For the first time in two years - I had a vacation! I went to an airport! I got on a plane! The smell of LAX was invigorating and so welcoming and exciting. My days of crazy travels all around the world multiple times a month feels so far away, I almost forgot it existed. Even though it was a domestic trip, it still felt so fresh and new and exciting... I mean it is Polynesia. And the best part was that we pretty much saw the entire island.
Monday, February 28, 2022 was Sophie's first plane ride - Los Angeles to Honolulu, that's a fun one! And I was so relieved to have the extra hands available to help with Sophie for that 6 hour plane ride, and we had a whole row which helped her be able to stand up and move around. Here she was, reclining and enjoying some light plane reading.
Our timeshare had a great location just about a block from Waikiki Beach and in the great neighborhood with the international market and shopping and just overall beautiful scenery.
Sophie had had a long day and I was pretty exhausted, so we collapsed in our room while everyone else went out to the grocery store and then dinner. It was the best decision ever cause I woke up happily refreshed the next morning. AJ went out golfing, and while he often invites me to come do the ride-along with him, I can never bring myself to join, at least not for a full round. But with the pictures he sent from the course, I was starting to second guess myself...
While he was out golfing, the rest of us went walking out in the beautiful weather and stopped and got some amazing Hawaiian breakfasts (I went all extra and got this raspberry smoothie, which I'm still salivating over)
and then we walked to the Honolulu Zoo, because God knows if there's a zoo nearby, we need to visit it. It was beautiful! We saw a black swan which was something new, chimps, rhinos... the hippos were lazing against the glass and we got to watch them for awhile - they were shockingly incredible. We also got to see an elephant playing with a ball and rolling it around! Sophie's favorites that day were the zebras and giraffes (they were in the same enclosure) and then some form of hyena or hunting dog?? We just called them puppies and she was sold.
By the way, Sophie was obsessed with every dog and bird (read: pigeon) that we passed. She would practically throw herself out of the stroller to point and wave at them.
That evening, we wandered into an H&M on our way home, and that's where we learned that Sophie will strut through a store with her hands behind her like this. I have no idea where she learned it from but she does it a lot now!
The next day, AJ cashed in on his birthday present from me and had a round of golf up at Turtle Bay Resort (oh hello Forgetting Sarah Marshall!) which was on the total opposite end of the island on the North Shore, so we got to drive pretty much around the entire island by going up one way and coming down the other. (So beautiful!) We dropped AJ off and then found a cute little stand of food shops to get breakfast at.
While AJ golfed, we hung out at the resort beach until he finished and came to join us. Sophie wasn't totally feeling the water, but we got her in eventually.
We drove down to Kailua and cut back to Honolulu through the Pali, and of course none of these car pictures do it justice, but the whole drive was so picturesque.
With AJ's golf trips done, we spent the rest of our trip pretty local, spending time at the beach and visiting the Iolani Palace, which I really loved. AJ's mom and sister also did us a huge favor by taking Sophie for an afternoon/evening and we got to go out on our own. We explored the southern part of the island, saw a beautiful sunset, and had diner at a "French" restaurant. It's in quotations because, aside from the name (Michel's), a painting of the Eiffel Tower at the front, and escargot on the appetizer menu, there was really absolutely nothing else French about it LOL. I got a salmon dish and AJ got an "Ocean's Bounty" that was every seafood piece you could imagine. Still delicious though! And beautiful beachside location with downtown Honolulu in the background.
We had a later afternoon flight out so we had time on our last day to drive up to the one northwest corner of the island we hadn't seen and visited the "Mermaid Caves", which actually require you to climb down a hole to access. The tide was kinda high so there wasn't a lot of mobility but it was still pretty cool to see!
And that was our trip. Of course the travel home basically undoes all the relaxation of your vacation, but we have great memories from such a good week, and AJ's family stayed through the weekend which helped us relax more since we could sleep in and nap - praise the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment