Waving Goodbye To My 20s - Aulani Trip Report - Update 9/25 Going Home (The End)

[Dis_Yoda]

Ohhh I totally am adding the Kona Brew House to my places for lunch!

It is a great place for lunch! I loved being able to get so many of their beers in draft form since you can usually only get certain ones in a bottle over here in Florida!

Awesome updates!! With a couple of exceptions (generally of the athletic & educational variety, LOL) I pretty much want to copy your whole trip!!!! Kona, the spa, and Alan Wong's all look fantastic!!

I realize parts of my trip aren't for everyone - with my next segment, my essay explanation of my chapter title will probably bore you but I'm glad you are enjoying the majority of it though! I admit I'm a nerd who still likes some educational stuff. We're planning our big 2017 trip now and we're debating between two different tour groups - the one I really want would end up super nerdy and the other one would be a bit more mainstream.

http://www.tauck.com/tours/europe-tours/italy-tours/amalfi-coast-wr-2017.aspx <- Mainstream

http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/southern-italy-amalfi-coast-tour/detail <- Nerd

That tuna tartare looked amazing! Really no free refills on soda? That just seems very odd to me?

That tartare was amazing! Still can remember how great it was I'm going to have to take myself to Roy's soon to get some of his poke.

I've seen no free refills on soda before at certain high end restaurants but its been a while. I'm usually drinking alcohol so I forgot that was the norm when you leave the Disney Bubble of Fine Dining. It happened the next night too but to be honest, if $3 Diet Cokes were going to break the bank - we probably had no business eating at those places then.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Learning Why America Businessmen Suck

When we had returned to the room the night before, we looked over the guidebook to determine what we may want to do. I mentioned the Palace and it super interested my husband. At least it gave us a plan for the next day! The palace didn’t open until a bit later than our normal wake up times so when we woke up, my husband went for a run and I was super lazy. I was totally abusing this ‘vacation’ excuse.

He returned and got cleaned up. We headed towards the capital district of downtown Honolulu as the Ionani Palace to buy our tour tickets and visit the statue and for my husband to well, catch some Pokemon. Yes, my husband is 32 years old and I was planning on arriving early so he could catch Pokemon as apparently Honolulu was full of Pokestops for him to collect things like eggs, candy, poke-balls, etc...he was going to use this to his full advantage!

I’m pretty sure I ended up parking somewhere I shouldn’t have and was pretty much super nervous our entire visit to this area that our car was going to end up towed. My husband told me to not worry about it.

Palace Sign

Outside Palace

We headed over to the Hale Koa to purchase tickets for the tour. The earliest tour time was already filled so we had to wait until 10:30AM. We filled this time by going to watch the video about the history of the Kingdom of Hawaii and its integration with the United States.

The ‘Iolani Palace was the royal residence for the Kingdom of Hawaii beginning with Kamehameha III in 1845 and ending with Queen Liliuokalani in 1893. This building was actually built in 1879 with all the latest amenities like indoor plumbing, telephone, etc. and the original palace was dismantled. After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the building was used as a capital building for the provisional government and various stages of statehood until 1969 when it moved to another Capital Building nearby. It opened to the public as a museum of 1978. It is also the only royal palace located on US soil!

This video was super interesting to me as well, you learned what happened to the Kingdom of Hawaii and how it ended up under the control of the United States.

Because of economic interests in Hawaii with Sugar, Fruits, etc - the Kingdom of Hawaii ended up becoming a protectorate of the United States to which the pressure was put on the Kings at the time to have exclusive trade agreements with the US. The Kings (Kamehameha IV & V) did try to get really strong alliances with other large powers like England.

Since the first of the elected monarch died before naming an heir, there ended up becoming a conflict where England and US helped with military intervention and in turn American businessmen with major interests in Hawaii. As King Kalakaua had them make a Treaty that allowed the US use Fort Island for their Military operations, there were a lot of background American business interested and helped influence a new constitution in 1887 which people much took away a ton of power of the king to force Kalakaua’s cooperation along with messing with the voting rights so that pretty much only really wealthy native Hawaiians, Europeans and Americans people had a voting monopoly to protect their interests.

With all these changes, there was an attempt to overthrow the monarchy in 1888 that failed. When Kalakaua died in 1891, his sister Liliuokalani (who was apart of the overthrow attempt in 1888) was named the new monarch. There was an economic crisis going on because the US was pretty much trying to prove a point to the Hawaii people and Liliuokalani wanted nothing more than to restore the power of the Kingdom of Hawaii since so much had been lost over the past 40 years. So in 1893, there was a coup d’etat led by American Business Interests that overthrew the Queen that was supported by the US Military although it was totally condemned by President Cleveland. The former Queen was imprisoned in her former home as well.

So there is your history lesson before pretty photos.

As we still had time before our self guided audio tour of the palace would begin, we walked around the grounds some (since my husband had pokemon to catch and goodies to grab - I actually had to pull him aside and tell him to be aware of where he was walking as there were a fair amount of homeless just laying around the lawns of the palace)

King Kamehameha Statue

Burial Mound On Grounds

Hala Koa

At 10:30AM, we were given our audio guides from the employees and were given these awesome booties for our feet!

Super Sexy!

We were given the run down about the rules such as don’t touch, be respectful, etc. All those things you are usually told when you visit historic places.

Foyer

Woodwork

Staircase

Glasswork

Parlor

Dining Room

Toilet

Upper Foyer

Bedroom

Quilt/Queen Imprisonment Room

Throne Room

Throne Room

We really enjoyed this audio tour as it provided more info on some of the history I already wrote in my essay above. Before leaving, we stopped by the Queen’s statue. It was amazing to see how there were a lot of gifts left by people still unhappy with the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Queen Lili Statue

I admit I was nervous as we walked back to the car but luckily, it wasn’t towed away! We decided it was time for lunch and decided to look around to see what was nearby.​

 

[franandaj]

My goal is to try to get this trip report finished before I leave for Opening Food & Wine Weekend - that leaves 24 days for the 15 more updates I have planned. I need to get moving!

Yikes! I've only partially caught up here. I'll have to go back and figure out where I left off. And I'm sure that means much less than 24 days are left now.

As I had some water to try to cool myself down, my husband was ready to keep going. I just keep looking at the 99 stairs that laid ahead and was thinking “nope” at least not yet. As he was impatient - I told him to just get on with it and I’ll just wait for him there since he kept getting annoyed I was slowing him down.

Well he's your husband so you can say it. But I can totally understand your frustration. In my situation, being understanding is a requirement.

I kept my thoughts to myself and put in the address to the Waikiki Aquarium in my phone.

Smart girl!

Apparently a summer camp full of very young children (5 or 6) were also visiting the aquarium today. We hoped we would be able to ‘outpace’ them going through the exhibits.

Luckily, we were able to keep ahead of the summer camp and enjoy the exhibits.

Phew! I was rooting for you there!

While we looked around before Kona opened, nothing caught our eye and we saved our money!

Too bad you didn't find anything, but good that you saved your money!

We were super happy with this lunch.

That's good to hear. I've heard lots of good things about the Kona Brewing Company

It was on this drive back, Pokemon Go was released through the Apple Store.

So this is when it happened. We got on the ship two days before this, we didn't hear anything about it in the ports in Alaska, but when we got back to Vancouver we were watching the WA state news and we were like, "huh? *** is going on?"

I was able to get an appointment set up for 3:30PM. This was ample time to get back to the hotel, shower, relax, and head over to the spa early to enjoy their exclusive areas.

Very cool! I'm glad you got to enjoy their spa!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

. I realize parts of my trip aren't for everyone - with my next segment, my essay explanation of my chapter title will probably bore you but I'm glad you are enjoying the majority of it though! I admit I'm a nerd who still likes some educational stuff. We're planning our big 2017 trip now and we're debating between two different tour groups - the one I really want would end up super nerdy and the other one would be a bit more mainstream.

http://www.tauck.com/tours/europe-tours/italy-tours/amalfi-coast-wr-2017.aspx <- Mainstream

http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/southern-italy-amalfi-coast-tour/detail <- Nerd

I am thoroughly enjoying ALL of your report!!! I would definitely do Pearl Harbor and the Palace - I did once as a teen but not sure I appreciated it. I think I'd also give sunrise yoga a try. But mostly I'm a sun worshipper and wannabe foodie, LOL.

Both Italy tours sound amazing. Italy and the Amalfi coast is on my list too!

Your morning at the palace sounds fun. The history is very interesting. Sometimes I think visitors almost forget they're in the US - in a good way.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Yikes! I've only partially caught up here. I'll have to go back and figure out where I left off. And I'm sure that means much less than 24 days are left now.

Well he's your husband so you can say it. But I can totally understand your frustration. In my situation, being understanding is a requirement.

Smart girl!

Phew! I was rooting for you there!

Too bad you didn't find anything, but good that you saved your money!

That's good to hear. I've heard lots of good things about the Kona Brewing Company

So this is when it happened. We got on the ship two days before this, we didn't hear anything about it in the ports in Alaska, but when we got back to Vancouver we were watching the WA state news and we were like, "huh? *** is going on?"

Very cool! I'm glad you got to enjoy their spa!

I have 10 days before I leave for Food & Wine with my girlfriends. I've actually pre-written every update now and ended up combining some sections that I thought were going to be separate but I have 8 updates left. Guess I won't meet my goal of being done as I don't like having an update more than every other day. Guess I'll just delay the start of my Food & Wine Report until after this is done - which might work out better anyway since the dining report board has the 3 month rule and then I can combine my September Trip with my November Trip rather than have 2 threads.

I figured you would understand the frustration. It is all part of marriage - knowing when to keep your mouth shut to avoid a blow up that just isn't worth it in the end. Obviously, I think he realized it seeing he suggested the spa later on in the day. Overall, we work well together. No point in projecting a 'perfect' life or trip as that just isn't real life. I like to keep it authentic. If thats the worst 'tiff' we had during a vacation, I would say it was a pretty decent trip as I know both you and I have reported worse ones in our trip reports for whatever reasons that caused them. (While I did end up crying the next day - that had nothing to do with a fight)

I was super happy we stayed ahead of the kiddos!

Looking back at the trip as whole, we really didn't buy a lot of stuff - at least not things unique to Hawaii - the only real souvenirs we bought were coasters from the Waikiki Aquarium, my Hawaiian Soap Kit, and Dharma Lost Kualua Ranch T-Shirt for my husband. I'm not considering the comics as souvenirs nor the shopping we do the next day at Target as nothing there was unique. I'm ok with that as we did do a lot of experiences this trip and that was fun and money not spent can be used for other vacations.

Yeah - Pokemon Go totally took over a lot of the world for the month of July. It took a few weeks for him to lose his interest in it but in some ways, I thought it was a good thing as it was encouraging children and adults to go out and be active and walk which is a good thing! Our group text we have with our group of friends from his work was all about Pokemon for that month - with my random inserts about alcohol or something else as I was getting annoyed at it all as these were 25 to 32 year old men!

I am thoroughly enjoying ALL of your report!!! I would definitely do Pearl Harbor and the Palace - I did once as a teen but not sure I appreciated it. I think I'd also give sunrise yoga a try. But mostly I'm a sun worshipper and wannabe foodie, LOL.

Both Italy tours sound amazing. Italy and the Amalfi coast is on my list too!

Your morning at the palace sounds fun. The history is very interesting. Sometimes I think visitors almost forget they're in the US - in a good way.

I know the places I went when I was younger, I totally didn't appreciate it the same as I would now but we're probably not going to go visit Washington DC, Yellowstone, Utah, Grand Canyon, etc for a while as it way lower on our list. I get being a sun worshipper and a wannabe foodie!

We decided on doing the Tauck Small Group Tour - we are going to go a couple days early to have some extra time at the Amalfi Coast to hike the Path of the Gods and possibly do Herculaneum as well. I took Latin in Middle & High School so Roman History is super interesting to me. My husband grew up Catholic and thus the Vatican is something important to him even though neither of us are religious anymore.

I really enjoyed going to the palace and learning that part of the history of how Hawaii ended up part of the US. It makes it very understandable why some of the islanders feel the way the due about those from the mainland and the tourist development, which I can respect given the history.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

More Beer!

What we ended up deciding on was another brewery in the area that had some food options as well! The drive over was easy and I was happy to see that they had free parking despite being in the middle of the Waikiki bustle.

Waikiki Brewing Company

This brewing restaurant was really focused on the beer as you saw all the beer being brewed in front of you. We were the first ones at this outdoor restaurant today and they were preparing to brew another batch of some beer.

