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Earlier this year I had the opportunity to visit Hawaii for the first time! While our main reason for going was a friend's wedding, we turned it into a trip to check off some bucket list items. Our first stop was The Big Island with the goal of visiting Volcanoes National Park and taking a night snorkel with manta rays... Landing at the airport on The Big Island was a surreal experience. The airport is small and almost entirely outdoors. You walk to and from the planes from the ground and your board/debark via small gangways. Funny enough, the first thought I had walking around the airport upon arrival was that this gave off old school SeaWorld Orlando vibes. If you know, you know. The EPCOT fan in me was highly amused by seeing wall carpet somewhere not at EPCOT. Our hotel, the Hilton Waikoloa Village is made up of several towers each about 10-20 minutes' walking distance apart (depending on your pace and if you have luggage in tow). To solve that, the resort has an automated tram/train that runs between the towers. I'd never seen anything like this outside of an airport or Walt Disney World, so naturally I was enamored. My first Mai Tai of the trip, but certainly not my last! While dinner wasn't anything unique (we ended up at the hotel's Italian restaurant due to the hour at which we were dining), this Calamansi Tart was authentic and delicious! Fair warning for those who haven't been to Hawaii before and are used to other tourism/resort destinations. Along our entire trip in Hawaii we found that most dining venues started to wind down operations between 7 pm and 9 pm. So if you plan to have a full day of activities, make sure you plan for where you could have dinner or else you might be enjoying limited fare at the bar or less exciting quick service or grab and go fare. The next day we got up ridiculously early to make the 1.5 hour drive from one side of The Big Island to the other to get to Volcanoes National Park. Thankfully the Waikoloa Village Starbucks was open and even better, it was a Starbucks Reserve location! We made it to Volcanoes National Park at 7:00 AM and had a half day allotted to see as much as possible before making the drive back to the other side of the island for our manta ray night snorkel. The National Park has awesome signage at the welcome station that helps you to plan for shorter visits or longer visits, prioritizing the main attractions in a reasonable order for visitors like us who wouldn't know where to start. Also recommended, speaking to National Park guides who can make recommendations on where to go and how best to get there. With our limited time, our first priority was seeing lava. While there was fortunately an eruption going on during our visit, it was unfortunately a very small one with very limited options for viewing. It was highly recommended that we return that night to see the caldera lit up from the lava, but with our existing snorkel commitment that wasn't an option. One guide recommended we follow the Crater Rim Trail as it would be the best spot that we could see the lava at this hour. The view from here is expansive for sure. LAVA! You don't see scenery like this every day! I wish we could have seen more lava but I was glad we at least saw this. And a lucky rainbow for good measure! For those of you interested in these kinds of things. Next we started our long trek down to walk near the caldera... Along the way you see a variety of unique landscapes and plant life that feel otherworldly. Mind the sinkholes. Very unique. Real lava rock found on the trail. There's a local superstition that you do not bring lava rock home with you from Hawaii as it will bring bad luck that can only be ended by returning what you took. As tempting as it is to bring home a unique souvenir, out of respect to the island and its culture, don't do it. Proof I was actually here! Like we're on another planet. After our two hour roundtrip hike to/from the caldera we moved next to the lava tube. While not as big as we expected, this was still a neat experience. Our last stop before heading out were the sulphur vents. And the look much better than they smell. The lengthy drive back had us crossing mountainous terrain and having to control the brakes hard to ensure that gravity didn't take control. But the views were unreal! Before our snorkel we had a little time to kill so we stopped by the Kona Brewing Co. Brewery & Pub. As it turned out this would be our final experience on The Big Island, as an unexpected storm filled with high winds, lightning and rain resulted in our night snorkel with manta rays being cancelled. We had some drinks at the Kona Brewery and made our way back to the hotel to get ready to fly to Honolulu the next day... It should be noted that the Hilton Waikoloa Village also has boating excursions that take you along the waterways of the resort. Just such a cool setup! Wouldn't be a visit to Hawaii without seeing some of these in the wild. The next morning's grab and go breakfast at the airport was fried rice with Portuguese sausage and a fried egg on top. And it was honestly delicious! Time to fly to Honolulu! So our first day at Aulani was kind of a cheat day... When we originally planned our trip to only be in Honolulu we booked two nights at Aulani (for three days at the resort) but when we added The Big Island to our itinerary, we also added another day in Honolulu. We couldn't add an additional night at Aulani on the front end so we ended up at the Marriott Vacation Club Ko Olina (which was an awesome resort on its own) but spent much of our day visiting the neighboring Aulani because we simply couldn't wait another day. I mean, could you blame us? We certainly didn't plan it this way, but our cheat day at Aulani also happened to be a day that they were taping performances for American Idol. Love it! Very cool! Everyone raves about these... I'd be back to try some later in the trip. I would definitely be back to try these! This was actually the second time I was present for a taping of American Idol, having been in the audience for a taping in Los Angeles in 2003. Ulu Cafe, the resort's quick service venue, would end up being our favorite dining option at Aulani. And this build-your-own poke bowl option would definitely be the reason! I might have had three of these throughout the course of our visit... I might have. Over at the Wailana Pool Bar we had tuna poke nachos... And crab rangoon! That was the end of our time at Aulani for the day but we'd move into our room at the resort the next day. It felt absolutely important for us to visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial during our time in Honolulu. Out of respect for those lost, their families and the experience I won't share any photos beyond these but I strongly recommend visiting if you're ever in Honolulu. This is a sobering reminder of a critical moment in history and the experience is well curated and honoring of those impacted. We returned to the Marriott Vacation Club Ko Olina for a restful evening but couldn't help but admire this sunset. Stunning. Any day that ends with pie (from Monkeypaw) is a good day!