Saturday May 29

Our last day in Hawaii. Our original plan was to leave our luggage with the bellman at the hotel, go to the beach and then use the public showers near the pool area to get ready. Eric had a great idea that since we were all up and ready by eight to just go to the beach early then we could get ready in our room before check out. So I was on the beach at eight o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately it was a red flag day on the south side of the island so no swimming so after playing for a few minutes we headed back to pool for one last swim.

Packing was a breeze since we just have to take everything we brought. No decisions really needed. Our flight left at ten o’clock at night so we had the whole day left to fill. Dad is a hobby photographer and so I asked him to take some more formal pictures of me and Eric. We have a lot of pictures of the two of us but we are in swimsuits or the like for most of them.

There is a Costco on this island and we know right where it is since we went four times in the week we were here. Two of those times were today. Eric and I had brought a waterproof film camera that we dropped off to get developed. That was really weird. I can’t remember the last time I used a film camera. While we waited for the film to get developed we went on a boat ride to the Fern Grotto.

The Fern Grotto is the only place in the world where ferns grow upside down from a rock wall. It used to be a very sacred place for Hawaiians. We took a tour boat up the river. While we were traveling performers sang and did the hula for us. At one point we all got up and learned how to do a hula also. It was a great time. From the boat we hiked about two hundred yards to the Fern Grotto. At the top the performers did the traditional wedding song so Eric and I are now married Hawaiian style as well as sealed in the temple. On the ride back down the Captain told us about the river and some of the local history.

On our way back to Costco we took a detour and drove up to Wailau Falls. These are the falls that feed the river we had just been on. They were absolutely wonderful. There was trail that we thought would take us to the top of the falls but it was a little too advanced for what we wanted to try with having to be on a plane all night.

After picking up the pictures the search for dinner was on. There was one small area of the island that was on our way to the airport that Eric and I had not been to but it was were Mom and Dad stayed when they came last time. We found a fun little restaurant just across the street from the beach. After dinner we walked over to the Marriott Resort that was on the beach. They had one of the coolest pools I have ever seen. We spent about a ninety minutes just wandering and looking at people and the beach. After one last shave ice it was time to head to the airport. Our trip to Hawaii was ending.