I picked up my tour guide today around 11 after a lovely walk by the canal in Waikiki. He had some last minute packing and a few goodbyes left so wanted to give him some time for that. But, man it is so nice to be with my schmoopie again and have this time with him all to myself.

We started out heading east toward Hawaii Kai and Aina Haina, two beautiful residential communities outside of Honolulu and stopped at a cute sandwich shop that he had frequented with his friends. My spicy chicken sandwich was way more than I could handle! But none the less, it was delicious and fueled us up for the day ahead. We kept heading east/north along the ocean which was full of white caps and huge waves from all the wind we have had the last 24 hours. It was breathtaking and we stopped at every scenic point we could along the way.

We checked out Waimanolo Beach and then continued north up toward Kailua and Lanikai Beach. Seeing the famous Lanikai Beach (with Chinaman’s Hat in the background) has been on my bucket list for so long! I was finally there! And it was well worth the wait! It is now my new favorite beach and we plan to head back there later this week for some more fun!

We stopped into Kailua town and found all sorts of great shops, including a Target, which means I could totally live here! We had a fabulous smoothie then started to make our back toward Honolulu but not without stopping at Pali Lookout, where I finally realized that Oahu has so many nooks and crannies to its shoreline and is a lot bigger than I originally thought. I just love it. So different than the Big Island.

We capped off the night scoring an amazing meal at this cute little restaurant in Waikiki. It was inside a little hotel so hard to find but we had the best mahimahi with garlic sauce. (It was a score because the dinner was only $32 for the both of us — unheard of in Waikiki!)