Day One and Two

Lots and lots of flying. I finally got to read for pleasure!

When we landed it was rainy and overcast and HUMID. But still smelled divinely of Hawaii. Mr. Man is convinced they spray a scent in the airport... I like to think it's all the flowers and leis.

Once we got our luggage, rental car and some yummy Hawaiian food in our bellies we set off to find our hotel.
We stayed in Waikiki the first two nights. We had a "partial" ocean view, and were just steps from the beach, and blocks from the International Market. Even overcast, it was beautiful... look at the view from our window:
We did some shopping at the markets and downtown, and some beach time too. We were pretty exhausted and completely jet-lagged so we went to bed way too early and woke at some point to the weekly Friday night fireworks display in Honolulu.

Our second day was still pretty overcast, so we decided to do a lot of our hiking and snorkeling.
We hiked Diamond Head, went snorkeling at Hanama Bay (and ran into a friend from our olden days), hiked up to the lighthouse where we used to take Miss J, and then had a well-deserved dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory - another special spot to us. It was a long, beautiful day.

I snapped about a hundred pictures as we drove around... everything was so vibrant and green. I adore these trees that just spread out and are everywhere. It was heavenly.
Neither of us had hiked Diamond Head Crater before, and it was fun to do something new together.

(I don't particularly enjoy tunnels!)

It was horribly windy and we had to go through several tunnels and up hundreds of steps before we made it to the top to see this:

Hanama Bay was not nearly as busy as it used to be years ago... or perhaps it was the cruddy weather? Things have changed, we can no longer feed the fish, walk to the blow hole, and you have to watch a training movie about the coral and fish, etc. Finally we were allowed in the water, and the real excitement began (once I stopped hyperventilating and recalled how snorkeling works... yes, Amy I got my face wet!!!) We saw about 50 different types of fish and even swam along with a sea turtle. You've already seen our snorkeling mugshot, but here's the bay. Next time we snorkel we need to get a waterproof camera.
Finally we did the lighthouse hike... not sure what it's official name is. Mr. Man loves this hike because often you can see another island from the top (when it's not overcast) and it used to make him feel less isolated after years of being on our island! It's a gorgeous hike right along the coast with different vegetation, including cactus, along the way. Again, it was very windy - refreshingly so!


Last but not least... delicious dinner and bed for this tired but happy couple.