Not only was I excited to be back in Hawaii, but I was even more excited for my college friends Leppy and Robyn to come visit for the week!
They rented a car, and it is really exciting to explore more areas of the island with the freedom of personal transportation! I've also come to realize that I know more about this area than I had previously thought.
We've had many adventures so far, with much more to come!
After they got in on Friday, we drove over to Waikiki to see some of the famous beach and check out the shops.
I banked on them being completely exhausted from the flight and time difference, so we went to sleep early and woke up early to venture to North Shore- which is north west from me.
We got to Waimea Beach early in the morning, and although swimming was not allowed, with the exception of serious swimmers or those using flippers, we had a nice relaxing morning of laying around and getting our toes wet.
We also ventured over to Pipeline beach where they hold world famous surfing competitions- esp in December-- and saw some awesome waves and surfers.
On our way into town for a snack, we stopped at Shark's Cove- which luckily has no sharks-- and took some really breathtaking photos of the area, which is also a great spot to whale watch, not that we saw any.... ha.
Stopping into town, we stood on a relatively quick line to try the famous M. Matasuro's shave ice. Shave ice is like a snow cone that's ground a bit finer, and that have tons of flavors to try! I got strawberry, banana, and pina colada with ice cream at the bottom, and a snow cap (condensed milk). I figured I may as well get the works while I am here. It tasted like a chopped up ice pop, but it was sooo good.
Our day ended with watching the sunset further down on the west coast around Ma'ili Beach. It was so relaxing, and beautiful to watch the colors pass from bright yellow to burning red to a cool blue.