Hawaii - Waikiki (on Oahu)

Waikiki beach is perfect for people who just want to shop, eat, and drink in beautiful weather and scenery, which is probably why there are so many people there. We started here for three nights. We ate some great food and did a little shopping. We did get out and surf a couple days. Jenn especially like the paddle board surfing. It took a little getting used to but it's pretty cool. Our hotel here, Hotel Renew, was probably our favorite. Jenn loved it because it was close to Yogurt Land (home of the self serve, top-your-own soft serve frozen yogurt shop).

Hawaii - Kappa to Hanalei (on Kauai)

On Kauai we stayed in Kapaa. Because the highway only goes 3/4 of the way around the island, because of Waimea National Park, we picked Kapaa because it was located in the middle. To the north was Hanalei and Princeville. Hanalei was this cool little town with great restaurants and bars, but everything closed at 9pm. To the south was Poipu. Much more resort and residential but great beaches. Of course everyday Jenn went running. I posted a video of one of the times I went with her ('cause I wouldn't go every time..... I'm on vacation!).

Hawaii - Waimea Canyon (on Kauai)

This was a hike we did around Waimea Canyon and the Napoli Coast. The hike is right between the two of them. It was a good hour and a half drive to get here from the hotel and some parts of the drive get pretty bumpy. We did get to see the NASA observatory along the way though. Once we parked we hiked in past this enormous valley, which we saw from the ocean when we went on the snorkeling trip. That valley is considered to be the Hawaiians Sistine Chapel, so-to-speak. Many of their old kings are buried in there. Unfortunately, the waterfall we wanted to see was dried up. Apparently it's only going from winter to spring. Still a cool hike though.

Hawaii - Napoli Coast (on Kauai)

This was a 5 hour sailing/snorkeling trip up the Napoli Coast. We started out at 7am with a group of about 40 people on two boats. It was a windy hour and half trip up the coast. The views were incredible! We saw 4 schools of dolphins along the way and tons of flying fish. The cliffs were jaw dropping and there were a handful of waterfalls. We turned around, put up the sails and made our way back to the snorkeling site. We snorkeled for about a half hour where we saw some fish and a turtle. After we got back on the boat we had lunch, drinks and headed back. Unfortunately, Tony and two other girls got sea-sick. But one of the crew feed him a couple rum and cokes and he felt much better.

Hawaii - Kayaking (on Kauai)

This was Jenn's favorite. We started, again, at 7am and met our group at the dock about 10 minutes from our hotel in Kapaa. We jumped in our kayaks and started up the river. It rained for the first 20 min which woke up us very quickly. Cole, our tour guide you can see in one of the pics, called it a freshwater blessing. After about an hour kayaking we reached the start of the trail. It was a muddy, but beautiful, hike into the jungle to get to the waterfall. Cole was a great tour guide. He gave a history on everything from the river to the complete island. He talked about original habitants, horticulture, etc., while feeding the wild chickens in the jungle. After lunch at the waterfall, we hiked out back to our kayaks then paddled back to the marina. I should've stretched before all of this paddling because my neck was sore the next day.

Hawaii - Poipu (on Kauai)

We stayed busy pretty much the whole trip, but this was the one day that we lied on the beach for hours and slept. First we stopped at a restaurant on the beach called Brennecke's, then we headed to the beach. We hung out there 'til the sun dropped and then we headed north to Hanalei for dinner at Bar Acuda.

Hawaii - Oahu

Our last day in Hawaii we rented a car a drover around Oahu. We went up to the North Shore, ate some mexican food, and made our way down the west side of the island back to Honolulu. On the way up North we saw the pineapple fields, shown in the last picture. It didn't smell like pineapples in the air like I was told it did.