Menu

I went with their wheat beer. It was decent. I’ve had better wheat beers from small craft brewers but it was ok.

My Beer - Wailele Wheat

My husband went with a sampler paddle at first with 4 different options before getting a larger pint of the one he liked the best, but I can’t seem to remember that now!

Beer Sampler - Wailele Wheat, Aloha Spirit Blonde Ale, English Brown Ale, Hana Hau Hefe

We got the truffle fries to start. These were actually good. Sometimes truffle fries can way too fake tasting from the oil used but these had just enough added along with having a nice amount of cheese and sage on top! We were very happy with this as our mains well, weren’t as good.

Truffle Fries - Crispy Sage & Parmesan Cheese

I went with the Rib Tips for some reason. I wish I hadn’t. They weren’t cooked well so it wasn’t really tender but rather chewy. The flavor of their sauce was just eh. I ate mostly the rice to make myself full.

BBQ Rib Tips - Pecan Wood Smoked Rib Tips w/ our Blackstrap Molasses Porter BBQ Sauce Over A Bed of Rice

My husband went with their vegetarian option since it was the only thing for him and he thought it sounded ok. He said it was well only ok. He wouldn’t order it again.

Tofu Bahn Mi - Toasted Baguette, Sesame Sriracha Mayo, Tofu, Sliced Cucumbers, Pickled Red Cabbage Slaw, Cilantro

So, overall, this lunch was a bust when you compare it to all the other food we ate around Oahu. We probably just ordered wrong or we should have just gone next door to the Cheeseburger place and just had beer from this brewery. Oh well! It was rather cheap though!

We stopped by Target on the way back to Aulani as my husband wanted some drinks and I realized he hadn’t packed another nice long sleeve button down shirt. The problem was he had been drinking and thus his impulse control was gone.

$142 later, we left with a whole bunch of new clothes for him and some drinks for the room until we flew out the next evening. None of these clothes were Hawaiian in nature but rather a single nice long sleeve shirt, a pair of black pants that would also work for his job and a multitude of geeky t-shirts that he loves. We didn’t realize that you had to bring your own bag to Target so we ended up having to buy one of the reusable ones in order to carry it back to the car. Oh well! Now we know if we ever return.

Back at the hotel, we began the saddest part of the trip. Getting the suitcases out and begin packing up as much as we could before the next morning. We then relaxed until we left for our last dinner of the trip.​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

What?? Time to pack up?? NO..........

I've so loved your report (as I do all your reports - will I see you at Food & Wine this fall? If so, drinks are on me!)

Overall sounds like you had a pretty spectacular trip and I really appreciate your sharing your tips, tricks and impressions. I've taken lots of notes.

LOL that even in Hawaii Target inspires spending far beyond what you go in for. Bummer the food at the brewery wasn't better -seems like it has such potential!

 

[franandaj]

So I've never heard of Alan Wong's, but you're more of a foodie than most I know, so I doesn't surprise me. I have a feeling that would be a place like on my Alaska report where Fran would have said, "Did I see this menu i advance?" so might not plan it on the Aulani trip whenever that happens. It looked good but I won't be devastated if we don't go there.

Yeah, the whole choose your battles with your spouse thing is an important one to learn.

I'm glad you got to tour the offices of the 50 Team! That's what I know it as!

Sorry that the other brewing company wasn't exactly that great.

Well I'm caught up here! I have a few more reports to catch up on before I can update mine now!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

What?? Time to pack up?? NO..........

I've so loved your report (as I do all your reports - will I see you at Food & Wine this fall? If so, drinks are on me!)

Overall sounds like you had a pretty spectacular trip and I really appreciate your sharing your tips, tricks and impressions. I've taken lots of notes.

LOL that even in Hawaii Target inspires spending far beyond what you go in for. Bummer the food at the brewery wasn't better -seems like it has such potential!

I know! Packing up is such a sad time but all wonderful trips must come to an end eventually! One day we'll go back I'm sure!

What dates are you going to be at Food & Wine? I'm there Sept 15th to 18th with 2 Girlfriends and November 3rd to 9th with my Husband for Wine & Dine 10K/Half.

Target is just a place that sucks money out no matter what!

