Best/Worst Vacation | Blogtober ’14

Not going to lie… this particular prompt really stumped me. Why you might ask… well because I can tell you the BEST vacation but the worst vacation was a bit harder. I went through all vacations trying to decide if I even had a worst vacation… yeah some aren’t nearly as good as others but a worst… then I finally came up with this one…

Now I absolutely LOVED this vacation! Why would it be the worst? Well, because… let me explain.
The trip: 1995 – Charleston, South Carolina.

This was the summer I turned 12. I begged and begged my parents to let me go with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousin and my grandma’s cousin to South Carolina. They usually went every other year and this just happened to be the year. My parents weren’t ever able to go and I really wanted to go to the ocean. They finally decided they’d allow me to go. This was the first trip I had ever been on without my parents and I was many states and miles away from my parents for a whole week. Now granted I was with family but not my parents. Home sickness kicked in big time. Cell phones really weren’t a thing back then so I had to use the house phone to call my parents. I called home every. single. day. There were nights I went to bed crying because I missed my parents. In the end I’m sooooo glad I went and I had an absolute blast when we kept the home sickness at bay… but… because I was home sick, I would say this was probably my worst trip to date.

Now the Best trip…
That is absolutely EASY!
The absolute best trip would be to Hawaii for our 1 year anniversary in 2011!

Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday
Post 4 – Sunday Post 5 – Sunday   Post 6 – Sunday  Post 7 – Monday  Post 8 – Pineapple Selection Post 9 – Tuesday (Vow Renewal)  Post 10 – Tuesday Post 11 – Wednesday Post 12 – Thursday 
Post 13 – Friday

Yes I broke that trip down into 13 posts… sorry! But… I took over 2,500 photos. I went there with at least 6 cameras… I had my Nikon D5000, my Kodak underwater camera, My Nikon Point and Shoot, my iPhone, Hubby’s iPhone and my Mom’s iPhone… yeah I figured I’d only be in Hawaii potentially once in my life so I took a crap load of pictures. I was absolutely ready to move here after a week there but realized that wasn’t an option. Someday though I will go back :).


 

Helene in Between

Moose McGillycuddy’s Pub {Honolulu, HI} & Cafe & a Recipe

When I was a little kid my dad called me McGillycuddy.  I have no idea why.  I have no idea where the name came from.  I don’t know anything about the name other than he called me that and I answered.  It was one of the very few nicknames I’ve been given.  Normally my parents just called me Nicole or shortened it to Cole every now and again.
Anyway, last September my family (husband, mom, dad, & grandma) went to Honolulu, Hawaii.  My grandma had always wanted to go and never got the chance.  My husband and I always wanted to go and when we heard my parents were taking my grandma, we piped in, got them to wait until September, and we went.

We stayed at a hotel on Waikiki Beach, Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, which pretty much had us right down in the hustle and bustle of Kalakaua Avenue.  One of the days we were there we happened to be walking down the road, from visiting Tiffany’s {Remember Everything’s better at Tiffanys ~Holly Golightly} and I saw this pub on a side street.  I made my dad get his photo taken with me, no if’s and’s or but’s about it; you can tell he’s thrilled!

What was to be the last day we were in Hawaii (long story, go here if you want details) we were looking for a place to eat.  I suggested Moose McGillycuddy’s.  Oh my goodness, I want one in SWMO Stat!  It was friggin awesome! (more…)

Finally Friday!

Get caught up here:

Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday

Post 4 – Sunday
Post 5 – Sunday  
Post 6 – Sunday 
Post 7 – Monday 
Post 8 – Pineapple Selection
Post 9 – Tuesday (Vow Renewal) 
Post 10 – Tuesday
Post 11 – Wednesday 
Post 12 – Thursday

In more ways than one!  This week seemed to take a while, but not as bad as last week… but this Friday post is more so focusing on our Last Friday (last day) in Hawaii which was September 9.  Now as you know, Hawaii is 5 hours behind Missouri time so by the time we got home it was 9 am Saturday Morning, Missouri time, and boy was my internal clock ever messed up, but more on that in a bit.

This was our view on Friday morning.  And even with the long day from the night before, we were still awake at 6:30 am.  So we got up and went out exploring our new part of the city.

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Did Someone Say Wednesday?

