O'ahu : Day 1

Photos taken at Nu'uanu Pali Lookout, the site of the Kaleleka'anae battle which was the last battle before the "unification" of the Hawaiian Islands. Photos by C.Mahoney.

Hawaii!  This trip took us all by surprise, I think.  My family wasn't sure if we could all coordinate a getaway this summer but it worked out for us at the last minute.  It's such a popular destination for people living in San Diego (as it's only 5 1/2 hours away) but it never really crossed  my mind that we would visit, so I think thrilled would be understating my emotions about this trip.  We also left on my birthday...who could ask for a better present?  I tried to pack very lightly for the vacation as I knew it would be casual and I didn't feel like checking my bag.  Many of the items I brought are older pieces, things I still love but wouldn't be devastated to be caught in a rainstorm in. I packed a sunhat that I really liked but I wound up carrying it around a lot.  If I went on a similar trip I think I'd try to find a sunhat of the same approximate size and shape but preferably of cloth, so I could smash it into my tote bag a little better.  After we landed the night of my birthday, we only had time for dinner and bed, but our first full day we spent going to Nu'uanu Pali Lookout, Halona Blowhole, and 'Iolani Palace.  'Iolani is the only royal palace in the United States and the one tourist attraction that I really wanted to see on this trip, and it was so worth it!  It's beautiful and a good place to start learning about Hawaiian culture. 

We spent five nights on the island and although we returned home almost two weeks ago I've been reliving our trip by looking through photos and writing about it.  Of course it's no secret that Hawaii is supposed to be beautiful, but I couldn't have prepared myself for the sheer level of saturation in every colour there, or just how vibrant and natural and alive the surroundings are. The only word appropriate was "breathtaking." The mountains are a different beauty entirely from the ocean, which appears in a spectrum of violet through green...the mountains are lush and dark and haunting, the mist that hides the peaks always changing and sometimes revealing long out of use stairways or hollows.  I found myself immediately understanding the fear and awe that ancient Hawaiians felt for the forests that cover the mountains, which they attributed to evil spirits. Spirits or none, I've never experienced such a pull to my surroundings as I did while we were in Hawaii. And I've been lucky enough to see some really majestic places!  It was just incredible. 

Halona Blowhole and Halona Cove Beach, all photos by C.Mahoney

Cardigan: LOFT (last summer), Top: ASOS, Skirt: Geoffrey Beene (purchased 5 years ago!), 

Bag: my first Fossil (purchased 7 years ago), Sunhat: Roxy, Bracelet: Anthropologie, 

Starfish Earrings: Kate Spade

These last few photos were taken at the Halona Blowhole, which happens to be right next to the cove and beach where the infamous romance scenes in "From Here to Eternity" took place. We took scores of pictures there because it was gorgeous, but in most of them I look like I'm wearing a sombrero thanks to my hat.