Ok, time to wrap up this Hawaiian adventure since we've now been home for over a month and believe it or not, I actually have other things to share! This may be the longest post I ever write, so stick with me. I promise the ending is hilarious and totally worth reading all the way through.
Friday. We went on a snorkeling adventure on a super sweet boat that had a high dive and a water slide! I did not go off of either of those. 15 ft drop-off into super deep ocean water? No thanks. I don't do deep water. We had a great time floating around and saw some awesome fish swimming around in the coral. My nervous self demanded that my fish-like husband at the very least take a noodle with him for safety to which he threw an absolute fit about. Don't worry, I used a noodle AND a kick board to keep myself afloat. Unfortunately I got sea sick partway through the trip so spent more time on the boat than I would have liked to, but we still had fun. There were dolphins swimming near our boat at the dock and alongside us on the way back which were just as fun as the fish we saw!
Friday night was our second attempt at the luau and this time was a success! Thanks to our first attempt I knew just where to go to get pictures of all of the pre-luau events and didn't have the fight the crowds as much as the people there for the first time. Bonus! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed many more Mai Tais. With rum.
You have no idea how many tries it took to get this picture. Stupid quickly-setting sun and people who don't know how to operate a camera.
On Saturday we made another trip to the other side of the island for some segue and zip-line fun. Segues are the most dorky looking form of transportation ever. But, don't judge until you've ridden on one because they are also one of my favorite forms of transportation. We ended up being the only people on both tours and had a blast with our tour guides. We segued through the Botanical Gardens where we saw a bunch of fruit trees we had never even heard of and got to see a few extra trails and waterfalls since we were the only people on the tour. The guide also let us bring home a bunch of ripe fruit to try!
Those are off-road segues. Extra cool.
Our initials are carved into that bottom leaf. The guide said they would last there for 3 or more years! {Insert corny only-on-your-honeymoon jokes here.}
Our zip-line guides were definitely a little interesting and loving life, but they did say that their lines have to be certified so I just kept telling myself we were safe. We had so much fun on the course and I can't wait to zip-line again someday! We even got to try a fruit called ice cream bean that tasted just like vanilla ice cream!
From there we went to the Akaka Falls. There's a 1 mile loop through the rainforest that walks past a HUGE waterfall. It was absolutely amazing and I'm so glad we decided to add it to our day.
Sunday was happily titled Bloody Breakfast Day. We decided to stay local and go out for breakfast, including a Bloody Mary or two. We walked down the road stopping at the shops and flea market along the way. Then, the best part. The Packers played at 11:00 am local time. NAP TIME!!! For me, not for Paul. Nothing beats a mid-morning nap with the sound of the ocean in the background. That afternoon we headed back to the beach we had been told would have turtles and finally had some luck! We were just about to leave when I heard a kid tell his mom he saw some turtles swimming around and all of a sudden there they were! We also hung out at the less-crowded beach by our condo for awhile and made an awesome dinner at our condo that night. By far the best meal we ate the entire time we were there except for the day we had Taco Bell and Jack in the Box. {We were STARVING. Don't judge.}
When you're on your honeymoon you have to write your name in the sand, right????
Monday was our last day on the island. We had plans to do a Moped tour in the morning, then come back to our condo to clean, do some laundry, and shower before returning our car and flying home that night. We had SO MUCH FUN riding around on our mopeds to the beaches on the tour list. {They're my other favorite form of transportation.} We went to a black sand beach where the water was really calm and there were hardly any people at the beach. It was so relaxing! We found a place for lunch and were headed back at around 1:30 when we got a call from the person that owns the condo we were renting. He told us that their checkout time is 11:00. Obviously we didn't know since it was already 1:30. The better part? There was another family coming in after us and their plane had come in early so they were already there. With all of our not-at-all-cleaned-up stuff. Oops.
So, we quickly grabbed our things, shoved them in bags as fast as we could, and headed out without a shower and without the clean laundry we wanted for the plane. Remember, we had been at the beach all morning. The sandy, sunscreeny, sweaty beach. Ick. The cleaning lady offered to let us use the shower at the pool if we wanted to. You mean that outdoor thing they want you to use to rinse off before you get in the pool? That's NOT a shower and I am NOT using that! Luckily we found a {FREE!} aquatic center with locker rooms where we could shower. So, we bought towels at Wal-Mart, showered, and re-packed our suitcases in the middle of the parking lot. It was now 2:30 and our car didn't have to be back until 7:00. Not a problem except our flight wasn't until 10:30 that night! We were not about to sit around at the world's smallest airport for 8 hours. We decided to go see Saving Mr. Banks at the move theatre which turned out to be a good plan since it rained that afternoon anyway. Not exactly the way we planned to end our trip but honestly, I'm so glad we didn't realize we had such an early checkout because we probably wouldn't have gone on the Moped tour and we would have missed out on all of that fun!
We had great flights home and even got upgraded to the exit row which has extra leg room! {The seats don't recline though so that was kind of a bummer.} As we were landing in Madison and could feel the plane sliding ALL OVER the runway the people across the isle from us so kindly started talking about the plane that had slid off the runway about a week earlier. Thank. You. Very. Much. Meanwhile, I was death gripping Paul's hand and hoping we stopped before we slid into a snowbank. We thought we were so smart taking a picture of the temperature when we left home. It turns out it was colder when we got back. So cold in fact that the jet bride was frozen and we had to be taxied to another gate. Welcome home!
Cheers to a great vacation!
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