Secret Beach in Ko Olina

West side of the island was sunnier. We explored Secret Beach hoping to see sea turtles and sea lions. It was located next to Four Seasons. Only a few public parking spots were available. Luckily one family was about to leave and we got the space. We expected a 10 minutes walk but it was right there. It made me doubt that it was the Secret Beach I was checking online. This place was so beautiful and had shallow water and calm waves blocked by rocks. Safety number one so we decided to stay on this beach. I saw school of white grey fish and two big blue black fish. Other fish was the same as the other beaches. Oh a bunch of sea cucumbers and huge sea urchins were there, too! 

We sat far back in the middle of the picture. 

Fish could be seen without snorkeling. 

I walked to the rocky area on the left to see any more beaches beyond. I didn’t bring my phone so I missed to take crabs and a hidden beach on which nobody was there. On the way back to the right side of the beach, I saw a big turtle! It was staying in the same place and eating for a long time. I showed Ken where it was. It wasn’t afraid of us so we swam with it quite a long time. The turtle’s eyes looked so gentle like mother’s eyes. Sometimes waves carried me on the top of it. I tried hardest not to touch it. 

We had a great time  Much better than Hanauma Bay which we had to pay to get in 

This is the left side of the beach. When I went there earlier, there were no people. Also the water level got higher within a short period of time. Where I saw crabs and small colorful fish was covered by the water. Waves got stronger and it got too dangerous for us to stand on the rocks. 

Small creek between beaches where kids can enjoy. 

I could stay there forever, but we had to check in airline online. I went back to the water just before we left. I saw a smaller turtle! There were no sea lions.

This place is a gem! I love Oahu 

Then we went to Ala Moana shopping center. It is my third time in Oahu and I finally made it there! We had a great gyozas at Naniwa-ya in food court. Moomin shop was interesting but I didn’t buy anything. I bought Moomin stuff in Finland. Why Hawaii? Brown tanned Hawaiian Snoopy character was cute though. 

Back to the room. I am so glad that it turned out to be a good weather today. 

My favorite okonomiyaki franchise restaurant was near by  I had to go there because I’ve never seen one in the States. 

It costed $28 per Okonomiyaki and it became an easy $100 dinner again  I wouldn’t complain if it was good. Definitely Chibo in Japan was WAY better. 

Eastside of the island

Forecast was cloudy all day but I hoped to see more fish. We started from Hanauma Bay. This place was expensive! In order to protect marine life, they limit the number of visitors everyday so we had to get the tickets after paying $3 cash only parking and $25 per person admission fee and 2.3% of credit card processing fee  Plus I bought an echo bag totally costing us $60 just less than two hour stay! 

Ken stayed on the beach while I was snorkeling. 

It was so hard to avoid touching or standing on the top of coral reef. It was prohibited to protect the nature. The water was so clear and shallow that I could see fish without snorkeling. It was disappointing that not many fish was there but I saw different dakine fish. The most interesting one was 2-3 feet long tranquil blue color fish which shined in rainbow color. I didn’t want to bring my phone into the water but the fish looked like this from online search. 

It was windy. We planned to go to Kailua afterwards so we quickly left the beach. There were interesting scenic stops on the way. Is this called Chinese walls? When I researched online, I saw the similar pictures.

My selfie stick got broken so I had to use my short arm to take pictures 

Another stop, it looked like you could see whales in the right season. 

After stopping in Kailua town and got some pokes, we rushed to Ho’omaluhia Botanical garden that my boss suggested. It was just before they were closing but we made it to the top which had 360 degrees of view of mountains and water. 

The lady at the visitor’s center was helpful giving us suggestions where to visit in last minute. We missed school of orange fish which I saw on Yelp but we could see the lake. 

Ken found a weasel.

Then we went to the restaurant my boss suggested near by. Since they don’t take reservations, people were already making a line before opening.

We made our selves entertained by watching lizards while waiting. 

Posing

Cute

After half an hour in the line, finally moving. Still we had to wait another half an hour to be seated. No problem because they have the beautiful Haiku garden to take a walk. 

Dressed up young adults. It looked like a prom. 

Finally inside the restaurant! 

We ordered Prime rib in addition to what we already ordered since it looked huge  Ken enjoyed it very much. It turned out to be better than his BD dinner. 

