Beautiful Babymoon

Man, what can be better than lounging on the beach or driving around an island in a jeep with no top? Our trip was so awesome! We got up fairly early each morning, had breakfast, took a walk, then planned the rest of our day.

We arrived fairly late on Tuesday, had dinner at the hotel and promptly went to bed. On Wednesday we took some pics at a scenic overlook then hiked the two miles to the summit at Makapuu Lighthouse and saw some whales off the coast. On Thursday we drove out to Byodo-In temple and made a quick stop on our way back to Waikiki (pronounced "wacky wacky" according to Kyle) at Hanauma Bay. On Friday we went on a cruise called "the best of the west" that was pretty amazing. We joined a school of spinner dolphins, snorkeled at a turtle "cleaning station," and saw some whales up close and personal (they circled the boat). On Saturday we went to the swap meet at Aloha stadium, made a quick stop at Pearl Harbor, then drove out to the Polynesian cultural center for what we thought was a luau. What a waste of time! The place was supposed to be all authentic and whatnot, but was more like a Disney theme park, was extremely expensive, and all proceeds fund BYU educational programs (not exactly our charity of choice). Oh, and our luau turned out to be an indoor buffet with mediocre-at-best food! On Sunday we spent the whole day on the beach relaxing. On Monday we started our trek back to Austin, arriving yesterday (Tuesday) around lunch to chilly temps and rain, rain, rain.

Although we had planned on taking a helicopter tour we decided not to, because the trade winds were hanging out over the islands making conditions rather turbulent and frankly neither one of us was interested in dropping out of the sky in a little 4-seater helicopter. We also didn't end up diving with the sharks because the tour company never called us back :( But, not driving clear across the island gave us the opportunity to do absolutely nothing all day on Sunday, which was certainly a welcome activity in and of itself!

We dined twice at Auntie Pastos an absolutely fabulous italian restaurant near the arts center in Honolulu. I can't say enough about the place. The food was incredible, the prices were amazingly affordable, and the service was impeccable. There were almost no tourists in the place too, which made the experience that much nicer. On the flip side, we also had dinner one night at the all-tourist Duke's Canoe Club. The food was pretty good, but overall the place was loud and crowded. We had taken the "free" $2 trolley from the hotel to the restaurant, but decided to walk back, and did a little window shopping/exploring along the main drag in Waikiki on our way.

That pretty much sums up our trip: a little sight seeing, a little sun bathing, and a lot of time just relaxing. I didn't take many pics, but what I did take are posted at here.