Aloha! Fill up

I am a picky eater; so I may not love to eat everything, but I love to eat! Whenever I have travel research to do a large part of that is spent on researching where to eat. My philosophy is that I may never visit this place again. I want to make the most out of my eating experiences. I do not want to waste my time and money on a sub-par meal.

We visited Oahu, the most populated of Hawaii's islands. It is home to Pearl Harbor, Honolulu and the North Shore. Needless to say, there are a ton of restaurants. I utilized both the list of places visited on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Tripadvisor to guide me. We ate at some delicious spots while in Hawaii. I did not take pictures of everything, but below are some of the things we enjoyed on our trip.

Charles' plate at the Poke (pronounced like pokey) Stop. He really enjoyed the variety. Before ordering, he was able to sample several of their pokes. They make a ton of different flavor combinations.

My breakfast at the Poke Stop was not as satisfying as I was expecting. I ordered banana pancakes with the haupia sauce on top. I thought the pancakes came with candied macadamia nuts inside, but none were to be found. The haupia sauce did not have much flavor and there was soooo much of it. I would order something different if we ever go again.

While on the island, we visited the Dole Plantation and enjoyed the iconic Dole Whip (with pineapples). It was refreshing and delicious.

Everyone probably imagines a luau when you think about visiting Hawaii. That is a pretty standard touristy thing to do and, of course, I wanted to experience it. Our hotel, the Hale Koa, had their own luau. It was so convenient to our stay. The food was delicious! It included chicken, pork, fish (which Charles ate for me), fried banana, sweet potato, rice, pineapple and a couple appetizers.

One morning of our trip was spent on a Breakfast Whale Watch cruise. Our breakfast included scramble eggs, poi rolls, Kona coffee, pineapple, watermelon, muffins and probably some other items that I am forgetting. It was actually really delicious and a nice scenic place to enjoy a meal. Unfortunately, we did not spot any whales.

Even though I do not like beer, I love visiting breweries and pubs. Honolulu Beerworks had excellent reviews, so I wanted to check it out. Charles ordered a beer flight and I had a pint of hard cider. Our food was so yummy! We enjoyed a pretzel and beer cheese appetizer. I had the mac & cheese and Charles had their special of the night--some kind of crostini with local ingredients. The mac & cheese had a crunchy topping that was amazing! I would want to eat here all the time if I lived in Honolulu.

From my research, there are several places to get delicious pancakes in Honolulu. We chose Eggs 'n Things. It was right around the corner from our hotel. Charles ordered these blueberry pancakes and a plantation tea (tea mixed with pineapple juice). The pancakes were delicious. I had plate envy.

My Eggs 'n Things dish, while yummy looking, was a little lacking. I could not quite put my finger on what it was missing, but the flavors just were not exactly what I was hoping for. My Mocha Kona coffee drink was delicious, though.

A surprisingly delicious food find was at the Pacific Aviation Museum's cafe. On our first day in Hawaii, we visited Pearl Harbor and the other WWII sites. We got up really early to make sure to get tickets to the Arizona Memorial and thus didn't really eat breakfast. We had a snack from the food stand at Pearl Harbor, but by the time we got to the Pacific Aviation Museum, I was feeling a little off. Cafe to the rescue! Charles ordered the pineapple and Spam fried rice and I had Kalua pork. Yum, yum, yum!

On our last night in Hawaii, we enjoyed our dinner from one of the restaurants at the Hale Koa. I had to order a Mai Tai! It's just something you do in Hawaii. I can't remember what Charles' drink was called, but it came with a back scratcher. Isn't that funny?

Vacation planning

Wow...my life has been pretty uneventful lately. Last week I had a stomach bug or something and had no motivation to do anything! I do not get sick very often, so when I do it is quite annoying. It is even worse when you don't have anyone around that can run to the store and pick up things like chicken soup.

I do have an upcoming vacation that I am pretty excited about. Next month I'll be flying down to Texas to see my love! I hate the long distance marriage thing we have going on at the moment, but it will be nice to spend a few days with him.

I'll be flying into the small town he lives in. Then over the weekend, we are going to visit Fredericksburg, TX. This seems like a small town and I've only driven through it once. My mom and sister visited before and seemed to like it. For being (in my mind) a small town, they have a ridiculous amount of B&B's.

We just booked our lodging and will be staying at Walnut Canyon Cabins. They have all 5 circles on Tripadvisor. I think everyone who has ever reviewed them on Tripadvisor gave them a perfect 5 circles. It better be good! I picked this place partly because it seemed in the middle of nowhere. Charles likes to camp and I don't, so I thought this would be a good compromise. There is still air conditioning and a real bed! But we have nature right outside the cabin. It should be romantic.

I'm not 100% sure what we'll do while in Fredericksburg. They have a cute Main Street with shops and restaurants. There is a brewery we will probably check out. While I don't drink beer, Charles enjoys trying different kinds. And we will probably visit a state park and maybe a museum or two. I'm glad excited to spend time with him, but a mini vacation is always good!