Monday, July 4, 2011

Hawaii

Aloha!  Happy 4th of July!  Did anyone miss me while I was gone?  I took a break and went on vacation to Hawaii with my family (the Florida fam).  I just got back on Friday and I am still reeling with jet lag.  Hawaii is a six hour time difference and it was a little hard acclimating when we got there but 10 times as bad now that we are home.

The thought of me actually writing a blog post about crafting today makes me want to go back to sleep, so instead, I will share just a few photos (these are only eight pics of literally a thousand we took) so you can see what I've been up to.

First we flew into Honolulu, Ohau.  What a busy city!  For an island state, I did not think it would be so bustling! 

Waikiki Beach from Diamond Head

On Ohau, we stayed on Waikiki Beach; during the days we explored the island by car and in the evenings by foot.  We went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation and got lost in the world's largest hedge maze.  We ate so much pineapple...even pineapple ice cream.  We also hiked Diamond Head State Monument, which is where the above and below pics were taken from.  We visited Pearl Harbor, Aloha Stadium Flea Market, Hanauma Bay nature preserve, hiked Manoa Falls, went on a dinner cruise, and got plenty of Hawaiian sunshine on the beaches.

View from Diamond Head

As I mentioned above, we went to Hanauma Bay nature preserve where we snorkeled.  It was awesome!

Hanauma Bay reefs

The gray colored parts in the water are reefs that are only about 2-3 feet below the water level, so snorkeling was so cool.  We saw the state fish which is named Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.  Yup try saying that three times fast!  It is also called the Picaso trigger fish.  They are protected so forget putting this in your fish tank.  But they are all over when you go snorkeling.

Humu

We walked to dinner each night and popped into some of the fun stores that lined the coastal streets.  One was Teddy Bear World and it was so fun!  Who wouldn't love bears that are just as tall as yourself?

Hula Teddies, anyone?

The next island we visited was Kaua'i.  This is a much more relaxed island.  There is no need to rush on this island because there is only one major road that goes around the coast of the island and it doesn't even do a compete circle.  Only about 80% of the island's circumference is accessible by the main road.  The rest is mountainous so I guess it is too treacherous for the average car.  Some roads are not even allowed to be driven on by the rental car companies.  Off-roading with the rental car was out of the question, then!

Puddle jumper

Above is the plane we took to get to Kaua'i.  A bit unnerving, but it turned out fine.  On Kaua'i, we were just as busy.  We did more snorkeling on Ke'e Beach and Anini Beach, visited a botanical garden, hiked Nounou Mountain Trail (aka Sleeping Giant) and Waimea Canyon State Park.  We did a few side stops into the Kaua'i Coffee Company, Hanapepe Swinging Bridge and had dinner at more local restaurants / cafes.  The big thing we did on the island was a luau.  Very entertaining!

I am not really a hiker, but we brought our sneakers and went anyway.  For the most part, they were easy trails, only about one to one and a half miles round trip.  The one that kicked our butts was the trail at Waimea Canyon.  There were a few different trails in the canyon, so we chose the five mile loop.  Holy Moly!  First, some background on this canyon.  They call it the Grand Canyon of Hawaii.  It is a canyon, so we drove to about 2500 ft elevation and then hiked down to the water.  Going down took us about two hours, but coming back up, it took two and a half hours!  We were completely exhausted!  There were several areas where it didn't even seem like we were on a trail, but we found water and thought, "This is it?  A stream?  Where are the waterfalls?"  No waterfalls on this hike...but we did see wild goats.  Very funny when you are in the woods and you hear the "maah" of goats.

I have to say that I ate a lot on this trip.  There was so much good food!

Stuffing my face!

Another thing that was so funny is that there were wild roosters everywhere!  They are on the side of the road, in the woods, and even on the beach.  Crazy!  The Hawaiians blame the Filipinos for the roosters but the Portuguese for the goats.  Ha, glad we could help!

On our last day in Hawaii, we relaxed by the beach at the hotel, but we also figured that we had gotten enough sun, so we just chilled under a tree.  Very relaxing.

Last day in Paradise

Even though I did a lot of eating, we did do plenty of exercise on this trip, in addition to reading and knitting.  I had brought a knit project on the plane with me (no, not the glace shrug - more on that another day) and did not pull it out again until the last day.  Next week you will see what I worked on.

I would like to end with a little lesson in Hawaiian:

Aloha: Hello and Goodbye
Mahalo: Thank you
Hoaloha: Friend
Ohana: Family
Pupu: Appetizer; small snack (seen on every menu)
Wahine: Woman; lady (seen on every bathroom)
Kane: Man (again, seen on every bathroom)

Aloha, hoaloha!  Mahalo for reading!

No comments: