Oahu, Hawaii 2021

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always dreamed of going to Hawaii. From the palm trees to the tropical breezes, Hawaii always seemed like an exotic and ideal destination. Moving to California, I learned that Hawaii is a popular destination and my students were shocked that I had never been :D We scored some cheap airline tickets during the pandemic, and off we went! 

Monday: 

We left Monday morning from SFO to HNL. We were so grateful that we had taken care of all our COVID testing/pre-clearance prior to landing in HNL because the line was insane! We quickly met up with Ryan & Charlene, retrieved our bags, found the rental car, and we were off to find some food! 

We first ate at Joe's Grill, a hole in the wall close to the airport that serves traditional Hawaiin fare, such as chicken katsu and loco moco. The katsu was delicious--SO much better than the one served at our local J & J's. We ate our wares at a local park looking out over the ocean. We then went to Costco to check out the local produce (and prices) and didn't notice anything too different (cough, cough b/c CA prices are already so high). We then sat in the car and got our tickets to Pearl Harbor, which sold out within the minute. We drove down Waikiki and checked into our Air BnB. After unpacking/settling in, we headed to the Ala Moana Center, where we bought some yummy Macadamia nuts at Target, got Nick a Hawaiian shirt at none other than Old Navy, and got poke/spam masubi at the local grocery store. We ate on Waikiki Beach as the sun set, and got splashed out on the pier. We also wandered into the 7 or so ABC stores :D 

Tuesday:

We were up bright and early Tuesday morning, but still not early enough to find a parking spot at Diamond Head. We arrived at 6:30 a.m. and even though they had only opened at 6:00 a.m., the parking lot was totally full. We thankfully found a spot in a neighborhood not to far, and walked up. The Diamond Head hike itself was moderate, and we booked our way up to amazing views of the island and surrounding ocean. 

After we finished on Diamond Head, we played typical tourists and stopped for the shaved ice/Dole whip that they had at the bottom. I am so glad that we did because the Dole Whip was delicious and it was the only one I had the whole trip haha 

Also like total crazy people, we decided to hike Koko Crater after Diamond Head. The over 1,000 "stairs" (which were actually uneven wood planks spread far apart that necessitated lunging, not stepping, over wide gaps where you could have fallen to your doom down the mountain) kicked our butts :D In the end, we all made it to the top for some killer views, some super cool WWII history, and fire ants that bit us and hurt like crazy. 

We had a short amount of time in between our crazy hiking morning to get cleaned up and ready for Pearl Harbor. As a former history teacher who taught about Pearl Harbor, the experience was highly underwhelming. We visited the USS Arizona, looked through the exhibits, and were ready to get some food! We stuffed ourselves with Itchy Butt Korea fried chicken afterwards, went to the beach, walked around Waikiki, and then ate the most delicious dinner at Momosan's Raman, which was just as good as it was cracked up to be. 

Wednesday: 

We were up bright and early again to snorkel in Shark's Cove. It was extremely rocky, but we saw lots of fish swimming around. 

We then got to Giovanni's Shrimp truck and were first in line for the famous garlic shrimp.  

We then had the best time at the Wimea Valley and Botanical Gardens. We so enjoyed walking around a natural, undisturbed Hawaii, and seeing the natural flora and fauna. At the end of the garden, we had a blast swimming in the waterfall. 

The boys then did some boogie boarding on the craziest beach where the waves rolled all the way up onto shore. 

Thursday: 

For the first time on the whole vacation, we slept in Thursday morning--hallelujah! We had a slow start before we headed to the Byodo-In temple, a UNESCO world heritage site that mirrors a temple found in Japan. Other than getting eaten alive by mosquitos, the temple was beautiful and we had a great time ringing the bell for blessings of happiness and a long life. 

We then did some hopping around to the LDS Laie temple, the BYU Hawaii campus, and then the Polynesian Cultural Center. 

After doing the canoe tour of the PCC and visiting some of the islands, we went to our luau dinner, where we got our leis, delicious piña colada smoothies, and watched the pig come out of the imu. We then ate a delicious, traditional Hawaiian buffet as we watched a fabulous show honoring the last queen of Hawaii, Queen Lili'uokalani. We then watched the Breath of Life show, with the most amazing fire display at the end. We got home late, but so happy! 

