Tag: Travel

Memorial Day in Hawaii and Iolani Palace

Just a quick note before I get started here. I decided to combine Memorial Day and the day after into this blog post because they go very well together. So bring out that cup of coffee and kick your feet back, because this is gonna be a long one!

So on Memorial Day, we were supposed to go see Iolani Palace, keyword here “supposed”. 15 minutes before our tour, we arrived and the place was empty. My aunt, uncle, and I found out that they were closed for the day in honor of Memorial Day so that scheduled tour we planned probably wasn’t going to happen. Oh well! That gave us an even better idea and so we spent our Memorial Day at Waimea Falls. Before we left though, we got some pictures of the palace and the statue of Kamehameha the Great which was across the street. Waimea Falls is a small waterfall that has a beautiful and easy hike up to it. Along the way, we saw some beautiful flowers and lush green vegetation. There were trees whose arms intertwined with one another and reached out as if they had all the room in the world. The views were breathtaking and all of the plants and trees were just amazing. When we made it to the actual falls we took some pictures (of course, haha) and sat and watched the running water as well as all the people swimming around below the falls. If you ever decide to go up to Waimea Falls, bring your swimsuit! You can swim in the falls, but before you do that, you have to check in with the lifeguard and get a life jacket, regardless of how good a swimmer you are. I would suggest going in the mid-morning, so that the crowd will hopefully be smaller and it won’t be as hot. We ran into a little bit of rain while we were up there but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle. It actually felt very nice. The rain in Hawaii is more of a mist and it’s very gentle even when it rains more. We spent quite a bit of time hiking around and being at Waimea Falls so if you plan to go there, be prepared for a longer stay. 🙂

The next day, we were fortunate enough to get our tour for Iolani Palace rescheduled and we got in! What a stunning building the palace is and inside is even more beautiful. Iolani Palace is the only official royal building in the United States, fun fact. It was built by King Kalakaua during his reign from 1874 to 1891. From what I remember, he was the last king of Hawaii. His sister, Liliuokalani would be the last ruler of Hawaii before the monarchy was overthrown and Hawaii annexed. They make you wear covers over your shoes to protect and preserve the floor which is kinda fun. Wow I’m a dork, haha. At Iolani Palace we learned more about the Hawaiian royal line and specifically Hawaii’s last rulers. The story of the monarchy’s overthrow was quite sad honestly, but it was very interesting to learn more about. The palace was GIANT and it was cool to learn how innovative and tech-savvy, for lack of better words, King Kalakaua was. He had electricity and running water in Iolani Palace before most buildings on the US mainland! The music room, which is on the second floor of the palace was my favorite room. It contained King Kalakaua’s music box and the room itself was just beautifully decorated. I also really enjoyed the Blue Room, simply because the furniture’s cushioning was all a deep, royal blue that was just stunning. And the throne room. Oh. My. Goodness. It was gorgeous! The red throughout the room was stunning and the thrones themselves were stunning. I can only imagine what Iolani Palace would’ve been like at the time of King Kalakaua. The throne room was really cool to in that there were recreations of several of Queen Liliokalani’s gowns. She had one with ostrich feathers in there and one embellished with peacock feathers. They were beautiful. I highly recommend visiting Iolani Palace. We had a wonderful tour guide who told us so much about the royal family and the palace itself. Feeling like royalty for a few hours was pretty cool. 🙂 And just when you thought this day couldn’t get more exciting, we had parasailing shortly after! Woohoo! My aunt and uncle used this company, Hawaiian Parasail. They have a very good record and are well-known for their safety, which I’d say is pretty important if you’re going to be 1000 feet in the air! While my stomach did not appreciate the choppy waves and how they rocked our small boat around, it did just great as my uncle and I soared above Oahu. I hope I never forget the feeling of parasailing. You can hear the wind rushing and it moves you around a little and the view is just something else. I could almost describe parasailing as being on a swing in the sky but I still feel like that doesn’t quite describe it. It was so fun though! I wanna say that my uncle and I were in the air for about 7 minutes and then on the way back to the boat, the guys dunked us in the ocean. Yay saltwater! I’m sooooo glad I wore my swimsuit for that. And after parasailing, it was time for our luau. We went to Paradise Cove which is on the west side of the island. I’ve never been to a luau, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but let me just say I was not let down. We were greeted with orchid and kuikui nut leis and then ushered in to our tables. There were several activities before the actual show began which including watching coconuts be husked, cooking the pig, watching people climb palm trees, and a shower of plumeria flowers. Finally it was time to eat and we were treated to a three course meal. There was a delicious salad plate followed by the main meal which had several different types of meat and then finally dessert! Dessert was a delicious chocolate and pineapple cake with coconut icing. There was also this interesting gelatiny dessert that tasted like coconut. When the main dish came around was when the show started. And oh what a show it was! The singers were extremely talented and so were the dancers. The girls were all beautiful and the guys were all pretty good-looking too. Especially the fire dancer, oh my goodness his eyes were pretty! Anyway, the show was wonderful and I absolutely love the sound of the music there. It’s totally unique and different from anything I’ve ever heard and I love it! Paradise Cove was a great luau with great service and an even greater view. The sunset that night was gorgeous to and it was a great way to end that day. I think that my aunt and uncle ordered one of the more expensive packages and that’s what allowed us to have the lei greeting and stageside seats. As mentioned it’s more expensive, but I’d say it’s worth it. What a fun couple of days that was.

