Because I know at least one person (thanks Amy!) is still interested, I thought I’d finally finish blogging about the rest of my trip to Hawaii. 🙂 Let’s see —

Sunday, August 18
This was the day of our big hike up to the summit of Diamond Head crater. The hike is 0.8 miles one way and took us 560 feet above the crater floor, bringing us to an elevation of 761 feet. I’ve done this hike once before when I was 16 and in much better physical shape that I am now. I mean, I didn’t remember the path being so rocky or the weather being so exruciatingly hot. I was totally huffing and puffing my way to the top. But once we reached the summit, the 99 steps and the pitch black tunnel were all worth it. So gorgeous up there.

Monday, August 19
Beach day! Whee! Rob and I spent the entire morning on the beach — we bought an air mattress and an inner tube and rocked the waves. 🙂 Great fun — but I unfortunately got a bit sunburned. Blah. But I loved it — the water is so clear and it just stretches out forever. Simply amazing. I wish I had pictures from our day at the beach but we didn’t take our camera with us — we were too scared it would be stolen. Hmmm… that’s the one bad thing about going on a trip as a couple — there’s not too many opportunities to take pictures together. Too many of our pictures are individual shots and they just look a bit silly. hee. That night we went to the Paradise Cove Luau and had an awesome time. We got to participate in various games and arts and crafts, watch a spectacular show of great Hawaiian and Polynesian dancing and — the best part — we had unlimited drinks the entire night — woo hoo! I am officially addicted to Lava Flows and Chi Chis. Such fun.

Then Tuesday sucked because we had to go home. BOO.

Anyway, yay — that’s done. Go Kelly for American Idol! 🙂

A summary of my trip to Hawaii, as promised. 🙂 Part 1…

Thursday, August 15
Rob and I had to wake up at 6am (!) to get to San Francisco airport for our 8am flight. I was wide awake from the anticipation and after settling into my seat, I became even more anxious. I mean, I was on my way to Hawaii! But after take-off, I promptly fell asleep. Add to that the fact that the in-flight movie was going to be Spirit: The Stallion of the Cimarron. No matter that Matt Damon is the voice of Spirit, at least by sleeping, it would make the 5 hour flight seem a lot shorter. Upon our arrival at the Honolulu airport, we got our leis (love them! I wish I could wear them everyday. Hee.) and were escorted to our hotel, The Ohana Reef Towers, which had a really great location — just steps from Waikiki and close to all the shopping. It was about 1pm by the time we finished unpacking and we didn’t really have anything planned for the day so we just walked around trying to get familiar with everything. We spent the next few hours walking along Waikiki beach, browsing around the International Market Place, and eating shave ice (yummy!).

Friday, August 16
We woke up early to go to Pearl Harbor, which was truly humbling. Before you actually get to see the Arizona Memorial though, there’s a short video about the events of WWII and what happened the day of December 7, 1941. Omg, I almost started to bawl, especially since the park ranger that introduced the video was a veteran who was only about 50 feet away from the USS Arizona when it was hit. *sob* After that, our tour guide drove us around downtown Honolulu where we got to see King Kamehameha?s statue, the Iolani palace (the only royal palace on American soil), and the Punchbowl National Cemetery. Then that night we went to the Ala Moana Shopping Center (too many shops, too little time) and spent way too much money on souvenirs for ourselves. Hee.

Saturday, August 17
Another early day because it was our Tour the Island day! 🙂 We headed over to the east side of the island — our first stop was Hanauma Bay, the most popular place on Oahu to go snorkeling. The water is clear, the weather is great and there’s lots of sea life to see. The next scenic points were the Halona Blowhole (where supposedly when the timing is right, the water spewing out of that crevice can reach heights of up to 30 feet but of course, nothing was happening while we were there) and the Nuuanu Pali Lookout, which has a spectacular view of windward Oahu. From there, we drove up to the North Shore, home to the famous surfing beaches which I believe are featured in the movie Blue Crush. We visited Waimea Falls Park, a stunning tropical nature park and got to see the waterfalls and also a cool dive show. We got back around 6 pm — we were just riding around in a bus but the day was so tiring! So we decided to stay in and watch The Sum of All Fears (yum, Ben Affleck!) on pay-per-view. Besides, the next day was our big hike up the Diamond Head Crater and we had to be well-rested for that. 🙂

To be continued… 😛

Whee — it’s me! I’m back from a really great time in Hawaii! But I’m sunburned and sleepy and I have to go straight to work tomorrow morning. Grr. I will blog about my trip and upload pictures very soon. 🙂

Just got done packing — whew! Finally. I think I packed everything. Or at least I hope I did. I have a tendency to pack way too much stuff — I’m only going to be gone for 6 days yet I’m pretty sure I have almost 10 outfits packed. 😛 I just like to be prepared. 😉

Well, I just wanted to say “Bye!” to everyone — my flight leaves really early tomorrow morning and I have to wake up in 6 hours (it’s midnight now). I don’t think I’ll be able to blog while I’m in Hawaii unless I find some internet cafe or something — so until next Wednesday! 🙂 Bye all!