Tag: oahu

One of My Favorite Places on Earth

As many of you know, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to the island of Oahu this past summer after my high school graduation. This past week was a rough week of tests and speeches, so during one of my study breaks, I took some time to look through my camera roll on my phone and I stumbled across some pictures from my Hawaii trip.

It was at that moment that I realized how much I LOVED Hawaii and how excited I am to be able to travel there in the future. Out of the many places I visited while in Hawaii, Byodo-In temple was definitely a favorite and I would consider it one of my favorite places on Earth, as of right now at least.

I remember first arriving at the temple and thinking it was going to be some small, so-so, meh kinda visit. Boy was I wrong! The scenery was gorgeous, the temple itself was gorgeous. Even the swans and frogs were gorgeous! Like who calls a frog pretty?

The peace and just overall feeling of the area was so peaceful and calming and with all of the stress I dealt with this past week, it was wonderful to find a way to relax myself. I bet a lot of you can relate in some way. Remembering a relaxing time or a calming place you’ve been can really help actually calm you down!

Everything about Byodo-In temple was just magical and just thinking about the feelings and calmness I felt there make me so content and at peace and I love it. I really hope to visit again in the near future. I’m not quite sure when but I know I’ll make it happen. Have a great week everyone. 🙂

April 7, 2019
The Last Two Days of My Hawaiian Trip

I hope you all have been enjoying these posts about my trip to Oahu. Sorry if there hasn’t been a lot of variety the past month and a halfish, I just didn’t want my posts about Hawaii to basically be novels. Some of them still are, but that’s fine. Anyway. Onto the last two days in Hawaii!

June 1st was the day we went out to Pearl Harbor. We originally wanted to go out to the USS Arizona Memorial but unfortunately, it was closed, and I think it’s still closed due to structural issues. Despite this, we got a tour of the harbor which was still very, very cool. And even before that, there was a 20 minute movie on Pearl Harbor and the day it was attacked. Before my visit to the harbor, I learned about the tragedy on December 7, 1941, but actually being there taught me so much more. It was extremely powerful and uplifting and patriotic to be at Pearl Harbor. It was fascinating but also horrifying to learn about how the Japanese planned their attack on Pearl Harbor and then attacked. It was also saddening to learn about all of the lives lost that day. While we were on the boat tour, our guide told us oil still leaks from the USS Arizona which lies directly below its memorial. She then told us that some say the oil is the ship’s own “black tears” and that the ship will continue crying until the last of the USS Arizona’s men and survivors pass away. I thought that comment itself was extremely powerful and shows the impact that the attack on Pearl Harbor had on the United States. Please visit Pearl Harbor if you ever go to Oahu. Just do it.

After our visit to the harbor, the rest of the day was pretty chill. We finished up the day with some shopping in the area surrounding the Hilton Hawaiian Village, another walk along the beach, a successful hunt for seashells, and the Friday night fireworks put on by Hilton. Fun fact about seashells: You can take seashells and other non-living or broken off pieces of coral from the Hawaiian islands and that’s all you can take. If you take sand, that’s considered disrespectful to the motherland and some people have even sent sand back to Hawaii because they’ve experienced bad luck after taking sand. It was so sad that our trip was coming to a close!

On our last day on Oahu, my aunt and uncle took me to this cute little breakfast and lunch place called Eggs N’ Things. They had the most amazing chocolate chip pancakes. And to top off those pancakes they had this really good coconut syrup. Mmmmmmm. That was a good last breakfast in Hawaii. After filling our bellies, we went to the ABC Store one last time, walked along the beach again, and then were off to the airport. My trip to Oahu was the most magical, amazing, and wonderful trip ever. I had the best time with my aunt and uncle and I’m so thankful to them for all we did. Oahu, I intend to be back. Not sure when, but I know I’ll be coming back. Still writing about this trip now makes me miss it and also reflect on all the fun I had. I find myself looking at the pictures I took and watching the videos I recorded A LOT. Something I also loved about Hawaii was how my allergies and asthma were practically non-existent. Being in such a humid and wonderful place did wonderful things for my body. I also felt like I had so much more energy and stamina and I could just go and go forever! What a great time. 🙂 Like I said, I’ll be back Hawaii! Have a wonderful week everyone. Aloha Oahu!

