We started my Spring Break a little early leaving on Wednesday, March 4th. We took the shuttle to Las Vegas for our flight leaving at 8:24 am to arrive at Honolulu at 1:05 pm. Other than the shuttle taxi picking us up about a half hour early - thank goodness we were ready - everything went smoothly for us on that. We did figure out that we had been told to go to the wrong departure gate, but had plenty of time to make it over to the right one. We picked up our little rental car and found our hotel. We had lunch at a Wendy's that was close by and then drove off to see some sights. We drove and walked around in the crazy busy area of Waikiki Beach. We also did a hike to the Halona Lighthouse and stopped by the Halona Blowhole and walked along the beach at Sandy Beach Park. We got sprinkled on some while we were hiking. Our motel wasn't beautiful, but it was very convenient to the airport and had a great breakfast every morning.
Thursday, March 5th, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was a beautiful drive to get there! They started the day off with a canoe presentation showcasing all of the different cultures. It was really fantastic. Then we spent the day visiting the villages of each culture and learning about them. In the evening we had a wonderful buffet dinner. Just after the dinner we took a quick trip over to the Hawaii Temple and Visitor's Center on a bus with the sister missionaries. They all get to wear moo moos when they serve there! After that we came back for the HA: Breath of Life evening show that again showcased the Polynesian cultures and their history. It was all wonderful!
Friday, March 6th, we drove over to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial/Historic Sites. It is a place to show respect for those who gave their all. There's a special feeling there. We went to the museums and then out to the Arizona Memorial. We watched the movie about the history and spent a lot of the morning there. We also had to go to Wal Mart and pick up Paul's pills. Somehow they didn't make it on the trip and it was great that his doctors called in a weeks worth so we could pick them up for him that morning.
In the afternoon we decided to drive the North Shore road. Along the way we stopped in at a busy little tourist town and had a great shrimp lunch. We stopped at another place and had gelato. We stopped at a pretty beach and I waded a little and found some coral pieces that I brought home. We saw sea turtles there too. We stopped in at a waterfall place, but it was way too expensive to do their hike, so we just used their facilities and moved on. We also stopped in at the Dole Pineapple Store to check it out. We stopped off at another beach and watched the surfers for a while. It was a beautiful drive and day.
Saturday, March 7th, was our day to get on the Norwegian Cruise ship. We first had to return our car which was not easy, but we finally found the right place! Then we had to find the cruise line shuttle which took a little while. Then we rode a shuttle out to board the ship and eat lunch. Later in the day our room was ready and we went and unpacked and then went to an opening talk by the cruise director and then a comedic Magic/Illusionist show that was very good. It was done by Joseph Reohm.
Sunday, March 8th, we arrived at Maui where we were docked for two days. In the morning we walked over and picked up our rental car and drove out the Road to Hana and stopped in at the Haleakala National Park Kipahulu shore section of the park. We did a 5-mile hike to Waimoku Falls. There were water falls all along the way to the big one. We also had some rain on our way back down, but it wasn't cold and we were so sweaty from the hike and humidity that it didn't really matter to get a little more wet! We did another short hike out to the shore also. It was a really beautiful, sometimes narrow drive and a beautiful section of the park. We ate our lunch at a pull out after the park visit and then headed back to the ship for the night. That night they had a show with a comedian that was pretty good. Later in the week he did another show and got way too vulgar and we walked out of that one. We got our park bag and postcard and they also threw in a couple of magnets. It was a great day! We had to park our rental car back at their lot for the night and then do the short walk back to the ship.
Monday March 9th, we drove up to the Haleakala National Park Summit section of the park. That's a completely different environment with volcanic cinder cones and high mountain plants and views. We stopped in at the Visitor's Center on the way up since the old one up top was closed for work. We did a couple of hikes up there. One was down into the place where the weather has eroded down in to where there are several cinder cones. It was hard coming up out of it again. We saw all there was to see there and then headed down and ate lunch at pullout once again and then headed down to turn in our car and get back to the ship.
Tuesday, March 10th - we had cruised in the night over to Hilo, Hawaii. This day we went on a morning Shore Excursion to Volcanoes National Park...and it turned out to be AMAZING! The Kilauea volcano has been active there recently and we were hoping to see it doing something while we were there. On the way there our guide checked the web cam and said that nothing was happening with the volcano. Then just about the time we arrived it started erupting bright orange/red lava...and then it just kept going higher and higher and higher! Then it began to put out a cloud of volcanic glass ash! It was going everywhere and piling up on top of things. The park people were trying to get everyone to leave so we didn't go to the visitor's center, but our guide took us to a hotel with a viewing area! It was so awesome! And I got my park bag, brochure and post card there at their gift shop. Wow! What perfect timing. The afternoon shore excursion was cancelled and the road closed, so we were so happy that we got in there before that! We also stopped in at the Big Island Chocolate Factory and drove down the Banyan Trees Boulevard where trees were planted to honor famous people. It turned out to be a great day. After lunch we walked a long ways to get ice cream at a shop Juge recommended in Hilo. Unicorn ice cream. Then we came back and played cards, ate dinner, tried the MoTown show, but didn't care for it. We went back to our room and watched a movie. It was an awesome day! Paul and I both bought shirts that were too small that day too! We had shakes and French fries that night at the Cadillac diner for desert.
