Hanauma Bay

Continuing from where we left off, we woke up early on Sunday morning of Day Three to drive down to Honolulu to have breakfast at the famous Leonard’s Bakery.

starting the day off with Leonard's! — Starting the day off with Leonard's!

When we were asking around for recommendations on places to eat in Oahu, everyone and their mother recommended this place. They are famous for their malasadas, a Portuguese confection… it was basically an unfilled donut covered in sugar. Crispy on the outside, but very light on the inside. Simple but delicious!

malasada! — My first time trying a malasada.

li hing malasada and cinnamon malasada — We also tried the li hing flavor and cinnamon flavor malasadas, but the original was the best!

We then headed over to our appointment at Masako Formals. Dan and I had never taken Japanese-style wedding photos, but our parents and relatives in Japan had been encouraging us to get some taken for a while. We always wanted to get some taken, but there’s no studio that can do them in the San Francisco Bay Area (at least, non that we know of). So when my friend Yumi told me that the place she bought her wedding dress specialized in Japanese wedding photos, we decided to take the opportunity to get them done there.

arriving at Masako Formals — Arriving at Masako Formals in Honolulu.

Kumiko-san did a great job! — This was actually my first time wearing any sort of kimono. The wedding kimono takes especially long to put on.

getting dressed by Kumiko-san — Dan getting dressed.

finishing touches! — The finishing touches. Looking good, hubby!

Masako Formals took very good care of us and the photos came out pretty good, but we’ll save those for another time. I want to get some photo books made for our parents and grandparents so that they can see them first before we post them online. Stay tuned! 🙂 (Huge thanks to Yumi for telling us about Masako Formals!)

So happy to be out of the kimono! — Me very relieved to be out of the heavy kimono and wig.

The photoshoot and all the preparations beforehand took over four hours, so by the time we got out, we were hungry again! We headed over to Shokudo, a Japanese restaurant that our friend Megumi recommended! When she told me to try the mochi cheese gratin, I was skeptical, but decided to give it a shot… and it was actually really good!!!

mochi cheese gratin! — Mochi cheese gratin!

It was surprisingly good! — Who knew mochi and cheese went so well together?

yakisoba for Dan — Dan got the yakisoba.

Dan's ready to eat! — ...which was also very yummy.

Apparently the Honey Toast there is also a must-eat, and we saw that every table was ordering it, so we ordered it for dessert. It was pretty amazing….

This was DELICIOUS. — Can you tell I am excited? There's always room for dessert!

After lunch, in front of Shokudo — Thank you Gumi for the recommendation!!!

After lunch, we drove up to Hanauma Bay. Dan had been really excited (and I mean really excited) about going snorkeling in Hawaii, so he finally got his chance!

Dan at Hanauma Bay — Arriving at Hanauma Bay.

walking down to the beach — Palm trees in Hanauma Bay... very pretty!

soaking up some sun — I passed out on the beach while Dan went snorkeling.

Here are a couple photos Dan captured while snorkeling. To see more, check out the photoset.

a rainbow fish. — A rainbow-colored fish.

Dan with the state fish — Dan with a statue of the state fish: humuhumukununukuapua'a

After spending the afternoon in Hanauma Bay, we drove over to Diamond Head Crater Park, in hopes to hike it in time to see the sunrise at the top. Much to our dismay, when we arrived at the hiking location at 6 o’clock, the park had just closed! 🙁 How are people supposed to see the sunset if it closes so early? We were hella disappointed.

Arriving at Diamond Head, only to find it closed.

There wasn’t much we could do about the situation, so we just took a photos of the view from where we were. Alas, we couldn’t fit the Diamond Head hike anywhere into the rest of the trip, so it’ll have to be something we try the next time we’re in Oahu…. :'(

Since our hiking plans were foiled, we drove over to Sandy Beach instead to relax and take a nap on the beach while waiting for the sunset….

my sandals on the beach — Look at those clouds!

clouds from the beach — We weren't exactly in the prime location to watch a sunset since Sandy Beach is Windward, on the eastern side of the island, but we still got some pretty views of the sky.

For dindin, we drove back down to Honolulu for some more Japanese food at Akasaka, which my coworker and friend Estella recommended! (Estella supplied me with a lot of the fabulous foodie recommendations this trip, so I am very indebted to her.)

Akasaka Japanese restaurant — Arriving at Akasaka. It happens to be in a location surrounded by porn shops and strip clubs, but don't be turned off by the sketchy area.

spicy tuna rolls! — Estella was right, these were some of the best spicy tuna rolls I've ever had!

Akasaka's sushi — More sushi from Akasaka. Fish was very fresh!

Dan enjoying his sushi! — Dan enjoying a drink with his sushi.

Yummy dinner to end the day. — A satisfying dinner to end an eventful day!

That’s it for Day Three of our Hawaii trip! Stay tuned for Day Four, in which we climb treacherous trails to see waterfalls and brave the waters of Waikiki Beach….

We just returned on Sunday morning from our vacation in Hawaii! We actually hadn’t taken our honeymoon when we got married almost two years ago, and we’d always wanted to go to Hawaii since we had both never been. We took a little over a week off to finally go on a real “honeymoon” vacation — we thought it would be appropriate to go now, right before we hit the 2-year mark since our wedding and graduate from our newlywed status. We went to two islands, Oahu and Kaua’i, and we’d been diligently researching and planning all the things we could do for a couple months, collecting recommendations on places to go and things to eat from our friends. Thanks to their help and all the planning, we had a truly amazing and memorable trip!

