We wanted to do something pretty special for our 15 year wedding anniversary. We felt like the island of Oahu (Hawaii) was just the place! We intentionally saved our credit card rewards for most of our marriage to get our flights for almost nothing. We had free hotels and discounts on rental cars from Curtis's traveling perks. We saved a lot for this trip and it was epic! I planned the itinerary after consulting with several friends who visited and even lived there.
This was our ride!!
We toured Kualoa Ranch, where lots of movies and TV shows were filmed. It was beautiful everywhere we looked!
Curtis and I originally bonded over the show Lost, so it was pretty cool to see some of the props and some of the places they actually filmed!
We stayed in Laie and explored this cool spot with a cool sea arch at an offshore island...
...and also had picturesque views of the mountains!
We headed to Haleiwa Joes for dinner. While we waited for our table, we saw some gorgeous views of the mountain valley and gardens. This was our view from our dinner table!
We snorkeled at Shark's Cove!
We had shaved ice from Aoki's!
We hiked to Waimea Falls and even got to swim under the waterfall.
We experienced our first luau there too!
We were entertained with a variety of dancing during our dinner!
We hiked Diamond Head!
We saw a lighthouse during our hike.
We also saw the city of Waikiki!
We headed to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial. It was a more somber part of the trip as we saw how World War 2 began.
This wall has the list of all those lost on the USS Arizona from the attack on Pearl Harbor.
We then headed to the USS Missouri where World War 2 ended!
This was the spot on the ship where the formal surrender of Japan was signed that ended the war.
They had a picture that showed all the people who were present during the signing.
I just loved seeing all the unique plants there! These blossoms are one of my favorites (frangipani).
We got this amazing rainbow view on our drive through Waikiki!
There was a free hula show at the Kuhio Beach Mound. It was pretty cool to watch as the sun was setting.
Lots of "Aloha" signs were all over the place!
We went to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. The place was beautiful! I think it was our least favorite place we snorkeled though. The coral was pretty shallow so it made it more difficult to see things than other places.
We went to the Makapuu Lighthouse lookout. We learned that you could get the same views here without hiking it so this was one of the few hikes we opted not to do!
Another view from Makapuu Lighthouse!
I'm really zooming in on this pic because Curtis is cliff jumping in the middle of this picture! This was at Halona Beach Cove/Eternity Beach.
The waves were pretty intense at this location so I opted to read my book while he explored the water!
We also went into this lava tube tunnel that goes under the road.
We hiked the Manoa Falls trail. We couldn't swim in this 150 foot waterfall, but it was cool to walk through a rainforest.
We also hiked Lanikai Pillbox. We're on the top of one of the pillboxes in this pic.
We went to the Lanikai beach afterwards and saw where we just hiked!
We had been on the hunt to see a sea turtle throughout our adventures. While swimming at Kailua Beach, we saw 2 sea turtles not too far from us. It was fun to occasionally see their heads pop up as we enjoyed the waves. This was our favorite beach spot!
We headed over to the Green World Coffee Farm where we enjoyed coffee samples and saw lots of coffee trees!
We also stopped by the Dole Pineapple Plantation for some "dole whip," a pineapple ice cream treat!
The plants spelled out "DOLE!"
This was my only picture from Three Tables, but it was my favorite snorkeling place!! We snorkeled very close to sea turtles! We made sure not to touch them (it's illegal), but it was pretty special to end our snorkeling on this one.
We hiked the Kuliouou Ridge trail. It was our longest hike, but it had the best views! We hiked over 6 miles and may have accidentally taken a short (or maybe long)cut without realizing it.
Here are some of the views from the top!! Pictures just don't do it justice.
This panoramic turned out pretty cool with Curtis in the middle of it.
We relaxed at Waikiki Beach and then dressed up for our last dinner. Another beautiful sunset!
Lots of people recommended that we eat at Duke's! They gave us a free hula pie to celebrate our anniversary!
This post doesn't even mention most of our amazing meals, but I set up most reservations months in advance. It was nice not to have to worry about our dinner plans!
On the day of our flight, we started it off with our final hike - the Koko Crater Railway trail.
The views reminded us of all the things we did throughout the week.
We even watched someone re-enlist in the military at the top of the trail!
The hike is literally stairs straight up a mountain.
It was a great way to wear ourselves out before the flight to help us adjust back to eastern time! What a trip!! We're so thankful that my parents took good care of our children so that we could do this. I hope we get to have more adventures for future anniversaries, even if they aren't as extravagant as this one!
