Plans sometimes change so when we changed up our wedding plans from June 2022 to November 2021 (and only had 3 weeks to plan everything wedding and honeymoon related) we decided that we should still take a proper trip. It wasn’t difficult to pick a place to go since Covid-19 had restricted so many destinations. We needed to stay domestic and Hawaii was offering cheap flights and thought that would be a good place to visit!
Keep on reading for my day-to-day adventures!
Day 0, November 2: Travel Day
Does a 17-hour travel day count as part of a trip? We got back home from the wedding ceremony around 8:30PM, finished up some last minute packing and went to bed before waking up at 4:30am to catch a 7:30am flight to Honolulu. Kyle and Danielle came to the airport with us as they were heading to LA at 6:45am! It wasn’t too bad going to Utah (3 hours) but then we still had a 7-hour flight from Utah to Hawaii. Once we landed, we got our rental car and found that our Airbnb was right in the middle of Waikiki. We got settled and then made our way to our dinner reservations at a restaurant on the beach. We both got a boozy drink and then shared some appetizers: guava glazed ribs, smoked fish arancini, calamari and an island watermelon salad. After dinner it was time to finally sleep!
Day 1, November 3: Pearl Harbor and Luau
Well I woke up at 3am. I couldn’t sleep anymore and technically it would be around 8am at home. Once we finally both got up, we went to get these island flavored doughnuts. The flavors were Purple Haze (ube, lilikoi), Bloody Orange (orange with cardamom), J Dilla (Hawaiian single origin chocolate and coconut butter drizzle), and Life of Pi (kabacha squash, pumpkin spice, and vanilla bean whip). After we ate the doughnuts, we headed over to Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is the largest natural harbor in Hawaii and remains an active military base. We spent a few hours there and then went to get poke bowls from Foodland. Apparently the grocery store serves good poke bowls. I never had one before but I did enjoy it. Bryce said he could eat a poke bowl every day. We had more time than we thought before the luau so we stopped at the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Gardens. It was so big that we had to drive through it. We saw some pandan leaves (which was the flavor of our wedding cupcakes) and there were a ton of coy fish and ducks in a pond that we walked to. Overall, it was worth our time and it was pretty with the mountains behind it.
Afterwards, we got Island Snow based on some recommendations by others. It was so good. It was shaved ice on top of ice cream and topped with condensed milk. We got passion fruit, guava and plum flavors and it was so delish! We then spent some time on Kawailoa Beach near Haleiwa. It had really clear waters and pretty sand. We didn’t bring our swim suits so we just sat by the water and watched the waves until it was time to head out. We actually brought a change of clothes in the car for the luau though.
The luau was fun! We were given 12 dollars each to stop at the gift shop or get drinks, so we ended up getting a few souvenirs and a pineapple juice. We found out you could just ask for a cup of water and save two dollars on the bottled water. The luau had fun activities like spear throwing and canoeing. Although the canoe activity was just floating out a few yards into the water and coming back to shore, so we skipped that one. They also had pictures for sale with parrots but we skipped out on those too because we didn’t want to pay for that. They also had two demonstrations. One was how to tie their outfits and another was how they prepared their food, although in this case they weren’t actually preparing any food but they still danced and sang around it. The food used to be a buffet but because of Covid, everything was presented on a pre-arranged plate. They gave us salad, cold pasta salad, chicken, pork, fish as well as some rice, veggies and bread. After dinner was served, the real show began. Someone cracked open a coconut and dancers were playing with fire. Afterwards, we were super tired and went back to the Airbnb to get some sleep.
