Hawaii 2011 – Oahu Part 3 *pic heavy*

Tags

hawaii, oahu, photography, travel, waikiki

On October 12th we spotted this HUGE line at Victoria’s Secret.. it turns out Alessandra Ambrosio came to Hawaii for their store opening! We first saw the line in the morning and it ended up lasting until the end of the day! It would have been nice to see her in person but I don’t think I could wait all day for that

Kalakaua Avenue early in the morning… this is the main touristy street near the beach where people are walking around at all hours of the day and night… similar to ‘the strip’ in SoCal

Being cheesy at the Chanel store at the end of Kalakaua Avenue! We did go inside once (honestly I had never gone inside a Chanel store before) and Justin balked at the price of a crocodile flap for $6850! hahah

The first freestanding YSL store I’ve ever seen! Since I have a little baby green-teal besace I have to show some love I find it funny that YSL and Chanel were pushed SO far towards the end of the ‘strip’ while other less coveted fashion houses are in the middle of Kalakaua.

My Hawaii uniform! Super slouchy tanks, bikini underneath, beach shorts and some Havaiana sandals. Unfortunately these sandals broke on a rocky beach hike so I had to trash them.

Yellow hibiscus:

Having fun with the tanks and guns at the US Army museum of Hawaii at Waikiki:

Waikiki beach in the morning

Japanese tourists learning hula on Waikiki beach:

Disney’s latest resort.. Aulani in Ko Olina! I love Disney and I had to check it out because it is still very new!

They have a pretty little manmade cove right off the beach

As always, Disney does not disappoint! The resort is beautiful.

You can see a peek of their lazy river here… that ‘mountain’ in the back is a waterslide:

The austere and impressive lobby (the feel of it is similar to the California Adventure hotel):

In a nutshell, the resort is beautiful and great for kids and the elderly, but I think I’d get pretty bored there after a couple days. There isn’t much to do at that end of the island.

Justin loves to geocache so we set off to find one near the rocky beach close to Paradise cove. This is where my Havaianas broke!

Justin located the geocache within this monstrous tree:

The nice thing about geocaching is that they can take you to the most beautiful and untouched places

Luau time at Paradise Cove

My faux tribal tattoo.. the closest I’ll ever get to the real thing

Kalua pork, island fish with macadamia nut cream sauce and poi!

During one night I was SO tired from walking around that I slept for 10 hours..and while I slept Justin surprised me with a LeSportSac wallet! This print is exclusive to Hawaii and Guam. He had a difficult time picking one out for me (“at least 45 minutes!”) because “every print looks different!”

Next on the list of things to do… Waimea Falls

Waimea Valley park is a nice easy hike with pretty sights to see along the way. They have an extensive botanical garden if you happen to love plants and flowers.

Hair of the day:

Waimea falls! The water is actually 30 feet deep!

The twisted roots of this tree (I forgot the name) spiral down from the top of the tree into the ground!

We couldn’t go home without trying Matsumoto’s famous shaved ice!

There’s always a long line to pay:

I bought a mousepad for $4 since I needed one anyway…

Everyone needs to eat RICE!

Malasadas are my favorite dessert in Hawaii! Leonard’s is the BEST

Justin is part Portugese so I insisted he try the food of his people

We had a quick stop at the Ala Moana mall (the largest open-air shopping mall in the world)

There is a jewelry store called Q-Pot that looks like a candy store but they sell food-themed jewelry!

This ‘magical broom’ is actually a ROOMBA! I passed by and saw it gliding along the floor

I also did some damage at Gilly Hicks…I love their undies but its hard to get to for me since there are no stores where I live

And now… my tiny haul from the trip!

Haleiwa tee from a Japanese boutique near my hotel (twitpic of me wearing it here)

and some various girly goodies

So that’s it for my Oahu photos for this trip! I’m a bit sick so I wanted to get this done quick…Time to lie down now!

Thanks for readin’

All posts in this series:

• Oahu 2011 Part 1
• Oahu 2011 Part 2
• Oahu 2011 Part 3

♥ E&I

Hawaii 2011 – Oahu Part 2 *pic heavy*

Tags

giovanni's, hawaii, oahu, photography, shorebird, waikiki

During our trip we visited Byodo-In Temple in the Valley of the Temples, surrounded by lush green mountains.

This temple is so picturesque!

A closeup of a plant that seems more at home in the ocean than on land! (I can’t seem to find the actual name)

Justin suggested we go here because the birds at the temple are very tame. We arrived early in the morning before the temple shop was even open, but a monk at the temple was kind enough to give us feed for free.

Byodo-In’s resident Calico cat, sleeping in the sunshine (what a life!):

That same day we went to the Dole Plantation in the middle of Oahu. I highly recommend the pineapple ice cream bowl with fresh pineapple

We also did the Dole pineapple maze challenge! This maze was declared the World’s Largest Maze in 2008. If you do plan to visit, make sure to check the free tourism guides around downtown Oahu… you’re likely to find a buy one get one free adult admission ticket for the maze.

