Since I have an ample amount of Hawaii pictures, I've decided to divide my blog entries into sections of activities we did (in order) during my trip to Oahu. This blog will has pictures from the first few days on the trip as we got settled in.
I arrived in Oahu at 10:15 am Saturday morning. I had an empty seat next to me on the plane from Okinawa to Tokyo which was nice for the two hour ride. I arrived at the new airport in Tokyo, Nagoya which was very big and clean. My 1.5 hour layover went by quickly, enough time to grab a snack and check in. My flight from Tokyo to Oahu was 7 hours and went by rather quickly. A lot faster than the 16 hour flight from L.A. to Okinawa!
A shuttle picked me up in front of the airport and took me to the rental car lot where I signed the paperwork for the rental car that came with my moms vacation package.
Our rental car, very comfortable and great gas milage (which came in handy each time we got lost for miles and miles!).
I had already written down directions from the airport to the hotel but was given a nice map by the rental company to help me find my way. I found the hotel without a problem, about a 20 minute drive from the airport.
The hotel was pretty, lots of glass windows and off of a main street. The perimeter of the hotel was busy with lots of touristy activities. Since it was only 11 am and check in time wasn't until 3 pm, the hotel told me I could pay$30.00 to check in early or come back at 3. I decided to go to the store and get some lunch then come back to check in later. I found a Safeway about 10 minutes from the hotel, had some lunch at the deli and bought some snacks.
A view of our hotel from the street
The weather was beautiful, sunny but not too hot. After lunch, I walked around the park adjacent to our hotel. Ala Moana is a huge park with lots of homeless people sleeping in tents! Not the cleanest place, but the last half of the park is along the beach and is filled with people using boats and jet skis.
I finally got checked into the hotel at 3 pm. It was a nice, big room. The entire backside of our room was floor to ceiling glass windows with a view of the marina.
We also had a view of the swimming floor from our room. The swimming pool was freezing cold and very windy on the deck since it was on the 5th floor. Nice place to lay out for some good sun though.
Each floor of the hotel had glass windows, here the the view from our floor.
We had a great view of the nearby mall from our floor window...5 minutes walking distance to the mall. I was able to visit there a few times and was SO very happy to eat American food and buy American clothes. It's been way too long!
After checking into the hotel, I changed into my swimsuit and took the hotel shuttle to Waikiki Beach which was an 10 minute shuttle ride. The beach water was very blue and warm!
There was a wedding reception at the hotel in back of where I was laying on the beach. It was a beautiful setup!
After being up for 30 hours, I knew I couldn't go to sleep before picking my mom up at the airport...that would make me even more tired. I ate dinner at the local mall and headed to the airport to pick up my mom at 9 pm. I found the airport without a problem but the airport signs were a bit confusing to say the least. I drove around in the airport for 30 minutes, parked in the wrong parking structure and was told there is only one parking structure and it's for Hawaiian airline pickup/drop off. I continued to drive by American Airlines to look for my mom but she was not there, so I parked in the Hawaiian airlines structure and walked 10 minutes to the American Airline terminal. I found a payhone on the way and called my mom. She said she has just walked out. I was happy to finally see my mom waiting with her luggage. By this time it was 10 pm, we went back to the room, unpacked, showered and went to sleep at midnight. I was up for a total of 36 hours and slept in until noon the next day!
On Sunday, we drove around the island exploring. We went to the north shore, grocery shopping to stock up our refrigerator with lunch foods and snacks and had a seafood dinner at Red Lobster which was next door to our hotel.
On Monday, we drove back to north shore and went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Not exactly like the one in Okinawa. This one had a train ride, the worlds largest maze and a gift shop. There were a lot less free samples but we did get a sample of fresh pineapple. We ate pineapple ice cream and rode the pineapple express. It was interesting to hear the story of Dole and how he started out with a single pineapple stand and now has world recognized products.
We saw gardens with pineapple from various countries.
Pineapple farm.
Moms top matched some of the plants.
Red soil that the pineapples are planted in.
We couldn't resist.
Riding the pineapple express was enough for us, we didn't do the maze. It was interesting to see that it was the world's largest maze though.
I couldn't get the whole maze in a picture but here is part of it. There is a screen in front of the maze that shows the time of people who go through the maze the quickest. The top time we saw was a little over 5 minutes.
It was nice to explore the plantation and learn some history.
Since we were already in the north shore, we stopped at Hale'iwa Beach Park and took a few pictures of the gorgeous ocean. It was very windy, overcast and rainy so I decided not to go in the water.
We ate lunch at Macky's shrimp truck. In the downtown area of north shore, there are a bunch of shrimp trucks that sell fresh sprimp! Everyone said we had to try at least one meal at the shrimp truck, so we stopped at this one which had a sign saying it was the #1 shrimp truck.
Menu. You could chose from coconut, spicy or regular shrimp with sides of rice, green salad and pineapple.
Mom and I decided to share a plate since it looked like a lot of food. We had the regular shrimp which was DELICIOUS! Definitely the best meal we had during the trip. The shrimp was huge and fresh! Mmmm, just thinking about it makes me want to go back already.
Here is mom ordering for us.
I forgot to take a picture before we started eating, here is our plate after a few yummy bites.
After lunch, we stopped at Matsumoto general store for some shaved ice. Apparently, this is the most popular spot on the island to get shaved ice. We had drove by the day before and the line was out the door. This time, the line wasn't as long, maybe because of the cooler weather.
There was a varitey of flavors to choose from. The whole beans in shaved ice is very popular in Okinawa and it seems to be in Hawaii too. We passed on the beans and had "regular" shaved ice.
Mom has strawberry, grape & cherry.
We got the small and it was still A LOT of shaved ice! Neither of us were able to finish all of it.
I had lemon, pineapple & coconut.
That night, we ate at Chart House for dinner. I have never hear of Chart House but my mom said it's a chain. The restaurant was walking distance from our hotel and had a great marina view.
View from our room during sunset. I can't get away from these gorgeous sunsets =)
This concludes this portion of my Oahu trip. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and were given some insight on how our trip went.
I got in at 11 pm Sunday night and had to wake up for work at 6 am Monday morning. I was just finally getting used to the time change when I arrived back to Okinawa (go figure). Monday was a long, tiring day but very much worth it! It was happy to see all of my students, I missed seeing them. It got me thinking about how in almost 7 weeks, I won't see them again. I guess it will be bittersweet =) I went to sleep at 8:30 pm Monday night and felt much better on Tuesday. We had a staff meeting yesterday and this is going to be a crazy final 7 weeks of school! Next week the students take state tests all week (we give our students the U.S. standardized test which includes questions about past presidents and states!). Next Friday night our school puts on a talent show, which the teachers will be working. The week after that is spirit week and then the spring concert! I talked to Rocky about a few last things I'd like to see on the island before leaving. We are going to look at the calendar and plan a few weekends of tour days. I sent home the last of my extra things, including my last few sets of dishes with my mom. I am down to the bare minimum here and very optimistic about packing my luggage in June. My next posting will be about our Hawaiian Luau =) Looking forward to a relaxing weekend. No more visitors are scheduled, so I plan to do a lot of resting and little exploring over the next seven weeks. Hope your all doing well!
XOXO
Kristen
P.S. My principal informed me that sayonara means that you are not coming back, like you are going for good. Most Japanese people do not use the term sayonara for that reason. Oops, guess I can't say that again until June!
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