We had a wonderful time in Hawai'i and just wanted to share a little update with all of you.
As you may know, this is our last BIG vacation before the "little one" arrives.
After a bit of a rocky start (Let's just say that Baby doesn't like flying), Jen caught a migraine on our flight in. And because of her condition, couldn't take anything for it. We settled into Waikiki for a couple days of "work." Jen managed an event and Brent did a photo project, both for Capella.
After making our way through baggage claim, taxi stands, and getting checked in to the Disney-like Hilton (seriously - Don Ho meets Mickey Mouse), we made a cursory review of our room, dropped off the gear and headed down to the beach for sunset as quick as we could. For the next three days, aside from a trip to Pearl Harbor, we stayed pretty close to home base and enjoyed Waikiki beach, our pool, and getting over the jet lag.
On Saturday, after all the work was done, we headed to the airport to pick up our car. After a brief consideration, we opted to upgrade to a Jeep with a removable top. We took the scenic route along the coast, winding our way along the scenic vistas and numerous beaches full people sunbathing, snorkeling and surfing.
During our drive to the North Shore, we passed by several notable "LOST" shooting locales, including the main beach area seen in most episodes. Over the course of the week, we scouted out just about every location we could get wind of. Yes, we are VERY big geeks. And we have the photos to prove it.
Turtle Bay resort, situated on the north-east corner of the island, is where we landed for the remainder of our trip. It is a MUCH more serene setting than the Waikiki. The resort is RIGHT on the coast, and our room overlooks the western coast so we get great sunsets every night. On our first night there, we walked around a bit to get our bearings, and sat at the poolside bar (that also overlooks a rocky bay and is about 20 feet from the ocean) and enjoyed frothy drinks. Jen's were virgin of course. We bumped into several stars of the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (which was filmed at Turtle Bay). They were back doing a press junket. The most notable folks we ran into were Jason Segal and Mila Kunis. Brent and Mila were shopping side by side in the general store one night, which he was quite excited about. But as a true Minnesotan, he did not say anything to her. "Why bug her? She's there working, She should be able to buy ice cream in peace!"
In our first full day on the North Shore, we drove as far North as the road paved road allowed us to. We could've kept going on the off-road path in our Jeep, but it would've voided our rental contract ad we decided not to risk it. On our way back, we stopped at Turtle Beach (different than Turtle Bay) for a little swimming + sun. As we worked our way down to the beach front, we saw a crowd of people gathered in a circle by the water. We realized that not only was there a sea turtle laying on the shore sunning itself, but next to it was a seal, doing the same thing. After the buzz settled, we found a nice sunny spot to set-up. Brent got out his snorkeling gear as fast as he could to jump into the ocean. As he made his way around the rocky shoreline, he literally came face to face with several ginourmous turtles who were swimming around, eating the vegetation growing on the rocks!
The weather was great all week - sunny, 80s, and a few stray rain drops every now and then, but nothing to ruin a day. Jen got a little too much sun one day (pitfalls of an open-top jeep) so the next day we stayed close to home and got massages at the resort spa. The rest of the week, we alternated between hitting beaches along the north shore and hiking around the beaches at the resort. Lots more snorkeling for Brent, but the giant turtles were the hit of the week.
We also ate REALLY well (surprise surprise). On the north shore, we had a few nice dinners at the resort - our favorite spot was actually ON the beach (tables and chairs in the sand) and Brent enjoyed great tuna and salmon, but Jen was obsessed with the giant shrimp. Jumbo does not begin to describe it. They were grilled with shells on and served on top of a few different dishes of rice or pasta. In other cases, we found that some of the best food came from roadside shacks, like the one across from Sharks Cove, where Brent did some snorkeling. It was basically a trailer on the side of the road, but served great tuna burgers and kabobs, with organic salads and great fries.
We'll definitely be back. Won't need much of an excuse to head back there. We've been looking at houses for sale on the beach, so we'll be in touch if we decided to make any purchases.
