Molly's Blog: Hawaii Trip

Adam and I just got back from one of my favorite places I have ever been on vacation to: Hawaii. We flew into Oahu and stayed on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. We did as much sight seeing, relaxing at the beach, and trying traditional Hawaiian things out as we possibly could in 4 short days. Like always, we wished we had longer, but our trip left us so excited for going back someday with our kids. Here are some of the main things we did (warning, this will probably be long):

1. Our first morning, we were on Pacific Time and got up before 6am, so we walked about 3-4 miles to Diamond Head, a crater you can see in the background of almost any picture of Waikiki Beach. We got there early enough that it still was overcast and not super hot, so we hiked to the top. We thought we had made it, when we got to these two massive stair cases that take you to the peak. People were panting and looked like they were going to die, haha. Anyways, we made it and the view was awesome!

One of the two horrid staircases, plus another winding one to get to the peak

Pregnancy can't stop me, haha

2. We spent most of our daytime at Waikiki Beach, laying out, swimming, going for lunch, etc. Adam's highlight of the trip was going for daily swims, where he would follow around these huge turtles and he even was brave (or dumb?) enough to grab on to one and ride it, haha. The weather the whole time was soooo weird. The mornings were overcast, which was nice for walking around, then the sun started peaking through around 9-10am. It would be so hot and sunny then a cloud would come and it would rain on you to cool you off for about 3 minutes, then the sun was right back out. Our weather we had was perfect though! We got plenty of sun and the clouds that rolled in on occasion actually felt good!

Adam dug a little ditch for my baby bump, so I could lay on my stomach :)

3. We did lots of walking around, mainly on the beach, all around the shops, along the beach walk, etc.

Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach

Waikiki Beach Walk at night

4. We ate lots of good food! From restaurants, to snacks, to the farmers market, all of the food we had was really good! Adam ordered some more daring things...I was happy they had such good, fresh fruit and seafood everywhere. Some of the the foods/places we ate: LOTS of good fruit, farmers market stands (abalone, spam eggs and rice wrapped in seaweed, mango, the best grilled piece of pizza we had ever had), dole whip (pineapple soft serve sorbet/ice cream), pig from the ground, poi (mashed taro, not very good), banana macadamia pancakes with guava and coconut syrup (probably the best food I have ever had in my life :), lots of seafood, two restaurants from the Food Network (House Without a Key and Grass Skirt Grill), etc.

Hawaiian band at a restaurant called House Without a Key

5. We went to a traditional Hawaiian Luau. They had a pig roast, lots of food, entertainment, Mai Tai's, etc.

6. We visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial. It's weird how visiting a place like that really makes you realize the magnitude of a historic event so much more than learning about it in school. It is so sad to read some of the tiles they have around and see how many names are on the lists of people who actually died, most of whom were probably guys about 18 years old. It was sad to see, but I'm glad we went.

All of these are names of people who died, very sad

7. We rented a car and drove to the North Shore. North Shore is more laid back and island type lifestyle, rather than touristy; the scenery here was so pretty! Once we got there, we spent most of the day at Waimea Bay. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen! On our drive back, we stopped at the Dole Plantation to see some pineapples and have a snack.

Baby Bump Week 31!

After all that, it was time to go home. Our last night, we had a nice dinner on the beach. We were sad to leave, but it was such a great getaway for just the two of us before the baby is born!