Category: Hawaii

Hawaii 2026

Oahu and the Big Island

Planning 😁

Meeting up with Krystal and Randy and the kids on Oahu.  I will hang out with them for a week and then fly over to the Big Island solo to blog and decompress.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  I’m doing carry-on only for this trip.  I know, I know, I have talked myself out of it in the past but I will be flying to two islands and I want the flying situation to be as simple as possible.  I don’t want to drag a giant bag and have to check it and then wait for it at baggage claim. This does pose a problem though.  No self defense weapons are allowed in your carry-on.  Well knives and I don’t know about pepper spray.  I will probably be fine in Oahu with Krystal and Randy but once I get to the Big Island I want to be prepared.  I’m going to ask my local sporting goods store what is legal to pack on board.  I guess when I go through TSA I will find out.

So, what’s on my packing list? I need to pack light and in the past I have always over packed.  I also need to be able to lift it above my head into the bin lol.  I’m not saying that I will be packing (Kris) light lol. I need more than three pairs of underwear and a swimsuit.  So somewhere in between, Kris and Krystal (who packs her whole closet) 😂

I will have my carry-on suitcase, backpack and pillow.  The backpack houses the stuff I can’t live without.  Like my iPad, headphones and car food.  For those of you that don’t know what car food is, it’s quick food that I can stuff in my mouth if I feel my blood sugar dropping. I keep a bag in the car and try to remember to bring it when we go out on the boat.  I am gluten free, dairy free, apple free, onion free… the list goes on. So, protein bars, nuts and fruit snacks.  Maybe a little candy too lol.  I’m flying Delta and I don’t know what the food situation will be.  Normally I go with Hawaiian Airlines and they always feed you but I couldn’t get any flights out of Eugene that I wanted.

I will wear all the bulky stuff that takes up a lot of room in the suitcase.  Water/hiking shoes, pocket jacket (with all my important stuff in the internal pockets) some stretchy pants with shorts underneath, headphones and a hat.  I have found if I wear a hat and headphones my seatmate won’t try to make idle chit chat with me.  No, I don’t need to know your life story and although encouraged by the government, I won’t be wearing formal attire to ride six hours on an airplane lol.

2/27/25 Thursday 

Up early wondering what I am doing today.  Oh wait, I’m picking Krystal up from the airport lol. I still can’t believe it.  That is the epitome of spontaneity.  Something I definitely am not.  I have no idea why she is like that😂

Technically today and Friday were free since I couldn’t book the waterfall rappel without a partner 🙄 it was through the same tour group as yesterdays hike.  I talked to the guide and he said maybe he could fit me in as a single on Friday depending if they were booked up enough.  Oh well, I will need to drag someone back to Kauai with me to do it at a later date.  Would Krystal do it?  Highly unlikely 😂

I spent 2 hours on a live chat with Hawaiian Airlines trying to switch my flight to Krystals.  I found out that I could cancel my flight but I would need to book a new one since hers was on Alaska Airlines.  Even though the two companies have merged everything had to be done separately.  At least I got it done in time to pick her up from the airport.

Picked Krystal up and the first thing she wanted to do was go to the beach.  Right off the airplane.  So we went to Lydgate Beach which was only about 10 minutes away.  

Swam around and walked a little farther down the beach.  Picked up some plastic garbage for my collection. Every year I go to Hawaii I bring a little garbage back with me🙂

We decided to go to a chocolate tasting at Lydgate Chocolate Farm.  

Drove up into the mountains and found out the tasting room was actually downtown Kapa’a😂. The address we used was that of the actual farm where the cocoa beans are grown.  For a fee you can do a tour of the farm and learn about their chocolate.  We opted for the tasting room instead and drove back down to Kapa’a.  

We found the store and tasted a bunch of different chocolates.  I mean so many and they weren’t tiny pieces either.  I was on a chocolate overload lol.  It was delicious!

We walked up and down the streets of Kapa’a and went into all of the cute little shops.  Krystal wanted a coconut drink.  Which was an actual coconut lol.  I got regular water.

We drove back to the Condo to check Krystal in and go to the swimming pools.  Took a walk around the mouse maze of condos and houses to see if we could get to the beach for the sunset.  That’s a no.  We are on a cliff lol.