Wednesday, March 11th - we were supposed to cruise over to Kona from Hilo during the night, but the weather was not conducive to going ashore in tender boats, so we just stayed in Hilo that night and then spent the day at sea. We had our Jet Boat/Snorkeling shore excursion cancelled as well. While at sea we cruised by the Molikini Crater on the front side and then in the evening we cruised by the back side cliffs. It was hard to see the cliffs because we were at dinner then and because the rain just kept going and going. The ship hosted a big bingo game in the theater. We didn't win anything, thank goodness! Mostly they were giving out bottles of booze to the winners or a ship cup. Didn't need either one of those things. It was fun. We played more games, sent a post card to Brynnli, listened to the piano player in the bar play Billy Joel songs and probably walked the deck for exercise. We went to another Magic/illusion show that was really fun. Rain, Rain...go away!
Thursday, March 12th - We arrived at Nawiliwili, Kauai, during the night. We ate a nice breakfast at the Skyline Restaurant and then left for our Discover Kauai Shore excursion. We ended up getting on the bus with the Best of Kauai Shore excursion by mistake. Luckily they figured it out right away and went back and put us on the van tour that we were actually supposed to be on. And boy, was that a good thing. It was just 13 of us in a van with a great local guide narrating and telling us all about the island until 3:00 when it ended. We went on the Wailua River Cruise to Fern Grotto with Hawaiian musicians and hula dancers entertaining along and the captain giving info about the scenery. We hiked up to Fern Grotto where they performed the Hawiian Wedding song for us - beautiful! Lots of people get married there! On the way back there was more music and dancing with some audience participation. It was fun. Next we went to the Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge and saw the lighthouse and bird sanctuary there. It had beautiful views and lots of amazing birds flying around. During the drives we got some heavy to light rains, but it mostly stopped each time we needed to get out and see something. We stopped in for a quick lunch at Hanalei Bay and enjoyed seeing the beautiful bay. The sun was shining and it was blue skies on this side of the island. This was a beautiful trip along the North Shore. We went clear to the northernmost tip of the island. Back at the boat we cleaned up and had a great dinner at the Skyline Restaurant. Earlier we rode a shuttle over to the Anchor Maul where I bought a too big shirt! We also walked around the Duke Marriot Hotel's beautiful grounds and then rode the shuttle back. We got a little soggy in the rain.
Friday, March 13 - Our shore excursion for this day was going to be a Kauai Hiking Adventure shore excursion at Kona. That got cancelled since we couldn't go to Kona and the weather was way too rainy/windy. We took advantage and slept in a little and had a wonderful breakfast at the Skyline. We played games, went shopping again at the Anchor Maul and got something for Sarai's birthday/returned the too big shirt. We went over to the Duke/Marriot Gardens again and enjoyed the whole thing leisurely without getting rained on. Paul bought me a really pretty necklace while we were there and gave it to me later on. We had a great lunch at the Liberty Restaurant. We took and afternoon nap, tipped our steward (he made us a great towel elephant in gratitude), and watched the tug boats pull our boat out from the dock to start the cruise back to Honolulu. We had another great dinner at the Skyline. Lots of rain falling most of the time now. Earlier in the week we could walk the deck to get some exercise, but not now. We also got our boarding pass ready for tomorrow's flight home and got everything all smashed into our suitcases!
Saturday, March 14 - time to go home. We had to get up and get going to be off the ship by 8ish. We just ate at the Aloha Buffet to be quick. We went through the debarking process pretty fast, boarded our airport shuttle and made it to the airport around 9 am to start the waiting for our 1:05 flight back to Las Vegas. We just went around the airport and made sure we knew where our gate was. Our plane was about 30 minutes late and it took some time to clean and cater it. Then we got on and they found something that needed fixing on the cargo doors. Finally, 2 hours late, we started back to Las Vegas. I had let our shuttle ride know we were going to be too late probably. We were. (We actually got a call from the driver while on the plane about 20 minutes out from landing. He said he'd tell the 6 am driver to save us a seat.) We got there a little after midnight (it left at 11:30) and the we were told the airline agent would help us make some kind of arrangements...she barely showed up, gave us some terrible directions, and sent us off to talk to someone else at baggage. We rode the red line tram and then the blue line tram and gave up on that and went back to wait until the rest of the night until the 6 am shuttle got there. We listened to a book, napped badly and waited and waited. Finally it was time and we got some good directions to the shuttle. SO GLAD TO SEE IT! Had a tired ride home. Thankfully, the shuttle just transferred our payment to the 6 am and didn't charge us again. It was so good to finally land in our bed for a long nap!
IT WAS AN AWESOME TRIP! SO MANY THINGS WORKED OUT SO THE BAD WEATHER DIDN'T REALLY MESS UP MUCH OF ANYTHING WE WANTED TO DO OTHER THAN THE SNORKELLING. WE BEAT THE STORM TO SEE THE VOLCANOES AND EVERYTHING ELSE WE WANTED TO SEE/DO! IT WAS A WIN!!! TRIP OF A LIFETIME IN MANY WAYS!!! A VERY BIG THANK TO PAUL FOR THIS GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT TRIP!
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