Take Two

Sometimes things don't go according to plan.  Take today for example.  Scott woke up not feeling very good.  We thought that it might be the fact that we ate at In and Out burger at 11:00pm last night.  As the day went on, he didn't get any better.  We did go to IKEA and Scott was a trooper the whole time.  He was done after that though.  We checked into our hotel around 2:00pm and haven't left since then.  I did go next door and get a slice of pizza for dinner.  Hopefully tomorrow he will feel better.

So, I have been thinking of a way to close out our Hawaiian vacation photos and I started thinking about when they put outtakes at the end of a movie.  That is always my favorite part.  Below are a few photos that didn't make it to the blog on the first go around.  I would consider these our outtakes.

Scott "riding the waves" on the rock wall.

I have the tickets to go out to the Arizona memorial just as the park ranger makes the announcement that all trips have been cancelled.

I made up for the disappointment of the cancelled tour by finding a group of young sailors.

Sometimes you have to depend on a stranger to take a picture.  Apparently the guy who took this photo didn't think that getting the whole sign in was important.

This was the only picture from the look out that my hair wasn't in my face.  Unfortunatly, it's blowing straight up.

We got a little bored waiting for the Dole Plantation train.

This girl saw Scott taking pictures and she wanted to be in them.  I had no idea until I looked at them later.

This was at the Aloha Stadium flea market.  Sometimes you go along with a picture so you can just move on to the next booth.

I don't know what lens Scott used for this picture, but I have informed him it is not the most flattering.  At least it makes you taller and not wider.

This was payback for the kissing fish picture.

The island of Kauai is overrun with wild chickens.  Scott thought it was funny to chase the chickens while doing the chicken dance.  It was kinda funny.

This was funny.  When he stood behind the sign, it looked like he didn't have any shorts on so I had him take his shirt off.  It was pretty funny.

After hiking to the lookout in the rain, this was the view that we saw (or didn't see).  No wonder no one else was up there.

We never let a little rain hold us back.

After setting up this picture, the waitress showed up just as I pushed the button.

While snapping an underwater photo during our snorkeling, I inhaled a huge amount of water.  I don't think I am laughing, I think I am choking.  Scott was laughing though.

Back to the Mainland

Well, I am sad to say that we are back on the mainland.  We landed in San Francisco about 9:30pm tonight.  It took a while to get our bags and the shuttle to the hotel.  We rolled in here about 11:00pm.  Most of the day was spent traveling.  I did not want to leave the warm island weather.  The only way that Scott could convince me to get on the airplane was to promise me that we could go shopping at IKEA tomorrow.  (sometimes I hate that he knows my weaknesses!)  So here we are.  We are spending three days here, so technically we are still on vacation.

Since it's so late, I don't have any pictures to show for today but I am working on my blog for tomorrow night.  Be sure to check back!

Happy Friday everyone!

Last Chance at Paradise

We woke up this morning with this looming feeling that whatever we want to do here, we have today to do it.  The weather made the decision pretty easy.  It was raining.  By raining, I don't mean raining, I mean RAINING!  Flash flood warnings and all.  We weighed the options and threw caution to the wind.  It's too close to going home to sit in a hotel room all day waiting for the storm to pass.

We threw in a long-sleeve and headed out.  First stop was the Kauai Coffee Company.  The largest coffee plantation in the United States.  We were the first people there, as soon as they opened at 9:00am.  It was so nice.  There was a break in the weather and no one else there so we took the self-guided walking tour.  Because it's not picking season, the fields were really quiet.  It was very educational and a good decision to start the day.

Heading back to our town, we pulled off to see some falls.  The rain came again.  I mean the RAIN came again.  The road was overflowing most of the way up, but we figured that the falls would be incredible.  We were not disappointed.  We used the resources we had with us, our long sleeves to cover our heads and a plastic grocery bag to cover the camera, and we hiked out to get a look.

Next stop was a last chance at snorkeling.  We really didn't think this was going to happen today.  We borrowed some of Erica's gear, debated several times about going, put on our swimsuits, and figured what the heck, why not.  We drove to a beach Erica had suggested yesterday.  The RAIN stopped about 1/2 mile from the beach.  We were able to get some really good snorkeling in and never got rained on.  The best part was that the beach was not crowded at all because of the weather. 

We ended the day with dinner at Erica's house.  We met her friends Rob and Fran and Gwen.  Dinner was great, and the company was even better!  It was a nice way to end out Hawaii vacation.  Be sure to check back again, as I already have some thoughts about my next post.

This is Scott's ideal cup of coffee!

The walking tour of the coffee plantation was really informative.

This is the town where Kiyoko was born.

A little flash flooding never hurt anyone, right?

The rain made the waterfall incredible.  The sound was so loud that we had to yell to be heard.