2/26/25 Wednesday 

Da Life Outdoors Waterfall hike and swim. Check in was at 10:30am so I left at 9.  Good thing I did.  Their directions were a little sketchy.    They didn’t give an actual address.  They gave directions and geographical coordinates (21°57’16.3″N 159°23’06.8″W) The coordinates didn’t work.  It led me to the middle of Lihue.  So I looked at their turn by turn directions.  Kauai Community College was close by so I put that into the GPS and went from there.  I made it to the driveway marker.  A big orange rock.  Turned down a red dirt road all while I was thinking that I was probably getting kidnapped or something. There was another woman there with her daughter. They were waiting for me lol so I had to admit I got lost.

The hike to the waterfalls was pretty easy.  The first one was small  but the next one was probably 30 feet high.  I climbed up the rope ladder and went underneath it.  Very refreshing having the water pounding down on you.  I went to the lower level and jumped in and swam around.  Then we hiked back.  The lady and her daughter had taken an Uber there and the guy dropped them off at the end of the driveway lol. They had to walk the half a mile down the road.  I gave them a ride back to the main road and they called the Uber.  Who takes an Uber to go hiking?😂 I mean maybe to the Mall.

Going under
From the top

Stopped at Kukui Grove Center.  Found a pedicure place.  My toes have been bare.  I looked down at my feet and legs. They were still muddy from the hike lol.  I’m sure they appreciated that😂.  It was a little bit of torture.  She used the cheese grater and then cleaned my feet and legs with a brush.  Yow! My fault though for showing up all dirty😆

 

Drove to Lydgate Beach.  Nice. Lots of parking. Long narrow sandy beach.  I walked down a little ways and there is a man made pool for worry free swimming lol.  Perfect😁

Drove back to the room.  Went down to the pool to disinfect lol.  

I’m relaxing by the pool, blogging and I get a call from Krystal. “Mom, look at your text message “. Ok.

She just booked her flight and will be here at 11:00am😂😂. A two day vacation lol.  I can’t believe it!  She wanted to surprise me but she was afraid I would be off on some adventure and out of cell service.  She is crazy! 

Well, since Krystal will be here in the morning I need to tidy up.  My way of organizing my stuff while on vacation is to have it all out where I can see it lol.  I know, weird but it works for me.  So time to pick up my stuff😂

2/25/25 Tuesday 

Kauai Backcountry Adventures tubing.  Drove to Lihue.  A 27 mile drive south took an hour because of construction and the weird way they block off half the north and south lanes.  I assume it’s for people who are working.  There are three lanes and they will allow two lanes north and one south and then switch it back.  It causes some slow down on both sides.

I got checked in, bought some bug spray and scarfed down some car food just in case my blood sugar went weird.  I got my helmet and I’m ready to go.

We rode a trolley over to the canal and on the way had a “get to know each other session”.  We had to say our name, where we were from, tell something we loved doing, what our spirit animal was and what sound they made. Well I was last and the guy before me said he loved cats and meow😂😂So I said, ” hi, my name is Tami, I’m from Roseburg Oregon, I love water skiing and wake surfing and my spirit animal must be a fish since I love the water”. Then they asked me what does a fish say so I said glub, glub? lol.  Good thing I didn’t say fox 😂

We got our safety lessons.  You wear a head lamp so you can see when you go through the tunnels.  If they yell, “butts up” you better lift up or you will drag on the rocks. 

The water wasn’t very swift or deep. If you fell off you could just stand up to avoid drowning. Nothing like tubing on the North Umpqua in Oregon lol.. While in the tunnels I was on the lookout for spiders and bats but I didn’t see any. The last tunnel was super long and very dark.  They had us shut our lights off and it was pitch black and disorienting.  They told a scary story lol. Creepy.  

Towards the end of the float, I ran into the bushes that were sticking out on the side of the canal.  I floated a little farther and the guide wanted to get a picture with me. I think she felt sorry for me because I was there by myself 🙄. I said okay and we took the pic.  Then she looked down at my shirt and said, “oh my god there’s a centipede on you!”😲  I looked down and there was a six inch centipede on my chest.  I froze and screamed.  She quickly plucked it off me and flung it onto the bank where one of the other guides stomped on it lol.  I was so creeped out!  So glad it didn’t sting me or bite me or whatever they do.  Then I was thinking, what if Krystal had been here?  She probably would have fainted and fell off her tube😂

Look closely at my chest next to my phone strap!

Had a quick pit stop for lunch and a port-a-potty (no I didn’t pee in the canal lol and drove back to the warehouse. Of course they had the pictures for sale and of course I bought mine. Normally I don’t let myself get pulled into that tourist trap but the centipede…..

