Oahu, Hawaii - May 2009

It was December of 2008. I knew we couldn’t really afford it, but with our Skymiles the flight would be free, and I got a great deal on the hotel – so, I figured we could swing it, albeit barely. But, I knew it had to be a surprise. I booked everything in December for the following May – so our school semester would be over. And I almost made it all the way without spilling the beans … in fact, I made it until the week before we left. But, I just couldn’t contain my excitement anymore, so I had to tell Mike we were headed to Hawaii for a special trip for our 10th anniversary.

We flew out on Mother’s Day. I had figured that because it was a Sunday, most people would be heading home. But, given that it was Mother’s Day, there were actually a TON of people arriving. In fact, things didn’t go so smoothly at the rental car place (we landed in Honolulu just after 2pm, and we didn’t leave with our rental car until almost 5pm). But, even with the rough start (I didn’t yet mention the struggles we had with the 3 oz. container of liquid rule, and the malfunctioning baggage conveyor belt), it was shaping up to be a great trip. I mean – Hawaii!!!

Once we checked into the hotel, we were able to relax. We were on the 18th floor (the top floor), on the end right by the beach. From our balcony we could see Diamond Head and the ocean.

We spent our first evening just walking around Waikiki, spending most of the time barefoot on the beach. The next day, we drove around the southern part of the island and saw some of the most spectacular scenery we had ever seen.


The next day was a really full day. We woke up early and drove to Kailua to go kayaking (www.kailuasailboards.com). We kayaked out to Po’poia Island, which is a bird sanctuary. Our guides gave us a geological tour of the island – which sounds like it might have been boring, but wasn’t at all. We even got to taste some of the plants on the island. After that, we snorkeled at Lanikai Beach, which has been voted as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Then we drove to Kualoa Ranch (www.kualoa.com) for a two-hour horseback ride. On our ride we saw lots of movie and TV shooting locations (Hurley’s golf course from “Lost” – I can’t wait for the final season to start!!! – and spots from “50 First Dates,” “You, Me & Dupree,” “Jurassic Park” and a whole bunch of others). The Kualoa mountains are just amazing.

Then we made our way around the north side of the island. It wasn’t winter time, so we didn’t see any massive waves, but we got to visit the Temple and we witnessed an extraordinary sunset.

On our final day, we hiked Diamond Head and went to the Waikiki Aquarium and Pearl Harbor. The feeling at Pearl Harbor is almost indescribable – it was a very reverent place. I couldn’t read any of the plaques without tearing up. I feel honored to have been able to go there.

All in all, it was an AMAZING trip. And, after all, we were together, and that was the whole point. Perhaps someday soon we’ll make it back to Hawaii (now that we have a place to stay – thanks Con and Nan!!). Maybe we’ll take the kids next time … and we’ll do some island-hopping.

P.S. If you looked at our pictures on Facebook and wondered about the Hawaiin legend behind that flower that looks like half a flower … here is the version that we heard from our kayak tourguides. This plant only grows near the water – within a few yards, they said. There is a different plant that is very similar, but grows only near the tops of the mountains. Both of the flowers on the plants are only half a flower (one grows flowers with three petals, and one grows flowers with five petals). The legend is that the Hawaiian Goddess Pele (the volcano goddess) fell in love with a human man. But, that man loved one of Pele’s sisters, and that made Pele mad, so when the man and her sister were together, they had a secret place they would hide – near the top of the mountains. Pele found out about this and decided to kill them, so she sent lava flowing down the mountain. The man was trapped and killed at the top of the mountain, but Pele’s sister made it down to the sea. The two plants are said to represent the man and Pele’s sister. If you take a flower from one of the plants that grows near the top of the mountain, and put it together with one of the flower that grows on the plant by the sea, it makes a complete flower. (By the way, I take no responsibility if that isn’t a real Hawaiian legend – blame our tourguides. :) But, no matter where it comes from, it still pretty cool.)