A family picture before we left.

Sunrise to Sunset

I am going to preface this post by saying that it has been a very long day.  Scott got up early and took pictures of the sunrise right off the beach by our hotel.  We then got cleaned up and went to get Erica.  We headed out one way on the main road.  See the main highway doesn't go all the way around the island, so we headed north as far as the road would go.  We stopped at several places along the way and saw some beautiful beaches. 

We then headed back to our starting point and then followed the road to the other end.  We were able to see the sunset from the other side of the island.  Wow, there are some incredible places on this island!  Erica is the ultimate tour guide.  No question stumped her, and trust me, I tried.  I bet she is at her place right now saying to herself "that Stacy askes a lot of questions!".  I had to take advantage of having her with us.

Below is just a sample of the 700, yes I said 700!, pictures that we took today.  I won't make you sit through all of our vacation photos.

Sunrise from the beach in front of our hotel

The sand crabs make these holes going into the sand and the mounds when they come back out.

One of the crazy one-lane bridges we had to cross on the main highway

We saw several sea turtles swiming off Poi'pu beach.  They were like the whales and were very camera shy.

This guy was not so shy.  He was at the same beach, taking an afternoon nap.

Sunset at the end of a very long, very enjoyable day!

New Island, New Adventures

We had some slight issues at the airport this morning.  See the airline has the strict rule that your check-in bag cannot weigh more than 50 pounds.  Yeah, we knew that we were pushing it this monring when we were sitting on our bags to get them zipped before we even left the hotel.  We stepped up to the scale and Scott went first.  56 pounds.  Even if we took six pounds worth of stuff out, where were we going to put it?  Scott paid the extra $25 dollars.  I stepped up.  56 pounds.  Now the "nice" lady behind the counter said that if we took six pounds out of my bag and put it in Scott's bag, we would only have to pay one overweight fee.  Sounded like a good idea.  Except, how in the world were we going to fit anymore into Scott's bag.  We gave it the old college try and after a little magic, and a lot of muscle, we were able to make it work.  Then the "nice" lady behind the counter encouraged us to purchase another bag for our return trip.  Apparently checking a second bag is much cheaper than have one overweight bag.  Good to know, now!

We made it safe and sound to Kauai.  The flight took longer to board and unboard then we were actually in the air.  There are not so many people on this island.  Things seem much more casual and layed back.  We checked into our hotel and then headed up to see Erica.  Her place is so cool.  It sits up high, overlooking a valley with a river running through it.  I would never get anything done with a view like that.  I would spend most of my time staring out the big windows.

Tomorrow is a trip around the island, with Erica as our tour guide.  I am so excited to see the beauty of this place.

Come on baby, you can get it to close!

Kauai is a very beautiful place!

Not quite as big as the Honolulu airport.

Everything on this island is so green.

Scott let me pick out the rental car.  I wanted this one because it was different from all the Toyotas on the lot.

Erica looked beautiful when we visited her.  I am really looking forward to our tour tomorrow.

We spotted this little guy while we were at Erica's house.  I expected more lizards, but I haven't seen any other besides this one.

Sitting and Waiting

We are sitting and waiting at the airport in Honolulu for our flight to Kauai.  We left early thinking there would be traffic and a wait for the shuttle bus from the rental car place.  As luck would have it, there were not problems and we arrived at the airport almost three hours early!  Ugh.  The worst part about today is that we had to actually put shoes on. No flip flops this morning.  Our bags are pushing the weight limit so we had to wear our most heavy clothes.  I'll tell you more about that later.  I think our plane just arrived.  Hopefully we will be boarding soon.

A day of lows and highs

Happy Easter Everyone!

This morning we headed out early to get some early morning snorkeling in before the beach got crazy. We went to Hanauma Bay. This place is so popular that you have to pay to park and pay to get in. You also have to watch a 10 minute video before they let you go down to the beach about how the reef was created, the types of fish you will see, and what is happening to the reef because of humans and the environment. It rained off and on the whole time we were there. It was interesting to be floating in the ocean while being rained on. We did see some pretty cool fish. No turtles though. We are holding out hope that we will see them when we are on Kauai with Erica.


We returned out snorkel gear and headed back to the hotel to do a weeks worth of laundry. FYI, I did pack way too many clothes, but I will never confess that to Scott. He can’t know that he was right about that.