Next week I’m talking about my ziplining experience so I hope you’ll be around to hear about that. Have a good week everyone! 🙂

June 17, 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
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
Oh the Places I Want to Go…

While I’ve only traveled in the States, I’ve found that I love traveling. There are so many places I plan to visit and I also hope that I can study abroad in college. In my bullet journal, I’ve kept a list of places I’d like to travel to and here are some of them!

In the country I’d like to visit:
– Jackson Hole, WY: My dad used to teach a platform tennis clinic up there every year and I’ve heard it’s beautiful.
– Disney World and Universal Studios: Yeah, I have yet to go to Disney World. Disneyland was a blast and I can only imagine how much fun Disney World is. I also would love to visit Hogwarts and all the other wonders of Universal Studios.
– Oregon: I have some family in Oregon and I’ve heard it’s also just a beautiful state. The weather there sounds wonderful too.
– Alaska: Alaska would be fun to travel to because it’s so different from the rest of the states, at least from what I’ve heard. I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights too. I know that Alaska is also known as the land of the midnight sun and I think it’ll just be a cool experience.

Internationally I’d like to travel to:
– London: I really want to see Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, and drink tea. London also just has so much history and I want to see it all.
– France: Like London, France has so much history. I’d really love to visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa and other art.
– St. Petersburg and Moscow: My uncle and cousins live in Moscow and I have a bunch of cousins in St. Petersburg so it would be wonderful to see them in person. Russia also just has so much history and I know I’d enjoy seeing that country.
– Greece: One of my friends traveled to Greece for his senior trip and that instantly made me want to go. It looks gorgeous and the food sounds amazing. I’ve also always wanted to see what the ancient Greeks left behind and see all of the history there.
– Sydney, Australia: Australia just seems like a very fun place to visit. There are so many different animals and I’d like to go down under and see what it’s like.

Traveling is so much fun and there are so many opportunities to learn new things about the places you visit and the cultures that exist there. I hope you all have a chance to explore the world and have a wonderful week!

March 25, 2018
New Adventures in Omaha, Nebraska

Now, now. Some of you might be thinking, why go to Nebraska? All that state has to offer is endless fields of corn and cows! You might be partially right, but for the part of Nebraska I was in, you’d be wrong. Last weekend, I visited Omaha, Nebraska with my mom to go see Creighton University and wander around as tourists. Here’s how our trip went.

My mom and I arrived on Sunday, July 2nd and arrived in Omaha around noon. We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Downtown Omaha, and let me tell you, those were some sweet suites. Best hotel I’ve stayed at, by far. Anyway, we unpacked our things and then decided we were going to the zoo.

Omaha has an AWESOME zoo and the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is one of the best zoos in the world, not only in my opinion but also according to TripAdvisor. It was raining when my mom and I got to the zoo, so the crowds weren’t too bad and we had a lot of fun. The animal exhibits were spacious and fun to look around and the animals themselves seemed to be quite happy and healthy. We spent several hours wandering around the massive zoo. My favorite part of the zoo was the desert dome. At Henry Doorly, the desert dome was home to all creatures and even plants living in a desert. When we walked into the desert dome, it was like we were in an actual desert and my mom and I really enjoyed ourselves in there. Right below the desert dome, the zoo had an exhibit called “Kingdoms of the Night” which was home to all of the nocturnal creatures housed at the Henry Doorly Zoo. There were naked mole rats and alligators and bats and so many more animals that called the nighttime their daytime. The zoo also had great people working there and great food. I definitely recommend the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium if you’re ever rolling through Omaha.

The same day we visited the zoo, while hunting for a Starbucks, we stumbled upon a cool little national park called Pioneer Courage. All throughout this park, there was a variety of pioneer statues which made great photo opportunities. The park showed a significant part of Nebraskan history and how the state came to be and that was really cool. We also got to see the building for the Omaha World Herald, which is the newspaper for Omaha.

