Our morning sunrise. I really love this balcony thing. Jacob loved sitting out there, but didn't enjoy that we wouldn't let him stand at the railing if he had anything (especially anything electronic) in his hands.
During one of our meals in the Aloha Café "our" usual table was taken and we sat in a different corner, which I think Jacob decided he liked better, because he started heading there after that.
A "hey, I'm in Hawaii and I'm not wilted yet" selfie.
First up was another shuttle bus for another rental car, then a couple streets over to the airport to check in for our Air Ventures private flight over the island. We looked at helicopter tours, but at $300 a person, it just wasn't doable, but $112 a person for the private flight was. We didn't get to go as far down in Waimea Canyon or as near to the waterfalls, but that's ok.
Coffee field
Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific":
Coming around to the Napali Coast:
It was really cool to do the plane ride, but holy heck I was nauseous the entire time, even doubling up on the Dramamine. Jacob did good. Randy and Brandon actually fell asleep for part of the hour flight.
We still had plenty of time, so we started heading up to Waimea Canyon by road.
In Waimea town we stopped for lunch. Everything is so laid back in Hawaii, you learn that you get your food when you get your food and you get there when you get there. There really aren't too many fast food or chain places outside the bigger port cities, so we found a steakhouse for lunch.
Playtime in the car:
We stopped outside of Waimea town for a little while to watch the surfers:
On the way back we stopped at a Hilo Hatties and I ended up a 60% off coupon, so I had Brandon pick for me. He chose an oyster with twin black pearls, which I had made in to stud earrings.
There were also twin black pearls in the bonus oyster I picked, so I sent those home with Betty as souvenirs for Brooke and Paige.
After turning in our rental car we headed back to the ship and found this guy waiting for us:
We had reservations for the Skyline Dining Room again.
I started off with a crab cake:
And nothing else sounded good, so I ordered the turkey dinner. It was ok.
Rick ordered the steak and shrimp.
Rick had some sort of flan for dessert but he didn't care for it.
After dinner Betty and I headed for the Toby Beau concert (the had a hit in the 70's and have been touring ever since). They played a lot of 70s rock (Dooby Brothers, Bob Seger, Simon and Garfunkel, Steve Miller Band) and were really good.
Friday, August 27
After breakfast Brandon and Randy left for their adventure: ziplining.
Brandon rated it as equal to parasailing on the fun meter.
While they were doing that, Rick went ahead in to town and did another load of laundry (I mentioned I really, really like him, right?) and after a bit Betty, Jacob and I took the shuttle over to the shopping area. Since I had Jacob with me, I had drug him to the Maui Divers shop and had him pick out an oyster for me. His had a nice large white pearl that I had turned in to a ring, and the bonus oyster had a nice set of twin off white pearls that I had drilled so I could turn them in to earrings later on.
After Rick was done with laundry and we were done perusing the shops, the 4 of us headed off to a few of the waterfalls and state parks.
Wailea Falls:
Most were just quick stops.
We had to be back on board by 1:30 so it was a short day. Back on board we marveled at just how blue the water could be:
and took stock of our shell necklaces (this wasn't even all of them):
We had some lunch at the Cadillac Grill and then we went on deck to see the Napali Coast as we went by it, then dinner at Moderno Brazilian Steakhouse. It was ok. We thought it kind of paled in comparison to the Brazilian Steakhouse we have in our neighborhood. And, what I feared would happen, did. Jacob wanted nothing to do with it, because it didn't look like steak. After we were all done eating, Rick and I walked Jacob over to the Aloha Café and let him dinner there (where he had some steak, fries, fruit, and jello). The main course they were serving that night?
After dinner we went back and packed, transferred pictures and visited for awhile before bed.
Saturday, August 23
After watching the sunrise as we pulled in to Honolulu
we fought the huge crowd for breakfast then hung out in our state room until as late as possible before disembarking. Betty and Randy took an8 hour Honolulu city tour to eat up time until their overnight flight home. We joined the migration out to the taxi stand for a ride to the airport. While in line we saw one family of women full on losing their sh!t with a taxi driver, like ugly American style. It was funny how he refused them service after one woman called him a lazy piece of crap (but in much more colorful language) and just pulled forward and calmly took another family. We had no problems getting a taxi and were at the airport with a few hours to kill. Other than Alaska Airlines running out of food, the flight was uneventful.
We got in to Oakland late, took the shuttle to our hotel, but what we didn't realize was that there was a ballgame going one (we could see the fireworks at the stadium from our room). The problem that it was going take a minimum of 90 minutes to get a pizza delivered at 9:45 pm (we had to be back at the airport at 5am the next morning). Rick and Brandon instead headed out to get some food from the Burger King up the road, but it was closed to foot traffic. They gave up and dinner was gas station sandwiches and chips.
Sunday, August 24
I woke up around 3 and briefly thought we were still on the boat, because the whole room was swaying and Rick was investigating. Rick went right back to sleep but I couldn't, so went and showered. Can you tell we don't live in earthquake country and don't know what to do? Because that's what it was:
Not really an experience we were looking to tag on to our vacation, but there you go.
We left he hotel at 4:30, checked in, had some breakfast and had an uneventful flight home. Rick was really starting to not feel well, so I drove home from the airport while he napped. As soon as we got home, the kids each went to their room and shut the doors. I guess they were tired of family togetherness :)
The next day the boys had their first day of school and Rick called in sick. After a bit I drove him to his office to get his work computer, but then he came home and slept the rest of the day while I ran errands. Brandon said his jetlag was pretty bad and that he nodded off in class a few times. When the teachers asked him, he said he just told them he had just gotten back from vacation but he didn't tell them Hawaii, because "I don't want them to hate me right off the bat!" Good thinking.
And that's the story of our Hawaiian vacation.
