So, on the 2nd of May, following my first two solo weddings I photographed on April 30th and May 1st, we boarded the airplane in SLC to Honolulu. We were flying with buddy passes, but were fortunate enough to get seats by each other. On the way there we watched two movies that I'd really wanted to see, Avatar and Sherlock Holmes. I must of course say that 2 tiny bags of peanuts and a couple small cupfulls of Sprite on a 6-hour flight aren't really acceptable. By the time we got to the airport I was so hungry that I was feeling quite ill. We picked up our rental car, checked into our hotel, and then got something to eat. We had a walk around and I was loving the orchids and hibiscus bushes growing everywhere! I was also amazed at the trees that were there. I really expected there to be tons and tons of palm trees everywhere, but there were so many different kinds of crazy trees! Some looked like they belonged on the savannah, and some looked like they'd been painted!
We got to go see the Iolani Palace, which as you know was the headquarters for the HPD in one of my favorite tv shows ever, Hawaii Five-o. I'm afraid we didn't see Steve McGarrett or Danno though.
We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott at Waikiki, which was only a short walk away from the beach. Unfortunately the beach there wasn't spectacular. The next day was really fun. We went to Haunama Bay. You do have to pay to get in, but man was it worth it! Snorkeling there was so much fun, and I saw about half a dozen puffers! They were Hawaiian Whitespotted Tobies. So cute. And so little. :D Unfortunately our sunscreen didn't hold out so well, and we were fried. We bought plenty of Aloe Vera, the green regular kind and the blue pain-relieving kind. I mostly used the blue kind. The next day we checked out of the hotel and then went to the north shore. The drive up there was gorgeous.
We stopped at the Dole Plantation on the way up there. There were lots of crazy plants up there, and the dirt was bright red. It was pretty cool.
We spent alot of time at the beaches up there (which were much nicer than the one we went to in Waikiki). There were wild chickens everywhere! Peeps would have been in heaven :)
The next day for breakfast we had a large mango. It was not ripe and therefore very sour/acidic. Then we had some strawberries, which do not last very long in Hawaii. We were heading back around to the other side of the island and I had to have Blake pull over so I could puke. That was so much fun. He took pictures of a cute lizard while I was hurling. Yay.
More time was spent at the beaches this day, and then back to the hotel, this time in a different room, which was even bigger. They gave us free upgrades in both of our rooms because it was our honeymoon :) I liked that the throw pillows had fish on them. We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center the next day. We only got to see 2 shows, but they were both really funny, especially the Tonga one.
The day after that we walked to the Waikiki Aquarium. It wasn't as big as say the Aquarium of the Pacific in California, but it still had some fun stuff. I would have liked it if they'd have had an endemic fish exhibit though. Then there'd be some Hawaiian Whitespotted Tobies. But still they had two different species of puffers and I was not disappointed.
There were gorgeous plumerias littering the ground everywhere.
We took about 1200 pictures, of which 200 were put up on facebook, so you can see the rest of the 200 pictures there. If you want to see all 1200... well, you'll have to come over sometime.
