Kauai & Oahu, Hawaii
/After a very full 30 days in Vietnam, Samantha and I were very much looking forward to our next stop. Our friends Greg and Kathy live in Honolulu and we felt like a visit with some friends was in order. We planned to spend two weeks in total in Hawaii, and split that time evenly between one week on Kauai followed by a week with them on Oahu.
Our week in Kauai was filled with beautiful hikes, scenic drives, and loads of creature comforts we haven't had access to in about a year. Our very first stop after checking into our Airbnb was a trip to Safeway where we loaded up on familiar snacks, a frozen pizza for dinner, familiar and delicious beer, and a few boxes of girl scout cookies. We spent the following couple of days trying to avoid the rain and enjoyed some really great hikes around the Island. We weren't able to get a permit to hike the entire Na Pali coast trail, but you are allowed to hike the first 3 miles or so without one, so we did that. We also drove around to the other side of the island to see the Waimea Canyon, but unfortunately it was a bit rainy and we weren't able to do any of the hikes there. On top of the really amazing sites we saw on land, we had two very fun SCUBA dives and lucked out with a boat load of sea turtles.
Next up we took the quick inter island flight to Oahu to stay with Greg and Kathy. They put us up in their extra bedroom so we had a really great spot right in the heart of Honolulu. We didn't have great weather the first few days but we did have loads of fun. We spent a couple days up on the north shore, doing some hiking, snorkeling, and enjoying the famous Hawaiian beaches. We also had the quintessential tourist evening in Waikiki, with Mai Tais on the water listening to a traditional island band and watching a hula dancer. On another day Greg took us stand up paddle boarding at a beach just a few minutes from their apartment. We spent one morning visiting Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial, which was quite powerful.
Our couple of weeks in Hawaii were awesome. We got to enjoy many of the comforts of the US while still feeling like we were far from home. We can't thank Greg and Kathy enough for their hospitality, it was so amazing to have a home again and not just another hotel room, even if just for a week. Our next stop was Tahiti, where we would begin the next and final leg of our trip. Stay tuned!