Friday: 

We started off the morning with a hike up the Lanikai Pillbox, and came down to a parking ticket :D 

We ate the famous Leondard's malasadas, which we thought were highly overrated and were far surpassed by Zippy's, but were not disappointed with the Waiola shaved ice. We also ate round two of Fresh Catch, which was absolutely delicious. 

We then had a blast boogie boarding and soaking up some time in the ocean before we headed back to the Air BnB so that I could get ready for my red eye flight to Denver. 

Oahu, Mahalo for the Aloha, Ohana, and amazing good times. Hawaii, we will be back! 

Chasing Views of the Golden Gate Bridge

 Before knowing that we were going to be moving to the Bay Area, San Fransisco was always near the top of my travel wish list. Since moving here, we have traveled North a few times to do all of the fun things that SF has to offer. And then COVID hit and we just hadn't been going up as much. With Nick on Spring Break, I made a push for us to head up. So, after some research (thank you, Pinterest) we headed North for a fun day chasing views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Most of our day was spent at the Presidio. Founded in 1787 as a Spanish military fort, the site eventually became the center of defense for the Bay Area during the Gold Rush. Battlements were created, cannons mounted, and a Civil War era fort, Fort Point, still stands for people to tour (unfortunately currently closed due to COVID). The Presidio is now a fantastic place to take in views of the Golden Gate at the various Battery sites. 

We started off the day with a bit of a different view at Lover's Lane, an art installation in the Presidio meant to represent peace and calm.

Then we went chasing views of the Golden Gate Bridge. We started at Battery East, and from there, walked to the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center and then across the bridge itself. We couldn't have asked for a clearer day across the Bay or a better place to eat lunch! 

We then headed down to Baker Beach, where the wind was blowing hard and the water was freezing. No sightings of any nudist beach-goers on that chilly day :D While there, we saw Battery Chamberlin, a cannon that was manned 24-7 during WWII due to possible Japanese attack and is still functional today. They still do demonstrations (and this history buff was VERY sad to see graffiti on this piece of history!) 

Lastly, we visited Land's End (no, not the brand) and walked the trail along the ocean to the Land's End Labyrinth. It was incredibly windy and we were so grateful our tripod didn't fall over :D 

After that, we headed back home so that Nick could do some research work. Such a fun day and can't wait to explore more of SF!

Yosemite National Park Day 3

 Our last "day" in the park was really just the morning. We were still pretty darn tired and very sore after our 6 mile hike the day before, so we wanted to take it easy that morning and then drive home. After getting all packed up and checking out of the hotel, we drove back into the valley to hike to Mirror Lake. There were two options to get to the lake: 1) to take part of the Valley Loop trail that can take you all the way around (which we didn't want to do) or 2) walk the paved service road directly to the lake. Nick really wanted to take the trail, I wanted to take the paved service road. Nick felt confident that there was a way to cut across the lake and make it to the other side to connect with the paved service road. So we set off.

The trail was very nice--a combination of woodsy feel meets the grandeur of the Yosemite valley. After we were about 3/4 of the way down the trail, we realized that there was not going to be a way to get across the lake. Other people were realizing the same thing that we were, and we saw a few brave souls contemplate rock hopping or crawling across a log, only to be deterred by an imminent plunge into the freezing cold water. 

We made it a beautiful view of the lake, reflecting the splendor of Half Dome and El Capitan. We set up our tripod to take pictures (we are sure loving our tripod!) 

Nick felt bad about being wrong that there wasn't a way across, and he valiantly looked for one. After realizing rock hopping and log crawling weren't going to be options, he decided that we could take our shoes off and walk across. He thought that even though the water was freezing, we would feel the pins and needles, make it across and be fine. Nick gallantly volunteered to cross first, and made it about a quarter of the way before running back. He said that he couldn't even feel the pins and needles, his feet were just totally numb. We were laughing hysterically about it, and I was grateful that I hadn't had to join him in finding out this information :D

We just took the regular old trail back and it was time to head home. Thank you Yosemite National Park for all of your natural splendor, grandeur, and awe-inspiring views. We had the best time!