Hawaii 2007 - Day 3: A Feeding Frenzy

Saturday morning, after the long, LONG trip we took yesterday, I wanted nothing more than to do what I do best...shop. Every Saturday in Kahului the locals open what is called the "Swap Meet" where vendors sell everything from fruit, freshly cut flowers and Hawaiian treasures (or junk as Dad would call it.) Dad even went so far as to rename the market the "Feeding Frenzy" after seeing the way Grandma, Kristyn, and myself launched ourselves at the wares available.

I bought some cool things at the market (including most of the gifts that I picked up for my loverly friends back home.)

Afterwards, we continued on our shopping adventure to the local mall.

Notice anything unique about this mall (other than the blatant palm tree right in the middle?) That's right...it has an open roof! Definitely a very cool feature, although I don't think it would go over too well in Canada.

We hung around, I spent more money that I should of, and we headed back to the condo with smiles on our faces and arms overloaded with trophies (trophies = shopping bags to you shopping impaired.)

After relaxing for a bit in the afternoon, we headed out for a family trip to take in a sunset whale-watching adventure, and a fancy dinner afterwards. This year is my Grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary, so as a treat they offered to take the whole family out for this day trip.

Cool fact: this is the first time, ever, that my Grandparents have had both of their children and all four of their grandchildren in the same place at the same time. There is a 10 year gap between me (the oldest child on my father's side) and Megan (the oldest on my Aunt's side), so by the time she was born, it was already becoming difficult to get everyone together in the same province (we lived in Alberta, they in British Columbia.) Then when Brandon was born, we had started the process of moving (for the first time), so until Hawaii, we had never brought everyone together.

We all boarded the Quick Silver, and got ready for our trip to see the whales. Now, I may be assuming things, but I know that when I throw the terms "Hawaii" and "Whale-Watching" and "Sunset" together, some people tend to get a bit jealous. If you fall into the category of "some people" I urge you to not hate me, and continue reading.

I am not one to get seasick.

I have never been so seasick in my entire life.

The water was so choppy and so violent that we bobbed around like a cork. Or at least that's what I've been told. I spent a majority of the trip curled into the fetal position on a mat on the inside of the boat (a small blessing...with the way the water was coming up over the sides, I don't know how the people on the outside survived.)

And worst of all, no whales. I mean, there were a few, but the water was so choppy, it was hard to spot them before they were submerging again. And in my present state I managed to get a small glimpse of a tail or a splash before I closed my eyes and prayed for the trip to be over.

I managed to get a couple pictures of the sun as it started it's journey to the horizon, but nothing spectacular. Let me tell you, when we docked, I was pretty near the first one off the boat, cold, wet, and ready to be warm and fed.

We changed into nicer clothes in the van, and headed to the nearby Buzz's Wharf for what promised to be a great dinner.

My night started out with a drink (virgin...I'm not 21 yet :( ) that, despite no alcohol in it, was the greatest thing I have ever drank ever. It was called a lava flow and I have no other description for it other than "it tasted like heaven." Apparently it is like my two favourite girly drinks (strawberry daiquiri and pina colada) mixed together. Heaven is right!

Onto the entree. Buzz's Wharf, as I'm sure you can guess, specializes in seafood. As most of you know, I am allergic to seafood, so my choices were somewhat limited. I ended up ordering a pasta dish, which wasn't as great as I had hoped, and if the sounds coming from the rest of my family were any indication, it wasn't as great as what they were eating either.

Luckily for me, dessert came around and Buzz got his chance to make it up to me.

This, my friends, is the beauty that I devoured:

Not only was it a spectacular presentation (so spectacular in fact, I pulled out my camera), it was the greatest tiramisu I had ever eaten in my life. And the little mug? Chocolate mousse. It was simply dreamy, and truly made the seasickness and mediocre entree worth it all in the end.

This was probably one of the more negative days in Hawaii, and it's unfortunate it ended up that way, considering the amount of work the Grandparents put into arranging the events of the evening. However, the rest of the trip went along without a hitch, and after a long soak in the hot tub and a beautiful night's rest, all was forgotten and I was ready to enjoy the rest of my vacation in paradise.