Hawaii Part 1

Our trip has left us with mixed feelings...the good times were amazing, but the not so good times were...not so good. I might have to post the trip in more than one post (it might take some time...and plus not seem so overwhelming to read).

wednes DAY 1 [no more planes!]

We were full of excitement getting on the plane for Hawaii.

But after the flight all we wanted to do was sleep. Fortunately we had to wait to get our rental car, a nightmare to come. It was all prepaid, or so we thought...we had to pay airport fees, taxes, etc. plus it was going to cost $18 a night to park it at our hotel, which was out of parking spaces. We found somewhere cheaper about a 7 minute walk down the road.

thurs DAY 2 [things are looking up]

dole plantation This is a must do if you ever go to Hawaii! I had so much fun here! I got to open a fresh water clam and get a pearl! It was a trick to get you to buy the jewelry to mount the pearl in...but we wouldn't give in to buying a $120 necklace to put our $8 pearl in. The sales lady was a little bitter.

The best part though was seeing how the pineapples grow and all the different kinds of pineapple.

pupukea beach & snorkeling Our first snorkeling stop turned out to be awesome. The sand was pretty much the best sand I have ever sat in. Usually you want to avoid the sand and try your hardest to keep it out of your bathing suit, but the sand at Pupukea was like sesame seed sized crushed up sea shells--no dirt! It was comfortable to lay out in and then you could just brush it off, no problem!

We saw tons of butterfly fish, parrot fish, and other fish that I have no idea what they are called. None were the least bit scared of people! I was surprised with that considering it was a pretty small beach.

We lost our keys at Pupukea, and we had left our wallets and cell phones in the car. Crap. We searched for the keys all over, dumping our stuff out of our bags over and over again and retracing our steps. No luck.

Our car was still there--with a note on the dashboard to call Michael's cell phone for the key location. -Is someone holding our keys ransom? They found our keys stole our wallets and cell phones and want us to call for our "key location"?- We flag down a cop, he calls Michael's phone -no answer- and the car place, and the rental company sends out a key from Waikiki to the North Shore (opposite end of the island). As we wait for the taxi with our key,we are freaking out...we have to cancel credit cards, how do we get back on the plane without ID?, we have nothing! After 45-60 minutes of a racing heartbeat and waiting to know what the real damage we had incured (our wallets and such were in the trunk...) a man walks up to us that had found our key! He had left a message on Michael's cell phone (why didn't he say so!) where he had left the key (on top of the rear right wheel--the only one Michael didn't check). He found the number on our rental agreement papers.

It was proof to me that there are still some good people out there. Our wallets and cell phones were safe and sound in our trunk. We tried to cancel the taxi that was coming to us, but we had to pay for that. $115 and 45 minutes later we had a second pair of keys and were on our way.

birth stone We didn't have time for much after the tiny escapade of losing our keys, so we just made a little stop off the side of the road on our way back to Waikiki. People would leave bananas and things...I have no idea why...

whew. That's a lot for one post...more to come of our 8 day vacation!