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!