We felt the effects of Hurricane Hone today, but that didn't dampen our spirits as much as our friends Kern and Dorothy flying back to California!
It wasn't even Aloha Friday! Bailey's and Corrigan's, together one more time! (Well, until we saw them again a few weeks later ha!)
Before Kern and Dorothy took off for the airport, we all walked a few blocks away from the hotel to get some breakfast. There is a section of our resort that has a lot of shops and restaurants, and we walked through it on our way to get some food.
Me and my love in front of the big Hilton Hawaiian Village fountain.
We tried to find a restaurant for breakfast, but many of them had a really long wait. So we walked around for a bit before we found one. I love this painting of the whales on the side of these condos! Look at the little sea turtle there!
We finally found a place that was open and didn't have a really long wait. It was called Cream Pot, and although we had to sit outside in the very windy weather, at least there were umbrellas over our head and little lizards to keep me entertained! This was actually one of the cutest, most Instagram-able little restaurants I have ever been to. Sorry I didn't take any pictures!
Yes, this restaurant literally says do not take pictures, but I could NOT help it. I think this is one of the best breakfast's I have EVER had! This was the rum caramel French toast with candied lemon, strawberries and whipped cream. Like WHAT? I also really enjoyed the citrus spritzer, which isn't something I would normally order but it was fantastic!
The water was getting high as Hurricane Hone was already pushing surge into Oahu. Despite the fact that it was hundreds of miles away, too! I took this picture of the Ala Wai Canal from the restaurant.
Hurricane Hone. We will rebuild.
We walked back toward the hotel with our friends, who headed in another direction to pick up some cookies that we enjoyed at the luau earlier in the week for their dog sitter. We had one destination in mind: The ABC Store!
We had to hit up the ABC Store ONE MORE TIME for a hoodie for Natalie, and to cash in on our points for the week. You get one point for every dollar that you spend there, and if you save your receipts, at the end of the week, you can cash it in for cool things - we got two coffee mugs and a calendar! Also, we saw so many people eating that thing above the Mai Tai and pina colada cans, which you can buy at the ABC Store. It's called Spam Musabi, and it's just rice, spam, and some seasonings wrapped in seaweed. Ew. Todd said it was really good though!
Meanwhile, I thought this Korean banana milk was AMAZING! And this particular brand just happens to be Jungkook of BTS's favorite drink!
With the hurricane looming offshore, the skies were gray and with our friends now gone, we were all very sad.
We walked around for a bit before heading to the pool. We noticed they had put some sandbags out, although I'm not entirely sure this was because of the hurricane.
The final thing I needed to eat when I was in Hawaii (because I had been deprived of it back in 2007) was Shave Ice! These things were ginormous so Todd and I got one to split - yum!
By the afternoon, the kids were just done. They went upstairs to play on their phones. Meanwhile, Todd and I went to the Tapa Bar to try to find the Patriots football game. Unfortunately, the high winds meant the cable was out at the resort so we just hung out with the chickens (and drank mai tais!)
The storm wasn't stopping anyone from having fun, though. The place was packed and people were still swimming. We didn't get a lot of rain (if any?) but the winds had definitely gotten stronger.
This will probably always be a thing, won't it? (Notice I'm not even paying attention!)
Ok, that's a little nicer!
Sadly, much like those who had come before us, we had to leave our treasures by the elevator so they could be enjoyed by another family. We left the boogie board, the two floaties, the noodle, the hat (Grant later went back to retrieve that - he just couldn't give up Kern's hat!) and even some games!
For our last dinner in Oahu, we decided on Italian food over at Fresco Italian. It was really good! We even got dessert (and we never do that!)
We also saw the winds started to settle down a bit in the evening, and you could see a few breaks in the clouds.
We weren't quite ready to be done with our trip, so we walked around some more and found this cool model of the resort! That's where we went to the beach everyday!
This picture was super funny - I took it coming off of the elevator after we stopped at the ABC store ONE MORE TIME.
Three out of four Bailey's just didn't want the last full day to end, so we went down to listen to some live music at the Tapa Bar. Grant had had enough of us, I think! Todd also apparently wanted another chance to wear his Kukui Nut Lei!
Dorothy had left with Natalie the yellow rose that Shoot Ogawa gave her. But we couldn't bring a flower back to the mainland, so we did a quick photo shoot (see what I did there?) with it.
Gosh, why is she so pretty?
And then... the next morning, it was time to head back home. I loved this hand heart painting on the side of the highway that we spotted on our way to HNL. We love you too, Oahu!
The airport is crazy weird- some of the terminal is actually open-air. It's old and fully concrete but at least they have pretty palm trees and gardens.
Grumpy Bailey's at the airport do not want to leave Hawaii, especially on an overnight flight back to Boston. And grumpy Bailey children did not want to go back because school would be starting the following day! I never wanted to leave!!!
Thanks for nothing, Hurricane Hone! Thanks for a wonderful trip, Oahu!
Until next time, Hawaii!
