Well when it comes to my little vacation, I really don't know where to start. For one, it was the best two weeks of my life. It was so wonderful to be with Tara in such an awesome place. We did a lot of things that we had never done before, and enjoyed the whole experience. We took it easy the first couple of days hanging out at the beach and the pool at the resort. Of course, I got really sunburned on the beach. I did put sunscreen on, but I got really burned where I missed. Anyway, one of the first things we did was go to the Ala Moana shopping center. This was pretty cool because it was an outdoor Mall(mostly), and it had very, very nice shopping. It was cool to see some of the upper scale shopping like you see in Beverly Hills and stuff. I think the next main event we did was go on the Arizona Memorial Tour. Included in this tour was a trip to the USS Missouri, and some places around Honolulu. It was nice to get to see Pearl Harbor and the Arizona. I had never been on a Navy ship so the Missouri tour was interesting as well. After a few more days of spending some time on the beach and hanging out by the pool, we went to Hanauma Bay. We snorkeled there. I believe I mentioned it in my other post, but it was very nice with coral reef all over the place. We saw some good sea life there. A few days later we took our first trip to the North Shore. This was one of my favorite places. The North Shore is most popular for its surf culture. In the winter time at the North Shore the waves are enormous. This is where the have world class surf competitions. The city of Hale'iwa is the most popular city on the North Shore. It is very down to earth and has not changed much since the 70's, so the locals say. It has a very old 50's style shop look on most of the businesses. There are no hotels in the city, and that is the way the want to keep it. It is a very strong surf culture there and that is the way the like it. We pretty much just walked around and checked out the shops and went to a beach called Waimea Bay, very popular beach place. A few days later we went to a Sea Life park. This was a great experience. It is a very small version of a Sea World, but the main attraction is that you get to swim with dolphins if you choose. It is a little costly, but a once in a lifetime experience. Tara and myself both did it, and it was a great time. We got to touch and play with the dolphin, and even got to ride on the belly. It was very cool. After swimming with the dolphins we took the rest of the day, and explored the east and northeast side of the island. Very beautiful scenery with the mountains and the beach near each other. Drove by wear the Magnum PI house was, but couldn't really see it. One thing I forgot to mention was that we did the traditional "Hawaiin Thing" by going to a Luau. It was a good experience, decent food. The highlight of the trip for me anyway was the day we went back to the North Shore and surfed. I didn't know how it would turn out as far as success goes, but I had the time of my life. Tara did very well too, probably better than me. We both got up after the first few times, it was very tiring but an experience that was great. I can't explain it, but it is a rush. The last few days we spent doing thing around the hotel and the beach. We spent several evening watching the sun go down there, cause the sunsets are absolutely breathtaking. We have several pictures of the sunsets. I am sure I have forgotten several things and other small details. This was just kind of a summary. I'm sure you all have questions, post them or email them to me. This was kind of long, sorry. I'm sure I have a lot of spelling issues and grammatical error.
