Before I start, pictures are coming! I just need to get them downloaded so be patient w/ me!
Day 3: it consisted of absolutely nothing! Seriously. We went to the beach and to the commissary. It was so nice to be able to do nothing, no stress, no plans, no worries!
I forgot to say that we extended our trip until Monday! United was able to move our tickets to a later date so we could get the full 5 days in.
Day 4: We ventured out to the Byodo-In Temple and to Kaneohe Bay. The temple is really interesting and the grounds are beautiful. It's located in the middle of the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. The cemetery has graves sites that are for Christian and Buddhists, as well as other religions. The Buddhists grave sites were quite interesting. They are for a family and on the back, the family tree is listed with birth and death dates.
K-Bay has got to have the prettiest water on the island. It is absolutely stunning to see! The base wasn't all that impressive, it was a base, lol. I did far prefer this side of the island to the Waikiki side. It's much greener and a lot less touristy.
We stopped by Leonard's on the way home and got some malasadas. If you ever get a chance to have a warm malasadas, get one! Holy goodness it was so good!
That night we hopped on a bus and went to the Paradise Cove luau. It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of great food. Mikayla and I got some Polynesian tattoos while Mike and Madison tried their fate in spear throwing and bowling (which I can't remember the name now!). Oh, the mai tais. I may have a new favorite drink!
Day 5: Surf's up! We went to the famous North Shore on Friday. Of course, there were no huge waves since it is Summer. The waves that you read about and see are during the fall and winter months. That's okay though. We were able to see a honu (Hawaiian green sea turtle) basking on the beach, had a great lunch with a gorgeous view, and the most awesome shaved ice there is! On the way back we stopped by the Dole Plantation (not too exciting). One thing that did amaze me was there are pineapple plants for as far as the eye can see across the road. It was really strange to see knowing that they've been growing for so long!
Day 6: We ventured to the swap meet at the Aloha Stadium Saturday. It was hot and humid with a little rain. I had checked out the reviews on Yelp before going and they were spot on. Every 5 or so booths, you started repeating what you had already seen. We were able to see people carving out the tiki statues and designing wooden surfboards so that was really interesting. The girls were able to spend a little money so you know they were thrilled! For lunch we went to Moe's! All of my East Coast peeps always talk about Moe's and I'm glad we finally had a chance to try it out. Can I tell you how good it is? The queso is like the kind they have on the East Coast, definitely missed by this lady. I will definitely miss Moe's and can't wait to go back....someone needs to open one in SoCal!
We drove to the National Cemetery of the Pacific, aka Punchbowl Cemetery, after lunch. It was an interesting place to see, very different from other National Cemeteries that I had seen before. Buried there is the first unknown military member from the attack on Pearl Harbor. There are also some other well known people buried there.
Day 7 took us to Pearl Harbor to see the Arizona Memorial. Talk about somber. It was really neat to see but so sad at the same time. Over 950 are buried there, with some survivors buried there to be with their shipmates. There is still oil leaking from the USS Arizona. The day before Pearl Harbor was attacked, the ship was just filled with oil to prepare for drills on the 8th. The total amount on board before it was attacked was around 1 million gallons. There are about 500,000 gallons of oil left and about 3-4 quarts leak out a day. The drops, before they spread, are called Sailor's Tears. The Navy dives down once a month to check the status of the oil and the ship. They suspect that the ship will break down and release the oil before the rest of it is leaked out.
After the memorial we went back to the mall for lunch. I had to get some more queso (ha) and we had lunch at Farrell's. Mike got a very unbirthday singing to in the form of a Spice Girls song. It was quite funny and the staff there was awesome! If you ever get a chance to go, take advantage of it (and make sure to save room for ice cream!).
Afterwards we went to Queen Emma's Summer "Palace". I put palace in quotes because there is only 4 rooms in the house. It was pretty but definitely not worth the $ we spent to see it.
Later that day we went to hang out with the Garrett family before we all headed back to the mainland. We had a wonderful time being able to see them again and getting to know the family better. After we left and ventured back to our car, we found out it had been towed! We had overstayed our parking so they came in and took it. It was an expensive lesson but such is life right?!!! The girls did get to ride in a cab for the first time, lol!
Day 8 had us waking up at zero dark thirty and getting on a plane back home. There were no delays, no drama, lots of turbulence, and a window seat for me so I could sleep. :)
There is still a lot I want to see in Hawaii!!! The girls were told next time they can stay home, lol! Oahu is beautiful, I love the plumeria trees and wish I could bring one home! It was definitely a check off the bucket list but now I need to add it back so we can visit some other islands! The trip was definitely one for the books, a little sanity with some insanity on either end....typical Tranchitella style!!!
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