Near the hotel, A friend of Ken’s musician friend was playing live music. I think he is a Japanese. 

Northshore

Our day started nicely. We heard Ken’s great grampa’s song “On the Beach at Waikiki” at the hotel lobby. After we got rice balls from Lawson, we headed to Shark’s Cove. I was looking forward to do snorkeling so we made sure to leave early for the parking.  Luckily our time is three hours ahead, so we woke up early and found a good parking.  

We enjoyed a lot of kinds of fish in the clear water. I was surrounded by school of gray fish 360 degrees  We also saw school of yellow fish. Luckily I saw a baby turtle swimming in front of me. I had a great time! Since we had other places to visit, we left there before noon. 

The next stop was Laniakea Beach to see sea turtles. They were not on the beach but a quite a lot of them were in the water. 

My hat gave me light freckles on my face 

It might be fun to do snorkeling here, too! 

Then we rushed to Waimea Falls. Those places happened to be all near by. Inside the botanical garden, we found a peacock! First we thought it wasn’t real. 

Beautiful 

Jungle! 

While we were walking to the waterfall, I had to dosome business over the phone. Sold! It turned out to be all good! 

Waterfall! 

I think this place became a tourist stop after the movie Jumanji was filmed. Ken didn’t want to go into the water. This fall was a smaller version of one in Costa Rica but bigger than one in Maui I think. 

Finally at this time I realized that light freckles were on my face with this hat. All my selfies turned out to have freckles

Are these papayas?

Many funny names here like likelike and this 

Rainbow state 

Ken’s musician friend took us to Nico’s Pier 38 restaurant. They gave us Leis and treated dinner and also cookie gifts to go  It’s been about 15 years since last time we saw him. 

428

Ken’s birthday! I thought he wanted to drink all day at the pool bar so I went there early to reserve the best beach chairs. I loved that it wasn’t too hot in the early morning. Ken wasn’t ready to come out and the time he was ready, the beach chairs were taken away from me. They said red ones were  reserved and white ones were available. When I took the chairs, there was no reserved note  Anyway I spent enough time at the pool and Ken didn’t care since he wasn’t a water person.

Looks infinity from the inside of the pool. 

Ken chose to walk around to find a breakfast place. 

Unfortunately everywhere was already crowded and we couldn’t find good breakfast food, instead we chose a Ramen restaurant that just opened and nobody was there. Soon it got full of people but we had a cool shady table. 

Back to hotel

I went to the beach to do snorkeling but the water was too cloudy to see any fish. We stayed in the hotel room until our dinner reservation. Surprisingly we hardly ever see bugs here. We can open the window and sleep without being bitten. 

We were at Michel’s. Only French restaurant which serves beef Wellington on the island I found. Our hotel is in the background. 

The way the lobster soup was prepared in front of us was interesting but food was so so. I was more interested in a Japanese party who sat in front of us. I thought the old lady was Rumiko Koyanagi since she dressed up so much! It wasn’t her 

Beef Wellington. It had chicken foie gras. 

When I made a reservation, I mentioned it was for my hub’s BD but they didn’t note it and asked us which occasion. 

Slow service, not very good food for $$$$. Always regret dining at an expensive restaurant. In my experiences, food isn’t as good as the price most of times. At least we enjoyed the sunset. 

Luxury is not always the best experience. We will go to the restaurant my boss suggested. Hope we dine at a yummy restaurant during our stay. 

Hawaii

As soon as Hawaii dropped Covid restrictions, I booked this trip. Although last year’s Ken’s birthday was a big one, we couldn’t do much due to pandemic. Ken likes the rental car. The torque is just like his old Buick. 

Because O’ahu has a lot of good Japanese places, I thought it would be fun. I hadn’t been able to go to Japan for almost three years  I am home sick. I decided to spend money to get some luxury this time.  I reserved an ocean front room. We can almost see the Diamond head. 

The room is smaller than I thought. 

But it has a great view! 