I know, I know, it’s Thursday, but it wasn’t Thursday on Wednesday… or something like that 🙂

Get caught up here:
Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday

Post 4 – Sunday
Post 5 – Sunday  
Post 6 – Sunday 
Post 7 – Monday 
Post 8 – Pineapple Selection
Post 9 – Tuesday (Vow Renewal) 
Post 10 – Tuesday

On Wednesday when we woke up, we thought we’d hop the City bus and head to Pearl Harbor.  Instead, we grabbed a cab down at the hotel lobby, THAT was one expensive cab ride!  The cab driver I still really think was taking advantage of us! but I can’t prove it :(.

We hopped on the H1 and headed to Pearl Harbor.

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Leaving to Come Home – or did we?

Sorry for the second post today, but I really don’t want Hawaii re-caps to carry over to next week…. So therefore, 2 posts in one day it shall be 🙂

Get caught up here:
Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday

Post 4 – Sunday
Post 5 – Sunday  
Post 6 – Sunday 
Post 7 – Monday 
Post 8 – Pineapple Selection
Post 9 – Tuesday (Vow Renewal) 
Post 10 – Tuesday
Post 11 – Wednesday 

So Thursday morning was our last morning in Hawaii.  It was a sad morning and I won’t deny, I might have pouted a bit even!  We called down to the hotel desk and got a late check out of 1 pm (instead of what the normal 11 am?) since our flight didn’t leave until 6:30 pm and we were leaving for the airport around 4:30.

Then hubby, dad & I headed to the bus stop.  Next destination, Diamond Head. (more…)

How do you Spend Your Tuesdays??

Get caught up here:
Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday

Post 4 – Sunday
Post 5 – Sunday  
Post 6 – Sunday 
Post 7 – Monday 
Post 8 – Pineapple Selection
Post 9 – Tuesday (Vow Renewal)

So after we renewed our wedding vows we really didn’t have anything booked until later in the evening.  This was really just a day to lay around and relax.

 

The infamous ABC Stores that are on EVERY corner!

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Love to Last a Lifetime

Tuesday morning started off with a wonderful Vow Renewal.  The beaches there at Waikiki are supposed to be “spiritual”.  You have Earth, Water & Sky all in one place.  The waters are supposed to be healing.

Our hotel, Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, along with Outrigger Reef do vow renewal ceremonies for guests.  Hubby and I decided we were going to participate since this was our 1 Year Anniversary Trip.

I’ve compiled the photos into a slide show as a different way to view them.  And for those of you around here last year, you may remember this song.  This was the song we played at our wedding with our “us” slideshow.

The ceremony was performed in Hawaiian and it was a traditional Hawaiian ceremony.  The Hawaiian Kiss is head to head, nose to nose, stand there breathing each other in, not our traditional kiss but it works!  Also ceremonies like this start and end with traditional Hawaiian songs as well as dance.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTsfQFn-sRk?hl=en&fs=1] (more…)

Dole – Let’s Talk Pineapples

While we were at the Dole Plantation, we got to sit in and watch a pineapple selection/cutting demonstration.  Now I like pineapple and fresh is always better, however, I learned a few things and I thought it might be fun to share.

Selection
1.  Smell – you don’t want them to have a real strong pineapple smell.  The more pineapple smell you get, the more the fruit is actually fermenting.

 

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PCC

Get caught up here:
Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday

Post 4 – Sunday
Post 5 – Sunday  
Post 6 – Sunday

**This is extremely picture heavy and long.  I’m sorry, I was just trying not to have to break it out as much…**

Monday was a LONG day.

We boarded the bus at around 7:30 in the morning and didn’t get back to our hotel room until about 11:30 pm.  I hate to say it but the driver of the bus drove me nuts with his bad grammar and his constant snorting and swallowing INTO the microphone which was turned up way loud.  I think I found my Tourettes I didn’t know I had… lol j/k… I think.

Being the last “official” day of summer as people refer to Labor Day as the roads were busy swamped with people trying to get to the beach.  Our tour was through the Polynesian Culture Center who I learned was owned by BYU – Hawaii or at least all the BYU students worked there to help with tuition to attend BYU – Hawaii.

We started our day with a tour of Hawaii and were supposed to get back to the Culture center around noonish but because of traffic didn’t get there until just a bit after 2.

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How we spent our 1st Anniversary Part 3

Get caught up here:
Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday

Post 4 – Sunday
Post 5 – Sunday

For our Anniversary we ate at Top of Waikiki.  The restaurant makes 1 full revolution (yes it spins) every hour so you can see the city.  Here’s one of the photos I got, and of course, spinning restaurant with low lights=blurry!

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