Summer is winding down now and we just returned from an OUTSTANDING week in ... you guessed it, Hawaii. We couldn't have been happier with our first Aloha experience; from the hotel and the weather to the beaches to the food and fun, the whole trip really exceeded all of our expectations. We're already planning a trip back.
Trouble with paradise is that every place you look is a picture perfect postcard and we did so much, so I have more photos than I can possibly post here. I've picked some of the highlights to share with everyone.
We knew this place was going to be special from the second we stepped off of the plane. Here's Tony and Simone at the airport courtyard after a 10+ hour flight. Simone was a complete pro the whole time; it's official, she can pretty much handle travel anywhere after this.
We stayed at the Hale Koa right on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. Incredible location, sandwiched right between the Outrigger and the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and within walking distance to practically everything.
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| The staircase to the hotel. |
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| View from our room. |
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| Zoomed in view from our room. |
Oahu is covered with awesome beaches, but this is one of the first we visited outside of Honolulu -- Ko Olina lagoons. They were gorgeous, clear and calm -- perfect for swimming for Simone.
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| One of the many amazon sunsets of the week! |
During the week, we took a short jaunt over to the Big Island of Hawaii, primarily to visit Volcano National Park. It was a long day, but we can now cross viewing an active volcano off our bucket list.
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| Simone near the steam vents in Volcano National Park. |
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| Volcanic crater smoldering in the distance. |
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| Simone and Grammy entering an old lava tube from the volcano. |
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| A mural inside of the visitors center at Volcano National Park. |
Simply breathtaking scenery was all around us. This was our one of our stops on the way to the volcano -- a black sand beach next to a waterfall. INCREDIBLE!
No trip to Oahu can be complete without a visit to Pearl Harbor. Very somber, but beautiful.
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| "Black tears" -- the oil that is still being released from the sunken Arizona. |
We were all struck by the flora and fauna of the islands. The most brilliant flowers just growing wild everywhere!
This is a shot of us right before our luau at the hotel. Doesn't the background look fake? No, it's just the "plain" old landscaping that was everywhere.
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| Simone and Tony sipping their respective hawaiian drinks at the luau. |
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| We stopped at Turtle Beach to view the wild turtles swimming with people right off shore. None of them came up onto the sand while we were there, but I managed to snap this one when it came up for air. |
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| Chinaman's hat. |
Made a quick stop at the Byodo Temple. Simply stunning and brought Tony back to his days in Japan. We also made a visit to a Japanese department store in Honolulu with a Japanese food court that feels like you've stepped into Tokyo itself. We stuffed ourselves with Soba, Okonomoyaki, sushi rolls and washed it down with Sapporo!
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| A black sand beach on the Big Island. |
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| Simone's feet in the black sand. |
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| Rainbow Falls |
On our very last day, we woke up very early and hiked to the top of Diamond Head-- a perfect bookend to a perfect week.
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| Evening view of Diamond Head from our hotel. |
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| View of Waikiki from Diamond Head. |
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| View of the lighthouse from Diamond Head. |
And finally, before we left, we went down to the beach and tossed our lays into the sea -- a good luck tradition to help insure a future return to Hawaii.
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Our lays floating off to sea.
Hands down, Hawaii was our best tropical vacation ever. We can't wait to return!!! |