 I was working until yesterday and packed last minute. I didn’t get much sleep last night but we were excited walking around until we found out that my favorite Japanese Yokocho under ground food court got out of business. I was planning to eat there everyday 

Only expensive restaurants are around here, so we just brought some deli food to the hotel room. By the time Ken was grumpy being hungry and tired. Our room has a better view than any other restaurants anyway. Tomorrow is his BD. He can do whatever he wants. We will probably stay in this infinity pool and drink all day long. 

We are on the 15th floor. 

I reserved a restaurant which serves Ken’s favorite beef Wellington and coconut cake tomorrow. Hope it meets our expectations. 

Bellagio

Beautiful sceneries on the way back. White mountains contrasted with red Arizona mountains. 

Going through so much nature, stopping at Las Vegas was like a culture shock. I wanted to experience NYE count down and fireworks here at Las Vegas strip but I couldn’t afford it. Luckily today’s rate was the least expensive of the year. If you see this ceiling, you know where we are.

Coming from the deserted area, check in at this hotel made me uncomfortable because of so many people. 

But as soon as we saw the view from our room, the effort was worth it! 

The view looked more interesting as it got darker. 

I could stay here all night to enjoy the fountain. 

Eiffel Tower got lightened up and added color. 

We found out the water shows were every 15 minutes until midnight on weekends, so we went out for dinner. I always take pictures at Valentino fountain. 

Beer Park looked good from our window but I was destructed by the atmosphere of Cabo Wabo and found a table there 

Bart 

Just nachos, appetizer, and some alcohol beverages cost us $111  We made Sammy Hager rich again! 

I wanted to go to my favorite soap shop but I couldn’t find it and ended up with walking in circles in smoky MGM 

Did it again 

Much better to spend time in our room.

We moved the heavy sofa in front of the window and watched all shows afterwards. Interestingly each show was different. It seemed like water got higher and reached over the top of Eiffel Tower. 

Antelope canyon

Yesterday’s clouds were gone and we had a nice clear new year day in Glen Canyon. We booked both upper and lower Antelope canyon tours last minute so only New Year’s Day was available. We started from lower antelope canyon tour at 12:15pm. This is the entrance. 

We had to wear masks even when we were taking pictures. Because it was my first experience, I enjoyed this more than upper antelope canyon, which was more popular and expensive. Also the light condition was better at this time of the day. Narrower passages and I felt the length of the tour was longer than upper one. 

Heart 

Coming out of the cave, finally I see my husband’s face 

Just got out! 

Then we went to the next tour starting at 2:30pm  The tour guide took us to Upper Antelope canyon by a van. It took about 20 minutes driving on the sand. This is the entrance. 

Compared to Lower Antelope canyon, the passage was flat and had taller openings which made easy to walk. As soon as we got in, I felt this was more photogenic. 

This opening on the bottom is called a bear. 

Tour guide was telling us names of shapes including George Washington, hunter, Clinton’s nose, Lincoln, heart, eye, rose, etc. I think this one is Eagle. 

This is another Bear ?!?

Rose

Heart

Sand was falling from top and I could open my eyes. 

Another heart

Eye

It was freezing and sand was falling. One part was called the dark room and there was not enough light for good photographs. Tour lady helped us taking nice pictures. 

Coming out. 

Came out. It was definitely shorter than lower antelope canyon I felt. 

Vast land!

On the way back to the hotel, the butte and snow covered mountain were in the red sunset 

We ate prime rib for new year day dinner at the same restaurant. We over heard that people fell at Horseshoe Bend happened once a year  

After looking at wavy orange surfaces all day, my curly hair looked like antelope canyon to me  Thank you for reading my blog this far looking at mostly orange wavy pictures 

Horseshoe Bend

After we spent a night in Henderson, we drove to Arizona and arrived at Lake Powell last night. 

 

We didn’t know the view from our room until this morning. Amazing!!! Beautiful sunrise 

After sunrise. 

According to the forecast, it was sunny until 1pm,so we rushed to do sight seeing in the morning. 

Wahweap view point 

Surrounded by red clays 

Butte, I think I saw it about 25 years ago 

Amazing land formations, contrast of dry sand and water  

Here we are at Horseshoe 

We stayed there about one hour to see different angles and in different time. 

It was hard for me to focus on the surfaces on the big rock or the water at the bottom. They are further than you think. 

I think we visited good time of the day before it got cloudy. People say visiting in the afternoon is better because it is in the shade in the morning. 

