This week I was lucky enough to take a vacation to Hawaii for four days with Sam. We’d planned the trip months ago and I couldn’t quite believe it was actually happening until we were there! It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, especially since I had been quite sick two weeks before and he had to go to China the week before. He flew back Friday morning and we flew out to Hawaii Friday night. I might have to come back and talk about my trip some other time with some more photos, because it was absolutely incredible, but I wanted to get these photos up first.

Before we went, I asked a bunch of my CM friends for recommendations on where to go in Oahu. And they were all amazing! I got some wonderful recommendations for places to go and foods to eat and restaurants to visit. My absolute favorite recommendation, however, came from the sweet Sarah Vaughn, who told us about the Lanikai Pillboxes Hike and Lanikai Beach.

We originally intended on doing a sunrise hike, but we were both too tired and couldn’t manage to get up at 5:00 AM. We ended up starting the hike just after sunrise, and it was actually perfect. The temperature was perfect because it was so cloudy overhead. The hike is very exposed, so it would have been rough if the sun was out later in the day. I’m pretty out of shape from being so sick, so I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the first Pillbox 😉 But it was absolutely worth it! The view was stunning, and it was so interesting seeing the Pillbox too, which has all sorts of colorful graffiti all over it.

After we took photos from the first Pillbox, it actually started raining for a bit! We sought shelter in the shadow of the Pillbox, since it was actually really difficult to get inside it. Luckily the rain didn’t last very long, because we had both packed rain jackets and never brought them outside of the hotel room! Oops! I was refreshed from the break and the rain, so I decided to brave the hike to the second Pillbox, which was fun because the ladder down into the Pillbox wasn’t broken so you could actually go down into it, which Sam did.

After we finished the hike, we grabbed breakfast and then headed back to Lanikai Beach… which was hands down my favorite place in Oahu. I brought my tripod along and took some selfies while Sam caught up on sleep… and then I woke him up and made him take some self portraits with me!

If you are ever on Oahu, you have to go to Lanikai! It was just so incredibly gorgeous and relaxing. I know I will be back someday 🙂

Felicia Chang  | Megan Cieloha | Kristin Dokoza | Stacey Haslem | Karen Jacot | Caroline Jensen | Kristin Ingalls | Kirsty Larmour | Lauren Mitchell | Kara Orwig | Kristen Ryan | Jessica Thomason | Julia Tulley |Ginger Unzueta | Sarah Vaughn | Elle Walker | Sarah Wilkerson | Emma Wood