Tuesday

(Well, I am on call tonight which might be a good thing....I am enjoying a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich AFTER I heated up the wrong burner which partially melted the butter container and a sandwich bag....and dropped my - unopened thank goodness - mini can of Coke....So I will get another update on the Hawaii trip here)

Hubs played golf so I putzed around and headed to the beach. He was there shortly after I was! Said it went quickly cause he got to play alone.

 Can you see the person standing next to the kayak? Long sleeved and leggings?? So many of the Japanese would be completely covered head to toes - even the little kids would have hoodies on. But the American Japanese did not dress this way - the girls all wore cute little bikinis....

 This is hub after he plated golf!

 Goofy meets Goofy

 So we ran an errand to Target and came back and the weather had changed! It was raining! But you know what - you are wet anyway so you might as well be wet all over!

 But the adult only pool is cool to start with, so we left there and went to the awesome spa where we warmed up before we headed upstairs when it seemed it wasn't going to break soon, cause that wind got a little chilly

 Random beach shots.....

 So, no plans for dinner .... the plan is to go to the Olele room and nosh on appetizers. Before that happened - right after we showered and got dressed - we heard this odd sound....took us seconds to realize it was the fire alarm (we realized it just before the verbal announcement came on). We figured out where the stairs were - and, due to our CERT training! -- we took off down them thanking the stars that we were only on the 9th floor! Got to the groundfloor not sure where we were but found our way to the bathrooms for hubs - came out and started wandering around trying to find the 'gathering place' we were told to go to - when we say everyone headed back inside. So we stopped and asked someone and they said within minutes the all clear had sounded (guess it doesn't go into the stairwells cause we never heard it!) and that some little one had pulled the fire alarm!

So, we were dressed and all so we went ahead and headed to dinner where this is one of the glasses of wine I had! HAPPY HOUR! Drinks are lower priced as well as some of the food. So we had some crazy good nachos and then some chicken wings that hubs said were good - I am not a fan of chicken wings and these were spicy - and listened to the music (there was live entertainment there every night)

 I forget what Olele means - but there are signs everywhere to teach you the Hawaiian language.....and just in case you didn't know that this piece of furniture was, I thought I would show you....

Found this on the wall of the 3d floor. Does it look familiar? I showed a photo of a real rock from the Waimea Valley.

Forgot to show you these goodies we snacked on - proves this is a Disney Resort! Over priced and so-so tasting, but definitely decorative!

The rest of Monday (if my computer allows me!)

Because I didn't go snorkeling this trip (I really need to invest in some prescription goggles) this was the only turtle I got to see.

The North Shore is interesting. You travel thru a lot of agricultural area to get there. And as you are driving along you pass some breathtaking obviously uber-expensive homes.....right across the street from shacks!
This was where the majority of the shrimp trucks were....and the only place we saw selling pineapple and coconuts (to eat and drink)...

Wanted to stop to see the birthing stones but the guidebook said it was an unpaved road and by the time we got there it was pouring .... so didn't really want to deal with mud. Went back to the hotel and went swimming because it wasn't raining there!

Also had lunch at Jamesons By The Sea again. I had the best salad and the worst clam chowder I have ever had. Hub had a portugese sausage soup and a ham sandwich - he said both were good.

Monday in Paradise AKA Hawaii

 Went to the beach for awhile - the water colder than I remember, but still warmer than CA Pacific Ocean!

 Another cook hot tub!

 If I wasn't reading on the beach I was knitting - didn't get as much done on the socks as I hoped!

 Decided to drive to the North Shore

 Yup - gas in Hawaii is expensive! But they thank you for spending that money!

 Saw lots of horses up there

 Tsunami warning

 No clue - but still pretty

 Didn't know they had sheep here!

 So we decided to go into the Waimea Valley. Had no idea what it was. Kind of historic, kinda botanical gardens (yes, I took lots of flower photos but pared them down for here). Took the audio tour which was supposed to take up to all these interesting stops on the 3/4 mile walk to the waterfalls. Well, some of the historical markers we couldn't find - what turquoise flowers? Turn which way at the plant with yellow and white flowers??? No plant like that.....so I think we probably took at least a mile to get there as we wondered around - but still missed stops 34 - 40 which is sad cause I guess one of those was the lei flower garden....

 WHAT??????!!!!!!

 Hmm, same chickens as on Kauai

 A giant checkerboard game

 Doesn't it look like it is doing a shaka?

 Supposed to be able to swim in these waters. They are supposed to be very healing. But with the rains in the hills around us, the water was very rough from this very full waterfall so no swimming today

 Looks to me like this flower is sticking its tongue out at us!

For some reason the computer is acting up, so will have to complete Monday at a later time!

 

Sunday in Hawaii

Well, we were both up early as planned - one of us having gotten way more sleep than the other! Had breakfast and left to climb Diamondhead again! And we did the climb more quickly this time - just as strenuous - but maybe because there was no humidity?

Some sprinkles on the way there - and on the climb - but it was early enough (many people had already beaten us there tho!) that there was hardly any humidity - which made the climb so much more bearable!

After leaving Diamondhead we stopped by Hilo Hatties to get souvenir shopping out of the way - and when we came out it was pouring rain!

Got back to Aulani and of course we did the hot tub after the climb (altho didn't really need it - it felt good!) and then the adult only pool with the bar right there. All ready to try the Hibiscus Kiss that I have been looking forward to since reading about it on Facebook - oh yeah, they don't have them any more - they weren't very popular......sigh......ended up with a Mango Sangria that was okay.....not really that good, but just ok.

After a bit we went up to the room to snack on cheese and crackers and then to the Lazy River again!

 I think the sign says this is a 40XL or something else outrageous

 My honey always takes me out for great meals! $7 lunch - we each had a hotdog and split the chips and a Coke! We didn't realize there was a lunch place inside Hilo Hatties and we were starving after our walk!

 Before the walk

 Look at the rain coming down on the ocean

 Great rainbow

 Wonderful picture of how small and insignificant the Royal Hawaiian looks surrounded by all the huge hotels now

 Look way down into the parking lot - that red dot on the left hand side is our car - yes, we are way up there!

 Now you can see it better!

 These were the new steps they were starting to build when we climbed this originally 2 years ago. So we decided to take them. So nice not to have to climb out of the claustrophobic bunker at the top!

 These were the stairs that we did last time....been there, done that!

 Better lighting in the tunnel this time too....didn't even have to take my sunglasses off

 We survived!

This was on the street near the docks - couldn't quite figure it out until we drove under it and looked to the right - and there was a fire station