Per Kris there is a Costco on the island so I stopped there on my way back.  Eating out is a crap shoot when it comes to ingredients so I went there for precooked hamburgers but found chicken burgers instead.  They will do.  Seriously I wish there was just a breakfast / lunch / dinner gum.  Like on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  (I’ll skip the blueberry pie though lol iykyk) Life would be so much easier.

I went down to the swimming pool to disinfect from the canal water😂and blog.  

2/24/25 Monday 

Woke up at 5:30am which is really 7:30am back home.  It’s going to be torture when I get back  lol.

Waited for the sun to rise  and ate some breakfast on the Lanai.  Booked the Kauai Backcountry Adventures tubing tour for tomorrow and went down to the pool to check it out.  Forgot my towel and debated on getting in.  It’s a nice pool with a sandy beach at one end.  4 feet at the other end. 

Drove over to Hanalei.  Surprise! I was here in  2019😁. Walked around the different shops and did some shopping.  Favorite shop name: FAFO 😂 

Went to lunch at The Terrace.  Got the usual look when I said I wanted  a table for one.  People 🙄 single eaters need to eat too. They seated me next to a big group from Australia.  Probably someone famous but I wasn’t channeling my inner “Kris” vibes.  He can and will talk to anyone lolol.  I was eavesdropping a little though and they were talking about losing their Red Bull sponsorship?  

I had the most delicious Ube Paradise drink and chicken teriyaki bowl.  

Drove north to see some beaches.  The roads were crazy with people, single lane bridges and roads due to construction.  I ended up at Haena Beach which you could see part of Tunnels Beach from there.  The beach was red flagged so, no I did not get in. 

I watched the waves and some surfers. The waves were huge. I watched a bunch of stupid people walking in the surf.  The lifeguard had to yell at them over the speaker to get out. You have to read the room and if no one is in the water except a couple of surfers there probably is a reason lol.

The drive back took forever.  There is a famous bridge that you have to go over and its a left turn across traffic.  People were nice though and took turns.

Side note. With all the stop and go traffic I wanted to open the windows in the Jeep. Ummm, where is the control? Not in the normal spot where it is in 99% of all other vehicles.

Nope. Not there.

That took me 20 minutes 😂😂

2/23/25 Sunday

Travel day

Up early for the shuttle.  The Radisson advertises hot breakfast so I went down to check it out.  It had the standards.  Eggs (hard boiled and scrambled) ham (looked too floppy),waffles, bagels, cereal and some chopped up fruit.  Not a lot for me to eat being gluten, egg and dairy free so I took a chance on the bread and made a PB & J both with and without bread lol.

Check in went smoothly.  Since I used my Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard to book my flight my checked bag was free. 

I got in line for TSA and it was pretty quick.  The agents were friendly and engaging and they even told me happy early birthday lol.  Everything was fine until my backpack went through the scanner.  My bag got flagged for search and the TSA guy said we have to open it. By “we” he meant him because when I reached over to open it he told me, “don’t touch it!” Then he opens it with gloves that have probably touched 10000 other germy items.  He pulls the zipper back and before I could stop myself, I blurted out; “eww don’t touch my pillow!” He gave me a look and proceeded to pull my pillow out and then open the small bag that had my travel food in it. He also took out my Kindle and swabbed it for explosives.  All the while I am dying inside watching the germs crawl off his dirty blue gloves and onto my belongings.  For the flight back I will put my pillow in my checked bag.  Which weighed 40 lbs😲. I hope I don’t buy anything lol.

No Starbucks by my gate so I went to Burgerville for a breakfast hamburger.   Lol.  Delicious.

Boarded.  Seat 15J.  Window seat with no window.  😂😂 I guess no one will be asking me to switch seats with them lol.  I was so looking forward to that.  That’s only happened once.  That was the trip to the Big Island.  I was in First Class on Hawaiian and they wanted me to switch to the middle aisle seat.  I said no lol.  

The flight was fine.  Well except for the couple that sat next to me.  The woman smelled so heavily of perfume I choked when she sat down.  I reached up to turn on my air vent but it wasn’t blowing much.  It was super stuffy so she pulls out a little fan, snaps it open and starts waving it on herself and all of her stink onto me. I sneezed and it wasn’t a quiet, dainty one either.  Haha. I think I scared her.

There was free movies and wifi which was nice. I was able to text and watch movies at the same time.  

I will say I usually don’t pay much attention to my seat belt but with all the airplane mishaps lately I made sure mine was ratcheted down. Lol.