We didn’t plan anything after this. Stopped by the dam. 

Came back to Wahweap to see the boat ramp.

Downtown Page wasn’t impressive so we came back to the hotel and did souvenir shopping.

After we rested a little bit at the hotel room and waited the loud refrigerator that sounded like Darth Vader was exchanged, we ate at the driftwood lounge which was only restaurant open at this time of the year in the hotel. Food was expensive and wasn’t fancy but I got a buzz from the wine. 

Different kind of NYE in pandemic. Ken usually has a NYE gig. Hope our next year is happy and healthy. 

Santa Claus House

We relaxed soaking in the hot spring all day yesterday. No aurora so I didn’t write a blog. Today when we checked out, their power was going on and off. They said no heat without power  I managed to use wifi to check in our flights online. We explored Fairbanks but nothing was open but I was happy that we could visit Santa Claus House, which was our main activity today. The building was so cute. The paintings on the walls are tiles.It was too cold and raining. My hair was totally messed up 

Some products were so cute but they were too big to carry on airplane. 

He makes toys here 

April!

Aurora

We tried to sleep as long as we could and started a day participating a geothermal tour at 4pm. Meeting at the activity center. 

Their greenhouse. Since the resort is 2 hours away from city, they grow their own vegetables. 

On the way to their geothermal power plant. 

They create energy from steam from the deep underground. 

Ducks are always there waiting to be fed. 

Then we took a bath to experience the different views of the hot spring during a day. 

Water was clear and the bottom was visible. Good to bring water shoes. 

His eyebrows even eye rushes were frozen  Then I dropped my phone in the water and quickly left the pool  Luckily iPhone 11 is water resistant until some point. 

We rested well before aurora viewing tour which startedat 10:30 pm. Here we go! 

I wasn’t desperate to see northern lights since we already saw once in Finland but I got greedy last minute and really hoped they showed up. Bumpy ride of snow tank about 45 minutes, we were lucky to be seated in the driver’s unit. Everybody was cramped up inside the back unit facing each other  Bad during pandemic! Because my name was spelled wrong, we were not called to be seated. Good fortune in the leftovers, Japanese proverb  

On the way up to Charlie’s dorm, our tank got off the track. The driver backed up a couple of times and put the wheels back on the track, whew! 

At the top, as soon as we got off the tank, we saw northern lights 

They I started losing it’s color on the photos. I saw green lights but photographed white like black and white photos. I wasn’t sure how to use the night mode well enough. I was at the least exposure setting with 10 second shutter speed 

Lights were losing intensity so we went into the dorm and warmed up. There were two dorms we could use. This one was much less people. 

I saw some red at the edge on the camera. Northern lights look white to me with my naked eyes but this time I saw slight green or maybe my eyes were used to on iPhone screen. I think at that time we saw aurora moving and changing the shapes like curtains. Breath taking aurora veils  I saw a shooting star, too 

9:30 tour group left. 

We moved to the first dorm. Aurora increased the intensity again for a short time. 

Photographing with other objects gives more contrast and makes the picture interesting.  

Came back to the activity center. This is our snow tank. 

Wow aurora is here, too  Beautiful with stars. 

Whole sky was surrounded by northern lights! Ken was rushing to go back to our room but I started walking toward ice museum. I figured out the max exposure adds color  Because my iPhone 11 is kicking ass, I was having so much fun walking around photographing by myself. Nobody was there! Occasionally hotel staff drove in.That’s it! 

The building on the right is our Moose Lodge. 

OMG  How beautiful 

Aurora changes color very often. This is probably the best photo of this trip. 

The steam from the hot spring on the right bottom. 

I am up all night to get lucky  I am up all night to get lucky  I am up all night to get lucky  I can’t get out of this song from my head 

These photos are slightly different. I can’t make up my mind which one to put, so both  

Our red rental car in the middle. Main lobby and restaurant area on the left. Moose Lodge on the right. Steam lit by pink light from the hot spring under green northern lights sky. 

Today is my guitar hero, Eddie Van Halen’s anniversary.I can’t believe it is already a year! We will relax bathing in hot springs and hope to see northern lights again tonight! My photographs here are not modified. It is the real color taken on iPhone 11.