Missing the Aloha Spirit

So, as I have mentioned before, I went to Hawaii over Christmas. I was there from December, 23 2013 till January 6, 2014. The purpose of my visit was to visit my best friend, Sarah, who had wed herself a soldier man and moved to Oahu. I promised her that I’d come and visit and immediately began saving for my trip. It took me a year to save enough funds to afford my plane ticket (over $1000 round trip during the busy season.) I had just gotten enough saved up and was shopping around when my Dad surprised me with a graduation present: one round-trip, coach ticket to Hawaii. I was thrilled and planned my visit to include Christmas, New Years and my birthday.

I hit the airport 8 days after my graduation. After so many years in school it was time for a well deserved vacation, no work, school, homework or appointments to keep for a whole two weeks, all while in the warmth/sunshine of a tropical climate WITH my best friend! How could it possibly get any better?

Acai bowl. I asked my seatmate on the way over if I could only do one thing on the island what should it be. She replied to get an acai bowl from the health bar. Acai bowls are an island specialty. This one features acai sherbert, bananas, granola, and strawberries all slathered in a thick layer of golden honey. It was amazing. And considering how I had it right after hiking diamond head it was a delightful relief.

Along North Shore. Yes that is a sea turtle, and a rainbow. Best part of this picture though is I and the Best Friend together. 😀

various lumps along the shore are sea turtles

The colors in Hawaii are marvelous. Everything is saturated with rainbows

North Shore

North Shore

Everything is crumbly in Hawaii

Ate at this food truck on Christmas Day. Had the best garlic shrimp in my life (and I’ve eaten my weight in shrimp several times over)

Lighthouse point (most southeastern point of Oahu). Gorgeous view and not a bad hike either.

lighthouse point

Bestie and I

chinaman’s hat or rabbit island. Not sure which. They are side by side. Eastern coast

This disturbed me most of all. Who in the world makes purses out of toads?! What’s more, why buys them?!

Kaena point coming from North Shore

Iolani Palace. Gorgeous place. The only royal palace on United States Lands. And so different from other american dwellings from the same time period.

Those hinges!

Waikiki. bleh. It was ok.

the last sunset of 2013. spent on the beach side by side hammocking with the Best Friend. 😀 What a way to end/start a year!

another view of the last sunset

Hiking Diamond Head, someone had to be airlifted off the trail. It was a hot day and the hike is fairly difficult. We talked with the emergency crew on the way down. They say this kind of thing happens all the time.

from the lower parking lot of Diamond Head. We had to park all the way at the foot of the crater.

got to see all sides of the island. From rich to poor. And I loved it all.

So lush and green. Don’t really know where this was. Somewhere in the woods near Honolulu. We took a one lane road out for 15 minutes over creaking wooden bridges and slipped past some houses. There was a semblance of a trail but we gave up on this one as the sun was starting to set.

storm was rolling in

Waikiki on the last night there

Hanauma Bay. Best snorkeling on the island!

Hanauma Bay

Hanauma bay

Hanauma Bay

On my flight back. This is the week before the polar vortex hit the South.

I was sulking at the Atlanta airport waiting on my last flight home. And Atlanta is a huge airport, but guess who comes waltzing off a plane at the gate across from me!?…. Daddy 😀 He’s a pilot and was just coming from Birmingham and I was headed to it. Only had a 30 minute window in the ATL and he caught me 5 minutes before my flight left. Sometimes awesome things just happen. Getting to see him made my day 😀