On our second day in Nebraska, we toured Creighton University, which I loved and went and walked around Old Market afterward. Creighton University and a nice campus and I really enjoyed the feel of it. I’m still not sure if it’s where I’d like to go to college, but it seemed like a good fit for me and I liked Omaha, so we’ll see. As mentioned a little earlier, after our tour, we journeyed to Old Market, which is a historic and old neighborhood in Omaha that has been turned into an array of shops and restaurants. There, my mom and I had really good (but cheesy, like super cheesy) calzones at a great pizza place, bought some really good taffy and chocolate treats at an old candy shop, and just had a good time walking around. Old Market was cool because the streets were all cobblestone, which honestly made me feel like I was in a Disney movie. It was cool.

Omaha was fun to visit and I was honestly quite surprised with how green the city actually was. Nebraska in general was actually much more green than I thought it was going to be and that was a positive. On the 4th, my mom and I left to return to Colorado, and I think I can say that we both had a good time and plan on making trips back in the future. 🙂

July 9, 2017
A Day at Disneyland

Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth. This past week, my family and I were able to go travel to Anaheim, California to spend two days at Disneyland. Those two days were some of the best days of my life, ever. My family and I had so much fun, ate plenty of good food, had a lot of fun on the rides, and were able to make some wonderful memories. I was disappointed that my dad wasn’t able to come with us because he had to stay and watch our dogs, but we were still able to get stuff for him and fill him in on the entire trip. Anyway, here’s my experience at Disneyland.

Thursday we decided to stay at Disneyland the entire day. That was a wise decision because there was so much to do! Being there in June, I was worried that the lines would be terribly long and it would be hot and humid, but it wasn’t too bad for either of those things at all. It was overcast both days and the temperature was cool but still comfortable enough to wear a tank top and shorts. We waited in the security lines for about ten minutes and then headed into the park.

I had seen plenty of pictures of Disneyland before but none of them compared to being at Walt Disney’s creation in person. After walking around Main Street for a little bit, my family and I found our way to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and the little area in front of it where Walt is holding Mickey’s hand. We definitely took lots of pictures and then headed to Tomorrowland.

We decided to go on Nemo’s Submarine Voyage first and that was a cute, fun way to start our experience out. After that, we decided to head to the Matterhorn in Fantasyland. I did not like this ride at all. Some people might enjoy a fast, jerky, extremely loud ride through a mountain while you’re being followed by an angry yeti, but I don’t. I didn’t get sick but I was disappointed with how that ride turned out. My family and I were getting kind of hungry by now, since it was around noon and so we found a little shop that sold giant turkey legs and corn on the cob. I had a giant turkey leg and it was delicious but kind of greasy. I needed help finishing it because there was so much turkey! Once we were satisfied with food, my aunt, uncle, mom, sister, and I travelled to It’s A Small World, which was super cute and a nice, relaxing ride compared to the Matterhorn. Then, we did Storybook Land which was a little boat tour through a land where a bunch of the castles and settings from Disney movies were displayed. That ride was also fun. We made our way back to the Sleeping Beauty castle to get on Peter Pan’s Flight which was a ride following Peter on his trip from London to Neverland. This ride was a joke. We waited in line for an hour and a half for a less than two minute cheesy experience. I probably would have enjoyed this ride if I was younger, and it was still really cute, I was just irritated that waiting in line for almost two hours wasn’t really worth the wait.

Finding Nemo’s Submarine Voyage

It’s a Small World

Entering the whale from Pinocchio at Storybook Land

While I may not have enjoyed that ride, the next three rides my family and I did after dinner were wonderful. For dinner, my family and I ate at Café Orleans in New Orleans Square. I’ve never been to New Orleans, but according to my aunt and uncle, it really reminded them of the actual city. The food at Café Orleans was delicious and the service was great. I ordered their “Crescent City” salad which was amazing and the pomegranate lemonade was really good too. With full stomachs, the five of us adventured to Pirates of the Caribbean, which is also in New Orleans Square. This ride was well done, exciting, and overall a great experience. The next one we did was Haunted Mansion, which was not scary at all, and it was really cool. Finally, we ventured to Adventureland and decided to tackle the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. There was a long line for this ride, but our hour wait was definitely worth it. A majority of the ride was computer generated and it was so cool! While the jeep moved quickly and we did make a few sharp turns and sudden stops, this ride was awesome and so much fun.

This was my salad and it was probably one of the best salads I’ve ever had.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye

After a long day of rides, churros, other delicious foods, long lines, pin trading, and crazy Disney fans, my family and I called it a day and headed back to our hotel which was walking distance from the park. We must have lucked out with the weather and wait times on most of the rides. The reported wait times for the most popular rides we went on were anywhere from 30-90 minutes and with the exception of Peter Pan’s Flight and Indiana Jones, we were in line 20 minutes at most. The cast members at Disneyland were all very helpful, welcoming, and sweet. Our first day was a little hectic and overwhelming at first, but overall it was a great first day at Disneyland. Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. 🙂 The next day we would check out California Adventure, and I will share my experience from California Adventure next week.

