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| Waiting to board our flight to Moloka'i |
I only meet Jordyn 3 months ago, but I couldn’t have picked
a better person to go on my Thanksgiving adventure with. Neither of us had ever
been to Moloka`i or Lana`i and we decided that taking a long thanksgiving break
to do this would be a good idea, we were right. We originally planned on just
staying on the before mentioned islands, but because you have to stop in Maui
to get to either of these islands from the other we decided to stay on Maui in between.
The trip started with the most fun little airplane I have
ever seen, much less been on, in my life! It only carried 9 people plus the pilot.
I can’t really explain why, but it was so much more fun riding in this plane
than on the big jets I’m used to. I thought I’d lost any thrill riding in
planes could give me years ago, but I was actually excited about flying in this
little plane! It felt like being a kid again.
J
After we landed and got our rental car, (which you have to
have to do anything on Moloka`i) the sun was setting on our drive to the hotel.
The amber light made the island that was laid out ahead of us even more
beautiful than it normally is.
Moloka`i is a very small island and the next day was
Thanksgiving. We knew everything would be closed so after we got settled we
went into town (the only town on Moloka`i) to get food for Thanksgiving dinner.
We ended up getting some different fruits, and a meat (turkey obviously)/cheese/cracker
snack box. We ended up spending the day
driving from beach to beach just hanging out. I saw one of the most beautiful
beaches I’ve ever seen in my life on the west side (Papohaku), and the most
idyllic cove on the east side (Halawa Bay). The cove was so spectacular; it is
the one thing I think anyone who visits that island must see b4 they leave! The
drive down there is just magnificent as well; we saw a herd of deer! Who knew
there were deer in Hawai’i? Not Jordyn and me that’s for sure. We flipped out when
we saw them; stopped in the middle of the road, backed up and everything to
look for them.
We ate our Thanksgiving dinner by the pool at the hotel and watched
a Roast of Pam Anderson, this isn’t relevant other than to say that Courtney
Love was one of the Roasters, and despite her constant protests to the contrary,
she was acting totally wasted. Later that night I was having some (unalcohol
related) equilibrium issues and ran into a wall on my way to bed, to which
Jordyn replied “nice one Courtney Love!” From this point forward Courtney Love
became to most entertaining part of our conversations for the rest of the trip.
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| Lookout over the leper colony |
On our second and last day on Molokai we woke up early to go
hiking at the viewing point for Father Damien’s leper colony. On our way back
down we stopped at a mac nut farm where we got to see every stage of the mac
nut maturation process because, as we learned, the mac nut tree is constantly
producing nuts all year long. We then got to pick some freshly fallen nuts off
the ground from around the tree and use this really fun holding tool designed
by the farm owner, and a hammer to crack open our own nuts. Jordyn was way
better at it than me. No matter how hard I tried I kept breaking the nuts,
while Jordyn’s kept coming out perfect and whole.
Finally we went back to the room to get our stuff ready to
take the ferry to Maui. If you are the kind of person who gets sea sick, this ferry
ride would have put you off boats forever. It was the roughest boat experience I
have ever had. It felt like we were going to tip over at any moment because the
waves were so big, but what made it so funny is that it was still a beautiful
Hawai’i day despite feeling like we were in the perfect storm. Jordyn and I
just thought that the ferry ride was entertaining but there was more than one
person onboard who was very excited to have reached Lahina.
Once we departed the ferry we walked to our hotel which was
right next to the main street in Lahina. We got changed from our epic ferry
ride which left us very salty from all the sea spray, and went out in search of
sustenance. We ended up at a burger place and because we were so hungry just
sat at the bar rather than wait for a table. This turned out to be a good idea
because we made friends with the bartender who “forgot” to charge us for two of
our drinks. The next day was Jordyn’s 21st birthday! We went out and
I bought her a drink. Later that night we meet this funny old local guy at a
tee-shirt shop. Jordyn just loved that he called her “honey girl,” and ended up
with a job offer if he ever expanded his business to Hilo.
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On the plane ride back to Hilo, but it's the only picture I
have of my hat |
I have never owned a cap, and from the day I moved to Hawai’i
I’ve wanted one because they are the most useful thing ever here, but I digress.
We just cruised around the shops in Lahina the next day and stumbled into a
bikini shop where we meet the loveliest shopkeeper. She and her son started
this business, Pakaloha, which she said doesn’t directly translate to, but is
meant to mean, ‘teardrops of love.’ You might be wondering why I have told you
this seemingly meaningless story. It is because this is the store from which I
bought the world’s most amazingly awesome cap! This was made all the better by
the fact that I had been searching for it for 4 ½ years.
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| On the ferry to Lana'i |
Next we boarded a fairy bound for Lana’i. This ferry ride
was much shorter, and totally turbulence free. There is only one hotel on Lana’i,
the Four Seasons. Let me just say now, if you ever have the opportunity to stay
at a Four Seasons, DO IT! This was one of the most fantastic places I’ve ever
been. I count Disney World as the only place more insanely amazing.
First off the hotel itself is a giant estate. Second the
insides are decorated to a degree of extravagance that could rival Versailles
Palace. The rooms are like a mini wonderland with every toiletry under the sun imported
from France, memory foam mattress tops, giant flat screen TV, a telephone in the
bathroom, and a beautiful lanai (no pun intended) with a view of the pool and
ocean.
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| The amazing beach |
However the most amazing part of this resort is by far the
beach and pool areas. The property is right on top of the most amazing beach!
Which they rake every morning to make sure there are no twigs, rocks, or leaves
for you to have to walk on or pick out of your sand castle. Then when you get
down there the attendants, who are there at basically sunrise to sun set, ask you
how many people in your party and proceed to set up that many beach chairs and
a table complete with your own giant beach umbrella to shield you from the sun
should you so desire. After they have set all this up for you they offer you
lemonade or ice water. What makes this beach amazing in a natural way in addition
to the man made ways above is that it is in a perfect cove that allows the
waves to be big enough to be really fun to play in but never so big that you
ever feel worried that you’ll get hurt, and the incline into the water is nice
and slow so you don’t just drop off into the ocean where you can’t touch
anymore. After hanging out for a while J and I took a little hike to Sweetheart
Rock which is a rock formation (gasps of shock!) to the east of the beach. (the
legend behind it is pretty cool if you wanna check it out
http://www.gohawaii.com/lanai/regions-neighborhoods/south-lanai/puu-pehe)
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| This picture really doesn't do the pool justice |
The pool is also an epic experience. When you get there one
of the many cabana boys asks you how many pool side chairs he should prepare.
He then covers your chair with a towel designed to fit the entire cushion covered
pool chair. After that he asks if you’d like the hood (which looks something like
the hood of an old style carriage) pulled up to shield you from the sun. The
pool is temperature controlled 24 hrs a day so it is always perfect to swim in
and when you get out of the pool another cabana boy asks if you’d like
cucumbers for your eyes and some lilikoi juice to refresh you. The only thing
they don’t do is bring you snacks. If you even look like you’re making a move
to adjust the hood of your chair, an attendant is immediately there to do it
for you.
Jordyn and I were obviously reluctant to leave this paradise
but alas the real world awaited. Our Thanksgiving vacation was exactly what I needed
to help me distress. It was super fun and really relaxing. It was so fun in
fact that Jordyn and I agreed to go back to Lana’i in 2015 for a reunion.
Anyone who wants is welcome to join us. I promise its worth the money.
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| You know you want to come to Lana'i with us in 2015 ; ) |
