Island Paradise

Tuesday was a pretty fun day. We started with a trip to the Hawai'i temple. It's much smaller than I expected, but it was very pretty inside. We got out of there around lunch time and then we spent the rest of the day touring the entire island. We had intended to go to Hanauma Bay, so we drove along the coast stopping to take pictures along the way. It was a nice slice of paradise. When we got to the bay, we saw the sign that they were closed. It turns out that Hanauma Bay is closed on Tuesdays. Oops! By that time, we were halfway around, so we just kept on going. We drove with the top down on the convertible and had a lovely time of it.

When we got back to the North Shore, we stopped in Hale'iwa to get dinner at what one of the guide books said was the restaurant with the best burger in town. We were NOT disappointed. We had a great dinner, then enjoyed some Hawaiian ice before heading back to the hotel and turning in for the night.

On Wednesday, we got up early and headed to the big city of Honolulu. We started our tour there at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. It's a beautiful memorial and we enjoyed the little boat ride out there and the whole tour for that matter. We then left Pearl Harbor and headed for the stadium. We went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet where you can buy all the tacky tourist souvenirs for half the price of any other shops. We made our way all the way around the place with several purchases in hand.

It didn't take us as long as we expected to do those two things, so we went to see Iolani Palace and then went to the dollar movie (where it was air conditioned) and watched Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was a pretty stupid movie, but entertained us for a while. We went to Aloha tower and Waikiki Beach before heading for our dinner reservation at Hy's Steak House. Our dinner was fantastic (much better than our last steak house dinner at El Gaucho). We both enjoyed our dinners and then had a wonderful drive back to the North shore.

Today, we started with a swim in the ocean. It was so beautiful! The water is fairly warm and there is a bit of a cove here, so the waves aren't too strong. It stormed last night, so there were great waves today. It made our swimming more fun and the roads in the area very crowded. There was a huge difference in the amount of traffic and the boards in the water today over the other days we've been here. We spent a little time in Laie, getting additional souvenirs, and then went all the way out to the West. The towns are quaint and the people are super nice. We drove as far as you can until the road ends and took pictures along the way. On the way back, we stopped so I could get another shaved ice (which I love, but the DH couldn't get into). Down the road a little farther, we stopped for the DH to get a fresh coconut. We were both happy!