So I've never heard of Alan Wong's, but you're more of a foodie than most I know, so I doesn't surprise me. I have a feeling that would be a place like on my Alaska report where Fran would have said, "Did I see this menu i advance?" so might not plan it on the Aulani trip whenever that happens. It looked good but I won't be devastated if we don't go there.

Yeah, the whole choose your battles with your spouse thing is an important one to learn.

I'm glad you got to tour the offices of the 50 Team! That's what I know it as!

Sorry that the other brewing company wasn't exactly that great.

Well I'm caught up here! I have a few more reports to catch up on before I can update mine now!

I'm so far behind on other people's reports, its not even funny anymore. I'll get caught up eventually I'm sure but uh...I suck at the moment.

50 Team? Who is that? (I'm guessing its because the palace used to be used for government offices?)

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Hoku

I had decided on Hoku based on the reviews seen on Opentable. It hasn’t been mentioned much, if at all, here on the Disboards.

We left a little over an hour in advance of our reservation time to drive over. I’m glad we did as it was definitely farther than the other restaurants we went this trip. It is located east of Diamondhead at the Kahala Beach.

The parking at the hotel is valet only so we dropped off the car and walked over to the restaurant. We were sat on the upper level but we still had a great view of the ocean from the table.

View from Table

My husband and I laughed when we were served three butters this evening with the bread for free after having paid for the butters the night before. We both passed on the Olive/Anchovy. We enjoyed the Honey and Sea Salt one.

Trio of Butters - Olive/Anchovy, Honey, Sea Salt

Our server here was very knowledgeable and friendly and went over the menu in detailed about what was their specialities along with the options my husband could have as a vegetarian. She ended up changing my mind on my appetizer because of how she made me drool when describing it!

The amuse bouche is the one place this restaurant stumbled, but overall, that isn’t a huge thing. As my husband is a vegetarian, he probably shouldn’t have been served a dish he couldn’t eat. Usually I don’t like calamari that much but this was alright. It was firm still but not gummy! I also ate my husband’s portion to be polite.

Amuse Bouche - Calamari

After our amuse bouche - we are served our drinks and my husband made me laugh with is love of diet coke.

Pinot Noir & Diet Coke

The server had let me know that they served a half portion of the Ahi Poke Musubi when she originally described the dish. This was everything she described and more - totally worth the drool worthy description for it. The poke on the inside is still perfectly cold but is encrusted by sushi rice and wrapped in nori and fried. It has such a different notes of textures that it really is amazing!

Ahi Poke Musubi - Ahi Poke w/ Sushi Rice Served Crisp Fried, Crab Namasu, Soy Ginger

My husband went with the corn soup for his appetizer. The truffle was grated freshly on top of the dish after it was served which helped make sure its flavor was at its peak.

Sliced Fresh Summer Truffle & Ewa Corn Verte, Edamame, Cold Press Olive Oil

My husband went with this dish based on our server’s recommendation for his main. It is a vegetarian napoleon style dish that used potato slices instead of puff pastry. I was actually shocked my husband chose this as it had some items in it that were a bit different things than he normally orders in it. He loved this! Despite usually not liking brussel sprouts or olives, they were chopped super fine along with the other ingredients so that you couldn’t really tell what it was. He finished it off with no problem!

Potato-Mushroom “Mille Fueille” Sauteed Brussel Sprouts, Olives, Caper Berries, Pine Nuts, Chinese Miso-Ginger Thyme Sauce

Once I saw this dish on the menu, I knew what I was going to get. It also at the time, was probably the most expensive entree on the menu but I didn’t care. It has been years since I last had abalone (at Victoria & Albert’s when it was pan fried in a meyer-lemon butter) and I wasn’t going to pass it up here! It was as tasty as I remember. This was a different type of abalone than what I previous had (Kona rather than White/Californian) and was a bit tougher. So while the abalone was tough, I had the fork tender butterfish to balance it out. The miso sauce was outstanding as well.

Roasted Big Island Kona Abalone & Butterfish, Kyoto Miso Sabayon, Bok Choy, Potato Confit

While we had really enjoyed our appetizers and desserts, we had to get desserts as they had awesome sounding choices.

My husband loves chocolate cakes and vanilla ice cream. This choice was easy for him. He was very happy with it.

Hoku’s Dark Chocolate Coulant, Berry Consomme, Vanilla Bean Sauce

I went with a lighter option for dessert. The almond baumkuchen was very light and a nice end to this meal.

