O'ahu, paradise on earth

We started our vacation on Friday October 19 by spending the night in a hotel by the airport. I wanted to do that so we wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to load up the car and drive to the park n fly and from there take a shuttle to the airport. This way we got to sleep in and then the hotel shuttle took us to the airport while our car spent the week at the hotel.
And Were off to paradise on Hawaiian Airlines! I think flying to the islands on Hawaiian is so much better than on any other airline, because it is like an extension of your vacation. I spent a lot of time on the plane reading and napping while listening to my i pod and snuggling with my hot guy, while Mike mastered his new PSP game.

When we landed the air was amazingly warm and fragrant, and we had a red convertible Mustang waiting for us! When we finally found our "resort" I demanded to change hotels because I was not about to stay at the "resort" RCI sent us to, so instead, our timeshare found a great one bedroom condo with sweeping 360* views of the ocean, city, and mountains! While they were getting the condo ready for us we took the scenic ocean highway that winds past Hanauma bay and the blow hole where "From Here To Eternity" was filmed, to our favorite little ice cream shop in a humble little town past Sea Life Park. After some amazing kona coffee and coconut ice cream we checked into our condo. It was perfect. I quickly unpacked and then we walked to Waikiki beach to watch the sunset and play in the waves. It was very romantic. After the beautiful sunset we walked around Honolulu and found a trendy restaurant called Holokai Grill for dinner. It was a fun atmosphere but the food left something to be desired. However, there was really no way to be disappointed. I was in Hawaii with the love of my life, the coconut shrimp appetizer was really good and while we were there I got a pix message from my favorite cousin with a ring on the third finger of her left hand!!!! Congratulations Jenn!
The next morning we had breakfast at hotel around the corner from us and then went to Aloha Tower Marketplace. We went there last year and I just love it. There is a great surf shop with the best flip flops, oh sorry, slippers, ever! The ones I got last year are brown and pink and oh so cute! This year they didn't have any in my size (but I found some black and pink ones somewhere else. They are called Ocean Minded and are the best flops ever!!!) After visiting the surf shop we went to the Aloha Tower to check out the views from the top. :)
The Aloha Tower. The elevator ride to the top was sweltering! It felt so good to get out and go outside on the balcony! At the top we were greeted with sweeping views of the harbor. There was a huge cruise ship in the slip right next to us an we watched ships come and go. Mike really enjoyed watching the cargo ships being helped in by tug boats and then watching them be unloaded with cranes.
More of the tower. And a palm tree, yay!
The entryway/ lobby. I love how so many lobbies and restaurants are open air on the islands!
The flowers in Hawaii are sooo beautiful. These were growing all around the entryway of the Aloha Tower and I thought they were gorgeous.
The guard saw me taking a picture of the flower and offered to take one of us in front of the pretty flowers! Note Mike's squinty face. This is the face he wore in most of the pictures we took.
After seeing the tower we went in search of lunch in the Tower Marketplace. We found Don Ho's. Yes, the restaurant in honor of the famous singer of "Tiny Bubbles." While we waited for our table we took more pictures!!
Us waiting for our table with tropical foliage in the background. We are so cute!
Me in front of some flowers. No tan yet, but it is still our first full day!
We got an outside table with an amazing harbor view. I ordered a margarita pizza and it came out on a wooden board in the shape of a surf board. It was so cute! Above is a picture of my drink. I ordered a chi chi instead of a pina colada. I wanted to try one because they have the same ingredients as a pina colada except the chi chi has vodka instead of rum. It was ok, but not my favorite. It looked cute though. In the future I will stick to pina coladas (or blue hawaiis, or mai tais or....:)).
After lunch we took a long scenic drive along the ocean up past Diamond Head. It was amazing. The raw beauty there took my breath away. We stopped at a view point on a cliff and sat on a stone wall looking out on the beautiful blue Pacific. All I could think was "good job God!" There is no way to look out at such beauty and not feel peace in your soul.
From there we drove down to a really nice beach next to the Honolulu Aquarium and took a walk in the park and then out in the sand. It was so nice we decided we wanted to swim so we drove back to the condo and grabbed our beach bag and walked down to Waikiki beach where we played in the waves. We swam quite a ways out to where the waves were strong and had so much fun trying to body surf. Just letting the waves pick you up and push you around is so much fun!
We stayed at the beach until long after sunset and by the time we walked around Honolulu in search of dinner most places were either closed or completely booked, so we grabbed some chips and dip at the Food Pantry and had a romantic meal at the condo.lol
And that was the start of our amazing vacation!