Last Day in Hawaii

It was a sad (not too sad though) day! We had our last Hawaii adventures today. We wanted to do a lot of things so we would be able to sleep on the plane home, so we started early. We drove to the south east side of the island and climbed up Koko Head Crater. Koko Head is a volcanic crater that was formed a long time ago. It has a railway track that goes up the outside of it that is no longer used by rail, so people have started climbing up it. It has 1,048 steps up. The first part of the trail is not too steep. Then it crosses over a bridge that doesn't have any dirt under it (but there is a little trail off to the side where I went up). The second half of it is really steep. By the time you get up, you are pretty tired. At the top, you can look off over the interior of the crater and then down into the ocean. It was an amazing view! It was a really fun hike to do. At first I was tired, but then I started enjoying it a lot. Coming down was slower than going up, but we made it just fine.

Then we decided to go over to Diamond Head crater and hike it again. I like Diamond Head because it has a well-groomed path and there is a handrail all up the trail. At the top, you can look off and see all of Honolulu and Waikiki beach. The ocean really is amazing!

The next thing we had on our agenda was to go swimming, but before we did, we decided to go to Chinatown to drink a bubble tea smoothie. I really like the bubble tea, but I prefer it without the bubbles. Today I got a mango pineapple one. It was so yummy and very refreshing after our two hikes. Then we drove back to the north side of the island, but before we went to the beach, we stopped at Ross to see if we could find some good deals. We had heard they had some cute sweaters that were inexpensive. I found a really cute brown skirt like my black one and I brown sweater. I am kind of excited about them.

By the time we finished and drove back up toward La'ie, the wind was blowing, so we hated to get in the water because it is cold getting out and the beach wasn't that warm really. So we walked along the beach and watched the waves come crashing in. I really am amazed and intrigued by the ocean. It was fun! Then we met Tonya's friend Nichole at our favorite dinner place - Surfin' Taco and ate one last dinner. MMMMM-good! We went back to our place and showered and stuffed everything into the luggage and hoped everything would fit okay. Then we left to come to the airport.

We are now sitting in the airport waiting for our flight home to a very cold, snowy Utah...Hmmmm, Maybe there is a job for me here in Hawaii...Someday!

Top of Waikiki and Chinatown

Yesterday we worked in the morning. We went to eat lunch with Mike Griffiths that we used to work with in Provo at the CTL and had a good visit with him about what he is doing and the direction he sees his job going here at BYU-Hawaii. After we finished, we picked up Tonya's friend Nichole who is doing an internship here and we went down to Waikiki. Unfortunately it was windy and the waves were pretty strong, and a little bit rainy and cool, so we didn't do much. We were trying to decide where to eat, and happened to be walking by Top of Waikiki. So Top of Waikiki is a revolving restaurant. It takes about one hour for you to go all the way around. It is a more expensive restaurant than I thought, but the food was really good. We all just got little dishes and ate a little bit, but it was still about $20 each for all of our meals...I ate crab cake and thought it was really good though. Then we tasted everyone else's stuff and it was all really good. So that was a fun and unique experience for us. Then it rained on us as we walked back to our car. It was a fun day.

Today we worked in the morning. Then we went to eat lunch at a fish restaurant in North Shore with Paul from the Testing Center that we have been working with. I ate some ahi tuna and salad and rice. It was so good! It tasted really, really good.

Then we left from there and wanted to go down to Waimano falls, but the trail was really steep and I didn't really want to do it that much. We turned around and went to Chinatown. We had talked about going there a few different times, but we never made it. So we went and wandered around the different shops was a lot of fun. It made me a little bit nostalgic for China. One of the things we bought there was a boba (bubble tea). This is a smoothie with fruit and then it has large tapioca balls in it. We used to drink them all the time when I was in China. Except I prefer to not get the tapioca balls in mine. Anyway, it was refreshing and fruity and something new to try. I liked it a lot.

We went by Costco to buy some gifts to take back with us and then went to Kaneohe on the way home to try a Korean restaurant that we heard was really good. It was not as good as we thought it might be. I have had much better Korean food. Oh well. Sometimes you try something and it's great, and sometimes you try, but it isn't very good. It was a fun day!

PCC and Temple

Today was a rainy day in La'ie and all over the island it looked like. We worked all morning on our projects, trying to make some progress on them. Then about 1:00 we left and went back to PCC. If you have a ticket, you can go back for the next three days after. There were a couple of shows that we didn't get to see. So first we went to the Hawaii one where they taught about the hula. I didn't know that the hula is more about the hands than shaking your hips (like Tahiti). Then it was time for the canoe pageant where they have dancers come out on a canoe and dance through the river running through the PCC. The other day we were sitting on the very end so we didn't see any of the dances, but today we sat smack dab in the middle and we saw it all. It was a lot of fun. The students are so talented! Then we went to Fiji and they did some chanting and dancing for us. We were going to get "tattoos," but we were going to go to the temple right after, so I didn't think I would have time to get it washed off. After we walked around some more, we went to some of the shops and then we left.

We came back to our place and changed back into our skirts, ate some salad, and then Tonya and I went to the temple. It was so neat. It is really beautiful! I enjoyed it a lot and it was neat to be there. The rooms still smell new. It really is a beautiful temple. I am so glad we got to go! It was a great day!