2019 Christmas in Oahu!

There were a limited amount of parking spots at the trail so we ended up parking about a mile away at a nearby church that offered free parking. As we were walking up to the start of the trail, there was this vast grass land that was beautiful to gaze at. Along the hike, the trail was more spacious up until the stairs to go to the highest point.

At the end of the trail there was the Honolulu Pineapple Co truck. We ordered pineapple slices which were so juicy and cold and Dole pineapple whip which made my mouth water. To eat Dole pineapple whip after a hike was so refreshing. The whip was better than the Dole whip in DisneyLand!

After our hike, we checked out Lanikai Beach. It was really windy so we enjoyed sitting on the white sand and ate Maui Onion chips. These chips are my favorite thing to get when I'm in Hawaii!

At the beginning of this trip, my sister and I wanted to do something that we wouldn't get to do otherwise and splurge a little bit as well. Zip-lining has always been in the back of my mind and so I suggested it to Valerie and we found a place, CLIMB Works that we could book within the next couple of days despite the holiday week. I definitely had some anxiety about the heights but I wanted to push and challenge myself mentally.

We arrived at the place and since our parents weren't zip-lining, they were able to watch our belongings and we put our phones in the lockers. We signed the waivers and were put in a group. We started off with a trial run and then we took an 10-min ATV to the next zipline. As we went through each zipline, I had more and more fun AND didn't mind how high off of the ground we were because the views were BREATHTAKING! I was definitely nervous about flying over 150 feet in the air. By the end of this course, I was flying upside down Hawaii Spider-Man-style!

Afterwards, we continued with our ramen spree and tried Ramen Bario at the Japanese Food Court in Waikiki. Upon seeing all of the great reviews, my family just had to see what this place is all about. I got the Egg ramen and was pleasantly satisfied. The broth is super rich. The noodles are thick. The egg was cooked just right. The bean sprouts were super fresh. The char siu fell apart to enjoy the delicious flavor. The wait was about 20-30 mins due to the small size of the place but it was well worth it.

Since our AirBnB was in Waikiki, we'd often walk along this restaurant, Marukame Udon, that had at least an hour long wait and a long line. To avoid the line, we came around 10:30am to only wait 20 mins. The staff is very fast at producing your order. Service is quite minimal. Despite the crowd, we were actually able to find a table to sit at. This is what I tried: Nikutama Udon, Shrimp Tempura, Potato Tempura, and Spam Musubi. The Nikutama Udon noodles were chewy yet firm on the inside giving the noodles a homemade feel. The broth was salty and tasty. I added green onions and tempura flakes. This place is worth the wait!

We went to the Ali'i Beach Park and relaxed for a few hours. We had a photoshoot for fun and got to watch a bunch of little snails in their natural habitat. Afterwards, we got Matsumoto Shaved Ice at the original location in Haleiwa. This place was recommended by my friend who's a local so we just had to check this location out! We came around 5pm and there was a 5-10 min line. I got a small Green River (Lemon/Lime), Ramune (Japanese soda), Lilikoi shave ice with vanilla ice cream. It's everything that you would want from a shave ice! They even give you a straw to sip the syrupy goodness at the end!

For dinner, we walked to Sura Hawaii for Korean BBQ, also recommended by my sister's local friend. I've never had Korean BBQ before so it was a fun experience to cook our own meat. There's also a valet service $4.00 to have your car parked. At this "All You Can Eat" Meat & Seafood BBQ, we tried shrimp, scallops, premium steak, premium sliced beef brisket, marinated boneless kalbi, and brisket Bulgogi. For the house specialties, we tried Beef bulgogi, garlic shrimp bibimbap, fried noodles, and non spicy tofu w/ seafood soup. My favorites of the meat were the premium steak, marinated boneless kalbi, and shrimp. My favorites of the house specialties are the beef Bulgogi and the shrimp bibimbap.

Continuing our ramen spree, we reserved a spot at Volcano Ramen in the Yokocho food hall and got Nana's Green Tea while we were waiting for our reservation to come up. I came across Nana's Green Tea in the Japanese Food Hall and was lured in by all of the pictures. I decided to try the hot Matcha Chocolate Latte. The flavor of matcha was lighter than expected yet it mixed well with the chocolate. I really enjoyed this drink and sipped it while we were waiting for our ramen. We ordered the classic Tonkotsu ramen which they title Kazan Ramen. They bring the stone bowl out for you - pour the soup into it and close it with a red triangle lid. After 1 minute of simmering and cooking - the Kazan Ramen is ready.

We went hiking at Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail. The path was so wide that you could drive a car up which made this trail wheel-chair friendly as well. It is about 2-3 miles long which makes for about an hour or so if you stay at the top to take photos. Despite the mist, I enjoyed the views along the way.

Since it was Christmas Day, we wanted to try another place in Waikiki so we reserved a spot at the Genius Lounge the day before thanks to OpenTable! We came right at opening time and loved the choices available. I got to try the Fish & Chips, Garlic Ahi Steak, Furikake Ahi Steak, Grilled Short Rib w/ Hawaiian BBQ Sauce, Loco Moco, Aloha Tower Parfait, and Hawaiian Chocolate Brownie. Each dish was bursting with unique, delicious flavor and the portions were on the smaller side. My favorites were the ahi steaks, short rib, loco moco, and Aloha Tower parfait.

With all of the shopping places in Waikiki, we wanted to check out the Ala Moana Center, known as Ala Moana, since it's the largest open-air shopping center in the world. We got udon and these cute Hello Kitty Puffs at Kulu Kulu. Afterwards, I was on a hunt for cool designer sock runners so we went looked at Ferragamo, Armani Exchange, and Louis Vuitton before heading to Balenciaga since I reserved a pair of sock runners there. It's been a dream of mine to own a pair of the Balenciaga Sock runners and so it was time to speak this into reality! I tried on the Balenciaga Speed Graffiti Trainers Black White and absolutely loved how comfy they are! I'm a size 7 but ended up getting a size 9 because they didn't have them in a size 8 and it wasn't that much of a jump. The store provided some water bottles and the nice assistant also had me try on some windbreakers that paired well with the shoes. I also got a bracelet from Swarovski and makeup brushes from Sephora and Morphe. For dinner, we got ramen in the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk. It was so cool to checkout the different restaurants. On the way back to our AirBnB, I got a snow globe from the Tiki place inside the Japanese Food Hall. I also saw that there was a bubble tea place with unicorns so I just had to check the Unicorn Cafe out. I got a Lanikai Lemonade (Passion fruit) with rainbow jelly. The drink was delicious for a hotter humid evening.

We went hiking at Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail. The path was so wide that you could drive a car up which made this trail wheel-chair friendly as well. It is about 2-3 miles long which makes for about an hour or so if you stay at the top to take photos. Despite the mist, I enjoyed the views along the way.

Since it was Christmas Day, we wanted to try another place in Waikiki so we reserved a spot at the Genius Lounge the day before thanks to OpenTable! We came right at opening time and loved the choices available. I got to try the Fish & Chips, Garlic Ahi Steak, Furikake Ahi Steak, Grilled Short Rib w/ Hawaiian BBQ Sauce, Loco Moco, Aloha Tower Parfait, and Hawaiian Chocolate Brownie. Each dish was bursting with unique, delicious flavor and the portions were on the smaller side. My favorites were the ahi steaks, short rib, loco moco, and Aloha Tower parfait.