July 8, 2018
Stories about Snorkeling

I originally thought about calling this blog Snorkel Sunday, but I decided that wouldn’t really make sense because I snorkeled on a Thursday, so that’s that. On to the actual blog now!

My aunt and uncle found a place on Oahu that rents out snorkel equipment and a great tour place that offers snorkel tours. The place we got our gear from was called Snorkel Bob’s and they were great at making sure our fins, goggles, and actual snorkel were of good quality and that we felt comfortable. I highly recommend them if you’re ever wanting to snorkel and don’t have your own stuff. You can rent stuff from them for a day and I believe up to a week. The company that we got our dolphin snorkel tour through was Eō Wai’anae Tours and they had a little shuttle that took us to and from the place we snorkeled, which was on the west side of the island. Once we got with our group and on our boat, our guides handed us our life jackets which looked more like large floating bananas and then drove the boat out quite a way and located a dolphin pod. They told us to get all of our gear on, put anti-fog in our goggles, and basically threw us into the ocean. Just kidding, we all lined up and jumped off the boat in groups of two. When I first hit the water, I thought I was drowning. I seriously thought it was the end of the road for me. I was maybe a foot below the surface and then I did surface, my breathing slowed and I was ok for the rest of the trip. Two of our guides were out with us in the water and if they ever saw something in the water, they told us and we all did our best to swim that way and see. While we were in the water, one of the guides told us that the dolphin pod was moving around and I put my face down in the water. Maybe three feet from me, there was a dolphin! It was so cute! He was a little far from the rest of his buddies but he stared at me, clicked, and then swam off. It was the cutest thing to see. The rest of his pod was swimming below and I remember watching one of the dolphins twirling and just having a good time. That was a very special encounter. After spending some time around the dolphins, we swam back to the boat and were off to our next location. In the next spot, we saw some turtles and other pretty little fish. It was cool to watch the turtles surface for air and then swim back down and live their lives. One of our guides was a marine biologist from Australia and she had such a cool accent! While we were in the water here, she handed me some food and let me feed the fish! It was a really weird feeling to be surrounded by fish like that but it was another fun experience. After several more minutes out with the turtles and other fish, our snorkeling time was done and it was back to the boat for lunch and time at this beautiful bay, our last stop. Once we arrived, we were treated to a burgers and chip lunch and orange guava juice. The guides also put out a paddleboard, kayak, and let people jump off the top of the boat too! I definitely did not jump off the top of the boat, but my uncle and I tried our hands at kayaking which turned out to be a lot more tiring than I thought it would be. It was still very fun though. Snorkeling is another activity I would love to do again. I loved the feeling of the waves while I swam against them and I felt so happy watching all the fish and dolphins and turtles live their lives. The ocean floor was about 30-40 ft. below us and that was also pretty cool to think about too. The ocean is truly amazing.

In general I really enjoyed my snorkelling adventure even though I was genuinely concerned for my life at the beginning. Once I got used to how to breathe and swim around in my flippers, snorkelling was easy peasy. Something I really appreciated about the company that we went through was that they didn’t attempt to lure in the dolphins or turtles or truly any of the creatures. Our guides encouraged us to give the sea creatures their space unless they approached us. I felt like our guides truly knew what they were doing too which made me more confident and safe the entire trip.

Shortly after our snorkeling extravaganza, we headed back to Waikiki Beach for a submarine trip with Atlantis Submarines. For the submarine trip, we were on the larger of the company’s two submarines which can seat over 60 people. Everyone got their own seat and window on the submarine which adds to the experience. Being on a submarine was completely different from what I thought it was going to be. I thought I would feel the pressure and feel claustrophobic but I really didn’t feel either. I was thinking there would be more color than there was but once you get far down enough, everything is blue. Most of the fish and other sea creatures we saw appeared blue or silvery and if they were fish with another color, those colors appeared very dull or dark. While under the sea, we also saw another dolphin and turtle. Oh what a day! The farthest down we got was 112 ft. I honestly don’t know how many people can say they’ve done that! Atlantis Submarines built several different artificial reefs with a small plane, ship, and other materials to attract fish and other ocean creatures. It was very cool to see the different fish interact and do their own things. Overall, the submarine trip was fun, but I would not do it again or necessarily recommend it to you all. Seeing life under the sea was cool but it was hard to listen to our guide or truly enjoy what was going on because there were so many obnoxious children screaming and hollering about the fish and the toys they wanted. Ugh. I would’ve definitely enjoyed the submarine more if it weren’t for those kids and for everyone out that with kids under like 6 or 7, I beg of you to save yourself and NOT take your children on a submarine like this. People will thank you for that.