Almond Baumkuchen - Compressed Pineapple, Passion Fruit Cemeux, White Chocolate Powder, Pineapple Sorbet

And since a birthday was noted on the reservation, they brought a special dessert. This was nice and still light. I was full but I was able to eat at least half of it and my husband had the rest.

Jasmine Rice Panna Cotta

We paid our bill and headed to back to the valet. On our long drive back to Aulani, my husband and I decided that Hoku had to be the best meal of the trip. It had amazing food, an amazing view, a properly attentive server. We didn’t expect it to be our favorite of the trip before we got there but we were really blown away by it. With it not being overly busy, it made for a really nice evening. Totally worth the drive and the cost!

Once back at the room, we finished packing save the last couple items we would need in the morning.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Attempt To See Turtles

We woke up early on our last day in Hawaii as we had a hope to see Sea Turtles at a beach up the Windward Coast about 20 minutes north of Aulani that our tour book said was great for sea turtle views. We figured, why not? What else are we going to do this morning? We headed to the car and started driving in that direction to the location that guide book told us to go. We eventually got to the beach…

We didn’t see any Sea Turtles but we did get to see some nice views and nice waves (and the people living in tent cities along the drive)

So our turtle viewing was a bust and we decided to head back to Aulani for our final few hours for breakfast and our room.​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

And once again, I am taking notes. Hoku looks and sounds amazing!!! What a gorgeous view and wow does the food look delicious. Too bad the turtles weren't cooperating - but that leaves you something for next time!!

What, only 2 trips to F&W this year??? Haha. I am going for the first day but have to head back the 15th. I don't currently have plans to go in Nov but you never know!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

And once again, I am taking notes. Hoku looks and sounds amazing!!! What a gorgeous view and wow does the food look delicious. Too bad the turtles weren't cooperating - but that leaves you something for next time!!

What, only 2 trips to F&W this year??? Haha. I am going for the first day but have to head back the 15th. I don't currently have plans to go in Nov but you never know!!

Hoku really was such a sleeper surprise for us! It was way better than I thought it was going to end up being!

Yup! Only 2 trips this year rather than my normal 3 (although usually 2 of those are only short weekend jots) The other weekend that could have been used this year for a F&W trip is being used to visit my mother & her husband, especially with the illness he is facing. Overall the F&W events didn't overall excite me too much this year along with the fact that the bands on the weekends aren't anyone I *HAVE* to see so no need to try to make another one happen.

I won't get in until like 8PM on the 15th so I guess we won't run into each other this year.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Saying Goodbye to Aulani

After parking the car, it was just now 7:30AM and we decided to just go straight to breakfast and see if we could walk in at ‘Ama’Ama for a nice sit down breakfast as we hadn’t done that all trip.

Stalking Mickey!

Stitch

We were able to be seated at exactly the same table we had for dinner a few days before we just made us laugh.

View

More View

And Even More View!

Thirsty Bird!

Happy Husband

I ordered Kona Coffee as I realized also I hadn’t gotten any yet this trip. It was perfectly brewed and needed no cream and no sugar! That is how you know it is good coffee

Kona Coffee & Diet Coke

My husband went for a very carb heavy breakfast of hash browns and pancakes. The pancakes were topped with a nice rich vanilla sauce. Somehow he actually finished it all! I haven’t any idea where he puts it all...

Hashbrowns

Buttermilk Pancakes w/ Macadamia Nut-Vanilla Sauce

For my final breakfast - I also indulged but in a different way. Their Belgian Waffle had Nutella Cream which is amazing but when you combine a rich banana sauce AND vanilla ice cream on it, oh man! It’s like gluttony on a plate. I’m actually shocked I got home and I hadn’t gained any weight during this trip especially when you consider the amount of cake and things like this I ate! This was a great breakfast!

Belgian Waffle w/ Banana Compote & Nutella Cream w/ Vanilla Ice Cream

After our breakfast, we headed back to the room for a last shower since we knew it would be well into Saturday before we would shower and to just relax until we would end up kicked out at 11:00AM check out time. Everything got packed up as we neared check out and we decided to check our luggage with bell services since we didn’t want to leave it in the trunk of the car while we did some other things. We also left our laptops and such with them as well.

