Darek + Stacie

I’m not gonna lie: one of my favorite things about traveling is the eating part. In our normal daily lives we don’t eat out much, and with all the money we save from cooking our own food we can afford to splurge a little when we travel.

I love, love, love to eat.

In Hawaii I found that I either loved or hated nearly every meal. Basically it came down to:

Seafood = Yum. Traditional Hawaiian food = No Thanks.

With exceptions of course.

This was one of our awesome meals:

I took pictures of Darek ordering while I waited in the car, since I was still bleeding from the mouth after a recent encounter with the car door:

The tables were fun:

We shared an amazing plate of coconut shrimp. Personally I wouldn’t have thought that they would have gone well with white rice, but it actually turned out to be really tasty:

You can’t really tell, but the ocean is on my right:

This was one of my least favorite meals. In Hawaii they have something called a “plate lunch,” which consists of a main entree (fish here), macaroni salad, and 2 scoops of white rice. Sadly, I can’t say that I was a fan:

Some other people weren’t too thrilled either:

Kind of random, just some sushi rolls Darek had for lunch one day. I don’t like them but I think they look neat. I had a hamburger (not pictured).

Oh My. This place was in the running for Best Breakfast Ever. Eggs ‘n Things:

I was reeeally torn between coconut pancakes and an omelet. I eventually decided on the omelet because I wanted the breakfast potatoes. I can’t tell you how much I love breakfast potatoes. I love them a lot. And the omelet, despite looking a little weird, was unbelievably awesome:

Darek got the Macadamia Nut pancakes, and they were also amazing:

This is a terrible picture of a really good meal. It’s some kind of fish with macadamia nuts or something, and rice pilaf, which I love. The ocean was just to my right:

Dessert from the meal above:

Yum:

Our drinks (you can kind of see the ocean on the right):

One afternoon we went down to some fancy hotel and had $14 Mai Tais. I don’t know that they were worth $14, but it was Hawaii, and they were yummy. I have no regrets.

The ocean is totally blown out, but I swear it’s right there…

The main reason we went to Hawaii was to photograph a wedding. Here’s the dinner afterward, at Duke’s on Waikiki Beach.

Decorations and a yummy beach drink:

I wish we had gotten a picture of the 2 of us with our leis on, but here’s Darek at least:

Because I know you want to know what amazing thing I had for dinner:

SAUTÉED MAC NUT AND HERB CRUSTED
Lightly dusted in parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, topped with lemon and caper butter

YES PLEASE:

And for dessert, Hula Pie, which is one of my favorite desserts I’ve ever eaten:

Oh Hawaii. How I miss your seafood and desserts and fun drinks and everything else about you.

Ever since the first day I glanced at our Lonely Planet book I had one thing picked out that I really, really wanted to do: go to the Dole Plantation and do the world’s largest maze that happens to be shaped like a pineapple! If you go HERE you can see an aerial view.

But the excitement didn’t stop there. Oh no. Pineapple education is a fascinating thing. I love pineapples.

Tourist photo:

Here I am being excited and looking like I haven’t slept in 3 weeks…Yikes:

Pineapple plants only make 2 pineapples in their whole life! That’s crazy.

I had no idea how pineapples grew; they just come straight out of the top of the plant:

SO CUTE!!

Me and the pineapple:

They had a BUNCH of different varieties. I had no idea so many existed. (the one on the bottom left kind of scares me)

More pineapple education:

Together in the same photo thanks to the magic of Photoshop:

This is one of the coolest tree trunks I’ve ever seen:

We did not take the Pineapple Express.

The maze!

Inside the maze:

You had to find 6 stations that had stencils to prove you mastered the maze. It actually took a long time and we cheated just a little bit.

When we finally got out, we got some pineapple ice cream. YUM:

ENTIRE FIELDS OF PINEAPPLES, PEOPLE. Amazing.

Darek did some research and found Byodo-In Temple in the Valley of the Temples. (I love the name so I had to throw that in.) It’s actually a replica of a temple in Japan and was built to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants that came to Hawaii. It was a misty, drizzly day when we went which really added an amazing atmosphere. Totally beautiful and very peaceful.

For any of you Lost fans reading this, you might recognize it as the setting of Sun and Jin’s wedding.

Some of the mountains we passed on the way:

The temple is actually located in a cemetery.  I think I want to be buried in a cemetery with mountains and palm trees.

I like to take pictures of signs so I have a record of places we visit. Plus then I can just read it when I get home:

This is the color version of the first photo above but I think it has a different feel to it and I couldn’t decide which one to post:

Breathtaking, right? And you can see the Koi swimming around:

BABY PEACOCKS!!! Love their little mohawks:

This bird was totally giving me The Eye:

Us:

Darek took this one:

And because I’m feeling indecisive:

Every time it rained, I looked for a rainbow – and I’m pretty sure there was a rainbow in the sky every time it rained. Unbelievable.

Taken from our balcony:

At breakfast one morning (kind of hard to see, between the trees):

Walking back along the beach after dinner:

Lots of rain = lots of beautiful flowers:

I’ve only seen these in grocery stores and wedding arrangements until now:

So pretty.

We went to several beaches but only took pictures at a few.

Makapu’u Point:

We actually spent several hours one day at this beach. When we were there, there were red flags saying “do not swim” but we did anyway (we weren’t the only ones). We didn’t go past our waists though, just stood in the water and played in the waves. It was wonderful.

The view from down at the beach, looking up:

A different beach – one we did not swim at.

The Halona Blowhole, blowing:

Sunset at Makapu’u Point:

I really want to know why a van full of orange-shirted kids pulled up to watch the moon rising over the hill. Really random.

I miss the beach.