Scott's office generously took everyone on a weekend trip to Waikiki in Hawaii. It was a great trip -- and much needed vacation.
Right after we checked-in, we walked to a tiny restuarant, Ono Hawaiian Foods. The six of us had no idea what to order, but the ladies who served us were very motherly and told us what to order. The food was great!
On the first night, Scott's entire office made a MaiTai beach crawl crashing three resort bars, the historic Surfrider, the Royal Hawaiian, and the House Without A Key. Thus, my weekend love affair with the great MaiTai:
On Saturday, we tried to snorkel at a popular coral reef. I had never snorkeled before and wasn't very successful. Claire saw a turtle though.
Scott and I had dinner at the Surfrider Hotel across the street. We later joined a group of Scott's co-workers at some restaurants across town. (There is a hilarious incident that happened that night, but I'll leave that to the office lore of Scott's co-workers.)
On Sunday, we caught a bus downtown. The Hawaii State Capital is a great example of 1960s architecture. Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the US, is right next to the capital.
We then walked over to the Aloha Tower, Chinatown, and Foster Botanical Garden.
At sunset, we joined Scott's office on a catamaran tour off of Waikiki Beach. Definitely one of the best parts of the trip.
On Monday, seven of us rented a minivan and drove to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We took the Pineapple Express mini-train tour and had pineapple whip, pineapple juice, pineapple cinnamon bread, pineapple hot dog, etc.
We later visited some of the beaches along the north shore of Oahu.
Another highlight of the trip was the tour we took of Kualoa Ranch. The young native tour guide was a real smartass, but very knowledgeable of the ranch's and Hawaii's history. The ranch is privately owned by the first non-native family to own land in Hawaii. It was later occupied by the US military during WWII. The military planted large African trees to camoflauge planes that were parked at the temporary airbase. The African trees later attracted Hollywood and the ranch has since been featured in many movies such as Jurasic Park, Pearl Harbor, and now (unofficially, shhh) the TV show Lost.
[I'll finish this post and add more photos later.] [Done]