Because we took so many photos and did so many things, it’s impossible to cover everything in one blog post, so we’re going to try to do this by each day… and Dan will most likely have some video footage to share here and there, too. 🙂 So here’s Day One!

We left San Francisco Airport in the wee hours or Friday morning on June 11th, and arrived in Hawaii in the late morning — there’s a three hour difference between California and Hawaii, which worked in our favor the way there (but of course, we lost three hours on the way back).

Hello, Hawaii! — Flying into Honolulu Airport.

After landing and picking up our rental car, the first thing on our minds was lunch! We were pretty hungry from not eating anything on the plane, and we were ready to start getting our grub on with all the good food that we heard was in Oahu. We headed over to Andy’s Sandwiches & Smoothies, which my coworker-friend Tarrin had recommended.

Andy's Sandwiches & Smoothies in Honolulu.

It was a small eatery with a hole-in-the-wall atmosphere, and they are known for serving up fresh sandwiches and fantastic smoothies! They are especially known for their avocado sandwiches, but as I’m not a fan of avocado, I got the turkey sandwich without avocado.

my turkey sandwich! — My turkey sandwich!

Dan and his avocado sandwich. — Dan had an avocado sandwich, since he LOVES avocado.

So hungry! — Super hungry and ready to eat!

Both the sandwiches and the strawberry smoothie we had were delish — big thanks to Tarrin for her recommendation. 🙂 But as if that were not enough, we decided to try some of the shaved ice in the area, too. Everyone who we’d talked to who really knew Hawaii well or had lived there in the past had recommended Waiola Shave Ice in Honolulu. Matsumoto Shave Ice in Haleiwa is of course the famous one that all the tourists go to, but they all told us Waiola was where it was at! So of course, I couldn’t wait to give it a try….

We got our shaved ice! (No worries, one of those is for Dan...)

I got the Obama Rainbow! — I got the Obama Rainbow -- what the President himself ordered when he brought his kids to Waiola Shave Ice -- lemon-lime, cherry, passionfruit!

When I hear about shaved ice here, I’m usually very skeptical because I expect the rock-hard snow cones that are typically served here in the U.S., as opposed to the finely shaved ice that I grew up on (our family had a Japanese shaved ice machine that we’d bust out every summer). But the shaved ice in Waiola was the most finely shaved ice I’d ever seen! It was seriously the best shaved ice I’d ever had — I was blown away by how good it was! The flavors were great, too!

The hotel we were staying in while we were in Oahu was all the way up in the North Shore, so for the first day, we decided to drive along the Eastern side of the island and take in the views, randomly stopping here and there. It was a gorgeous day, which made for some breathtaking views and several stops along the way….

Dan and I by the ocean. — This was near Hanauma Bay...

Gorgeous blue waters and a beach in the distance... the photos don't do it justice.

the Blow Hole in action — The Halona Blow Hole

our silhouettes — Our silhouettes in the sun.

my necklace and dress — Random artsy photo of necklace and dress.

enjoying the warm breeze — Driving with the windows down, enjoying the warm Hawaii breeze.

such lush mountains! — Such lush, green mountains!

me by the water — I believe this was Punalu'u Beach...

After a couple hours of driving (it took us a while since we were driving up the Eastern side of the island instead of cutting through the middle, and because we kept making stops), we finally made it to the Turtle Bay Resort, where we would stay for the next five nights.

turning into our hotel — The road into the hotel, flanked by palm trees.

Finally arriving at the Turtle Bay Resort! This is where they filmed the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

After checking in and settling into our hotel room, we were hungry for dinner so we decided to eat dinner in the local area of Kahuku… at none other than Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck!

dinner at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck — Giovanni's Shrimp Truck in Oahu.

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck! — We saw a lot of shrimp trucks in the North Shore, but apparently Giovanni's is the best!

So excited for the shrimp! — Waiting for our order to be called. If you know me, you know there are few things in the world I love more than shrimp. I was super excited.

Dan is excited, too. — The hubby is excited, too.

shrimp scampi from Giovanni's — Shrimp Scampi from Giovanni's Shrimp Truck. SO GOOD!!!

lemon butter shrimp from Giovanni's — Dan decided to get something different and went for the lemon butter shrimp. The shrimp scampi was definitely better. Still good, though!

This was actually the only shrimp truck we went to at the North Shore during our whole trip. We wanted to try some of the other ones that are supposed to be good (like Macky’s, and Romy’s…), but we were down in the Honolulu area most of the time, so we never got the chance. I definitely could have gone for more shrimp during our stay! Thank you Estella, Megumi, Bryan… everyone who told us about Giovanni’s! It was so good, I am drooling now just thinking about it.

After dinner, Dan spotted a roadside fresh fruit stand on the way back to the hotel, and he was seduced by the big fat Iced Cold Coconut sign. Dan loves coconut! (Me? Not so much.)

fruit stand on the side of the road — Dan getting his coconut from the fruit stand in Kahuku, on Kamehameha Highway.

Dan had to get himself a coconut — Dan with some young coconut! He can now die happy.

We returned to the hotel for the evening, taking dips in the pool and just relaxed. The Turtle Bay Resort was right on a beach, so we had a gorgeous view not only from the pool area but from our hotel room as well!

relaxing by the pool — Relaxing by the pool at Turtle Bay Resort.

the sun setting in the distance. — The sun setting in the distance.

Only Day One, and we already ate so much good food and saw so many beautiful sights! We were definitely excited for the days to come. Stay tuned for more of our adventures in Hawaii!

Honeymoon in Hawaii: Day 3

Honeymoon in Hawaii: Day 1