A few months ago Raimo got scheduled for a work conference in Hawaii over spring break, and I started bugging him about letting me come along. So eventually he booked me a ticket and his mom kindly agreed to come stay with the kids for 5 days. We left very early Sunday morning while the kids were still sleeping, and got on our plane. We were both exhausted that day and felt nervous about the kids. We would have liked to bring them, but aren’t staying long enough for it to really be worth it since we’ll only have 3 full days. Plus it is a really nice break for me and a chance to spend some time with Raimo. I brought a book and read 1/4 of it on the 5 hour plane ride. I also kept falling asleep. I think Raimo got a little bored. Anyway, when we landed it was only 10:30 in the morning, and we were starving for lunch. We got the rental car figured out and headed for lunch at Mama’s Fish as recommended by the rental car associate. It turned out to be quite an expensive lunch! But the restaraunt overlooked the water and it was really very beautiful and everything we ate was delicious.
I had a piña colada and mahi mahi stuffed with lobster and crab, and Raimo had duck. It seems important enough to mention because it really was delicious.
Whaler’s Village had a lot of outlets and fun shopping, and we picked up some pizza for Raimo and frozen yogurt for me. It kept drizzling rain here and there. We walked back with the stars above and the waves crashing right beside us. Raimo said it was his favorite part of the day. We got to chat and hold hands and even laid in a hammock for a while.
(I did finish that book on the trip–400 pages in 4 days! I haven’t read a book in so long!)
I also went to the Hyatt Residence next door to us to check out their pools since ours was so crowded, and got in their infinity pool overlooking the ocean. It’s only 3 feet deep so I could lean over the edge and keep reading with the ocean right in view. Raimo got done early at 11 and joined me. We went and made some plans at our activities center, then got some loaded pork nachos at one of the restaraunts.
We walked a little ways down to the beach and laid in the shade and listened to the ocean. We were both still pretty tired. We went back to the room and showered and headed to our sunset cruise on a catamaran.
But we just bought a couple of hats. Raimo’s face is already burned after the first day. There are so many fun beachy things I wish I could buy. So many cute beach-themed clothes. And of course they have everything in miniature size too- little girl Roxy sandals and outfits, little boy Quicksilver wetsuits, Hawaiian dresses and swimsuits! There are so many swimsuits- my favorite thing to buy! But we walked back home (another coconut frozen yogurt for me) and looked at the stars and I fell asleep by 9 o’clock (Midnight our time).
We made a stop at Whaler’s Village, then out to lunch at a hole in the wall place called Fish Market, just a bit North of us. The weather was perfect!!
It was cheap and good- I got shrimp tacos and Raimo got a kalua pork burrito, and their pico de guyo was delicious! Then we went to a beach called Kapalua. It was a small bay, and was supposedly a better area for swimming and snorkeling. We got in the water (not easily- it wasn’t as warm as I like it to be) and we baked in the sun for a bit. There were a lot of families with kids there. It’s a good place for little ones, but I was hoping to find one of those quieter white sand beaches. We moved to some shady grass for a bit, then took a walk along a path overlooking the water.
It was super packed with people, but we managed to get a good seat since there were just two of us. We had some kind of tropical juice (the only ones with no rum or alcohol). We went up on stage and learned some hula. We listened to the host sing some beautiful Hawaiian songs. The host gave a Hawaiian prayer, and we went through the buffet and got dinner, then dessert. My favorite thing was the terriyaki chicken and the warm bread pudding. Raimo visited with our table mates from Maine and Washington. Then my favorite part of the day: the dancing! It was so beautiful. The girls were so graceful and did all the traditional things, and the boys did a bunch of dances too with chants and slapping thighs and spears, and a fire dance at the end.
It was extremely helpful and kept the long drive pretty interesting. As we got into the first leg of the drive, we stopped to see twin falls, which was roaring because it was pouring rain. Luckily I had brought our sneakers along with flip flops, and we ended up using them all day. Every time I stepped out of the car my hair was soaked. Should have brought the ponchos.
There was moss and greenery on everything, including on the beautiful bridges we kept crossing. I didn’t get a picture, but they were built in the 1920’s and are so beautiful.
With the rain, there was lots of water trickling down the rock walls and cliffs.
We also sometimes came out on cliffs looking out over the ocean. Because of the rain, a lot of the views were a bit hard to see, but on a clear day I bet the ocean views are amazing.
Again, it was so striking seeing the bright blue, huge waves against the black.
There were big sweeping views from the lookout points, and the caves were pretty cool to see too.
and then Homoa beach, which was small and beautiful.
That was an area where we both agreed we’d love to have some property. There were some really nice Hawaiian- looking homes there like this one.
The guide told us stories about the history of Hawaii all the way back and it was very interesting and made the time pass quickly. There were fewer cars on the road and we were able to go a bit faster. We didn’t get back to the hotel till about 7:30 pm, and we went straight to dinner and had sushi and a yummy dessert that included brownie and banana and macadamia nut ice cream. It was another fairly early night. I was exhausted from the day and HIKING.