Our day playing with water ended with a delicious and unforgettable dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Oh my goodness, I’ve never had a better steak or mashed potatoes. Ruth’s Chris is more on the pricey side but oh boy is it worth it. They also had an amazing bread pudding that’s more like a muffin or cake than an actual bread pudding. So good! I really enjoyed spending time with my aunt and uncle that day, and eating at a restaurant like Ruth’s Chris was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Wowza that was a long post. I hope you’re all still awake or reading at this point. Next week will sadly be my last post on my Hawaii trip. 🙁 It’ll be ending on a good note though! I’m talking about Pearl Harbor about some really good pancakes next Sunday. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July. Have a good one! 🙂

July 1, 2018
Curling Into Coconuts at Kualoa Ranch

Coconut day! I mean ziplining day! There’s this really cool ranch that’s more on the north shore of Oahu called Kualoa Ranch. At Kualoa Ranch there have been a multitude of great movies and TV shows filmed which is super cool. I even got to see sets for the new Jurassic World movie! In addition to that, they’ve got ziplining, horseback riding, ATV tours, and so many other fun activities to do. Kualoa Ranch is definitely a fun and beautiful place to visit if you’re ever on Oahu.

I think we arrived at least 30-45 minutes before our scheduled ziplining tour just to get settled in before our bus took us up to zipline base camp. While we waited we played with the horses, watched a little documentary on Kualoa Ranch, enjoyed seeing the chickens everywhere (ok, maybe that was just me) and relaxed. Funny story now. There was this newly-wed Korean couple that came over to the horses while I was with them and the husband really wanted a picture of his wife near the horses. She got fairly close but you could tell she was afraid of the horse and then the horse made a little noise and she jumped and screamed. I felt kind of bad for her but it was still really funny because here I was, almost face to face with this one horse. After filling out some waivers and other forms, it was finally go time! We hopped on this little bus that had no windows and made our way up to base camp. At base camp, we were given a safety briefing and fitted into our harnesses and helmets. We had three wonderful guides who were extremely experienced and educated on ziplining. The girls we had made our trip very fun and I felt very safe the entire time. Finally it was zipline time! In the valley where we ziplined, there were 14 lines, I believe, and two suspension bridges. There were also a couple of short hikes in between lines but it wasn’t anything impossible to do. My aunt, uncle, and I were with a group of six others which was nice because it kept things close and a lot less overwhelming. Remember that Korean couple from earlier? Yes! They were in our group too! We were first introduced to ziplining on a 100 ft. line and then as we went, the lines got longer and faster and more fun. Each line was named after a native plant that was being grown in the area or just had a certain meaning that was special to our surroundings. I feel like that made me much more aware of just how beautiful the land around me was. At some of the lines, there were photo opportunities and it was pretty fun to strike a pose and be silly while practically flying through the jungle. There were even a few games we got to do as we ziplined. At one of the stations, we made bets for who would make it to the other end first and at another, we tried to throw kuikui nuts into a bucket below the lines which was super difficult, might I add. When we got to the longest line, in order to make it all the way, our guides told us to curl into coconuts (display title and roll credits, haha). This way we would make it all the way and hopefully not have to be rescued on the line. I almost made it the entire way. I got stuck just before the rope our guides were using to pull us in to the platform. Yay for me. When we walked across the suspension bridges, we were hooked to a wire above us and we were allowed to rock, bounce, and sway around as much as we wanted. That made walking across a lot harder but it was SO MUCH FUN! It was honestly sad when our trip came to an end. The thrill of spinning around in the air and just flying over the gorgeous landscape was a blast. I didn’t have to worry about braking or getting myself attached to the line and the ladies that guided my group did an amazing job with us. I could definitely see myself ziplining again and I hope if I get the chance to do it again, it’s at Kualoa Ranch. Once our time at the ranch was done, it was around lunch time and we were STARVING. We headed back to Waikiki and had a big lunch to fill our very empty tanks. Ziplining: another great way to make memories, try something new, and have a blast. I loved it so much! We then spent a good amount of time on the beach relaxing, swimming, and also trying out an aquabike! I think we rented one for 30 minutes and then just biked out to sea. There were these two guys that insisted on racing my aunt and I and they got their butts whooped. End of story. 🙂 It was honestly a lot of work to move those pedals around when we were going against the waves. It was a fun little activity though just as something chill and relaxing to do on the beach.