We picked up Kiyoko and headed up to Puualii Place where Scott’s grandparents old house is. The drive up the hill was green and beautiful, and very curvy. I am not exaggerating when I say curvy! Once we got up to the house, we knocked on the neighbor’s house, who were the neighbors when Scott’s grandparents lived there, but nobody answered. We decided not to knock on the door and ask for a tour of the house. We opted for taking some pictures and moving on. We headed down the hill and back into town for dinner at a very authentic Chinese restaurant. It was such a relief to arrive at the restaurant. I sat in the backseat of the car and watch Scott take direction from a 96 year old woman who hasn’t driven in 20 years. She kept saying “turn left here” and when Scott would turn left, she would say “oh, I don’t know”. He would ask her if that was right and she would say “Sure, sure”. We dropped Kiyoko off back at her apartment and ended up back at our hotel to pack up for our flight tomorrow. I am sad that this first week is over, but I am really excited about meeting Scott’s sister Erica.

Scott explaining where we are going once we get in the water.  I don't know about you, but this look did not make me feel very reassured!

Hanauma Bay and the reefs that we snorkeled around today.

It took a while to feel comfortable, but I really did have a great time.

The disposable underwater camera did not do these fish justice!

Diamond Head and Honolulu (in the rain) from up by Scott's grandparents house.

Scott's grandparent's house.

Kiyoko showing us some of her latest paintings.  Like a true artist, she was not happy with them and plans to start over on them.  We thought they we absolutly beautiful.

Kiyoko showed us an article from her 1950 one-woman art show.

The plumaria tree in Scott's grandparents front yard. 

Sun and Fun (and some good deals!)

Wow, where did the day go? It seems like we just woke up and the day is already over. We started by stopping by Leonards bakery to pick up some malasadas (basically they are sugar donuts) and then going to the big weekly swap meet at the Aloha Stadium. This is the same stadium where they play the annual pro-bowl. There were over 700 vendors. (really, there were about five different vendors repeated over and over again). Needless to say we did find some deals on some stuff we really didn’t need.


We headed back and stopped at Snorkel Bob’s to pick up our snorkel rental gear. After a nap, we headed to Ala Moana beach for some water fun. Scott is an old pro at the snorkeling bit so he had to take a few minutes to teach me some tricks. We started at the shallow end, with all of the kids with their water wings one. (Secretly, I was jealous they had the water wings.) Once we got going, I really had a good time. We are going to go to another beach in the morning for some more.

Oh, and to the 14 pounds that I spent three months working so hard to lose before we left, don’t worry, I have found you in the margaritas, and the Cheesecake Factory, and Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville, and the shave ice, and the malasadas. Diet starts again next week!

Not many pictures from today. We did take some with the underwater waterproof camera. Who knows if those will even turn out.

Breakfast at Leonards.

Really, it's deep fried and covered in sugar. Make it bacon flavored and you have the trifecta!!!

Our tickets to spend money on swap meet crap we don't need and can't figure out how we are going to get home!

They are in the process of working on the stadium for next year's Pro-Bowl.

A lap around the Island

We started out the morning with the plan to drive around the Island. We left the hotel about 9:00am. The drive around the island is approximately 110 miles. A few hours right? Wrong! We rolled back in at 7:00pm. Granted we made a lot of stops along the way.


First stop, the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It was drizzling when we arrived and there weren’t many people around. That was nice because we didn’t have to wait to ride the Pineapple Express. After the 20 minute train ride through the plantation, we walked around the grounds. By the time we left the parking lot was full, including the section that held all of the tourist buses.

Next stop was Waialua. This included a stop at the Old Sugar Plantation Mill. This was the oldest existing sugar mill until it closed in 1996. Today, most of the buildings that are still standing house shops. We also hiked down the beach to old beach house that Scott’s family used to own. No one was home so we took advantage of recreating some of the pictures that we have from 40 years ago. I can’t wait to compare them to the old ones. Scott also took a few minutes to swim in the ocean in front of the house. There was no one else around, which was a rare treat.

We headed on to Haleiwa. A must for all tourists is a stop at Matsumoto’s for a famous shaved ice. The line was long, but it was worth the wait. We stopped at a few beaches along the way. This included some of the beaches that Scott used to boogie board at. At the Halona Blow Hole, we spotted whales off the coast.

All in all, it was a long day, but we saw so much. Thank goodness we take a lot of pictures because I can’t remember everywhere we went today.

Waiting in line to ride the Pineapple Express Train through the Dole Plantation

How can you pass up this type of photo opportunity

They make these amazing pineapple cutters!  You do have to be careful because the warning on the back says that they are sharp.

We have this exact picture, only it was taken about 40 years ago.  It's one of many that we recreated today at the beach house.

Scott has been talking about Matsumoto's since before we left for our trip.  There was no way we were missing this even if it meant standing in another line for a half hour.

A stop to look at "Chinaman's Hat".

One thing about trying to take a picture of a whale, as soon as you put the camera down, the whale will come up.  Wait with the camera ready to go and you won't see anything.  Trust me, there was a whale here a few seconds ago.