Catching up on Videos!

We are sending out a separate blogpost in order to catch up on videos.  For whatever reason, we just have not embedded these in our daily posts.  We are not sure if this will all work because we may overload the capacity of the blogpost limits, but will try anyway.  If not in one post, we may do several. 

THE LOBBY BAR AT TURTLE BAY

THE WAVES AND SURF AT TURTLE BAY

SOME SURFING ACTION......BUT NOT TOO MUCH!

Enjoying Kahala

 We woke up to another beautiful sunny day.  The views from our room are amazing.  As it is a corner room we can see both to the north (hills and lush greenery over the golf course) as well as to the east (over the ocean and up to Hanauma Bay).  We took advantage of the nice weather and went down for a swim in the pool before breakfast. We went at a fairly slow pace.....back to the room for a shower and eventually heading down to eat.  The strategy of waiting until after 9:00 really works, and we were able to get a nice table on the terrace under an umbrella. 

We took another round of checking out the dolphins and went for a long walk along the beach.  The day just slipped away.  We had another light lunch at the Seaside Grille.  It is a small but wonderful cafe along the beach near the pool area.

Beyond that, it was another one of those 'blurry' days where you are not really sure what you did.  It was. just a pleasant day.  Dinner was at the Hau Tree restaurant at the Kaimana Beach Hotel.  This is about half way from Kahala to downtown Honolulu and is a place we always try to visit, as the outdoor tables are very close to the beach, and wonderfully romantic under the Hau trees.  We got there a bit early and talked to the maitre'd and asked for a beach side table.  He was very nice and worked something out for us.......the 'anniversary' celebration again!  We waited for a bit in the bar and struck up an interesting conversation with the two bartenders and got introduced to a very nice Hawaiian gin called 'Fid Street.'

Dinner was amazing and the sunset was beautiful.  This was quite the evening!

Saturday and a Change of Pace

 Not sure how the first four days have happened so quickly!  In any case, we like to think that this 'blurry' (or probably 'blurring) state of affairs is what we were looking for!  Today we check out of Turtle Bay and head down to the Kahala Resort outside of Honolulu.  It is about an hour and 20 minute drive, but today we went a bit further out on the coastal route because the scenery is really spectacular.

As it was Saturday, there was a fair amount of traffic along the coast.  It is impressive how may families migrate to the beach for the day, setting up tents, tables, chairs and BBQ grills.  The road is only two lanes and follows the water much of the way so you get to see all the action.  As you approach the eastern outskirts of Honolulu, the topography gets dramatic and the views quite amazing.  Even though we have hundreds of photos of this part of the island, bw still can't resist more.......so be prepared!

We checked into the Kahala around 1:30 and they said they needed another 20 minutes on the room, so we headed down to the Seaside Grille for a small lunch.  After our fourth consecutive buffet breakfast at Turtle Bay, we had no real need for lunch.......but decided to split an order of shrimp spring rolls and two virgin pina coladas.

We didn't mind the slight diversion waiting for the room as the woman at the desk said we had been upgraded and it was a wonderful suite!  She said it was a great room for our 50th wedding anniversary!  We often forget that we use this for every reservation we make.....and have for several years!  Turns out that the room was really a bit more than we expected.  I will provide a quick video tour.  In any case, we collapsed for a couple of hours and then went down to the beach for a swim........all very relaxing.

Dinner tonight was at the 'House without a Key' at the Halekulani Hotel.  This, along with 'Orchids' are two of our old standbys on Waikiki Beach.  It was really crowded and there was a line of folks waiting for tables, but we got ours rather quickly and strangely enough it was the same table as last year, out under the porch roof with a great view of the musicians and hula dancer.  We had a very nice waiter from Milan......and after a drink or two we were talking in Italian, until Andrea told me I had to cool it a bit.  Great meal and a wonderful time was had!

Haha, see the foot at the bottom of the hot tub?  Andrea and I did our early morning swim and soak again.  The fish almost look real!

Breakfast hangout........and Andrea getting her omlette!

and another walk around the point.