I hope you all are keeping cool. Ugh, here in Colorado it’s so dry and hot and I’m really not into that type of weather so it’s going great from here, haha. See ya next Sunday for a post about my snorkeling adventure. Have a great week everyone! 🙂

June 24, 2018
History Day in Oahu

Day three of my Hawaiian trip turned out to be one of the most helpful, interesting, and insightful days of my trip to Oahu. On Sunday’s agenda, we had Bishop Museum, Queen Emma’s, and also Pali Point. Here’s how my history-filled May 27th in Hawaii was!

We were up bright and early to be the first people at Bishop Museum. We just wanted to avoid a crowd, plus with so many more things to do during the day, we wanted to ensure we had plenty of time to do everything! At Bishop Museum, we learned about the first Hawaiians, their royal family and Hawaiian culture. I loved reading more about the royal family and all of their crazy connections and contributions to the islands. One of the more interesting things they had on display were these giant hair necklaces. Members of the royal family typically possessed these thick necklaces of finely braided hair that belonged to their ancestors. Honestly, kind of gross but still very interesting! Bishop Museum was pretty cool, but honestly it’s not a place I would recommend. I just found myself bored there pretty quick. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, it just wasn’t my favorite. There was a lot of stuff to read and I’m more of an interactive person so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re looking into museums on Oahu. Bishop Museum did help make being at Queen Emma’s much easier though, because I knew the backstory of Queen Emma and her husband, King Kamehameha IV and just a little bit more about Hawaiian history. In Honolulu, Queen Emma had a small summer home, and we had the chance to tour it. Queen Emma was raised by a doctor and his wife and grew up wanting to take care of people. She eventually married her husband, making her the queen of Hawaii. They had a son together, Prince Albert, and he unfortunately died when he was about four years old. 🙁 During her reign, Queen Emma and her husband created the Queen’s Hospital, which I believe offered free healthcare to native Hawaiians and made good connections with Queen Victoria back in England. Queen Emma was an extremely talented, inspiring, hard-working, and genuine soul and I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to learn more about her life story. And to wrap up our day of history, we visited Pali Point. Pali Point is this point on of the mountains on Oahu where the first king of Hawaii, King Kamehameha the Great and his troops forced opposing forces to either jump off or be forced off. At the time of his rule, King Kamehameha was working to unite the eight islands of Hawaii and this was the final push for that. He was successful and there is a beautiful statue of him across the street from Iolani Palace if you want to go check it out! After a rainy and windy visit up to Pali’s Point it was time for lunch so we headed back to the hotel and grabbed some food. One thing I’m finally starting to pick up on is how many ABC Stores there are here! Holy cow! ABC Stores are basically like 7/11’s and other little convenience stores and they’re actually on every block. ABC Stores are extremely convenient though, as they have just about anything a tourist could need ranging from food to beach towels and even coffee mugs.

It’s really weird still writing about Hawaii even though I’ve been back for a week now. Wow do I miss island life! I hope you all are enjoying the summer heat! Have a beautiful week you beautiful people and stay tuned for next week’s post about Memorial Day!

