We went to this lookout and watched a blowhole. It was pretty. We took two pics. The wind was insane.
And a video!
Monday, May 10, 2021
Dole Plantation
After visiting Pearl Harbor we continued our quick tour of O'ahu by traveling north to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Here we took a picture or two, learned how pineapples are grown, and enjoyed some Dole Whip. Basically pineapple flavored ice cream. It was YUMMY!
To get into the gift shop and grille area, each tourist was temperature checked. Luckily we passed despite the outdoor temperature being about a bazillion degrees.
After waiting in line, we placed our orders for a Pineapple Float and a Dole Whip on a bed of pineapples!
Outside the giftshop there were gardens showing different varieties of pineapples. Pineapples just growing on plants ... all chill like!
Oh, and gotta take a hula dancer photo :P
O'ahu - Arrival and Pearl Harbor
Since this is Hubby's first trip to Hawaii (the state), we made time and prioritization visiting O'ahu so we could go to Pearl Harbor. This was actually a bit more complicated than normal due to Neighbor Island travel restrictions. Similar to the COVID testing requirements to enter Hawaii yesterday from the mainland, one of our pre-travel swabs was for re-entry today!
We woke bright and early which was easy due to jet lag and caught a 6:30 flight over to Honolulu.
Goodbye Hawaii Island!
Drink Service!
First Stop: Rental Car Pickup! While chatting up the Avis Preferred attendant, Wifey mentioned we were only on O'ahu for one day ... as a result, she asked if we'd like a Mustang convertable for the day .... "yes please!".
Second Stop: Pearl Harbor! - We pre purchased our tickets and audio tour to visit the memorial. The audio tour was interesting, however several stations were also within a museum that provided video/audio information as well as text presentations. The conflicting input was alot. All in all, I think doing the audio tour was a net positive. We learned alot about both the events leading up to the attack as well as the results of the attack on O'ahu.
After exploring the exhibits, we took a Navy operated ferry out to the Arizona Memorial.
A video of our experience:
A Failed Alarm, 3 flights, and a blessed middle seat!
Today we had a 6:00 am flight, the first of three total for the day, which required our alarm to be set for 03:30! In anticipation, Wifey woke up several times between midnight and 3:10. She checked her clock again at 3:20 desperate for 10 more minutes of sleep. She checked it again at 3:55 and JUMPED out of bed. Luckily, we had pre-loaded the car with most of our belongings, and only had a couple items (such as cell phones and chargers) to grab morning of. We left home about 15 minutes late, but MADE OUR FLIGHT!
Two flights later, we boarded our final airplane of the day and held out hope that our middle-seat companion wouldn't show .....
We were in luck and our next 6 hours were SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE! Wifey took the spare time as an opportunity to catch up on some work and hubby some sitcoms :)
Due to COVID, entering Hawaii is a bit more complicated than in previous years. In anticipation of our trip, Wifey had done extensive research culminating in two COVID tests in the 3 days before departure, a number of completed health screenings and two QR codes.
Kona airport has the COVID screening down to a beautiful science. After deplaning, we lined up where multiple folks were waiting to process the incoming flight. We presented our QR codes, negative COVID results, Photo IDs, and Vaccine Card. The vaccinated among us (Wifey) was then sent along to baggage claim. The unvaccinated went into another building for yet another COVID test. With Hubby's 3rd negative test result, we were free to enjoy Hawaii!
All our luggage arrived safely, though our spur of the moment volunteer photographer left something to be desired ... but regardless ... we arrived!
Our next stop was to pick up our ride for the next couple weeks. We were offered a free upgrade to a 4-wheel drive Jeep! Yes, please. It'll kill Wifey's fuel budget for the week, but is super nice to have the space and power.
Despite the awesome new ride, we only traveled a quick 3 miles to our first home of the trip. This AirBNB was perfect for our next few days' itinerary.
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Bridal Veil Falls
Last weekend we enjoyed a mini-adventure hiking with Wifey's parents. With COVID still an issue, indoors is always stressful so a hike was a perfect way to say "hi" while socially distancing (yes, we did take a quick mask-down selfie though!)
Most of our pictures were taken with Wifey's mom's DSLR - we'll add them to this post when we receive copies.
Bridal Veil Falls is a city park in Heber Springs, AR. It is a short, easy, 1/2 mile hike down to a waterfall. We arrived around 10 am which was ok. As we were leaving an hour later, the make-shift parking lot was FULL and more and more (unmasked) people were starting to flood the trail. I'd recommend arriving early to get your hike on here!
Saturday, March 20, 2021
St. Louis - John's wedding
On March 20, 2021, one of Hubby's college friends and roommates got married! We made the trip to St. Louis for the wedding. We stayed at an AirBNB. We brought along Ellenor and left Bosco home alone for 48 hours. This AirBNB was both perfect and annoying.
Location-Location-Location - The location was great. The AirBNB was on the second story above several restaurants along a great street full of food and coffee and shopping. Wifey would have loved to had more time to explore our temporary neighborhood. The stairs were a bit steep though.
Furniture - The couch needed replacing. The bed was comfy.
All in all the AirBNB met our needs. We were just sleeping in it twice as a base for attending the wedding which was an all-day event! Hubby was looking GOOD in his suit and tie!
Congratulations, John and Ellie!
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