Day 6

I hit the 24 week mark today!

Day 6 was Sunday and so after enjoying breakfast on our lovely patio, we decided to venture out in search of a nice Hawaiian church. We'd been listening to a Christian radio station in the jeep and heard an ad for a local church that we decided to try and locate. Graham got directions to the Kilauea area where it was supposed to be a we set out on our way. Unfortunately, the church the directions led us to was not what we were expecting. It was a Four Square Church and much smaller than what we were looking for. But because the service was about to start, we decided we'd just give it a shot since we didn't know how on earth we'd find the other one. The people there were very friendly (a little too friendly if you ask me! I had my first complete stranger come up and touch my belly--Graham said she definitely had her hands all over my belly before she even introduced herself....)

As for the church service itself, let's just say it gave us quite a few topics of conversation for the rest of the day....great memories though! Our plan had been to continue heading north up the coast to Hanalei and beyond for a picnic and snorkeling but unfortunately the clouds were looking quite dark. We barely got the top back on the jeep (sort of) before it began to pour. (I say sort of because we never did figure out quite how to put the top back on correctly after the first time we took it off. My side of the jeep kept leaking, sending raindrops down my sun visor and onto my lap). :o) We made the drive north through the rain just to see what the north beaches looked like and enjoyed our picnic in the shelter of the jeep.

We stopped along the way at the Kilauea Lighthouse for a quick picture

And also at some dry caves up near Hanalei (it's hard to see but I'm in a cave...)

I'd always heard that rain in Hawaii is brief and passes quickly. This certainly was not the case for us today! Apparently though the north shore gets quite a bit more rain than the rest of the island (hence its green, lush appearance). We decided to forget our snorkeling idea and instead headed back to our condo to figure out our second best option. We opted to go see Angels and Demons at a (the only one on the island?) movie theater in Lihue. Now, I won't go into any detail regarding my thoughts about this movie as I know it is rather controversial. I will just say that Graham and I had been wanting to see the movie since we both read the book while traveling in Italy last year--we liked it because it talked about all the different churches and streets in Rome--sites that we actually saw in person. Anyway, the movie was very well done considering the crews were not allowed into Vatican City to film--how they made it look so real is beyond me!

After dinner, Graham wanted to spoil me (yet again) and take me to the Tidepools restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and Resort in Poipu. Although it hurt our wallet a bit, the trip back to the south shore was well worth it! The restaurant basically consists of a bunch of Tahitian-style huts that are connected and set over a giant koi pond. It is lit by candles and tiki torches scattered throughout the huts. Each table sits by an open-air window where diners can lean over and watch and feed the koi. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our camera yet again so I can't share photos. But I will say that I had the MOST AMAZING fish of my life here. I ordered the Garlic Chile Glazed Opah topped with Coconut Crusted Blue Crab and Lobster, Macadamia Nut Rice and Guava Lime Sauce. I don't even know what Opah is, but if there is any way we can get our hands on some here, we will!! Graham ordered the Grilled Huli Huli Chicken Breast with Okinawa Sweet Potato Puree, Sweet and Sour Reduction and Pineapple Relish (he became quite obsessed with the local purple sweet potatoes during our time on the island). I think we both agreed that this was the best meal of our trip.