Hawaii: Day 7

This is it.  We've come to the short, anti-climatic end that is Day 7.  A day spent saying good-bye.

Good-bye palm trees.

Good-bye, exotic plants.

Good-bye, beach front property.

Good-bye photo shoots with twisty trees.

Good-bye, spiteful clouds that rarely let us see the Hawaiian sun.

Good-bye free time spent doing ukulele graffiti.

Good-bye Mistborn.  I hope Kelsier and his band of merry men end up saving the world after all.

Good-bye Hawaiian sand that looks so cool in pictures but is actually the worst sand in the world - almost two months later and I think I'm still finding some of it stuck to me.

Good-bye carefree boys we watched dive for hours.

Good-bye awkward photo shoots of trying to flip my hair in the wind like a true K-mart model.

Good-bye, great big ocean, big black rocks, and itty-bitty shells.

Good-bye delicious shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk and beans(!).

Good-bye (and good riddance) wild, victorious-over-every-hair-product, Hawaiian hair.

And good-bye ninja videos.

When our good-byes were done, we got on the plane and bundled up for the long flight home.

Sixteen hours later, we (and our ukuleles) were home safe and sound.

Hawaii was different than I ever imagined it to be, more like a home away from home than an exotic paradise.

If I had to rate this trip (and I do because I am Greg Kitchen's daughter), I would give Hawaii 5-0 a great big High Five.  Times three.

Saying good-bye is always sad, but if you feel yourself getting lonesome for paradise, just watch this video over and over and over again and it will take the edge off the sadness.

Aloha, Hawaii!  

And mahalo for joining me on this two month Hawaiian tour.  

Next time, let's all go together.

Hawaii: Day 6

I would go back to Hawaii just to visit the Hilo airport again.  It was like being transported to the 50s: fancy lounge furniture, jazzy elevator music, cherry wood glistening around every corner, it made leaving the Big Island that much harder.

It was a good thing it was such a relaxing airport though, because we spent a good chunk of time waiting for our plane to be fixed.

It was eerie to watch the mechanic fix the plane and then as soon as we boarded, a strange mist started to curl out from under our seats.

The flight attendant assured us it was just the air conditioning and that it would go away once we took flight.  It never did.  My toes were frostbitten by the end.

Adrienne enjoyed the atmosphere while she read her "Mistborn" book.

It was a beautiful flight.

I was looking out the window when a giant submarine popped out of the ocean!  It was so cool!  I couldn't get my camera out quick enough, so all I got was that little streak.

After we landed, we went to pick up our rental car and we saw look-a-likes of our very own jeeps that we'd left behind on the Big Island.  It brought tears to my eyes, I missed them already.

Our first stop, was Pearl Harbor.  If you look closely at all of the Pearl Harbor pictures, you will see a certain grumpiness aura to them.  Every trip has a meltdown session, Pearl Harbor was ours.

Jen got another stamp in her passport!

Then we drove to the North Shore.  And found a little bit of home along the way.

These trees were everywhere, they looked like lego trees with long rounded plastic looking needles.

One of the best things about Hawaii: Jack in the Box.  Two tacos and a cheesecake, sometimes that's all you need to be happy.

Unfortunately, J in the B did not cure all crankiness, the grumpiness aura is still hanging around these pictures...even on the North Shore.

We stayed at a really nice hostile with a beach front view.

We were eager to hit the beach since we'd had very little beach time the whole time we'd been in Hawaii.  But before the beach, we stopped by Ted's Bakery for some chocolate haapia pie.

We took the pie to the beach for a little picnic.  Let's check the grumpiness level....yep, we were still feeling it.

But give us some one-of-a-kind chocolate haapia pie...

And some Hawaiian Sun ad-worthy punch...

And we're suddenly, magically happy.

All traces of grumpiness gone.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out, taking pictures, making friends, catching some rays, playing ukuleles, making ninja videos...it was the exact kind of day you would imagine having in Hawaii.

The bird biker.

Practicing his swing.

A collection of classic Kelly/Ashley pictures.

Get out of the way, Kelly, this is my picture.

Okay, you can be in this one.

"I don't want to do anything weird." ~Adrienne

We put a lot of effort into taking a good jumping picture.

We put a lot of effort into convincing Jen it was time to give up on the jumping pictures.

We stayed until it got dark.

Then we stopped at the Laie Temple.

A statue on the temple grounds for maternity.

What the inside of a Hawaiian visitor's center looks like:

One day left, then we're done with Hawaii!!!