Oahu (Hawaii part 1)

We made it to Hawaii! Neither Jeran nor I had ever been so we were very excited to go and see the sights and mostly just to relax and get away from most of our worries. Also, there were many great reasons to go working here, each of which by itself could have been enough of a reason to go: business meetings, Jeran getting his PhD, our 10 year anniversary, Jeran's birthday. Take your pick.

We arrived in Honolulu and found our hotel on Waikiki Beach without trouble. The next morning, we hiked Diamond Head, where we saw gorgeous views of the island.

Lighthouse below Diamond Head

Honolulu from Diamond Head

Waikiki Beach/Honolulu from Diamond Head

 Jeran hiking

The rest of that day, I had a business meeting with the few shareholders of my new business, Bit Link Solutions. We met in Honolulu because my business partner, Dane, lives there. After the meeting, Jeran and I went shopping and strolled around Waikiki area, napped, and then walked to Azure, a beachside restaurant to meet the shareholders and spouses for dinner. We were seated right out at the edge of the beach for a sunset dinner. It was SO nice and beautiful. I had Opakapaka (fish) and Jeran had ribeye steak and they were both so delicious.

The next morning I had one more business meeting. Jeran went and hiked the Lanikai Pillboxes, which was apparently pretty grueling, especially at the pace he was going. But it had spectacular views so he said it was worth it.

View from Lanikai pillbox trail

Another view from Lanikai pillbox trail

That afternoon we drove to Laie and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was neat and the presentations were very entertaining and comical. We had a nice prime rib dinner there were we were seated next to a nice Japanese couple who showed us a picture of them at Diamond Head when they were on their Honeymoon 30 years ago. They were so funny, both trying to learn better English so excited to talk a bit with us, and using a translation app to figure out some tough words. We went to the evening show and it was pretty entertaining. Both of us liked the fire dancers and the hippy ones where they have the big frond bunches on their hips and shake them -from Tonga or Samoa, I can't quite remember. That is always impressive. Seriously, how do they do that?!

The Honolulu Temple. It was so lovely and peaceful.

Another shot of the temple from a window in the visitor's center.

The next morning I did some work, then we went shopping and did some price haggling via calculator. They punch in the price and show you, you counter offer by punching in a new price, etc. We found that pretty amusing. Then we went to lunch and to the Valor in the Pacific Monument aka Pearl Harbor. It was neat to read, see, and hear all about the events and conditions surrounding that day and our entry into WWII. Jeran and I have listened to an audio book or two about some of the Pacific naval battle so it made it a bit more real actually seeing the ships and artifacts.

The USS Missouri

The USS Arizona Memorial built over the sunken ship.

For dinner, we went to a popular little restaurant right outside our hotel called Eggs & Things. The line was always out the door and around the corner so we figured it was probably decent and we'd better go before the real dinner rush. Jeran had Portuguese sausage and eggs and I had a Ham and Cheese Omelet and it was perhaps the best omelet I've ever had. They also advertise the fluffiest pancakes and I think they are probably correct. It was very good.

The next morning we got up early and went to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling. We saw the sun rise and were some of the first snorkelers of the day there. We saw lots of fish, an eel, and a turtle. There were tons of sea urchins hiding in every little crevice in the shallow water where you're forced to snorkel just barely above them so that was a bit nerve-wracking. 

Mindy at Hanauma Bay

Sea urchin hiding in the rock. This was a big one, like bowling ball sized, although this picture has no perspective to help there.

Fishy and coral

Lovely Hanauma Bay

After snorkeling, we went back to the hotel, got cleaned up and packed up and checked out. We didn't need to be to the airport for our inter-island flight until the evening so we went to the swap meet at Aloha Stadium and did some shopping, then went to 'Iolani Palace, the Hawaiian royalty's former place of residence. We took a quick audio tour and saw the beautiful architecture and mostly the beautiful woodwork.

'Iolani Palace

Our favorite room was the blue room, the chairs were exquisite. Unfortunately no flash allowed so it's a bit dark.

After this, we were off to the airport to go to the garden island of Kaua'i!