Royal hawaiian vacation

Oahu

By Heather Horgen

Aloha state

When all this seems like it's OK

And all we feel is day to day, we're on replay

So slow down

We need to slow down ...

-Lights Follow

royal hawaiian

From the hustle of Honolulu we entered the gates to the Pink Palace, where we were greeted with flower and kukui nut leis. A stroll through the fragrant gardens, mere steps from the white glittering sands of Waikiki beach, slows you down and makes you feel like royalty.

We spent time being on the lanai, reading books and magazines (I read most of "Some Girls" with one eye on the ocean), and eating Pringles and pink haupia cake from the Royal Hawaiian bakery. I think we saw dolphins, but I forgot my binoculars at home.

Salt. Sand. Palms.

sunrise

Jet lag is a beautiful thing.

surfing

We drove to the North Shore to see surfers at Ehukai beach. The waves were good, and for hours we watched seasoned guys riding waves, the chubby guy who waited on the waves, the girl surfing with her hat on (lost it only twice in the water but got it back!), and the 9 year-old kids (who go to surf school instead of the classroom, I guess).

I love the feeling of my feet in the sand, between my toes. The sand here was so soft, but not powdery soft, Van kept saying "like sesame seeds."

Where's your mama, little dog? This good boy walked to the shoreline and waited for the water to flow over his feet. I thought he was going to fall in! But he knew what he was doing, he was smiling. On the way back we stopped at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck and shared the shrimp plate with mac salad.

The sand on Waikiki Beach vs sand at Ehukai.

another sunrise

Still jet lagged, still don't care.

We didn't want to leave the hotel.

waikiki

I didn't think I would like Waikiki Beach. It's busy. It's in the middle of a big city. It's not what I picture in my mind when I think of a beach I want to spend all day at relaxing.

But it is! It's beautiful. The water is clear and calm. It's shallow for a long ways out, and perfect for learning to surf. We sat on beach chairs under a pink umbrella all day.

The Royal Hawaiian is a palace.

For breakfast we went to Island Vintage Coffee almost every day, a short walk from the hotel, and got açaí bowls and coffee. Nearby we found some public benches that had a direct view of a nesting white tern - these birds don't actually build nests, rather they lay an egg directly on a tree branch, where the baby grows up until he's big enough to fly away. Every time we left the hotel grounds we had to check on the baby bird.

Japanese city

I kept hearing how busy Honolulu is, and how it's just another big city. Yeah it's a city, but it's pretty laid back. Plus, we were excited to find that there were a lot of Japanese restaurants. Honolulu is 54% Japanese!

Across the street from our hotel is a place called Waikiki Yokocho - a collection of Japanese restaurants in the basement of a department store. I am not embarrassed to say we ate at almost every restaurant there. Tempura, kushikatsu, ramen, green tea desserts; we felt like we were in Japan (aka heaven).

a tiny island

Sometimes I think about how Hawaii is just a few chunks of lava in the middle of the Pacific ocean—thousands of miles of ocean. Like one day a huge wave could come and just swallow up the whole thing. But being there—hearing the waves, looking out over the blues of the ocean and the sky, watching the sea turtles swim, everything is all right.