June 12, 2016
Ideas for Summer Plans

Summer break is coming up quickly, now that most students only have finals week left in school! Some plan to sign up for camps in sports or other activities they enjoy, some plan to travel, some plan to try new things, and others may have plans to just stay at home and relax. If you’re someone that hasn’t planned something or isn’t sure what to do, here are a few ideas for summer plans.

Start a blog! Blog writing can be a lot of work but it is also a lot of fun. Writing a blog allows you to share your opinions, stories, and ideas. I haven’t set a theme to what I write about but there are many other blog writers that write only about travel or food. You get to choose what you write about and have fun with it. The possibilities are endless.

Plant a garden. Every summer, my family plants a garden and the outcome has always been delicious! We plant cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, string beans, mint, basil, and several others foods. Gardens are a lot of work to maintain with preparing the area, watering, weeding, and such, but it is always worth it. Recently, I started weeding in our garden for the first time, and I actually found it to be super entertaining.

Not my garden, in case you were wondering.

Spend time outside. Whether it’s playing tennis, volleyball, hanging out at the pool, or going for a hike, summer is the perfect time to be out in the sun. Just make sure to wear sunscreen, a hat, and maybe sunglasses to protect yourself from getting sunburnt.

Travel around your state, out-of-state. or out of country. Make sure to plan a route, place to stay, and ideas for what you will be doing. Regardless of where you are travelling to, make sure to check on the weather frequently to see if you’ll have to plan a detour or change a flight. It’s better to be over-prepared, than not know what will be happening on your trip, so do whatever you can to be as prepared as possible. Safe traveling!

Find a job. Many teens look for a job over the summer and this is smart because they will be able to make some money and do whatever they want to do with it. On top of that, finding a job allows you to find a way to make a contribution to your community.

Visit family. Spending time with family is important and having time off from work or school in the summer is the perfect time to do that. Find new things to try with your family and enjoy your time together.

Good luck to those of you who have finals this upcoming week! These were just a few ideas with what you could do with your summer and there’s plenty more. Get creative, stay safe, and have fun this summer!

May 22, 2016
Top Ten Summer Activities

Summer break is here for most people and school is out until August. Woohoo! Summer is a great time to get out and travel, spend time with family and friends, and also catch up on your beauty sleep. Here are the top ten summer activities, in my opinion:

10. Sleep. Summer is a wonderful time to catch on sleep. After long nights of studying and homework, sleeping can make you feel more relaxed and refreshed for when you do other things over the break. Just make sure you don’t sleep the summer break away!

9. Read. Most people would say, “Wait, what?! You read over the summer? That’s school related, why would you ever do that?”. I think that reading is a good way to spend time and relax in the sun or cool shade. Reading can improve your vocabulary and you’ll still know some things when you do head back to school.

8. Coming in as the 8th best thing to do during the summer, grow a garden. This is a good thing to do as a family and the end result is usually very healthy and yummy. Growing a garden is fun, a good excuse to be outside, builds responsibility, and is definitely worth it.

7. Start a blog. At the beginning of last summer, I started a blog and it ended up being one of the more enjoyable things I did since I couldn’t play sports or be super active. Writing a blog is really fun, improves your writing skills, and is a great way to make memories. I also think it’s cool to tell friends and family to check out your website, so that’s a fun bonus. You can build a blog through WordPress, GoDaddy, and other websites. Most blog sites have to paid for but there are sites that are free. Do what works best for you.

6. Hike. Hiking is a wonderful way to be out with nature, get fresh air, and get exercise. National parks, mountains, and even trails near your house work just fine.

5. Making the middle of the list, play volleyball. Whether it’s sand, grass, or indoor, spend time on the volleyball court. It’s a good way to prepare for high school season and club season. Sand and grass tournaments are super fun and really good for your indoor game. If you can’t get into any camps or clinics, grab a ball and at least go hit on the wall or with your friends.

4. Swim. Need a fun way to keep cool? Swimming is the way to do that. In Colorado we have places like The Bay, local recreation centers, and Water World. Water World is probably my favorite. It has so many fun rides and an awesome wave pool. I highly recommend it.

3. Travel. Whether it’s around the state, out of state, or out of the country, get out of your house and travel! This is a fun way to make memories, get good pictures, and learn something about a new area.

2. At number two, play tennis. Tennis is an outdoor sport that anyone can play. Depending on your skill level you can just hit around with friends, join a club, play in tournaments, and enjoy the sport. Tennis is another good excuse to be outside in the wonderful warm weather. Just make sure you pack your sunscreen and water. The courts can get pretty hot!

1. And the number one summer activity is, spend time with family and friends! This seems to make top ten lists quite a bit, and it should! Family and friends and super important and deserve your time, care, and attention. Spend a lot of time together doing whatever and make memories.

Be outside, have fun, and to those who are still in school, good luck with the final days and to those who are starting summer break, enjoy!

June 7, 2015