Trevor and I got to go to Hawaii!!!
And when we got there, our rental car was this red Jeep! It felt like we were on the Indiana Jones ride, or at Jurassic Park or something.
At the beach
There were all these scenic places to stop along the road
It got pretty windy there, so that's why my hair is all messy
The first thing we did when we got there was hike up this mountain to get to a lighthouse.
It was paved the whole way but got super steep!
We did a little whale watching too
Made it to the lighthouse!
At the very top, with Turtle Island behind us
We ate at Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch/early dinner. We had gotten cheesecake there plenty of times but neither of us had ever eaten the food there. It was so yummy! And they messed up on Trevor's order so we got a free salad!
Checking out where Trevor was presenting the next morning
Eating my Reeses Peanut Butter cheesecake in bed.
It was probably the best one I have had, and it was so huge it lasted me two days!
The next day we drove up to the North Shore.
The whole way we were driving right along the beach and through all this gorgeous greenery. It was like being in the jungle!
We went to Seven Brothers for lunch.
I googled Best Places to eat in Hawaii and everyone said this place had the best burgers, fries and shakes. We drove over an hour to get to it, and it was amazing!
My Paniolo burger, which tasted as good as it looks
Trevor got the Shem Burger, which was also delicious.
Apparently this place is LDS owned and there are a few locations in Utah too! Good to know I don't have to go all the way to Hawaii next time. :)
We drove right by the Polynesian Cultural Center, BYU-Hawaii, and the temple!
We didn't go in the temple, but thought we should at least stop and take a few pictures.
At Waimea Beach.
Sometimes you can spot sea turtles here but we didn't see any.
Waimea Valley and Botanical Gardens
There was this peacock just roaming around, he walked right up to us!
This was our favorite place/thing we did on the trip
It was a pretty good hike and the whole time you are hiking through these gorgeous exotic plants and gardens
Everything was super green and lush
They had a few huts set up showing what it looked like long ago, along with an early canoe, shown here
Trevor hiking along
We found some forbidden fruit
Made it to the waterfall at the end!
We were all sweaty from hiking so we were super tempted to swim (you're allowed to with a life jacket, which they provide) but we didn't want to walk and drive back all soaking wet.
Heading back down the trail
Trying to figure out what this thing is.
A lot of the plants looked like something you'd see out of a Dr. Seuss book. Everything was so vibrant and colorful.
We took a different way going back so we could explore some more
Heading back home
We started out our last full day by doing the Pillbox hike
It was really steep on the way up
But there was a great view from the top!
We made it all the way to both pillboxes and had a great time.
On the cliff's edge
This was posted right at the beginning of the hike
Trevor driving on the beach!
Besides all this, we walked on the beach, went tanning one day, did a little shopping, ate Mexican food, swam in our gorgeous hotel pool (and hot tub), and got a ton of exercise! We walked and hiked so much, my legs hurt the whole time.
We had so much fun and are so happy we were able to take this trip together. We both agreed this was our best trip ever! Thanks so much to Adrienne (Auntie Agey) and Tracy (Grandma) for taking care of the kids for us! We definitely couldn't have gone without you and are so grateful you guys helped us out!
