Oahu: Taste of Island Life

While in Oahu, we ate delicious food! Loco moco is a local staple. It is a hamburger patty over rice, with gravy and a fried egg. The Mins really liked the one we had at the Fish Hook Cafe.

And though not from Hawaii, we tried the famous Lady M crepe cake for the first time.

While driving around the island with our rental car, we made sure to go to Giovanni's. So many people told us it was a "must do", so we had to check it out.

The garlic scampi did not disappoint! Luckily we went for a very late lunch so the line was not as long as we anticipated.

We tried shaved ice at a few places, but Matsumoto was the best, hands down. The Mins had the tropical combo - lilikoi, guava, and pineapple.

There is a lot of Japanese tourists so the Japanese food in Waikiki was plentiful. If you're craving udon, we recommend Marukame Udon.

Other places we enjoyed were Zippy's (a Hawaiian fast food chain), Aloha Kitchen (for Japanese souffle pancakes), Momosan (Morimoto's ramen joint), bills (from Australia), Duke's (we were able to watch the sunset over dinner), and Goofy Cafe and Dine (fresh and organic local dishes). Yum!

Oahu: The Gathering Place

After spending five lovely days in Maui, we hopped on a short flight and arrived in Oahu. We spent our first day exploring the area close to our hotel, and met up with relatives for dinner. The Mins enjoyed our very large lanai (a.k.a. balcony) attached to our hotel room. We read there every morning while the rest of the fam was sleeping.

We spent our second day strolling along the beach in Waikiki. We would walk a few blocks, then sit...walk a few more blocks...then grab a bit to eat...walk more, then shop. It was a very leisurely day.

This is the Mins looking out to Diamond Head. He said he returns, he wants to hike it.

On my mum's birthday, we did a tour around the island with our relatives who were also vacationing in Oahu. One stop on the tour was the lookout at Hanauma Bay. It's known as a great place for snorkeling.

We also stopped at the Dole Plantation where I bought some souvenirs and ate Dole whip (soft serve pineapple ice cream). The Mins made a few pineapple friends! His pineapple friends have never met a sasquatch before.

After our tour, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for a luau. We saw a show in the evening that featured a lot of fire dancing.

We rented a car to drive around the island to check out other stops that were not on our tour. The windward coast of Oahu was really beautiful.

The mountains looked like they were straight out of Jurassic Park!

Despite the Mins' furry exterior, he did enjoy a decent amount of beach time. Some mornings, the Mins and I did yoga on the beach.

I can see why people like Hawaii so much. So much to see and do!

Aloha from Maui!

My parents, G, the Mins, and I recently returned from a fantastic family vacation in Hawaii. We went to celebrate my mum's 70th birthday. She went to the University of Hawaii over 50 years ago and wanted to check some things off her bucket list.

We started our trip in Maui. We stayed in a great condo right by a local beach in Kihei. The location was very convenient since a grocery store and restaurants were within walking distance. We went to McDonald's one morning to try their spam breakfast.

We spent a day visiting towns along the west coast. We shopped and had lunch in Lahaina, which was once a whaling village.

We then checked out the beaches in Ka'anapli and Kapalua (pictured above).

We spent another day doing the Road to Hana. We opted to do a tour with Valley Isle Excursions. This allowed us to drive around Haleakala (there's a very bumpy road for one stretch that is not covered by rental car insurance), as opposed to driving to Hana and turning back on the same road.

We had the opportunity to go for a quick dip by a waterfall. The water was clear and warm.

Here the Mins is at Wai'anapanapa State Park, which is famous for its black sand beach. Volcanic minerals and lava fragments make the sand black.

The Mins thought the banyan trees along the Road to Hana were pretty cool. Did you know banya trees are fig trees? Mind blown!

Ohe'o Gulch is a set of seven cascading waterfalls at Haleakala National Park. We went to different viewing points to see the falls. This is the Mins toward the bottom of the "Seven Sacred Pools".

We returned to Haleakala National Park to visit the summit on a separate day. The dormant volcano is +10,000 feet above sea level. It felt like we were among the clouds.

The views of the crater where phenomenal. The weather was also refreshing - a good 10 degrees cooler than other places on the island.

Next stop, Oahu!