I stopped with the Hawaii commentary when we still had a week left. Here's that week:
Tour Description:
Spend a day on this 120-mile complete circle island tour that truly shows the real Hawaii people come to see.
Expertly narrated, this tour includes a stop at the 1,800-acre historic Waimea Valley. Enjoy its lush gardens, Hawaiian cultural sights and tranquil beauty. A truly unforgettable experience!--HB note: "Enjoy its lush gardens"=hike it's hot and humid rainforest. Just so you know.
This tour stops at the following places:
Diamond Head Slopes
Hanauma Bay
Halona "From Here to Eternity" Beach
Nu'uanu Pali Lookout
Byodo-In Temple **omb, this was so so pretty! (omb=oh my buddha!)
Windward Coast (lunch stop)*at Crouching Lion restaurant named for the rock formation at the top of the mountain behind it*
Waimea Valley - Admission & personalized guided 1.5-mile walking tour included
Dole Plantation
This tour drives through the following places:
Kahala (Beverly Hills in Hawaii)*where Barbara pointed out EVERY SINGLE DECORATIVE GATE! "Dolphin gate coming up on the left followed by a crane gate!"
Rain Forests, Ko'olau Mountains, Pineapple and agriculture fields
The above lists are the "basic minimum" stops and drive-throughs that our tour guides do for this tour. Your tour guide will most likely add more stops depending on his/her narrative and if there are interesting scenes along the way, such as turtles and/or seals. *or Obama's childhood apartment!*
Ok, on with the commentary....after the Circle Tour, we watched the fireworks from our lanai and drank a couple of beers then I think we ate at one of the restaurants at the hotel. ? not sure. Probably because it wasn't great.
April 23- Busy morning! Got the rental car, then some coffee, then went on a Submarine ride! It was really cool AND we saw some turtles! After the submarine, much less expensive and almost as exciting...lunch at Jack in the Box! YAYE JnB! :) Then things sort of went downhill for Stephen. He so sweetly escorted me to the swap meet. This is a flea market that wraps around the Aloha Stadium! It's HUGE and essentially the same crap booth after booth. We didn't stay too long, maybe saw a fourth of it. But it was pretty hot and like I said...same stuff repeated repeatedly. We DID get our Hawaii Christmas ornament there, though, and I do so love it. Following the swap meet, we went by the PX and got some snorkel gear for the following day, and rested/relaxed for a few hours, caught the sunset, and then had dinner at Los Chaparros. YES, mexican food again, what of it?
April 24 - up early and driving to the North Shore for...SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS! So SO COOL! The only downside was that it was a little bit rough and we got jostled around in the steel cage quite a bit. I didn't care, though, it was way awesome to have 8-10 (I want to say 10-12 but I don't want to exaggerate) sharks swimming just feet from me. After the swimming, breakfast at McDonald's, then driving around the North Shore and down the winward side of the island. That's what they call it. It's the east side. I don't know why they don't just say east side. Then we're driving along and I see the shrimp ponds! We had seen them on the Circle Tour (with repeating Barbara) and Stephen remembered which one she said was best so we stopped in. I wasn't hungry but wanted to try it. The man let me buy just 6 shrimp, not 12 and no rice with it. Garlic butter fresh shrimp. mmmmmm! We were looking for a place to snorkel. So we stopped a couple places, and at one (we didn't snorkel there) a big ol turtle had come up on shore! He was so so cute, and the beach patrol people were keeping a rope around him about 5 feet out so that the people couldn't get too close. After we hung out with him a while we moved on, found a beach, tried to snorkel but it was pretty windy and rough so we eventually gave up and headed back to the hotel. We showered and R&R'd a bit before heading out to dinner. We had a reservation! d.k steakhouse to celebrate our 5 year anniversary! It's actually June 24, not April 24, but he won't be home so we made it early. It was delicious!
April 25 - Kualoa Ranch Full Day Adventure Tour! ATV riding, Jungle Expedition and Secret Beach. OK...the ATV was like a parade. We were just going in a single file line and no "off roading" type stuff. A bit disappointing. Jungle Expedition was a little bit cooler, riding in a humvee through the jungle. I wish we'd have been on the ATVs on THAT trail! Then lunch, which was fair, but then the Secret Beach, which I loved! We were carried on a little pond boat to this beach. No one else was there. It was just us (and a couple guides that left us alone for the most part) for an hour and a half then another couple came there for the last hour or so. We kayaked and tried to stand up paddle. Stephen did better than I did, but I got up at least! Then we snorkeled and then I laid in the sun and he snorkeled some more. Then he laid in the sun with me for a little bit and then we walked on the beach and then it was time to leave. Of course then I was spoiled and all other beaches were "too crowded!"
After the Ranch tour, we had Maui Tacos for dinner and some Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream for dessert!
April 26 - 2 hour kayak tour, followed by lunch at Bob's pizza (goood!) and then out snorkeling on our own. We went to beautiful Lanikai beach to snorkel/lay on the beach for a couple hours and then tried to get the water cameras developed. Sadly one had gotten water in it, so they refused to even try as the "salt water would contaminate the chemicals." I'm going to try elsewhere.
Back to the hotel and then I have no idea what was for dinner. Oh wait...maybe this was "big ketchup!" Yes, I think it was. I think we ate at Koko's at the hotel. I had joked with Stephen a couple of times that there must be a shortage of ketchup on the island because he ordered something with fries and they brought like a tablespoon dollop of it to the table. When my burger and fries came to the table, along with it came two small metal cups with dollops of mayonnaise and mustard. Next to the small cups, there was a giant, like a one cup measuring cup FULL OF KETCHUP! We both looked at each other all big-eyed and as soon as the waitress walked away we died laughing. Seriously? Who needs a CUP of ketchup? This was Stephen's favorite part of the vacation. I can't believe we paid for all those tours when all it took was a vat of ketchup!
April 27 - I must really love that man. I hiked up Diamond Head because he wanted to. Oh, I pretended to also be excited about all those steps and uphill trail walking, but ugh. I'm real tired, have something in my eye and a cat asleep on my lap, so I'll write more about Diamond Head and the last couple days tomorrow.
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