So annoyed.  The guy in front of  me wouldn’t lower his window shade.  The entire six hour flight.  Even when the Captain suggested it.  Moron.

Next flight boards at 2:20pm so I’ve got 10 minutes to find my gate.  Because of this they let me off the airplane first😁

Quick 25 minute flight from Maui to Kauai. Looked for whales but didn’t see any. 

Got my rental car and drove north to Princeville. Checked into the Bali Hai and it took 20 minutes to find my room.  Total mouse maze and if you know me you know I don’t do directions so when the staff was telling me how to get there….well at least they gave me a map lol.

The condo is on the second floor.  When you walk in there is a big kitchen/dining area, a living room with a sliding door off the Lanai, a large bedroom that also goes out onto the Lanai and a huge bathroom.  It also has a washer and dryer so technically I could do laundry before I leave.

Kauai 2025

This is a foxpartyofone blogging trip.  Just me, myself and I.  I cannot wait to see the sun and the ocean.

2/22/25 Saturday 

Drove to Portland Radisson to stay the night for the flight and park my car for the week.  It’s cheaper than parking at the airport and maybe a little more secure.  Plus they have a shuttle.  

As I was driving, the cruise control suddenly clicked off.  I looked down at the dashboard and the check engine light popped on and Eye Sight was flashing that it had shut off.

I’m not really a fan of Eye Sight. It alerts you if you travel over the lines, it will slam on the brakes if you are too close to the car in front of you, and if the car in front of you has moved it tells you to go.  Much like me at a green light when Kris is driving.  Go. (You’re welcome)  but it also controls the cruise control.  I stopped at the nearest rest area and looked at my car manual.  I checked the gas cap and decided to drive the rest of the way to the hotel.  It was uneventful.  Just a pain that I couldn’t use the cruise so I ended up driving like Krystal.  Either 80mph or 50mph. lol. 

I booked the wrong Radisson  lol.  No restaurant and they are out in the middle of nowhere.  I drove down the road to Goodwill but it seemed a little sketchy so I drove through the parking lot and came back.  I didn’t see any fast food places on the way either.  Oh well, I have some car food.  I had pepperoni sticks, chips and fruit snacks for dinner.  Super nutritious 😂

Oahu

Day 6 Thursday

Kalama Beach Park. The surf was good for body boarding. It was super shallow a long way out with a nice sandy bottom. Camden caught quite a few waves and then got rolled in the surf by a wave. He jumped up and got his goggles and went right back out! Noa loved the water and kept trying to run into it lol. We played in the sand.

Manoa Chocolate Factory for chocolate tasting. Delicious. I wanted to eat them all. Well all except the goat milk chocolate bar. It tasted a little too goaty for me lol. Since the dark chocolate was dairy free even Noa got a taste and I think she liked it. We were still wet from swimming so when we stood up we left a few butt imprints on the cushions lol. I bought four of the Maui benefit bars and some cacao nibs.

The Buffet at the Hyatt with Kasey and Liz. We made reservations and after I pushed send it said there was a cancelation fee of $35 per person! Well no backing out of this one. It was awesome. All you can eat snow crab, shrimp and dessert 😁 perfect and totally worth it. That’s all I ate. Kasey and Liz ate the fillers. Unnecessary food that takes stomach space away from the good stuff lol. I was just there for the seafood and mochi.

The super moon is tonight. Waited until 9pm. It really didn’t look that much bigger than the regular moon but it was brighter. I was able to get a couple of good pictures of it. One normal pic and one looking like there was a cat face on it😺 lol I thought it was pretty awesome lol.

Day 7 Friday

Last day in Oahu

Walked with Noa to get coffee while Krystal and Randy drove to find the perfect matcha tea. I don’t think they found it but that is their story to tell hahaha. Noa was a perfect angel. We watched birds, window shopped and she had a snack all while i got my steps in.

Dave & Buster’s for some gaming fun. I must admit I played the coin pusher the whole time but I ended up winning 2600 tickets! I gave the remaining card points to Camden and we did the Hot Wheels racing game.

Pedicure at Tami-A nails with Krystal and Liz. Of course we had to go here lol. Halfway through the pedicure I remembered that most nail places don’t take credit/debit cards. I wasn’t sure how much cash I had but I lucked out. Krystal had some cash and I had enough for me and Liz.

Fireworks show to end the night by the lagoon. They were shooting them off of the docks. Very cool.