Aloha!

Ahhhhhhhhh....

Wonderful to just look at those. Such great color.

Plus I've missed your photos, it's been a while!

Glad you had such a great time!

Mo and Mr. B discovered that the waves on the North Shore might be a bit.... advanced.... for their body surfing skills:



Other beaches proved more sporting. Mo was a natural at surfing:



But he found paddle/rafting a bit more challenging:



He loved visiting Pearl Harbor (the fact that he got a guided tour from Lt. General Brother made it even cooler):



One day we got lost and stumbled upon where they've hidden the boat from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. They had it mostly covered up but it was still fun to find:

Everyone was so friendly, even the animals were willing to pose:

This dove perched outside our hotel room to wake us up each morning:

The fish weren't quite as cooperative:

I think this photo sums it up best of all:



Overall it was a fantastic experience. We're already saving up for our next trip there and we've told Mo that if he gets after the school stuff that he could go to college there and we'd happily come visit him often.

Hi soz! It was super cool color. Everything was so vivid and super saturated with light. I love the light in Oregon, it's one of the reason that I wanted to move here. Hawaii light was like being on a different planet.

I met a really neat guy who was a photographer at the surfing school. He gave me some pointers but it was still pretty hard. It was kind of funny -- he uses the photo lab that I worked for and we knew scads of the same people.

Small world.

I've been to Hawaii once. It was when I was in the middle of a really stressful work situation and was utterly transforming. E.G. was there for a conference, I just wandered around on my own and drank everything up, loved it.

These photos really capture what I loved about it, plus a lot more!

The Pirates of the Caribbean ship was a great find -- much more fun to just come across it.

Lovely photos!! I've never been to Hawaii, one day...

Like all of those, naturally, but I love the second one..

I highly recommend it, Ceili.

Thanks, osso! I don't think I did the light in that picture justice -- the sky was golden. I'd never seen anything quite like it.

Very nice stuff

Those are pretty much my favorite colors in one gorgeous photo.

Beautiful pictures!

I’ve been a few times but Marco never has. I haven’t been to the big island though. Maui was always my favorite. I would like to plan a trip soon, the three of us would have a blast!

Great shots, boomer! Especially love the bird photos. But from what I see here you actually went to Oahu, not Hawaii. Why does everybody do that? Everyone ends up at Waikiki or, at most, on Maui. The real Hawaii is on Hawaii. (OK, OK, Kauai and Molokai are all right, too.) Btw, we had a lovely 4.7 earthquake yesterday afternoon. No damage. Just some more room for the lava to flow from the side of Kilauea. And most of the snow atop Mauna Kea has melted too. Drat!

Yes. We went to Ko Olina on O''ahu in Hawaii!

I guess for us mainlanders it would be like stating what county you went to if we just didn't say "Hawaii". Like if someone told me they came to Portland and I asked "Multnomah or Washington county in Portland, Oregon?"

I heard about your earthquake from Mo over dinner. I'm glad to hear there was no real damage.

My brother stayed in Waikiki so we spent an evening over there. I was not overwhelmed, but the beach was beautiful.

One of our favorite experiences was these crazy, ratty looking strip centers with noodle shop after noodle shop, after crepe shop, after shaved ice shop, after noodle shop. We pigged out.

I would love to see all of the other islands. Mr. B is looking to expand his business in that direction so, fingers crossed, we might have reason to visit on a more regular basis!!

Thanks, PandaFan!

ohhh beautiful!

did you fly? Or did you take a boat?
We are thinking of taking a cruise ship sometime in this coming year. Where? dont know yet...

Cruise ship!? I suppose you might want to avoid Italy.

If you're taking your kid I can recommend a great hotel that is really set up for families! It was a "turn them loose and let them at it" kind of place. There were lots of kid activities -- especially for the littler kids.