Brent and I took a week long spontaneous trip down to the Hawaiian Island of Oahu a few weeks ago. It was very spur of the moment. Brent had been saving up his frequent flyer miles for at least 10 years for a special trip. We were hoping to use them to fly down to Chile where my family is from, but it didn't look like that would be happening anytime soon. He then checked Hawaii for airline tickets when several openings popped up...they were changing by the minute..ahh!!!! Hotel? My dad works for a hotel chain and since I'm his wonderful daughter, I get his discount. It just so happened that they had rooms available for a very very discounted rate. Yes! Airline tickets=check Hotel=check....Oh...now we need to see if Grandma Smith is available for a week to watch her favorite grandkids. Brent called grandma and she said she'd be available!!! Yes! The kids were happy to have Grandma to themselves...
We flew Grandma down from the frigid state of Utah, to the warm 70 degree deserts of Arizona on Friday night and Brent and I were off to Hawaii Sunday morning.
Hawaii is amazingly beautiful but it's super EXPEN$IVE...We paid over $5 for a 1/2 gallon of milk. Yikes! Brent ordered an Entertainment book with tons of coupons for Hawaii. That little book saved us a good chunk of change for our car rental, dining, Polynesian cultural center, and catamaran whale excursion. It's so worth the $25. When we went to Enterprise, we got upgraded to a sweet VW full-sized vehicle. No tiny compacts were available. Yes! The thought of driving a compact car irritated me, because I wasn't accustomed to driving something soo small. I know. I know. I'm a snob....
We stayed in the resort town of Ko'Olina .... The hotel was absolutely beautiful and the grounds were breathtaking. The hotel had man-made lagoons that you could snorkel in. Brent saw a sea turtle, octopus, and tons of multicolored fish. The hotel had 3 or 4 pools. The coolest pool had a waterslide with waterfalls. Some of the waterfalls emptied into several hot tubs...Soo cool or hot??!!! One night while we were in one of the waterfall hot tubs, a couple little japanese kids hopped into our area. They stayed there for a bit, then left. I was hoping they weren't relieving themselves. I must admit that our swimwear had a bit of a funk...Yikes! But luckily...we're from Arizona and we have tons of extra swimwear. : ) hahaha
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| Our hotel area Ko'Olina |
While Brent snorkeled (I joined him sometimes) I sunbathed... I am such a beach bum. Growing up in California with the beaches within 30 minutes of home. I practically lived at the beach. Oh...going to Hawaii was like going to heaven. I sure hope there are beaches in heaven!
We took a drive up north to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Hawaii LDS temple. At the PCC, Brent and I did do some dancing. Yup! We're mormons...and we CAN dance. Brent has some groove and I have the video to prove it! He filmed me too... But I won't post them....It's a hidden talent. ;-) The luau at PCC was pretty cool, but the presentation afterwards was awesome. If you're ever in island of Oahu...You HAVE to attend the PCC! It's soo worth the money!
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| Anna at Hawaii Temple |
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| Brent at Hawaii Temple |
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| Parade of dancers...soo cool! |
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| casa de Anna |
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| Brent...there's supposed to be a pig underneath the leaves |
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| Just the two of us |
Check out the Dole plantation! The grounds are great for taking pictures with all the foliage. The pineapple ice cream with chopped pineapples is divine. We had to get a our fix of this delicousness a few times. Yummm...Having fresh ripe pineapple is heavenly.... Oh did I mention that I
almost got a "local discount"??? Why you might ask? Well...in humid weather my hair turns curly, wavy, and out of control. No matter how much product I put on it. :'( So...throughout the whole trip, it was mousse and go... awesome!
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| bubblegum tree |
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| yeah...this is where pineapples grow! |
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| Brent sees the bananas |
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| Brent was trying to grab the bananas, since bananas at the store are $1.60/#....I'm just kidding...he's not going to take them...hahah |
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| My little green friend posing for me...I'm just used to seeing the brown ones here in the desert |
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| aren't these trees soo cool looking? |
We later took a 2 1/2 hour catamaran tour to see the dolphins and whales. Our coupon was buy 1 get one free. So it was $80 for the two of us. We figured we'd probably never see anything like it again, so why not splurge just a little...soo worth it! On top of seeing the whales and dolphins, we saw flying fish. Yup! They really do fly...so cool. I lost my favorite B&B lip gloss, but I think that's why the dolphin came so close to the boat. I guess it should have un-chapped lips for a while. _wink wink_
Brent wanted to visit the Arizona in Pearl Harbor....So we woke up bright and early and headed down to see it. It was so sad to see how many men, women, and children died. I overheard this comment made while we were in the memorial: " This was such a terrible attack on our country...I hope people never forget what happened on September 11 too"
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| Oil still leaking out of the Arizona after all these years |
Hanauma Bay was our final stop. Everyone kept saying it was a "must see" place. I soo have to agree. The only downside is the hike down and up the steep hill can be a little much...especially if you have a sunburn. :( Pay the $3 for a roundtrip bus ride up...that's all I have to say about that.....
Most of the people stayed between the reef and beach, which was okay snorkeling, but if went between the reef and ocean the snorkeling was a million times better. I felt like I was swimming in an aquarium...spectacular!
Here are just a few pictures of our last night in Ko'Olina..
Overall....This trip was a much needed break for the two of us. Our marriage was definitely strengthened. I'm so blessed to have married my best friend, my eternal companion Brent....
Mahalo!
