And Then We Went to Hawaii

Everyone has priorities in life. For Husband and I, two that are high ranking for us are good food and traveling (a.k.a. vacation). We save all year to be able to go on one really awesome vacation. It’s sometimes the one thing that gets me through depressing times. It’s something to look forward to, and when it finally arrives we go full on relax mode. We splurge. We indulge. We pretend we don’t have a care in the world for as many days as we can afford.

This year vacation planning was tough. Last year we were so lucky to get to go to Mexico with our best friends, and we wanted so badly to make it a yearly event for the four of us. But, we are at that age where grad school ends, new jobs and responsibilities begin, and moves happen. And in spite of our best efforts, a joint vacation just wasn’t in the cards.

So, after a few conversations with some friends at the base, and a little research later, we booked a vacation to my childhood Dream Wedding Game (<– does anyone remember that game??) honeymoon spot of choice…Hawaii!!!

And it just so happened to fall on our three year anniversary <3

You guys may notice a trend at this point, Husband and I, specifically I, do not have good luck. It’s like Murphy’s Law is my life. So instead of arriving to Oahu just in time to catch a round of cocktails and see the sun set, we got to wait four hours at LAX because the space shuttle made us miss our connecting flight.

This was yet another time I was so thankful to be in the military community. USO lounges are where it’s at! We stopped at the one in Denver and the one at LAX and not only did it provide a comfortable place to wait on our later flight, but it saved us the cost of $8 crappy turkey sandwiches and $2 bottled water. Oh and we got to watch movies during our down time 🙂

So we finally arrived. It was dark and we were exhausted, but we were determined to have a beer by the beach, so we hit up the Barefoot Bar and then called it a night.

Because Husband is active duty, we were allowed to stay at the Hale Koa. This military only hotel is right on Waikiki beach and boasts 72 acres of island paradise.

The hotel itself was very nice, although the rooms are pretty basic. But you will not find a better beach along Waikiki. After walking down the strip and checking out the other hotels, we came to the conclusion that our beach was definitely the nicest. Much wider, longer, cleaner and WAY less crowded.