Day 2, November 4: Photo Shoot and Polynesian Cultural Center
Well I woke up at 3am, again. I just couldn’t sleep anymore. I played around on my phone while Bryce slept in (or in this case, slept until the proper morning time). We had our honeymoon photoshoot to go to. Since I love getting pictures done, we had booked a couple that did both photography and drone photography. We met at 10am on Makapuu Beach Park for and had a fun session for an hour. There were waves and mountains and mist behind us, a tidal wave cove, rocks and sand. The drone captured us laying down, standing up, and making shadows. After our photoshoot we were on the way to the Polynesian Cultural Center but pulled off the road to get food at a food truck called the Shrimp Shack. It was featured in Hawaii’s Best Restaurant Guide and Food Network’s “Unique Eats”, Beach Eats, and the Travel Channel. We ordered a plate of clam strips, coconut shrimp and some spicy garlic shrimp. I also indulged in the Kona Iceberg which was hot Kona coffee over vanilla ice cream.
The cultural center was so informative and fun and interactive. Once inside the center, there are different “islands” to visit: Tonga, Fiji, Hawai’I, Iosepa, Aotearoa, and Tahiti. We got to experience a drum show with music and dancing, we saw deadly weapons and watched a Maori war dance known as “Haka” on the island of Aotearoa. On the island of Samoa, we watched someone crack open a coconut and watched someone climb a 40-foot-tall coconut tree with their bare feet. We watched other presentations and musical shows, had a tropical smoothie, went on a boat ride (with no other patrons), made and tasted some Tahitian coconut bread and we renewed our wedding vows in Tahiti. In Tahiti, the priest asks “Eta” meaning “will you ever leave” and the answer is “ai eta” which means “I would never leave.” So we got to say yes at our own marriage ceremony and got to say no when we renewed our vows 3 days after we had gotten married. For dinner Bryce and I went back to Foodland so Bryce could get another pokebowl. I liked them, just not as much as he likes them, so I bought a frozen pizza and ate it in our Airbnb. Finally, it was time to call it a night.
Day 3, November 5: Sunrise, Swimming and Pineapples
Surprise, surprise, I woke up at 3am again. This time we had planned to get up early because we were going to do a before sunrise hike at these pillboxes. We had to park down the street and there was a guard watching the parking situation. Once we parked it was time to hike. It was a 1.7 mile out and back trail that was more challenging than I thought. Maybe it was the fact that it was early and dark, and also seemed to be going straight upwards at times. The hike offered views of Lanikai and Kailua. At the top/end of the trail there are 3 pillboxes. Bryce and I found a place to sit and then watched as the sun came up over the water. After the hike we stopped in the Green World Coffee Farm for some coffee and breakfast.
Finally we made it to the Dole Pineapple Farm. The first thing that happened was a train ride around the farm where the fields of pineapples could be seen. There were other things being grown as well such as avocados, cacao, sugar cane, pomelo, coconut trees, macadamia nuts, and breadfruit. There was a pond with coy fish and fun pineapple facts on boards all over. Did you know it takes 20 months for the first fruit to grow on a pineapple plant and 14-15 months for the second fruit to grow? Did you know that the pineapples are planted and harvested year-round and by hand? The last thing we did was the maze. It was designed like a pineapple but I’m not sure it really looked like a pineapple on my apple workout map. The entire maze took us 26 minutes and 50 seconds and we walked a total of 0.67 miles. And of course we got some dole whip too!
Lunch was at some local seafood food truck and then we were headed to Waikiki beach to swim. The water was perfect and we spent some time enjoying the water, the weather and the waves. For dinner we walked to a place called Paia Fishmarket. It was just down the street from our Airbnb. I got the seafood pasta and Bryce got some fresh fish over rice and veggies. We ended up walking around Waikiki, grabbing some ice cream, and buying some Hawaiian cookies. Overall it was a fun day and a relaxing evening.
Day 4, November 6: Hiking, Waterfalls, and Volcano National Park
We were up and out of our Airbnb early in the morning as we had a flight to catch at 8:45am to the Big Island. It was only an hour flight so we were coming back down as soon as we got up into the air it seemed. We got our rental car and waited to get into a local town to get some local food. Everything was closed. It was November (out of season) and Covid was still a thing so we ended up getting some McNuggets at McDonalds. We drove to Akaka Falls State Park to hike a trail where we could see Kahuna Falls and Akara Falls. It was a circle trail so we ended up where we began. We then drove to Rainbow Falls Lookout. There wasn’t a hike at this location, so we just took some pictures, watched the waterfall for a while and then headed back to the car.
