The Island of Oahu was surreal. It is amazing how the real die hard surfers are hitting the waves before the crack of dawn. The waves are unbelievably high, the weather is warm and the water temperature is perfect. We stayed just a few blocks down from Waikiki Beach. Waikiki Beach is certainly not a quiet beach and nor is the City of Honolulu. Honolulu gives me the Los Angeles vibe.
We spent our time soaking up the sun, boogie boarding in the ocean, snorkeling, and building sand castles with my Ray. In all honesty I enjoy the ocean a lot more sitting on the beach and listening to the sound of the waves rather than actually going in the water.
On our walk around the Island we stumbled upon the Honolulu Zoo. This was a wonderful Zoo for the boys. Ray enjoyed petting some of the animals and we spotted all kinds of animals from Zebra’s, Giraffe’s, Flamingo’s, and even a lion.
The Honolulu Zoo had huge Banyan trees scattered throughout the zoo, but mainly by the entrance. The astounding structure of these ginormous trees not only provided us a little shade on the scorching hot day but also called for a lot of selfies and picture taking moments. We were so into our photo sessions that it was here that a thief crept up around us at some point and stole my sisters purse, the entire purse! Which lead to another fun fiasco on the trip. Considering we had to fly to the Island of Maui the next day and we didn’t have an ID we had to file a police report. The thief nor the purse came to sight but a check was certainly written from the missing purse which was definitely caught before cashed. And so the trip continued, just with a little less baggage at my sisters expense…
We were fortunate enough to make this trip with family so we had the opportunity to leave the kids with my sister as we took a little midnight stroll around the city of Honolulu. The hubby and I took full advantage of this moment and did all things romantic from a long walk on the beach continued to a walk in the inner streets of Honolulu holding hands as though we were a new couple.
Turns out at night they have local vendors selling hand crafted souvenirs and delightful sugar cane juice, fresh cut coconut and a lot of other fresh fruit which we nibbled on along the way. We walked along the beach and came across a revolving restaurant & bar called Top of Waikiki. Although we experienced a revolving restaurant before at this place we didn’t realize it was revolving till both of us looked at the changed scenery outside. The cocktails and late night snack we grabbed were phenomenal.
The trip continued to more sun, sand, and the ocean in Maui followed by more secluded beaches, strolls along the beach, an attack by a jelly fish (my poor nephew), lots more sun burning, delicious and fresh seafood, a trip down the road to Hana, hikes in Bamboo forests, black sand beaches, and ended with a curvy drive up to the summit of Haleakala (elevation 10,023 feet) a shield Volcano (This is where Ray vomited from car sickness) you are literally above the clouds.
An unforgettable trip that was the highlight to the start of our summer. I could go on writing about the trip. For those of you planning to make a trip to Hawaii feel free to reach out for more details on places to see and things to do.
Here’s to more adventures ahead!