Maui

The last three days of our Hawaii adventure were spent on Maui.  What a different feel this island has than Oahu.

After our plane landed Tuesday night and we picked up our rental car, we had dinner at an amazing place called Poi By the Pound.

 Wednesday was a beach day.  Gil did some snorkeling and saw all sorts of fun sea creatures.  His underwater camera was having trouble so he didn't get too many photos.  We explored some of the coast and other beaches and had a lovely day.

Thursday we went up to Haleakala National Park.  What a beautiful place!

The highest point is 10,023 ft!  Crazy!  We could see the big island of Hawaii from the observations station, but no spewing lava or hazardous gases.  Still, the views were amazing.

 We took the Keonehe'ehe'e trail a little ways down into the crater.  The colors were spectacular.

 We hauled ourselves out of the crater and dropped down in elevation to try another trail.  The fog was pretty thick and we were quite wet rather quickly.

 The fog was so thick it seemed like we had reached the edge of the world!

 Thursday's sunset.

 Friday we decided to try the Road the Hana, with the hopes of seeing a black sand beach.  What a crazy, busy, narrow, windy road.  There are quite a few places where it is one lane.  There were a lot of beautiful views on both sides of the road: waterfalls on one side and coastline on the other.

 (notice the eyes are not as puffy... feeling much, much better... the day we leave...)

 Hooray!!  One of my friends who visited Hawaii told me about these rainbow eucalyptus trees.  As the bark peels off, there are these wonderful rainbow colors revealed.  I was thrilled I got to see some myself.

 Having some Hawaiian shaved ice.  Gil got pineapple and mango and I got POG (passion fruit, orange, guava).  Delicious.  

We realized the road we were on did not go all the way around and we needed to head back the way we came.  Eek!  No time to see our black sand beach.  We worried about having enough time to make our flight.  We made it back to Kahului and had one last delicious meal before turning in our car and heading to the airport.  

We got home early Saturday morning and we are both still floating from this wonderful trip.  We are so thankful to Uncle Randy and Aunt Ann for opening their home to us and letting us stay with them while we were on Oahu.  We both feel so blessed to have the means to be able to experience this beautiful part of the world.

Wrapping up on Oahu

Monday we started the day at the Hukilau Beach.  My mother spent time on Oahu when my grandfather was stationed at Pearl Harbor and I remember when I was a child she would put on her Hawaiian records and dance in the living room.  One of the songs included Hukilau and it was exciting to see a beach with a name that brought back those memories from childhood.

 Next we went to the Malaekahana State Recreation Area and at low tide made our way through the choppy surf to Goat Island.  I held onto Gil rather tightly as we were making our way over.  It was pretty cool to have the entire island all to ourselves.  

Lunch was from a food truck.  It took forever to get our food but it was really good.  Two big heaping plates of fresh shrimp smothered in garlic and lemon.  Yum! 

 Monday night we went back to the shops and kiosks at the Polynesian Cultural Center for a pearl.  Darrin's wife Luz manages a kiosk where you can choose your own oyster and then open it up to see if there is a pearl inside.  Gil chose the oyster and there was a beautiful peal inside.  It was a fun experience.

 Gil and I with Luz.

 Tuesday we had a lazy morning as I was still not feeling 100%.  Late morning we started to make our way back to Honolulu, taking the route through the central part of the island.  We stopped at the Dole Plantation and took the train ride out to the fields.  They raise a lot more than just pineapple here.  It's quite the operation.

 Very cute little pineapple.

We returned the Jeep and boarded a plane to Maui.

Waimea Valley

Saturday, Uncle Randy and Aunt Ann (Randy is Gil's mom's brother) took us up to Waimea Valley.  It was a lovely hike with tons of trees and beautiful flowers.

 I loved this one!  Green with white polka dots on one side and bright red on the other.

 At the top of the valley is a lovely waterfall and pool where visitors may swim.  Gil got in and took a turn around the pool.

