I Wish I Was Still In Hawaii

Well we're back from Hawaii and boy was that a hard vacation to come home from. You know how sometimes you're sad to leave a vacation? Well this was really tough to leave. It was so beautiful there! And the weather was absolutely perfect. Not a drop of rain, and it was about 85 and sunny every day with those nice tradewinds keeping it from being too hot.

We got there Wednesday and just spent the rest of the day exploring Waikiki. We were all a little tired from the plane ride. On Thursday we went to Pearl Harbor. It was such an interesting tour and we took a boat out to the Arizona Memorial. That was very moving since most of the sailors went down with the ship and are still there. We flew over Pearl Harbor on our way into the Honolulu Airport and flew really low over an aircraft carrier headed out to sea. It had all the Sailors lining the rails of the ship and it was just loaded with planes. Very cool.

On our flight in we also flew by all the other major islands. We saw Kilauea and Mauna Kea, the two volcanoes on the Big Island. We also flew by Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kauai.

On Friday we spent a lot of time at the beach. Waikiki is very crowded but so beautiful. And the water was so warm. I think we had as much fun playing in the waves as the kids did. The waves were about 2 to 3 feet high but later on in the trip they were about 5-6 ft. So fun!

On Saturday we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was so wavy that day that we didn't see much of anything . Our snorkel gear wasn't that great either and Monica and I got a huge mouthful of saltwater.

We went up to the North Shore on Friday also. On the way up there we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We then went to Waimea Bay. Just gorgeous! There were huge sea turtles that came right up by the shore. This is the beach where the waves get up to 30 feet and higher in the winter. I'd give anything to see that! We drove back to Honolulu the long way by the rest of the North Shore beaches like the Banzai Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Pupukea and Turtle Bay. There is road that runs right next to the ocean the rest of the way back down to Honolulu and the drive was breathtaking. I wish we had taken more pictures.

We also tried surfing! Okay, let me just say this...we should have taken a lesson. The waves were about 5 feet that day and we rented a 10'6" longboard. I went first and as soon as I hit my feet (which was pretty good for me) I fell right off. The first time I fell I got about a gallon of salt water up my nose and then a wave came crashing down on me. I kept trying but really needed a lesson. None of us actually rode the wave. Oh well...it was still a ton of fun. At least it was for me. I told my husband the next time we go to San Diego I'm trying it until I can do it.

We did so many other things it would take me forever to write about. I'm posting a picture here but for more you can see them on my MySpace page at www.myspace.com/misschrisaz. It's on my main page so you don't need to be a member or anything. Just scroll down a tad on that page and you'll find a slide show I put together with several pictures from the trip. Let me know what you think of the other pictures!