Hawaii Hotel and Beaches in Honolulu

In the late 60's and early 70's my grandparents took a trip or two to Hawaii to visit my aunt and uncle who lived there.  When they came back, they had olive and black sand, books and oodles of pictures of Hawaii.  My cousins would come visit us from Hawaii and Lisa would do hulas and talk about how amazing it was.  Barry, her brother would talk about the surfing, the beaches and the wonderful coral and water.  I guess from those memories, Hawaii got on my 'bucket list' as a dream vacation.

My great grand-mother, grandmother, me, my father and grandfather - the only picture I can find of my grandparents.  I am sure I have more - but in storage back in the states.  This picture was probably taken 5-10 years before their Hawaii trips.

As the years progressed (and especially now that I live on a tropical island) those memories faded and I lost interest in that trip - but in the back of  my mind I had to wonder... the pictures of Hawaii didn't look like Singapore - but isn't one tropical island like another? 

A few months back, my sister was excitedly telling me about her trip back to my dream place - it was her second trip there.  Of course I was a little envious, but honestly was thinking of going to visit our guys in the states, so I never considered going to Hawaii.  Steve came in one day and said that Hawaii was (sorta) on the way to California and he was thinking about going through there to have a little side vacation - he really wanted to visit with my aunt and uncle on the big island of Hawaii.  If we were going there - he mentioned that he wanted to go to Pearl Harbor.  Was I interested?  

HUH?!  You have to be kidding!  I told him my sister was going there in June and he wondered if we could all get together for a couple of days - and so that is how it all began.  We went to Hawaii!!

Was I disappointed?  Absolutely NOT.  Indeed it is not a bit like Singapore - not even a little, but it is amazing and breath taking - just as I dreamed!

We stayed in the hotel Ala Moana for only $98 a night - which I thought was quite reasonable being in Hawaii.  Heck we were going to pay almost that much at the hotel in Livermore, California!  It was one block from the beach and although the view wasn't the beach, but it wasn't bad either. 

Beach view was much more expensive.  We weren't going to be there during the day anyway, so what difference did that view make?

This is the view we had from the room:
 

See?  Not bad, and like I said, it wasn't like we would be looking at that all day.  We would only be there at night - and wait!  Just look what it transformed into  :-)

Yes, it was beautiful at night when we would be there so we were not disappointed.  The room was very nice and the bed extra comfy - and we were only a bit over a block from the beach!

What did being so close to the beach mean?  It meant we went walking!  A lot  :-)

Enjoyed sunsets:

 

 

Took in the sights:
 

I love that I have kind of started a 'tradition' of seeing brides   :-)

It was hard to believe that you could be so close to the city and yet be so tranquil:

We even saw some dragon boats:

It was so relaxing and beautiful, I looked forward to more of our journey:

And there is much, much more.  Tomorrow friends  :-)

Have I ever said thanks for stopping by?