Hawaii Trip Recap - Day 4

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about finishing up the Hawaii trip report even though my attentions have been momentarily diverted to all things home decor.

So where was I?

I woke up on our fourth day in Hawaii to hear Alan hollering about random men staring into our condo. Having been assured that even though we were on the ground floor that the area was relatively private, I found this new development to be worrisome as I really didn't want people looking into our unit for the remainder of our time there. I needn't have worried, because the men weren't looking into our condo at all. Oh no, they were looking at the GIANT TURKEYS ON OUR LANAI. After staring at our visitors with my mouth agape for a few seconds, I first grabbed my iPhone (gotta post those pictures to the Internet immediately) and then my regular camera.

While this is hilarious in and of itself, the funniest thing is that prior to getting out of bed we heard a rather loud, curious noise outside. Jokingly I said to Alan, "it could be turkeys." Who knew I would turn out to be right?

We filled the rest of our morning walking along the King's Trail, immediately outside our condo, and going shopping at the King's Shops.

When we were in Oahu with Jenny and Sean a couple of years back we found a koa & silver ring that Alan really loved as a replacement for his wedding band that wasn't exactly comfortable on his finger. He wore it for several months until his hands grew from rock climbing and it too was no longer comfortable. Since then every time we're in the islands we look for a replacement koa ring. While at the King's Shoppes we found a store dedicated to koa products and found that they sold titanium and koa rings - the exact perfect combination for Alan. Unfortunately the one that fit best didn't have the best looking wood grain so in the end we decided to skip it. We also searched for a new bathing suit top for me to no avail and stopped to eat lunch at Island Fish & Chips, overlooking the lake. The reviews for the fish & chips place on Yelp are somewhat mixed - either people love it or they absolutely hate it. We're in the love category - the fish portions were large & thick, and the meat was tender and juicy. You could also tell that you were getting fresh fish, not something that had been frozen for months before making its way to your plate.

That afternoon we made our way back to Beach 69, but the water was choppy and we didn't have a great spot on the sand so we decided to hit up Hapuna Beach instead. There's virtually no shade to be had at Hapuna so we walked to the far right of the beach and made camp by the rocks hoping to at least block out some of the wind. The spot turned out to be perfect for us while we read and played in the water. The waves were a bit big for my liking but Alan seemed to have a good time trying to body surf in them.

Instagram image

That night we had dinner at Brown's Beach House at the Fairmont Orchid, where we'd honeymooned nine years prior. As we pulled up to the resort and the valet asked if we'd been there before, I must have had a stupid happy smile on my face because when I answered yes he looked amused. Dinner was good; not great. At first we were sat to the far right of the outdoor area with no view whatsoever. Alan asked our waiter if we could be moved and they had no problem with it at all. I got the impression that he was wondering why we'd been sat where we were when there were much better tables open. We ended up with a great view of the sunset, decent food (not the best meal we've had in the islands, but not terrible either - just not a wow! meal) and excellent cocktails. Alan got a muddled ginger drink that he definitely wants to try to recreate and I ended up with a spicy, sweet concoction that had an infusion of habaneros. It was delicious! While our lemongrass pot de creme wasn't great, the presentation put another huge silly grin on my face. Overall, it was a very enjoyable meal.

Chocolate sauce reads "Happy Anniversary"

After dinner we walked over to the water's edge where we spent most of our nights there falling asleep in a hammock under the stars with the sounds of the waves crashing just below us. For years we've referred to that spot as "our hammock" or "our favorite hammock on the world." We were looking forward to sitting down for a bit at the hammock before heading home but unfortunately it was gone. In it's place was one of those umbrella'd cabanas that most resorts will rent for $40/day to guests. We were so sad. Our hammock is no more.

We walked around the hotel a bit more before heading home, looking at the changes they'd made since we were there last and wandering to the wing where our room had been. It was a great way to end the night; remembering how happy we had been on our honeymoon and reflecting how nine years later we're still as happily married as we were at that moment.