Details are on their way soon!

We are home, we are semi-unpacked, and I just haven't had the "writing" bug. I'm just enjoying being home. I promise that I will write about our fantastic time in Honolulu. We had a very uneventful trip home and it's back to the real world (aka work) tomorrow for me (Monday for Darren).

Honolulu!

We don't have a great internet connection in Honolulu, so for now, this is what you get: We are here, we are having fun and we will be home soon!

Cancel Sunset Cruise. Go to Emergency Room.

Yes...that's what we did yesterday. Darren was really feeling not well. He talked as though he was all stuffed up, yet, he wasn't. I was adamant that we were going on the cruise. So off to Port Allen we went. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn't the right thing to do. However, if we cancelled, we would lose the fee - which really didn't appeal to me. When we got to the check-in, I asked if we could cancel without losing the fee. This is the first time that Darren realized that I was willing to cancel. The gentleman at Capt. Andy's realized that our cancellation was legit and let us cancel without making us pay anything. Thank you.

I was disappointed. There's no denying that. However, this is OUR honeymoon, and if Darren was going to be in pain and unconfortable doing something and didn't really want to do it, that wasn't fair of me to insist on doing it. We decided it was time for a doctor and went in search of a walk-in clinic. The stupid GPS brought us to an emergency room, which is not what we wanted. They were able to tell us where a clinic was - in the opposite direction (of course!).

We made it to the clinic and they were able to see Darren without too much of a wait. The doctor took one look at it and made some funny noises, looked at us and said "I've never seen one of these before. I think you have .....................................(for the life of me, I can't remember what he said, but it was essentially an abscess). Hold on, I need to call some specialists to see if they are able to look at you" and ran out of the room. Darren and I were left stunned.

The next thing we know, another doctor is coming in to look. And off to the Emergency Room we go. Keep in mind - Alberta Health does NOT work down here. And of course, I know my health coverage has travel insurance, but that part of my coverage, I didn't put Darren on because it was mostly for perscriptions, and he NEVER gets sick! Ironic isn't it.

The ER doctor did not think that it was an abscess (Thank God!), but rather a bad case of strep throat. After giving Darren a shot of antibiotics and pain medication, we were off to fill the perscriptions.

After everything was said and done, everyone is ok. Darren is feeling much better this morning. And I am slowly getting over my disappointment about the cruise. We had a nice dinner at Cafe Portofino, and a nice evening in the condo.

We fly to Honolulu today. Off to Eggberts for breakfast and the market place for a bit more shopping. We'll miss Kauai. It's a beautiful island with so many things that we haven't had a chance to see. However, that is life and we'll just have to come back ;-)

Grand Canyon of Hawaii

Thursday was a busy day for us. We headed off to the east. We stopped off at spouting horn, which is right close to where we went Snuba diving. It's kind of neat to see water spouting out of the rocks. It was a beautiful day (not that we've had any that haven't been gorgeous days!).

We did a little bit of shopping at the little market that was near spouting horn.

Off to Waimea we went. After stopping at Westerners (yes...you read that right...) for lunch - nothing really to write home about, up, up and up we went. The views were amazing. At one point, we were able to overlook the town. Darren was getting a little annoyed with me for yelling out to him to stop at every little pull-off. :-)

The trip was so worth it though. The canyon is everything I had hoped it would be. We even saw a little waterfall in the canyon. Unfortunately, due to the fact that my camera needs updating (5 years for a digital is pretty good!), we weren't able to zoom in very well. We are now officially shopping for a new camera! LOL

After such a long drive, we were tired. Darren's cold is taking a lot out of him. So, back to the condo we went and rested for awhile, then off to dinner at Lemongrass again. Once again, it did not disappoint us.

Back to the condo we went and Darren was out like a light. The cold is really taking a lot out of him, but he's been doing great. I know that he would like nothing better than to curl up and do nothing all day. But he knows that we have limited time left here and is doing really well with my plans.

It's hard to believe that we are on our last full day here. It's a gloomy day, but it will probably clear off later on. Tonight is our sunset cruise, so hopefully it will clear up.

A Day of Rest

Not much to say about Wednesday. After Darren got such a horrible sleep the night before, I figured he wouldn't be up for much. So, after making breakfast, we headed to the beach. The wind has died down a bit, so the waves aren't as bad as they were before, however, we still decided to walk down to the sheltered beach.

The water, as before, was gorgeous. And clear! There are quite a few schools of fish in that little sheltered area and it is a favourite place for snorkelling. Too bad I have an issue with breathing out of my mouth ;-)

After we headed back from the beach, we made some lunch and then back out to the pool. It's a small pool, but it's well kept and has plenty of chairs surrounding it.

Both Darren and I have sunburns. Me more than him. My left shoulder is pretty bad, but other than that, it's bearable. I still can't resist taking the top down on the car!

For dinner, we went to Kintaro, a sushi restaurant. The food was very good and the prices were VERY reasonable.

After dinner, we walked on the beach until dark and then headed in.

There is basically 12 hours of daylight here. It gets dark at about 7:00. Darren and I seem to be on the same clock. It's amazing how tired we are by 9:00 pm! Granted, we are up no later than 7:00 am.

Thursday we hope to drive up to the canyon. Friday we are taking a sunset cruise to the northern shore to see the Na Pali Coast. It's hard to believe that our time here is almost at an end. I don't even want to think about it!

Sea Sickness, Sore Throat & Sunburn

Okay, before I start, let me say that Darren and I are still having a blast. Despite the title of this post, we are loving the island, the sun, and the surf.

