! Just like pool water. And while we were walking, we got a special treat and got to watch three manta rays playing just feet from the shore. I think they liked all the attention that they were creating.





I think we could get used to this every night!

Our Last Night in Honolulu, Oahu

After driving around the island, Lamar and I walked down to Waikiki Beach, a short few blocks away from our hotel. There was no shade, so we opted to just sit under the shade of the Banyan trees in the picnic area right off the beach. There were a lot more people on the beach this time, being the weekend. But,we found that most people were already on their way out while we were just arriving.

After that, we went back to the hotel room and ate our dinner only to go back out again to see our last sunset on Oahu.



Afterwards, we walked somemore to enjoy the night lights of the city. It is really is a pretty city both in the daylight and after dark.

Hawaii-Day 3-Oahu Drive

We decided that our third and last full day here on Oahu would be better spent driving around to some other part the island. So, that's what we did. We drove west out of the big city and headed north through the center of the island. Our original plan was to go directly to the North Shore and stop at different beaches along the way back using the same road. But, we found out that making the loop around the whole island really doesn't take that long. So, we did that instead. Before we reached the North Shore, we stopped at the Dole Pinapple Plantation. We were planning on staying just a little while just to check things out, but we weren't even allowed on the grounds because they weren't open yet. So, I just took a quick picture of the front and we were on our way. Too bad, because they really had some pretty grounds that would have been fun to explore.


There were many small beaches along the way and they all had their own personality.



Most of the beaches we passed, we just stayed briefly, but we did stay at the Bonzai Pipeline which is where a lot of the surfers go. The waves were actually pretty tame today, but it was fun watching these men and women of all ages in and out of the water.



Once we left the North Shore, we not only saw the beautiful mountains of Oahu, but we also saw lots of...bicyclists on a major race. NOT a good thing.
The highway along the coastline is narrow and windy,alot of it without much of a shoulder for them to get out of the road. So,it ended up being a frustrating drive instead of the leisurely one that we had hoped for. Because they were making it so hard to get in and out of side roads, we decided not to go to some of the places we would have gone otherwise. Stupid race!


After driving back to the hotel, we took a little break and then went again to Waikiki Beach. I'll post more on that tomorrow. Good Night!

Hawaii-Day 2 Hanauma Bay

Need I say more?!

Hawaii Day 2-Pearl Harbor

Today, we visited Pearl Harbor. Hearing and seeing more details of this historical event was pretty sobering. Just one more reason to remember and appreciate the service of our military!

Hawaii-We're Here!

We're here! We left PDX at 10:15, arrived on Maui five hours later. Then, we caught our connecting flight to Honolulu an hour after that. Seeing the beautiful waters of Hawaii from the air for the first time was a thrill. Although, it was cloudy and gray when we arrived, it was beautifully warm and the skies did brighten up a bit before long. We got our rental car and drove to our hotel in Waikiki. It definitely is the big city around here. This place is hoppin'! It took us almost an hour in traffic just to go about seven miles. Looking forward to seeing some countryside, even though it's always fun people watching too.


We got situated in our hotel, and both decided that we were starving, so we headed out the door and found, of all things, Planet Hollywood. Hey, we were hungry and it was close by! We'll do the more traditional food...maybe tomorrow!


After dinner, we walked another block to....the beach of Waikiki! Woohoo! The sand is very tannish-brown. Not like our gray-brown that we have on our Oregon beaches. Very pretty. A little coarser than ours too. Not soft at all.


We ended our long day watching our first sunset on the island of Oahu. Walking back to the hotel, we discovered a Cheesecake Factory and guess what they had?! A 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cheesecake! It was just meant to be! Sorry, I'm too tired to download the picture that I just took of the cheesecake. You'll just have to use your imagination!



Aloha for today!

Packing

Packing for a trip is always exciting to me. It's just one of those last things that you've got to do leading up to the big day that makes it more real. Because we've been planning our trip to Hawaii for so long, it seems wierd that it's actually only three days before we leave. Since this is a longer-than-usual trip for us and because of where we are going, we're packing differently. In the last week, I think we've made four trips to the store just trying to think of all we need to pack. And, as usual, we probably won't need half of what we think we will need...but that's OK. We can always bring it all back with us.