June 10, 2018
A Diamond Head Kind of Day

You’ve all waited a week for this and here’s day two of my Hawaiian adventure! We started Saturday morning off bright and early, since we were still on our clocks back home to hike Diamond Head. For those of you who don’t know, Diamond Head is the crater of a former volcano. The hike was kind of challenging, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Except for the stairs. Oof, there’s one way you can hike which consists mostly of stairs, and that just seemed awful, so I recommend taking the other path if you ever decide to visit Oahu. The view from the top and also on the way up was stunning and quite peaceful, considering the masses of people that had also joined us to hike that morning. Next on our agenda was Hanama Bay and the blowhole. We drove up to a scenic stop to see Hanama Bay from above and I’ve never seen bluer water in all my life. Wow was it beautiful. If you’re looking for a good, safe place to snorkel, I heard that Hanama Bay is the place to be. The Halona Blowhole, which isn’t too far down from Hanama Bay, is a spot where water sprays from this hole in the rocks and the views there are stunning as well. Watching the waves crash on the rocks and just looking out at the gorgeous, blue water made me so happy. Traveling out to these spots is definitely a longer drive from Honolulu so if you plan to visit, be prepared for a long car trip. To add on to this already amazing day, we saw even more beautiful sights at the Byodo-In Temple. This place was my favorite by far. The Byodo-In Temple is a replica of a temple built in Japan and the atmosphere and beauty of this place was just surreal. The overall vibe there was peaceful and serene and it was so wonderful. We had a chance to walk around the gardens and ponds there and also head into the temple. There we lit some incense and viewed the massive Buddha statue. Being in the temple was so calming and it’s a feeling I never want to forget. Unfortunately, we had to leave the Byodo-In Temple at some point, and we did. Now it was time for some Dole Whip. Yay! There was another somewhat long drive ahead of us and then we arrived at Dole Plantation. We were on a mission and our mission was accomplished when we sat down at our table and snacked on Dole Whip. There really is no way to describe how delicious or refreshing Dole Whip is. If you haven’t ever had it, please do at some point. I had an idea of what it would taste like, since I had some at Disneyland when I was there two years ago, but Hawaii didn’t fail to disappoint. There were little chunks of pineapple in the Dole Whip which made it even better. I also got to see how pineapples grow, which is not at all what I expected. They grow from the ground and when farmers want to plant pineapple, they cut it in half horizontally and stick one of the halves back in the ground and voila, more pineapple! Dole Plantation offers tours of the fields and has a train ride around the whole place, which we didn’t do, but if you’ve got kids and are looking for something fun to do, this might just be it!

See you all next week where I talk about my history day in Hawaii. Have a beautiful week you beautiful people! 🙂 Aloha!

June 3, 2018
Aloha Oahu

As of today, I have been in Hawaii for three magical days and before I get going on what I’ve been up to, let me clarify a few things. No, I am not seeing lava anywhere, that’s on the Big Island. I am on Oahu. Also, continuing on the topic of the volcano, the entire island of Hawaii is NOT covered in lava. It’s just a small portion of the Big Island that is directly affected by the lava. My prayers and thoughts go out to those affected by Kilauea’s eruption and the lava flow. Vog can be seen from Oahu and it’s somewhat hazy here, but other than that it’s perfectly fine here.

I left for the Hawaiian islands on May 25th, which was this past Friday. Before leaving for Hawaii we stayed in Arizona for the night. As far as I know there aren’t any direct flights from Denver to Honolulu so yeah… When we left on the 26th, we were welcomed to Honolulu with a traditional lei greeting and then left to get our rental car. Following that, we went to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which is where we are staying for the next week in the Grand Waikikian and grabbed some lunch. Funny story with that actually. My aunt, uncle, and I ordered our meals and the waitress just kept coming back and saying, “Your meal will be out shortly. I promise.” Yeah, shortly, as in 40 minutes later. She felt really bad and we ended up eating for free there. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but they had really good chicken tacos which was great. After getting settled into our room, it was time to do some grocery shopping. This was where my aunt and uncle introduced me to my new addiction: Maui Sweet Onion chips. Oh, they’re so good! We bought some stuff for sandwiches and a wide variety of fruits and headed back to the hotel. By this time, it was around 6 o’clock Hawaiian time and we were all exhausted because that’s 10 o’clock MST.

We ate a quick dinner, took our first walk along Waikiki Beach and then waited for the firework show to begin. Every Friday night, Hilton does an AMAZING 4-minute firework show on the beach, which is pretty cool. We caught the firework show and once that was done, we crashed. Adjusting to the time difference has been one of the toughest things, but we’re all managing, and I seem to be adjusting quickly.

I’m currently three days into this trip and I know I’m gonna have A LOT to say about it, so I will be posting each day as a blog post, so if you’re all up for it, get ready for a bunch of travel blog posts. Good night from Honolulu!

May 27, 2018