 There is a nice, big green lawn in the park and there was a gathering of quite a few people.  The performer was singing Jack Johnson songs... and turned out to be Jack Johnson himself!!  What?!  So cool!

 We had lunch at a wonderful little place called Ted's.  We drove up to an overlook and were able to see Waimea Bay, which is close to where the Banzai Pipeline big waves are during the winter.

I was feeling really crummy by this time and I went back to the house and rested for the rest of the afternoon and evening while Gil explored nearby.  

We went to church with the Allreds on Sunday, had wonderful visits in the afternoon, I got plenty of rest, and then another one of Gil's cousins who lives on the island came over for dinner with his two children.  His wife, Luz, had a meeting and didn't make it for dinner.  Darrin's dad was Rex, another one of Gil's mom's brothers.  Jared and Kayla, Darrin, the two non-Allreds, and Aunt Ann.

Aunt Ann is a puzzle lover and we put a puzzle together that evening.  My favorite!

Polynesian Cultural Center

Friday morning we went to the temple in Laie.  It was beautiful.

The afternoon was dedicated to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  What a fantastic place!

 We visited the village of Aotearoa (New Zealand), enjoyed their presentation, especially the haka,

 and Gil tried his hand at the poi balls.

 We visited Fiji and found them to be a very fearsome culture.

 (...disregard the puffy eyes...)

 There was a lovely parade of canoes with a different island culture on each canoe.  The colors and the dance were lovely.  

 Next, we visited Hawaii and Gil jumped right into the hula instruction.

 We attended an evening luau for dinner.  The food and entertainment were excellent.

I think my favorite presentation was Samoa.  There was a coconut demonstration, one of the presenters scampered up a coconut tree, and there was a fire dancing demonstration.  Awesome.

The evening concluded with the show "Ha: Breath of Life".  It included traditional dance from all the islands and ended with a spectacular fire dancing show.  

Another fantastic day.

O'ahu

Oh my!  We actually went to Hawaii!  We'd been thinking we needed a honeymoon and decided to go where neither of us had been before.  Plus, Gil has family on Oahu, so that was a bit of a pull.

We flew from Sacramento to Los Angeles.  We had a long lay-over and wandered through the airport.  That place is massive.  We ended up eating the lunch we brought in the international lounge area.  Watching the arrivals and departures screens for some far-flung parts of the world may have made our Hawaii trip seem rather duel by comparison, but once we were on the plane... I was too excited to sleep or focus on my book.

We landed in Honolulu and spent the night at an airbnb in what I felt was a rather seedy neighborhood but our rental's tires didn't get slashed.  Our first adventure was to Pearl Harbor and WW II Valor in the Pacific.  It was a very moving experience to read and listen to events leading up to Dec. 7, 1941.

 There is maintenance being performed on the landing platform so we weren't able to dock and actually walk onto the memorial but it was moving just the same. (You'll notice my puffy eyes in non-sunglasses pictures; I was rather ill for most of the trip but managed to enjoy myself as best I could.)

 Pearl Harbor is lovely.

 Next we were off to Waikiki for some beach time.  The sand was course and didn't stick too bad, the water was the perfect temperature, there was no seaweed (my nemesis), and the water clear enough to see to the bottom.  The water and weather could not have been more perfect.  We decided the Waikiki scene is not for us with the crowds of tourists and commercialization of the area.  Beautiful just the same.

 Next, we hiked to the top of Diamond Head.  It was fun looking down into the crater and there were some excellent views of the coastline and Honolulu.

 Finally, we headed up the eastern shore towards the northern side of the island and Laie.  It was a beautiful drive.

And what were we driving... the desk agent at the rental place offered us a free upgrade to a Chevy Camaro.  Not wanting something to big and low and muscle-y, I asked if there was something a bit more conservative and small.  Our only other option was a two door Jeep Wrangler.  We took the Jeep.  It was a fun little outfit to drive around the island.

We arrived safety at Uncle Randy and Aunt Ann's home.  It was wonderful seeing them.