The most delicious gummi bears I’ve ever had.. and possibly the most expensive~! Justin bought it for me as surprise and I was shocked at the $7 pricetag! But.. it was so good we were almost tempted to buy another bag.

A pretty hibiscus flower in the maze:

Laniakea Beach aka “Turtle Beach”

I had never seen a wild turtle before this trip! They are so amazingly adorable and majestic at the same time. The turtles come to Laniakea beach to sleep and eat the seaweed growing on the rocks.

These two were “holding hands!” :3

One of our Groupons was for a (Groupon referral here) submersible-scooter ride near Hawaii Kai.

Apparently Kanye West’s secret studio is located off the pier.

We were tethered to the surface so we wouldn’t have to worry about hitting the bottom:

The plastic helmets gave us “shrunken heads”

It was a fun experience… If scuba diving is too expensive and/or too frightening I recommend underwater scooters! An oxygen tank pumps air into the helmet and you have controls to push yourself forward, right or left.

My grown-up version of Shark Boy

Most of the trip we drank POG (passion fruit-orange-guava juice).. I was insistent that we consume as much non-mainland food and drink as possible My local Marukai does have a lot of Hawaiian snacks, drinks and food mixes but its just not the same (and not to mention expensive)

A shrimp plate from Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck was on my list of things to eat:

The truck itself is covered in years of graffiti from past customers:

The most popular dish on the menu is the shrimp scampi plate: a secret blend of spices, butter, and a TON of garlic

The kitchen itself is tiny yet when I was there, at least 5 people were inside cooking, serving and taking orders

Shrimp scampi:

Lemon butter shrimp:

Full and sleepy!

Laie, Hawaii

This is where they filmed that scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (where Jason Segel dives into the ocean and then gets a kiss from Mila Kunis)

Though when we went the waves were crashing HARD.. I don’t think anyone would dare to jump in at this time of year

Dressing (down) for dinner!

Drink of choice: Lava flows

Justin made reservations at the Shorebird for a beachfront table

After some deliberation we decided upon a filet mignon steak, some garlic bread and a marinated teriyaki skewer

We like our meat RARE

Just kidding. You cook it on their huge grill with a Waikiki beach view!

The salad bar (it wasn’t terrible but not the best either)

Justin trying to keep an eye on the meat through the smoke:

They even have a handy dandy grilling guide if you’re unsure how long to cook your food:

Sorry about not having photos of the food after cooking.. it was quite dark and we were hungry. I highly recommend the marinated teriyaki kabob!

All posts in this series:

• Oahu 2011 Part 1
• Oahu 2011 Part 2
• Oahu 2011 Part 3

♥ E&I

Hawaii 2011 – Oahu Part 1 *pic heavy*

Tags

hawaii, oahu, photography, travel, trips, Vacation

I love Hawaii! Prior to this trip I had been to Oahu with my family roughly 5 years ago. This was my first romantic getaway with someone that I love so it was a really special trip.

The view from our seats:

Hawaii has the most amazing skyline… the very first time I visited I felt the sky was just such a pure blue color. For this trip the sky was a bit cloudy and windy at times but it was still very beautiful.

Walking along Waikiki beach during our first night:

I highly recommend visiting Oahu if its your first time to Hawaii. It’s quite touristy but it does have all the major shopping and nightlife. Plus, if your home state sales tax is higher than Hawaii’s current ~4.5%, you can feel better purchasing higher priced items here. (A few more shopping photos to come in future posts)

Our hotel room lanai overlooked the Ala Wai canal: (sunny view here)

Every morning we’d watch the sunrise and watch people walking along the canal.

We hiked up Diamond Head the next day and this was the view:

I highly recommend the hike! Not overly challenging but not too easy either. To reward ourselves we had our first shaved ice of the trip at the bottom of the crater:

Diamond Head State beach park: (if you visit this beach, bring all important valuables with you, as it is notorious for car trunk theft!)

Lots of little tidepools with small crabs and fish that got stuck:

The sand here is so sparkly!

Justin and I bought a handful of Groupons in preparation for our trip. Just sign up for email alerts for Honolulu, HI and you’ll get cheaper meals and excursions this way. For under $30 we each got a Groupon for a sunset cruise on a catamaran!

Our boat, the Island Magic:

On the docks a fisherman had just caught some mahi mahi so I had to take some quick pics Apparently while we were there there was a mahi mahi shortage so I’m sure this fisherman was happy to get these.

This photo was one of my favorites for this entire trip! We were allowed to sit at the front of the catamaran where I snapped this photo. I currently have it in a frame in my guest bathroom.

I was quite snap-happy throughout the trip, so you’ll be seeing a lot of Justin in my photos. Sorry if that’s bothersome.. but then again I’m not that sorry. Haha.

I love him, what else can I say?

All posts in this series:

• Oahu 2011 Part 1
• Oahu 2011 Part 2
• Oahu 2011 Part 3

Thank you for reading!

♥ E&I