Sunday, August 17th: 4 am head to the airport, loooooooooong flight get into Hawaii 2:45pm their time (8:45pm our time). Taxi to Hilton Hawaiian Village. Long line at check in; the hotel was completely booked for the conference. Ali'i Tower room 203 terrace opens up to a private pool just for our building. (there are about 10 towers to the hotel) Our hotel was in Waikiki right on the beach...
Monday, August 18th: The conference begins...Paul had to rush around and get registered for the conference. The Conference center was a 10 minute walk from the hotel and they had bus shuttles running from the hotel to the conference all day.
Kaeli got to relax by the pool and read her book. Poor Paul.
Tuesday, August 19th: Paul's presentation was in the afternoon session, he spent most of his morning rehearsing and putting the final touches on his slides. I went to watch his presentation...he is a very good public speaker and his presentation went well. That night we went to the luau at the Hale Koa Hotel...pig roast and a show...the batteries on my camera died so this is the only picture I got and it isn't very good. The performers are removing the pig from the pit.
Wednesday, August 20th: More conference for Paul and more laying out for Kaeli. That night we ate at Beni Hana's which was on the hotel property. The hotel had an entire shopping center and lots of restaurants to choose from, in addition to the menagerie of animals and pools everywhere.
Thursday, August 21st: The last day of the conference, Kaeli is a nice golden brown. =) That night we ate at Sergio's, an Italian restaurant on the property.
Friday, August 22nd: We checked out of the hotel and left our luggage with one of Paul's co-worker's and headed to Pearl Harbor. We took the very efficient bus over to Pearl City and saw the U.S.S. Bowfin Submarine, the U.S.S. Battleship Missouri, and of course the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. We then hopped back on the bus and took it over the mountains (or rather through because there is a tunnel) to the northwest part of the island (where LOST, Jurassic Park, Hawaii 5-0 were filmed) to Malaekahana State Park & Campground. We set up camp and hit the hay after a long day.
Saturday, August 23rd: We took the bus back into town. Bought some supplies and Paul some water shoes (his were destroyed in Mexico) and went on a hike to Manoa Falls.
Sunday, August 24th: We got up early and went to the infamous North Shore...snorkeling at Turtle Bay, then more at Shark's Cove (near the Bonzai pipeline), then to Waimea Valley, and then to Haleiwa for a special Hawaiian Treat...we watched the sunset and then headed home for a nice fire.
Monday, August 25th: Up early again to climb Diamond Head and then to Hanauma Bay for some amazing snorkeling...we saw sea turtles, convict tangs, blue and yellow tangs, orange spine surgeons, lots of butterfly fish, a coronet fish (looks like a pencil), a christmass wrasse, and parrotfish (you can hear them eating the coral underwater) and others... then it was back to the campsite.
Tuesday, August 26th: Today we decided to get a rental car; we slept in then took the bus to the airport, picked up our car and were off to the Dole plantation. The Dole plantation is located in the center of the island, in a valley between the two mountain ranges that form Oahu. We took a garden tour and learned about the various plants native to Hawaii and what they are used for, and learned how to plant a pineapple and care for it...we also learned how to pick a good pineapple from the store...we then took the Pineapple express train out into the pineapple fields and learned about the history of the plantation...we got to try fresh bananas and pineapple, we even had pineapple soft serve! We bought a pineapple to bring home with us and then headed to Waikiki Beach for dinner. We walked the strip a little and got our picture taken with "the Duke" and went to Cheeseburger in Paradise and had a yummy cheeseburger. Then we went to pick up our luggage from Paul's friend and headed up to Tantalus Drive. Tantalus Drive is wedged into the side of a mountain and overlooks Diamond Head, Waikiki and Honolulu...it is supposed to be the best view on the island, but I don't know how you could choose it was all so beautiful. At any rate it was very romantic and I've never seen so many stars in all my life!
Wednesday, August 27th: Today was our last day on the island and we were gonna make it count. We got up early and packed up the campsite and then headed to McD's for breakfast. Yes, not only were there chickens all over the campsite and the island...there was a chicken in McDonald's as well. After breakfast, we drove along the coastline to the Byodo-In Temple, a replica of a 900 yr-old temple in Japan. From hear we headed to the East Coast Cliffs and Makapu'u Point. We climbed Makapu'u and saw the lighthouse and could see rabbit island, Bellows Air Force Base, and the next island in the chain- Molokai from the top. From here we climbed down onto the Volcanic Beach and tried not to get blown off into the water and crushed between the rocks and waves. Next we went to the overlook near Hanauma Bay and climbed down to the Blow Hole...here our water shoes came in very handy. After these adventures we headed back to Waikiki to do our souvenir shopping and then to the airport, to return the rental car and fly home...Hawaii was a great experience and we would definitely go back, the people were amazingly friendly and we had a great time, we were there for 10 days and still didn't see everything there was to see...we'd like to go back during the rainy season and see the Sacred Falls, Maniwali Falls, Waimea Falls, to take a horseback ride up the mountains, and to go back to the north shore and see the waves...and of course more snorkeling...and we'd like to go to Kona and see the Volcano...so we will be goin' back someday <3
THE BLOW HOLE
