Oahu - Part 1

Day 1

Oahu definitely moves at a different pace than Maui.  We got into our rental car and headed into Honolulu.  Almost immediately I didn't feel comfortable driving in Honolulu.  Their roads were crazy and there was just so many people!  Luckily, we had our trusty iPhones and they helped us navigate through the crazy city.  We checked into our hotel, The Ala Moana, and took a nap.  When we were ready to eat we decided to find a restaurant called Duke's.  It's named after Duke Kahanamoku, the world's most famous surfer.

I went off of my "no sugar diet" in Hawaii which got me into a lot of trouble.

Here is the Hula Pie we got for dessert at Duke's.

You can bet your bottom dollar we polished off the whole entire thing.

The restaurant was right on Waikiki Beach and they had a live band playing.  Just a beautiful setting, really. 

We took a walk along Waikiki Beach.

and watched the sun set...

 

I had low expectations of Waikiki Beach because everyone I had talked to said it was a "dump".  I mean, it was crowded with a lot of people, but it was far from what I would call a dump!  It's still a beautiful beach.  I would take that over a Great Salt Lake beach any day!

After our walk on the beach we shopped around the International Marketplace for a bit.

We found these Hawaiian ladies putting on a show.

We sat and watched them for a while and continued on.

I got to pick out an oyster of my choice at one of the stores to see what color of pearl I would get.  I got a gold pearl which stood for prosperity.  I love it!  Someday I'll mount it on something.

Day 2

Day two was a highly anticipated trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

 We paid big bucks for the Super Ambassador tour which meant we had our own personal guide the entire day and front row seats at every show in every village.

Here we are on the canoe tour.

Pretty scenery we floated by.

It was nice having a guide to take pictures of us everywhere we went. 

Here we are getting some Hula lessons. 

Here we are with the leaf fishes we were taught how to weave.

Something neat that happened at the PCC was meeting a young girl (maybe 23 or so) who worked there and was also a student at BYU-Hawaii.  She asked us if we'd gone to see the temple yet, because she knew we were members, and we replied that we hadn't yet.  And she said to us "Oh, you must go!  You get on the shuttle and it's literally a 5 minute drive and it's just right there!  I couldn't believe how close it was when I got here..it's just right there!"  You see, she was from Mongolia where the closest temple in proximity is in South Korea.  She would have to leave her country just to visit the temple.  We are so lucky to have so many temples close by.  I was almost afraid to tell her that we have 12 temples within a 2 hour drive from home.  The things we take for granted.

We got front row seats to the canoe show!

Each culture had their own canoe to show us their dance on.

Aotearoa (New Zealand), Samoa

Fiji, Hawaii

Tonga, and Tahiti.

 We got to participate and be a part of a very cool ritual in the Aotearoa Village.  They selected us because we were the only Super Ambassador's in the crowd.  A girl explained everything that was going to happen and why.  We were pretty nervous being thrown into this, but it was really cool.  (Mind you, everyone that was at the show watched this all go down so, we had quite an audience.)  Below you'll see the girl explaining things, then a guy came running out at us speaking a bunch of jibberish and presented an offering to Chief Howie.

Howie accepted the offering and so we had to bring it with us into the Aotearoan hut. 

Once inside the hut, the village Chief showed Howie the welcoming handshake and then the "Breath of Life".

Then this lady came out to explain some more about why they do what they do and to introduce Chief Howie. 

Then she had me come up so Howie could pass me the "Breath of Life", as well. 

It was a cool thing to be a part of!  Our guide said only three couples get to do this every day and we were one of the lucky ones!

Here is us in front of a waterfall holding the offering. 

We got pretty hungry later on and couldn't wait to get to the Luau! 

The smoothies in pineapples were delicious! 

We got our chance to visit the Laie Temple.

Unfortunately, it's being renovated and so we weren't able to do a session. 

At the end of the day the PCC put on an amazing show called 

"Ha-Breath of Life".

This day came in a very close second for our favorite day.  In fact, I think it was Howie's favorite.  We really enjoyed the PCC!

Maui - Part 3

Day 5

On this day we got to go sailing to the little island of Molokini, a dormant volcano just off the coast of southern Maui.  We met up with our group at this shack on Makena Beach.

See Molokini off in the distance?

Here is the boat we took.

All geared up!

Our first time snorkeling!

I love this shot of Howie.  I like how I got his floatie ring.

Dolphins joined us on our sailing trip!

There aren't any sea turtles at Molokini so, the crew took us to a location where we were more likely to see some.  They are so neat to watch!

We loved the charter company we went with on this excursion.  They provided a snack on the way out to Molikini and lunch on the way to the turtles.  Very cool crew.  We loved it!

Day 6

  Well, due to our activity on day 5, on day 6 we did absolutely nothing.  I have one picture from day 6 and it isn't a pretty one.  I'm only going to show you a small portion of it though.

Please see below...

Yes, that is my back.

To the left you'll notice a much larger area of red than on the right.

That is my before and after.

We got absolutely fried.  I mean ultimate fried.  Fried beyond belief.  So fried that it affected the rest of our trip.  We tried aloe, we tried apple cider vinegar, and neosporin.

Nothing was soothing this burn.

On day 6 I could barely even wear clothes.

It hurt that bad.

I can't emphasize it enough.  It was Hell on my skin.

A few days later I had blisters on the back of my legs.

Second degree burn.

My legs and feet retained water trying to flush the toxins out.

It was awful!

Day 7

The final day in Maui we were somewhat back in business.  Howie was fine, but my body was still very sore.  I just tried to press on and not let it slow me down.

We visited beautiful Iao Valley.

It rained on our way there so there was this really cool mist of clouds everywhere.

Can I vent for a second?
Howie didn't want to hike up to see the Iao Needle so, I was left to go at it alone.  Which meant that once I got there I had to rely on other peoples picture taking skills for my sacred memories.

I have no tripod.

(subtle hint for a Christmas present right there.)

So, that should explain to you why there is a little girl in the photo next to me.
Some people are not natural-born photographers like myself.
(It was actually the daughter of the lady that I asked to take my picture.  And can I just add that this young girl surpassed the acceptable age for a binky about two years ago.)

At least she got the Iao Needle in the pic, which I cannot say for the first person I asked to take my picture

C'mon people.
If I am standing in front of a major landmark and asking you to take my picture...chances are I want that major landmark in the picture.
I'm just sayin'.
There were more beautiful views to see in the valley.

I really enjoyed it.

We decided to eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe on Front Street before going to the highly anticipated magic show at Warren & Annabelle's.

These magicians were amazing!

They were absolutely hilarious!

This ended our time in Maui.  The next day we were off on a plane to Oahu!