H is for Honeymoon...

... We honeymooned in Kauai for five days before the reception in Hawaii, and then spent a week on Oahu sightseeing and spending a little bit of time with Alma's family. I'd never been to Hawaii, so it was so fun to see where Alma grew up and to experience that part of his life.

Hawaii was beautiful! People say Kauai is the prettiest island, but I think Oahu is just as beautiful, just in a different way. The snorkeling, however, was much better on Kauai. Kauai is this tiny island with one highway that takes about 45 minutes to drive from end to end. We were able to go all over the island and see everything in about five days. It's very country and laid back. A great place to go to just lie on the beach, eat, and relax. We did, however, go on a very long, 4 hour, 8 mile hike in Waimea Canyone on Kauai. And we kayaked and hiked to a very pretty waterfall, Sacred Falls.

Oahu, on the other hand, has a lot more going on. There was tons of stuff to see and do. By the end of everyday, Alma and I were exhausted from sightseeing. We went to Hanauma Bay, Pearl Harbor, the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, the Dole Plantation, the Polynesian Cultural Center, everywhere! My favorite was the shrimp shacks on the North shore. They were so delicious! I can't wait to go back and eat some more.

Of course, I have to talk about the food in Hawaii, since food is one of my great passions. It took a little bit of getting used to, since mostly it's just meat and rice, but it was delicious! I find myself craving it now, but there's hardly any good Hawaiian restaurants in Provo. My favorites were the banana pancakes, saimin, kalbi, and of course, the mac salad. Alma's mom's musubi was pretty great too. Who knew spam, egg and rice could be so good?

Our first morning on the island, we went to Wailua Falls, which is supposedly higher then Niagra Falls. Alma took pictures of me, and I took pictures of him. It's hard w/o a third person.

Here we're at the lookout point at the Kilauea Lighthouse. We ended up seeing a humpback whale splashing around in the ocean behind us and a monk seal sunbathing on the beach.

Waimea Canyon outlook. They call this the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. It was gorgeous!

We hiked through the Alakai Swamp trail to get to the Kilonha outlook. The trail was fierce, but the view from the top was beautiful. We could see the whole island.

The swamp is the highest altitude swamp in the world? Maybe just North America, but Hawaii isn't really North America ...

Kayaking to Sacred Falls ...

... Hiking to Sacred Falls ...

... Swimming in Sacred Falls!

Did you know this is how pineapples grow? Thank you, Dole Plantation, for enlightening me.

Pearl Harbor Memorial

The Samoan village at the Polynesian Cultural Center