Birthday Trip

A fun fact many of you already know.  Hub and I celebrate our birthdays 10 days apart.  That makes us both Aries, by the way.  Are we supposed to be compatible?

This year we decided to take a birthday trip and are both celebrating big in Hawaii.

If the plane ride wasn’t so dang long, I would head to Hawaii every six weeks.  That’s how much I love it.

Turtle Bay

What I’m not so keen on is huge crowds.  And the island of Oahu has Waikiki Beach – home of huge crowds!

But Turtle Bay?  On the North Shore?  Not crowded.  It’s sort of out in the country.  If out in the country has a beautiful resort, golf courses, horse stables, hiking paths and the Pacific.

There is only one resort – Turtle Bay Resort.  It’s not terribly big, but it’s very chi-chi. 

And when I go to Hawaii, I’m not really looking for chi-chi.  I’m looking for toes in the sand, shoes in the mud, island hair.

In other words, barely fit for human interaction.

Hence, the Airbnb stay we prepped for here.

We are still staying in the resort, just in a condo.

So after a day of playing in the mud, we can clean up, walk the couple blocks to the hotel and grab a drink or listen to some tunes and then head back to our condo.

Manoa Falls

Searching out some hidden gems has been my goal this trip.  Manoa Falls was a jackpot!  The 150 foot falls are at the top of a mile hike through the rain forest. 

I cannot even tell you how stunning it was seeing the exotic plants, hearing the happy birds all while climbing straight up for a mile. 

Through mud. 

Oh, and then through the periodic rain.  Because you know.  It’s a rain forest.

But lest you think I am complaining, please think again.  It was delightful!

Lyon Arboretum

Adjacent to the falls trail is University of Hawaii’s Lyon Arboretum.  We had so much fun wandering through the gardens and seeing plants we never see in our neck of the woods.

Or plants we see at the grocery store floral department, but in their natural, glorious state.

The bromeliad gardens were stunning.

And they aren’t even the most exotic thing growing.

I could fill this blog post with plant pictures, but I won’t bore you.

Kahuku

A one-mile hike along the beach from Turtle Bay to Kahuku is a birthing place for monk seals.  We were lucky enough to visit mom, Loyola and her week-old pup.

Of course the area is roped off and manned by sweet volunteers, so I didn’t get the greatest photos, but it was so exciting, I just had to share it.

In the picture below, the mom is the brown lump and her pup is the small black shape behind her.

Baby was active and worked to wake up Mom. They both wiggled down into the water and let the waves wash over them.

The pup is so uncoordinated, it was fun to watch.

Wrap Up

Next post I’ll update you on our actual Airbnb experience and how the packing and prepping worked out.

I’m sitting out on the patio with my laptop posting this (yes, I brought my computer on vacation) and starting out the best day ever!

Praying for you and yours this weekend.  And that you’re having the best day ever too.