Hawaii Trip

Hawaiian Vacation 2014

“Hawaii is paradise born of fire.”

~Rand McNally

wiseoldsayings.com/hawaii-quotes/

June 14, 2014

Hawaii seems to be a popular bucket list item for people. I went to Hawaii 5 years ago and it was a dream vacation come true! Plan on going to Hawaii? Well here I’ll tell you all about my family trip to Hawaii to give you ideas for your own Hawaiian vacation! 

When my family went we went for about a week and a half and visited 2 of the 7 Hawaiian Islands. We spent most of our time on Oahu, which is known for its beauty and tropical nature. But, we also spent a few days on the Big Island as well. In Oahu we stayed at a special military only hotel called Hale Koa Hotel. This hotel was super nice because it was right on the beach! It also had a few different restaurants in it, some nice shops for souvenirs, and one of my favorite things this hotel had was a special Hawaiian luau each week for the hotel guests only! If you are a veteran this would be a great hotel to stay at on Oahu! 

While in Oahu, my family mainly did hikes to waterfalls and through the Hawaiian rain forest. We went on one waterfall hike called Manoa Falls. This waterfall hike was very scenic and at the end you reached Manoa Falls, which is a 150 foot waterfall! It was truly breathtaking! I would definitely recommend this waterfall hike in Oahu! When we weren’t hiking to waterfalls or through the tropical rain forest we spent a lot of our time on the beach our hotel sat on! Definitely don’t miss out on having some beach time! The sand is pure white and the water is stunning with shades of deep blue and turquoise mixed together! 

We also went and visited Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve where we snorkeled and got to see coral, sting rays, and even sea turtles! One other thing we did here was something not many people know of. This is called, The Spitting Cave of Port Lock. This is a hidden cave on Oahu that you do a short hike to and when waves go into it, the water is literally spit back into the ocean! This was very cool and I highly recommend you check it out when in Oahu! 

If we weren’t on the beach or hiking then we spent the rest of the time exploring downtown Honolulu. One other thing we did here was go to the USS Arizona Memorial which is where that ship sank in Pearl Harbor. You get to see its memorial as well as learn more about the full history behind Pearl Harbor. After Oahu we headed to The Big Island for a few days.

On the Big Island we drove along Chain of Craters Road in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where you get to drive through historic lava flow areas dating all the way back to 1983 and then end with present day lava flow areas. We also went and visited Kilauea Viewing point at the night so we could see the glow of the lava deep within Kilauea!  We also did another waterfall hike to Akaka Falls which is in Akaka Falls National park. This hike allows you to view the 442 foot waterfall! One other waterfall hike we did here was called Rainbow Falls which is a special waterfall that reveals distinctive rainbows on sunny days! One last thing we did here on the Big Island was visit Punalu’u Beach which is a black sand beach, meaning the sand was created by lava rock! This by far, has been my all-time favorite family trip! When you get the chance I definitely would not miss out on visiting Hawaii!