Grace and Abe's Hawaiian Vacation

After getting acclimated to 130+ degree heat in Iraq, I didn’t really feel like hanging out in 30 degree cold in Moses Lake for my mid-tour leave. So, Grace and I decided we would head to Hawaii for some better weather. I came home on 16 October 2010 for two weeks. Grace and I spent the first two days with Ray and Cali. We had a great time eating good food (I especially enjoyed this part) and hanging out with them. On the 18th, we took off for Oahu. Without further ado, here is a summary of our vacation:


18 OCT 2010
Grace and I flew out of Seattle early in the morning, disregarding the strange looks we got from other passengers for wearing shorts and sandals. We watched Taken on the flight over…not the most Hawaiian movie and kind of a buzz kill, but we enjoyed seeing it again. Luckily, Grace didn’t get too nervous flying over the ocean, and by the time we could see the islands, she was pretty excited. As soon as we landed, we grabbed our bags and picked up our rental car. I decided to get a Mustang convertible, and it was one of the best decisions of the trip. We got a little sunburned driving around in it, but loved having it.

I had been to Oahu in 2005, but this was Grace’s first trip, so we decided to drive around the island and see the North Shore before checking into our hotel. We stopped by a little hotdog stand on the North Shore for a quick lunch and then continued driving around the island. Then, we went to our hotel to check in and relax for a bit. We stayed at the Hale Koa on Waikiki for the week. It’s a military-only hotel, and it was amazing…we were right on the beach and in the middle of everything in Waikiki.

The Banyan Tree in the Middle of the Hotel Courtyard

After watching the sunset on Waikiki Beach, we went to Eggs ‘n Things for dinner. We got some macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup, a giant omelet, and some banana waffles. It was delicious, but we were so full we could hardly walk afterward. We waddled down to the International Marketplace and just walked around for a while. We had a fun time looking at trinkets and bought a couple beach towels. Due to jet lag, we were exhausted at about 8:00 pm and decided to head back to the hotel and walked through the pouring rain. We quickly fell asleep and rested up for the next day.


19 OCT 2010
We woke up the next morning about 4:30 in the morning, and while Grace got ready for the day, I took some pictures from the balcony.

View from Our Hotel Looking towards the Mountains

Then, we started off our day with a hike up Diamond Head. It’s a pretty short hike, but a lot of tourists seem to have a lot of problems with it. I must admit, it’s probably the easiest hike that you can do and then buy a t-shirt proclaiming your achievement (although it’s probably a lot harder for the girls we saw doing it in four-inch heels). It provides a great view of Honolulu though, and it’s a pretty fun hike.

View of Honolulu from the top of Diamond Head

View of Diamond Head from Tantalus Drive

After the hike, we went to the Honolulu Zoo and had a good time. We couldn’t ever seem to get the monkeys to do anything cool while we were around, but we did get a couple of the birds to talk with us. After the zoo, we grabbed something to eat and some awesome macadamia nut cookies and walked around Waikiki for a little bit.

Grace Hanging out in Waikiki

Then, we headed over to Waimanalo Beach and swam for a little bit. Then, we went and hiked to Makapuu Lighthouse. It had great views and was a fun little hike.

After the hike, we headed back to Waikiki and got some Puka Dogs (a type of hotdog that was pretty disappointing). Again, we were exhausted, so we went to bed.


20 OCT 2010
We woke up early again, thanks to our jetlag. We went a grabbed some malasadas (Portuguese donuts) from Leonard’s Bakery. My friend Nathaniel had insisted I try these on our trip in 2005, and they were pretty dang good. I was disappointed by them this time…maybe it was just a bad day. We munched away on them anyway on our way over to Pearl Harbor. At Pearl Harbor, we visited the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Bowfin.

USS Bowfin

We also ran into a Pearl Harbor survivor. They are becoming few and far between, so we were glad we were able to talk to Herb Weatherwax for a while and thank him for his service.

Us with Herb Weatherwax

Then we stopped by the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet and bought a bunch of trinkets. Then, we drove to Punchbowl (the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific) and paid our respects there.

We enjoyed seeing the maps of all the Pacific engagements, particularly of the Philippines (because my Grandpa Payne served there in the Navy in WWII and my mission).

Then, we took a drive up Tantalus Drive and saw some great views of all Honolulu.

Then, we went to Waikiki and played in the surf before heading to Duke’s for dinner.

We had a great time at Duke’s and loved the food. Then, we went and picked out Grace’s surprise for the trip before heading back to the hotel.


21 OCT 2010
This morning, we went and saw the Halona Blowhole. We also swam at Halona Beach (usually called From Here to Eternity Beach from its role in the movie) and loved it.

The swells were just big enough to be fun but not too big to scare Grace.

Then we moved over to Sandy beach, which was my favorite beach. It has a great break and is a lot of fun to swim in. However, Grace felt the waves were a little too much for her. After I got slammed into the beach a couple times and we watched a girl lose her top in the wave, I figured Grace probably wouldn’t have liked the waves very much. I had a great time getting thrown around though. After I was tired of getting hit by the waves, we drove over to the western side of the island to Yokohama beach. We didn’t get out here; we just wanted to see the western side of the island. We had a lot fun watching some of the local kids surfing after getting out of school for the day. Then we went to Ko’olina Lagoons and watched the sunset.

