Hawaiian vacation

Finally getting the chance to blog about the last of our trip.

Sunday was the hubby’s birthday, and we left Maui in the afternoon. By the time we got to our hotel (the right hotel- there was a mixup with the shuttle service…), it was almost sunset. We stayed right on Waikiki Beach, which is eons different than our Maui experience! It’s definitely beautiful, but more like a college spring break party. We hit the end of a happy hour nearby and watched the sunset and sipped birthday drinks.

We spent the rest of the day and night strolling the Waikiki Beach Walk, sipping fruity drinks, seeking out the most delicious-looking dessert to qualify as Jonathan’s late-night birthday cake, and sitting in the sand.

The next day we got up early and picked up a convertible (we weren’t going to rent a car but changed our mind when we saw how long all the tours were). We headed to Pearl Harbor first. I work for a defense contract and know lots of fine military folks and have family in the military. It’s impossible not to think of them and really appreciate what they’ve done for our country, when you visit Pearl Harbor.

After that we drove the North Shore and watched surfers, spent time on various beaches, found enormous slices of pizza for lunch, and drank the milk out of coconuts from a roadside stand. Yum!

Our final day in Hawaii was so fun, but so sad – it was going to be so hard to leave! We mainly spent beach time all day. I was determined to bring home a bit of a tan and we wanted to soak up all the sunshine we could before coming to back to dreary Utah. Jonathan did more snorkeling and I napped in the sun. We had some shave ice (yum!) and walked around picking up the last of the souveniers we wanted to bring back for family and friends.

So sad to leave, but hopefully we will go back one day! What an amazing place! Thanks for reading about our vacation. (: By the way – lots more photos here.