It’s November. I know that it’s November but still, nothing prepared me for the LONG, SEVEN MILE hike that was on black pavement under the beating sun. Volcanic rock was all around us and I was dying of heat. Now that I’m no longer hiking that trail in the heat, it was neat to see the bubbling lava down below. We also explored some lava tubes which are natural conduits through which lava can travel beneath the surface. It was the one place in the park that actually had some decent temperatures. After leaving Volcano National Park, we stopped at Punalu’u Bake Shop, “the southernmost bakery in the USA” to buy some ready to eat pastries and things to take home. We bought some packaged breads and cookies and I was super excited for everything that we bought.
After our pastry stop, we went to Panalu'u Beach, one of the beaches between Pahala and Na’alehu on the Big Island. It has black sand made of basalt that was created by lava flowing into the ocean and some other sciency stuff about how and why that sand is black. I'm not sure beyond knowing that it is basalt and lava of some type. We didn't swim, but we walked around the beach for a little while before heading to our Airbnb. Our Airbnb was super cute, and well decorated. It was the perfect size for two people and had an outdoor balcony where you could see the ocean. There wasn't much in the area in terms of food so we went out and got Mexican. I'm not sure if this falls under today's or tomorrow's events so I'll put it on today's. We got to see the stars! It was one of my favorite things. It was my favorite thing actually. And I actually had a reason to get up at 3am! Of course the Big Island is pretty isolated as it is, but I drove us 45 minutes away so that we could get even further away from the lights. I found an abandoned parking lot and we stopped there and laid on the ground just watching the stars. They were all around us, and went from horizon to horizon. We even saw a shooting star. I could have stayed all night but realized that we had to end that part eventually to get back, grab some more sleep and explore the Big Island one last day.
Day 5, November 7: Turtles, Coffee, and Home
Our last big day. We weren’t leaving until the evening so we decided to go to see the sea turtles by hiking the Ala mauka Makai Mountain Ocean Trail. The trail cuts across Kaloka Honokohau National Historical Park to Honokohau Bay. I thought it was going to be an easy walk to the water and back. Turns out the sign that said wear closed toed shoes, sunscreen, and bring water was true. We ended up walking 3.42 miles. I had my sandals and no sunscreen or water. However, it was well worth the view. We ended up seeing 27 sea turtles. They were swimming all around and some were perched up on the rocks. It was my second favorite thing on the trip after stargazing.
After the turtles, we went to Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation for “premium 100% Kona coffee.” Bryce was excited because they had a bunch of agricultural equipment and started asking the tour guy about their growing processes. Apparently if you want Kona coffee, you have to get 100% Kona coffee. Any coffee that says Kona blend is the worst of their coffee blended with other coffee to make it taste decent. There was a little nature path that we walked along and then went into the town to eat lunch. Again, there weren’t many options so we ended up getting Chinese food. We then stopped in at Ola Brew. I was interested in their hard ciders: Kona Gold Pineapple, Dragonfruit Lychee, White Pineapple, and Dragonfruit Lemonade Cider and Bryce was interested in their hard teas: Lemongrass Mint, Tulsi Berry, and Orange Zest. We sat there and talked for a while before heading to a nice sit down restaurant where we had one last seafood meal before we headed to the airport.
All good trips have an end, and our time in Hawaii had come to an end. I was excited to come back home because as soon as we landed we were headed to Rolla to meet our breeder from Springfield, MO who would have our 9 week old puppy for us. It was wonderful to be able to spend time together on two different islands after our wedding ceremony and wonderful to know that we had a baby puppy to look forward to upon our arrival home!