Taking on the big city!

After being on the island for a good two weeks, we decided it was time to venture into the infamous Honolulu to explore the state capitol and its many districts. Although we have been told by many to stay clear of the crazy traffic and the crowds of tourists, we wanted to see it for ourselves. And see it we did! After a long day of walking, bussing, and eating delicious food, we could definitely say it was day well spent.

6:30am: Morning wake up call! We woke up bright and early, feasted on some fresh mangos & Whole Foods' granola, and packed our backpacks for our long day of adventure!

7:30am:  Boarded the minivan. Our host mom was headed into town anyways, so we got the pleasure of riding in with her in the glorious family minivan. After dropping Kolton off at his Summer Fun camp, we were on our way!

8:30am: Arrive at University of Hawaii, Manoa! Today was my first day of my summer internship at UH, so we wanted to get there nice and early. Before my meeting started, Tori and I got to explore the campus while getting caught in the occasional rainstorm, a phenomenon we are very used to by now.

10:00am: Meeting with the advisor. I got a chance to finally meet the advisor I am going to be working under and get a better idea of what I am doing this summer. It was so exciting to hear about the opportunities to get involved this summer and get a tour of the facilities. I got to see a room full of a variety of endangered coral, as well as hundreds of sand samples that were collected from all over the world. Tori took the opportunity to walk around and find a cute little frozen yogurt shop on campus.

11:00am: Bus into downtown Honolulu. This was our first experience with the bus system, and it was quite a success. We made it to the state capitol building and explored the beautiful buildings and statues in the surrounding area.

12:30pm: Walked to Ward's Farmers Market. Using our handy-dandy Google Maps, we of course found a cute little famers market in close proximity, so we decided to walk and find it. 20 minutes and two rain showers later, we found a cute teal building that housed more of a grocery store than a farmers market. But alas, all was not lost! We had made it to the water and stumbled upon a cute little shopping plaza where we found some delicious Vietnamese food to indulge in. We then walked across the street and sampled some of the tastiest cookies from Honolulu Cookie Company. They were full of gluten (poison), but it was definitely worth it.

Tori enjoyed some chicken curry while I ordered the stuffed tofu. Yum! 

2:00pm: Bussed to Waikiki! We found a bus that headed to Waikiki, but were unaware that our tickets had already expired from earlier. Embarrassed and flustered, we clumsily tried to exit the bus. Thankfully, the bus driver took pity on us and allowed us to stay on for the short ride to Waikiki. We rode for about 5 minutes until we saw a sign that said free admission to the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii! Yes, please. We jumped off and ventured inside where we found a 69 year old man who was very passionate about history, and all to ready to highlight the flaws in the educational system. He gave us an impromptu history quiz, which we failed. Miserably... But we had a lovely time exploring the museum and improving our historical knowledge, something we both needed.

2:30pm: Beach time! We walked down to the water and found a concrete walkway jutting out into the water. The water is literally the clearest clear & the bluest blue you will ever see, and we were extremely disappointed in ourselves for not thinking to bring swimming suits. However, we dipped our toes in and walked along the beach for a while, until we stumbled across something wonderous.

The happiest. 

3:00pm: Pina Colada time! It's five o'clock somewhere, right? As we were walking along the beach, Tori spotted a huge pineapple (housing a tasty looking drink) on a table at the Sheraton Hotel that was right on the water. Because the number one thing on our summer bucket list was to drink a Pina Colada, we knew this was the perfect and most ideal place to check that off our bucket list. We stealthily made our way past the gate and into the hotel, where we quickly headed to the restaurant. After ordering 2 pina coladas, which happened to be the drink of the day, we found a delightful looking hammock that we quickly climbed into. Weezer sweetly serenaded us with his Island in The Sun.

(getting into the hammock was no easy task... )

4:15pm: Bus time. Because we were to babysit the kids later in the evening, we knew we should start heading back to find a bus. This, however, was no easy task. After walking aimlessly for a couple blocks, we decided to call the bus system where they informed us that the next bus for Kailua left in 5 minutes down the street. Time to run!

5:00pm: On the road again. When the bus finally came, we were incredibly relieved and informed our host momma that we would be home soon. Or so we thought.

5:45pm: Still on the bus.

6:15pm: Made a new friend on the bus. 

6:30pm: Panicking. We were supposed to be home at 6:45 to allow Jill and Greg to go out for the night, but we were 100% certain that the bus was not going to make it in time. Oh, and it was starting to pour.

6:50pm: Exit the bus. More like frantically fly off the bus. Confused at where we had gotten off, we started sprinting down the road to try and find our house. Once we finally figured out where we were, we showed up to the house sweaty, flustered, and very apologetic. But of course, the family was all too nice and patient with us.

We ended the night watching our new addiction, P double L (Pretty Little Liars), and snuggling up on the big couches. Needless to say, we had one of the best nights sleep yet. A slumber well deserved.