Monday night, Darren complained of a sore throat. I thought it was just all the talking we had done with Steve? and Amanda at the Luau. Unfortunately, he woke up Tuesday morning with a very sore throat. It's obvious one of this glands is swollen and it really hurts him to swallow. But off we went to go Snuba diving.

It took a bit of getting used to (okay, a lot), to remember to breathe completely with your mouth. Darren wasn't overly comfortable in the water, but after a lot of convincing, he headed out, holding onto the float holding the air tank. I was okay underwater, until I started breathing out through my nose, which made the seal on my mask break and my mask fill with water. Towards the end, I actually started feeling nauseous. I've never been motion sick in my life!

Despite Darren's apprehension and my inability to breathe, Snuba diving was a great experience. There were plenty of fish down there and it was a great experience to be able to feed them and watch them swim around. Hopefully the pictures we took with the underwater cameras will turn out. If not, we shelled out the $35 (yes...35!) bucks for the DVD that he recorded while we were down there.

Darren's throat was still hurting and I was still feeling a bit queasy, so we decided to just head back to the condo. We have other days to go up to the canyon. We need to enjoy ourselves and if that means taking a day off and resting, that's what it takes.

Somehow, my pasty white skin is now a delicate shade of red. I swear, I was wearing sunscreen, but I still got it. Not badly, enough to wake me up when I rolled over, but that was about it. Darren of course is just getting dark.

We had breakfast and lunch at the condo. It's working out great. For dinner, we tried Brenneckes. Everything I read said it was really good and reasonably priced. We were not impressed. We made reservations, yet when we got there, we had to wait. You can't tell me that everyone sitting down had reservations. Then, after finally getting a seat, the menu had a lot less choices than I'd seen before. And the prices were a lot higher than I expected. They were about the same as Duke's. However, Duke's had a great atmosphere, very Hawaiian, nice, yet relaxed. Brennecke's is on top of a booking agent for tours, and it looks more like a diner. A very old, worn out diner. Darren had some fish, and I had shrimp scampi. You would think a $27 bowl of pasta would fill me up. Not even close. I've made better shrimp scampi at home.
Oh well, you live, you learn. We still haven't found a place that tops the Lemongrass Seafood Grill. We plan on going back there on our last night here (unless something is able to top it!).

Wednesday we are thinking of heading North, up towards Princeville area. The great thing about this island is nothing is too far away. Hopefully Darren is feeling better. He had a rough night - wide awake at 1:00 am. He's still sleeping now, so hopefully he'll be able to get some rest so that we can have a good day.

The roosters are still crowing. I no longer want to kill every rooster I hear crowing (just the one who likes to do it RIGHT outside our condo). The breeze coming off the ocean is absolutely amazing. It keeps our non-air conditioned condo relatively cool. I'm going to miss the sound of the surf hitting the beach. I'm going to miss the smell. The smell of freshness and green. I'm going to miss seeing the ocean on one side and the ancient mountains on the other. There's still so much of the island we haven't seen yet. It's hard to believe that our full days are 1/2 over.

My mind has been on my family a lot the last few days. I hope and pray that everything is going well back home with my brother. I pray that he is healing well after the surgery and that the tests come back clear. I pray for my mom, that she continue to find the strength that our family needs. She is our rock and our comfort. But I realize that is a large weight on her shoulders. I ask for your prayers as well for my family.

Walmart, Canyons and Luaus

It is hard to believe that Monday is already done and gone. Our time here is going to be WAY too short!

We started out the day with me cooking breakfast at the condo. Once I found all the frying pans in the dishwasher, it was a very easy task as the kitchen is very well equipped. After eating, we headed back to the coconut market place. All of the shops were now open. We are on the hunt for a new wedding band for Darren as his is unsizeable (Tungsten) and he has lost a fair bit of weight, so now the ring kind of floats around on his finger. We are looking for something distinctly Hawaiian, but something that will suit Darren as well. Not an easy task.

One of the ladies at the marketplace suggested Walmart. So off we went, exploring. We eventually found it and had a look, but no luck for Darren. I walked out with 2 new pairs of shorts and a cute skirt ;-)

Instead of turning around and heading back, we headed off on the highway in the opposite direction as our condo. It's a beautiful highway. Everything on this Island is so GREEN. With the exception of the red clay earth of course. Wow, that stuff does NOT come off!

We made it to the first lookout for the Waimea Canyon. Maybe after our Snuba on Tuesday, we will head all the way up. I hear it's beautiful. If the first lookout is any indication, I know I won't be disappointed!

After heading back, and spending some time at the pool, off to the Smith's Family Luau. But first, we went on their river boat tour to the famous Fern Grotto. Before the hurricanes that hit Hawaii, apparently the walls of the caves were covered in ferns. Now, although there are plenty of ferns, it obviously is not what it once was. Due to the heavy rains in 1996, people are no longer able to go up into the caves. However, there's something to be said about hearing Elvis' Hawaiian Wedding Song sung up in this amazing place. Makes me want to do it all over again...ALMOST.

After the boat tour, it was off to the garden Luau. The grounds are beautiful, and I can see why many many couples decide to get married there. After a tour of the grounds, they opened up one of their pits. The smell was to die for! Cocktail hour followed and we were joined by another couple from Ohio who actually just got married Saturday. They were great company and seemed to have a lot in common.

Dinner was fantastic. The music was great. The company was wonderful and the show afterwords was beyond words. I can't imagine someone coming to Hawaii and not seeing that show. It was so purely Hawaiian. Pictures will come, I promise :-)

Tuesday will start with Snuba in the morning and hopefully a drive up to the canyon afterwards. I want this vacation to last forever.