Recently, I had the pleasure of venturing off to O’ahu, Hawaii for a girl’s trip! One of them used to live there because her family is military, and I’m SO glad she had a burning desire to return, otherwise I don’t know that this trip would have ever worked out for me. It’s been on my places-to-visit list for a while! I’m also turning 40 this year *gasp*, so I’m counting it as my 40th birthday trip as well! 😀
We stayed in a cozy, sea-side cottage with THIS view all week long. I definitely didn’t tire of waking up to rainbows most every morning!!!
To start our DAY 1 adventures, we hiked the Makapu’u Lighthouse trail! Here are the views!
After the hike, we made way to the Kailua area and enjoyed Lanikai Beach!
These are The Mokes as seen from Lanikai Beach– the most frequently photographed twin islets in the world!
That evening we made our way to Waikiki for a sunset catamaran with Pink Sails Waikiki! If you are ever in the area, definitely sail with them!
DAY 2 began with a trip to the Pearl Harbor Historic Site. Definitely an experience I didn’t want to pass up. It was a solemn experience, and well worth the history lesson, first hand.
We then made our way to the Dole Plantation for lunch and dole whips!
The little guy above is a Gold Dust Day Gecko, and the trees below are Rainbown Eucalyptus.
Next, we sought out some downtime at the Ko’Olina Lagoons!
That evening, we took in a luau! Germaine’s Luau to be exact; and it was WONDERFUL!
DAY 3 began with a movie tour at Kualoa Ranch! Check out these amazing views!!! It was so neat seeing sites from films such as 50 First Dates, Jurassic Park, Kong, and many more.
hahaha!
We also had an amazing view of Chinaman’s Hat!
After leaving our tour, we made way to the North Shore of the island. Along the way we hit up a shrimp truck for lunch with a view, and found a coconut on the beach! 🙂
Once arriving on the north shore, we stopped at Turtle Beach to see if there were any turtles. There was one!
We then stopped at Matsumoto Shave Ice before making our way back to the cottage! It was AMAZING! I ordered the one with vanilla ice cream as a base! OMGOSH! haha.
DAY 4 began with souvenir shopping at the local swap meet and then a hike up Diamond Head Crater. You can see it in the following picture from the water, and then views from the top of the hike! It was sooooo beautiful to see!
For dinner we took in the famous Duke’s restaurant in Waikiki for some seafood and HULA PIE!!! Oh my word. Definitely worth every penny!
DAY 5 began by trying out this fruit for breakfast– the rambutan– that we picked up at the swap meet the day before. Then, because we knew some heavy rains were coming, did a short hike through the Koko Crater Botanical Garden.
After the botanical garden, our last stop before flying out was to the Halowna Blowhole.
I flew out of Honolulu at 11:35pm HST, putting me in San Franscisco, CA at 6:35am PST. With a 4.5 hour layover, my friend April and I took an Uber to watch the sunrise over the Golden Gate Bridge! Such a wonderful trip all the way around!
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