Troy's work surprised him last year with a 10 day trip to Hawaii. It was his 10 year anniversary of having worked for PowerQuip. They told him that, "He had earned one day in paradise for every year in hell." Pretty funny. So, this January, we headed off to paradise.
Troy arrived in Oahu looking like he lived in Utah. I had to get a picture of him in his fleece jacket. I also like to pretend that they guy in the background is mocking him. I am sure he is simply rubbing his eyes but...this is my blog. I can pretend.
We spent our first 2 nights on Waikiki Beach in Oahu. An amazing beach! Our first sunset was incredible and we barely got there in time to see it.
This is the Tropics Bar at our hotel. We had dinner here and listened to the band play.
This is the view from our balcony. So pretty.
Hawaii is 3 hours behind us. That means that we wanted to wake up when it was only four o clock in the morning. We decided to take advantage of the time change and drove to the other side of the island to see our first sunrise. Another amazing beach.
I had to make fun of Troy because he was texted everyone instead of watching the sunrise with his wife. We had a lot of fun sending pictures to our friends back in snowy Utah. We loved being in our shorts and bare feet.
A great first morning.
We then headed North toward the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had a few hours before it opened so we went to the temple and walked around. Amazing how beautiful everything was. The grounds were immaculate and the flowers and plants were so colorful.
This picture was taken while standing in front of the temple and looking out toward the road. Great view.
This picture was taken while I was rubbing the back of a very muscular individual. He had just finished showing us how the Samoan men make fire.
This is Troy making fire. I do not recall the Samoan man sitting side saddle. I also remember there being a bit more smoke. Troy is a good sport.
Riding in the canoe between shows.
This guy was hilarious. He would make jokes left and right. When people wanted pictures with him, he would say, "Come to me." Troy and I loved watching him.
They let us sample some authentic Samoan food on Costco tinfoil. He made a joke about that as well.
Troy receiving his first LDS approved tattoo.
We made it to the luau.
That purple thing is a sweet roll. Some of the stuff I loved. Other things, not so much. A good experience if you have never been to a luau.
Troy works with a guy that lived in Oahu for 6 months. The first thing he told us that we had to do was buy some Molasatas at Leonard's Bakery. He told us they were yummy bite size desserts. He said to buy a dozen. When we arrived at the bakery I told Troy that we should only get a few because I was sure they weren't exactly a part of our "diet" plan. He ended up ordering 6.
I should have held one in my hand for perspective. These things are as big as doughnuts! They are also 10 times yummier than doughnuts. We ended up throwing 2 away later that day. Oh how I wish I had one to eat right now. I would NOT throw it away!
Then we headed up to the North Shore to watch a little surfing.
They waves are pretty big in the winter time. They had a lot of the beach blocked off to swimming and surfing.
A seal that decided to nap on the beach.
He must do it a lot because they had a sign telling people to be quite and leave him alone.
A couple that we met at the luau told us to go to Ted's bakery and get some chocolate coconut pie. We were happy to follow their advice. Scrumptious!
Hanauma Bay. One of the best places for snorkeling. We learned after arriving that the best time to snorkel is in the morning. Oops. We decided to head back to Waikiki Beach and see if we could get in some surfing before it was too late.
Guess what... We got back too late. All the surf lessons had ended about an hour before we got there. We plopped down on the beach, swam and watched the sunset. The sailboats in front of the sunset were incredible.
We walked down the beach and ate at Duke's. Bar type restaurant right on the beach. We has a view of the ocean as we ate.
The view from the beach as we walked back to our hotel.
The next day was our last on Oahu. We flew out around 1:00 pm to Kauai. We decided to see Pearl Harbor that morning before we left.
We arrived too late to make it out to the actual memorial and back. Who knew you had to arrive 4 hours early? We ended up doing the audio tour. It took a couple of hours and was well worth the time.
One of the anchors from the USS Arizona. Gives a little perspective to how big the ships are. Overall, an incredible place to visit.
Our final picture taken in Oahu. We sat across from this couple while waiting for our plane. They remind you of anything? Troy and I thought they should have a sign like the seal had. Something that says, "Shhh, we are sleeping." Hilarious.