Final room views…

 

[Mom2m&k]

Wow...Hoku looked amazing and your appetizer just looked heavenly! I'm sad your report is almost over but looking forward to your F&W reports!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Wow...Hoku looked amazing and your appetizer just looked heavenly! I'm sad your report is almost over but looking forward to your F&W reports!

Hoku was amazing! It was such a hidden gem of the trip! I'm sad the report is almost over but I'm super happy that at this exact time tomorrow I will be at WDW - hopefully having dinner or a drink somewhere around the Boardwalk or Swan/Dolphin!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Easy Afternoon

After we checked our luggage with bell services, we headed back to our car and decided to drive around and look for souvenirs for some people that we hadn’t bought for. This involved some random driving around Kapolei, Kalaeloa, and Ewa. We didn’t really find anything that grabbed out to us and we decided to just not buy stuff for others or we could pick something up at the airport on the way home for the handful of people we thought we may want to get something for that we hadn’t already.

We headed back towards Kapolei Commons for lunch and to watch a movie. We ended up for lunch at Kua Aina which is a small sandwich shop chain with just a handful of locations, most of them in Hawaii.

We weren’t really hungry but figured we had time to kill and figured was a smart choice to have some real food at this point in the day.

I had a sandwich. It was basic but it was good for being a basic sandwich. The turkey was warm and I liked that the onion was grilled.

Turkey, Bacon, Cheese, Onion on Kaiser Rolls

My husband wanted french fries so that is what he got. He really loved carbs this day!

French Fries

We headed over to the Regal Theaters there at the Commons. I go to the movies a lot through Moviepass ($35 a month in my zip code & you can see a movie in a theater every 24 hours) As I go to Regal most often, I have an insane amount of Regal Reward Points. I hadn’t brought my movie pass card on this trip as I thought we wouldn’t go to the movies but I was able to use my credits to get us our tickets for free! Woot! As this was a brand new Regal, this also had assigned seats and upgraded recliner styles that are now popular.

Free Tickets!

My husband and I both got something sweet for ourselves. They had banana as a flavor for ICEE here and I totally just had to go for it! My husband had skittles as that is his candy of choice!

Banana Icee & Skittles

I loved the seats in this theater as we were able to totally relax. We were watching The Purge: Anarchy which I know is a genre of movie people either enjoy or don’t. We enjoy those types of intense thrillers (this one totally wasn’t a horror unlike the first one) and liked how it was going to kill just the right amount of time for us until we had to get back to the hotel to get our luggage, change into comfy travel clothes and get to the airport in ample time.​

 

[kastoney]

All caught up on your report but can't believe its the last day already. Your last meal looks amazing! I've never had abalone but have always wanted to try it. You definitely welcomed yourself to 30 right!

 

[franandaj]

50 Team? Who is that?

OK I'm going to have to comment on the updates when I'm a little less tipsy. It took me a bit to figure out what I meant in that post, but the picture you showed is featured on the CBS program Hawaii 5-0 as their headquarters. The one with King Kamehameha out front. I Dont remember what building it was, but they play it off as the 5-0 headquarters on the show.

I'll be back after I read the updates again. I can't believe you're almost done! You move much quicker than me. I have three days left and I think our trips were pretty much at the same time.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

All caught up on your report but can't believe its the last day already. Your last meal looks amazing! I've never had abalone but have always wanted to try it. You definitely welcomed yourself to 30 right!

I know! Being at the last day is definitely sad but at least once I get this finished - I'll be able to start my Food & Wine report! (I don't want more than one major report going on at a time)

The first time I ever tried abalone was at Victoria & Albert's years ago. Loved it then and loved it now! I totally splurged on this trip but of course I'm going to do it right!

OK I'm going to have to comment on the updates when I'm a little less tipsy. It took me a bit to figure out what I meant in that post, but the picture you showed is featured on the CBS program Hawaii 5-0 as their headquarters. The one with King Kamehameha out front. I Dont remember what building it was, but they play it off as the 5-0 headquarters on the show.

I'll be back after I read the updates again. I can't believe you're almost done! You move much quicker than me. I have three days left and I think our trips were pretty much at the same time.

Aww! I didn't realize that they use that as their headquarters.

Our trips were at the same time but I do a lot of smaller updates whereas you put it all together in one large one.