It was seriously like those tropical resorts you see pictures of, but think, I could never stay at a place like that (or at least that's how it goes down in my head). Well, with in-laws who made a fortuitous timeshare swap 3 years in advance, you can!
Just check out the grounds
And the view of the beach
It was one of a strip of fancy resorts on the beach, but from what I could see of the other places, where we stayed had the most awesome giant grotto pool (with water slides!)
We hot tubbed it every night, just because we could.
We had some time to kill before we could officially check in, so we stashed our bags with the concierge and went exploring.
Sarah and I wanted to hit the beach. So we and Brandon and Jason got suited up. The only problem was, the water looked fantastic, but about 4 feet off the beach were a bunch of rocks. Not so much a swimming beach, but judging by the number of tourists sunning themselves in chairs on the beach and by the pool for hours on end, I have a feeling we were the only ones who ever discovered that. So we walked down the beach a bit and checked out the other resorts. Further down were some great swimming spots.
Meanwhile, Lorraine, Steve, Marissa and Taylor checked out the local artisan market.
I really want the giant wooden turtle on the left to hang on my office wall. That would be awesome.
This woman made these amazing baskets out of local plants.
Marissa and Tay were all over the shave ice.
(The one regret I have is not getting the chance to try shave ice while I was in Hawaii. Next time...)
That night, Sarah, Brandon, Jason and I went to a luau. I know it's a totally touristy thing to do, but I wanted the experience while I was in Hawaii. So I managed to convince Jason, and Brandon and Sarah decided to come too (Baby Anya stayed with the rest of the family).You walk in and immediately they put a lei on you (I was hoping for that at the airport a la The Brady Bunch, but alas...)
You come through the door into a large green space right on the ocean with pathways winding through it.
There are also two big huts for getting drinks. Since drinks were included in the admission price, I had many, many, fruity nonalcoholic drinks. (My favorite was the frozen pina colada slush mixed with passion fruit juice. You know, for future reference if you ever find yourself in such circumstances.)
There are also two big huts for getting drinks. Since drinks were included in the admission price, I had many, many, fruity nonalcoholic drinks. (My favorite was the frozen pina colada slush mixed with passion fruit juice. You know, for future reference if you ever find yourself in such circumstances.)Our seats were on the ground near the stage.
The pig in the pit!
Digging out the pig.
Ta-dah! It tasted amazing, by the way.
Sunset and fruity drinks. It's like a postcard.
Enjoying the fantastic buffet. My favorite was the pork wrapped in taro leaves.
After we finished dinner, the servers brought around dessert platters. The little white squares were this lightly-sweetened coconut dessert. I have no idea what they were, but I loved them.
The show begins. The luau we went to featured the history of the Polynesian people, displaying different styles of dancing over the years.
The pig in the pit!
Digging out the pig.
Ta-dah! It tasted amazing, by the way.
Sunset and fruity drinks. It's like a postcard.
Enjoying the fantastic buffet. My favorite was the pork wrapped in taro leaves.
After we finished dinner, the servers brought around dessert platters. The little white squares were this lightly-sweetened coconut dessert. I have no idea what they were, but I loved them.
The show begins. The luau we went to featured the history of the Polynesian people, displaying different styles of dancing over the years.
We discovered it's hard to catch dancers in low light.
The show was fun and I'm glad we got the chance to go. And now I can say I've tried poi. Not a fan.
Back at the resort, we found out Baby Anya had kind of a rough evening. But at least she took some cute pictures first.