After a long day, we spent a night just relaxing at the hotel and got ready for the next day.


22 OCT 2010
We started off today by grabbing some coco puffs from Liliha Bakery…and they were amazing. Then, we drove up to the Laie Temple for the open house.

The temple was beautiful inside and we loved seeing the whole temple. We also ran into some people that had lived in Moses Lake before and knew a lot of the same people as us, so that was pretty cool. Then, we headed over to the Dole Plantation and did the world’s largest maze and got some Dole Whips.

Having Fun with the Pineapples

We also tried some loco moco here and loved it. Then, we went to Schofield Barracks and drove around the post for a while. We checked out the housing on post and tried to figure out if we would want to post there for our next duty station. We also got some great deals on tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Then we hiked the Aiea Loop Trail.

There were a ton of cats all sitting in the parking lot, which reminded Grace of Harry Potter. After the hike, we headed back down to Waikiki and watched the fireworks.


23 OCT 2010
We hiked Moana Falls to start off the day and then tried to go to the Hukilau Café. The café in 50 First Dates is named after this café, and it’s supposed to have the best loco moco on Oahu. Unfortunately, it’s only open in the mornings, and we showed up 10 minutes late. So, we headed over to the Polynesian Cultural Center and ate there…which wasn’t so great. We spent the day touring the different “villages” in the PCC and had a great time. Our favorite villages were Tonga and Samoa. In Tonga, the MC has people come up and help them play the drums. A man from Korea got up and helped out and stole the show. He didn’t understand a word of English, but was absolutely hilarious.

In Samoa, they teach you how to climb coconut trees and husk coconuts.

The MC has been working at the PCC for years and is hilarious. He even taught Grace how to make fire with a coconut...of course, I already knew how.

Then, we watched the riverboat show and went to the luau (and finally got lei’d).

We had fun at the luau, but it wasn’t as great as it could have been since we were sitting with a bunch of strangers. Plus, Grace hated the poi (I wasn’t too much of a fan either). But, we had a great time at the luau and loved the pork.

After that, we went to Ha: The Breath of Life. This show, put on by students from BYU-Hawaii working at the PCC, was amazing. When I visited Oahu in 2005, the PCC had a different show that wasn’t quite as impressive. So on this trip, I wasn’t too excited to go back to the PCC and see the show, but I wanted Grace to see it…so we ended up going. This show ended up being the highlight of the trip. The students did an absolutely amazing job. The fire dancers were awesome, and I loved seeing the haka. Grace and I wished we had done this show probably two or three times on the trip. After the show, we drove back to Honolulu along the eastern coast. There was a full moon, and we had the top down on the convertible. The drive combined with the show was the best part of the whole trip (and of course we didn't get a single picture of it).


24 OCT 2010
We went back towards the North Shore and hiked the Ma’akua Ridge Loop Trail.

We had another great hike and then headed to Ted’s Bakery for lunch. Then we went over to Turtle Beach (Laniakea Beach) and saw a sea turtle named Sapphire.

Grace and Sapphire became quick friends…Sapphire even made our Christmas card for 2010. Then, we went swimming at Waimea Bay and swam with another sea turtle. This one didn’t stop to introduce himself though. Then we went and got some burgers at Kua Aina Burgers and some shave ice at Matsumoto’s in Hale'iwa.

Then, we went for a drive to the far northwest corner of the island and watched some parasail-ers. Then, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the night.


25 OCT 2010
We spent the morning on Waikiki Beach before meeting up with Cody and Amanda Tutt (White). Cody and I went to high school and played football together. He’s in the Air Force and was stationed in Hawaii at the time. We just spent the day at the hotel pool with Cody and Amanda and their two kids, Emma and Kingston.

We had a great time catching up with them and eating macadamia nut chocolates. For dinner, we got dressed up and went to dk Steakhouse. I ordered a Kobe steak and it was delicious. The meat literally melted in my mouth. I’m not sure if it was worth the $80, but I’m glad I got it at least once. Grace got a filet mignon and loved it.


26 OCT 2010
We planned on kayaking in Kailua on this day, but the ocean was pretty choppy and it was raining, so we decided not to. Instead, we went to the Nu'uana Pali Lookout and just drove around the island and enjoyed seeing everything again.

Nu'uana Pali Lookout

Nu'uana Pali is the location of one of the bloodiest battles in Hawaiian history. Over 400 warriors were pushed to their death over the 1000-foot cliff. It was also extremely windy, which made it much cooler than the rest of the island. Then, Grace wanted to do a little shopping, so we went to the Ala Moana Shopping Center. That night we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise and enjoyed our last meal in Hawaii. We also stocked up on some last minute food to take home with us and watched our last sunset on Waikiki.

27 OCT 2010
We spent our last morning just walking around Waikiki Beach and soaking up our last few minutes of sun and beach.

Then we drove back to the airport and had to turn in our Mustang and get back on the plane.

That concludes our travelogue. If you're still here, we appreciate you sticking with us. After Hawaii, we spent a couple more days in Moses Lake before I had to fly back to Iraq. We had a great time hanging out with my parents and spending time with Ben and Jamie and Ryan and Heather. It was a great two-week break, and I wasn’t too excited to head back to Iraq. Luckily, I was able to take over a platoon when I went back to Iraq, so that helped with the Hawaii withdrawals. I’m not quite sure how to end this, so I’ll just stop now. The end.