A continuation of the summer..in the fall...

I know.. wow where did the time go?! From my last post until now I can tell you exactly what I have been doing, paper after paper after financial analysis after financial analysis. The last semester of my degree is kicking my butt! Thankfully I only have about 3 weeks left and the worst is now behind me. So back to what we were talking about, our awesome summer vacation!

After leaving Florida Zak, Pip and I made a stop in Atlanta where Zak spent most of his childhood/teenage years growing up. I love Atlanta and really enjoy visiting our family there especially because there is a Chick Fil A on every corner! While we were there for a few short days we were able to catch a Braves game.. they lost but who cares, we were in America drinking American beer watching American baseball!!

After Georgia we stopped in North Carolina to see some more of Zak's family and his friend Tyler was totally awesome and made a trip down from Virginia to visit us while we were there! Anytime we visit the Charlotte area it isn't complete without a trip to the Whitewater Center, where people seeking a thrill can ride rapids while the Olympic trials aren't in town! 

From North Carolina we flew to Ohio, where Zak was born and where we were married back in 2009! We had such a great time visiting everyone in Ohio and loved seeing all of our family! 

Zak and our nephew Alex at the Cincinnati Zoo

Ok so it was really hot at the Zoo (it must have been at least 100F!) and there were kids everywhere.. don't judge us for having a beer at 10am, ok? Or was it the turtle you were looking at?

And a trip to Ohio is not complete without mexican food and debauchery with all of the cousins! 

Zak and Emily!

Jackie (my sister in law) and her boyfriend Chris

Zak's awesome cousins! :)

So we did it, we managed to visit all of our family from the south to the north and had an incredible time... next blog will continue on to the 'vacation' part of our vacation!!

Thanks for reading

xxx

Oahu: The final chapter (Lanikai; Kualoa Ranch; North Shore)

Since Zak and I enjoyed the kayaking that we found north of Honolulu we decided to go back to check out Lanikai Beach which has recently been name one of the 10 most beautiful places in America (see GMA coverage). It is a small beach and a bit difficult to get to since there is no parking and it is located in a residential area, so we kayaked there from Kailua. From the beach you can see two islands called the Mokolua Islands, which was our next kayaking adventure!

Once getting to islands we discovered that it had a great little beach to lay out on and eat lunch. We explored the island some more, which was also mostly a bird sanctuary, and found a great spot to get blasted by the waves!

The next day we traveled up to the North Shore stopping first at the Kualoa Ranch. This place came highly recommended but only if you are taking an ATV tour of the ranch. We were able to see places where the horses and bus tours could not get to. During our 2 hour tour we saw many areas where movies and TV shows such as Jurassic Park and Lost were filmed, and the most amazing scenery we have seen in our entire lives!

After the ranch we continued up to the North Shore to Waimea Valley Falls and we spotted the infamous Giovanni's Shrimp Truck. While it was expensive and gimmicky the shrimp was very good!!!

And onto Waimea Falls where we forgot to bring our bathing suits and decided an opportunity like this should not be missed and went into the waterfall fully clothed.. amazing.

And to finish off our trip in Oahu we went on a dinner boat cruise arranged by our resort which included lots of drinking and a fireworks show!

We greatly enjoyed every moment we had in Oahu, thank you for reading and following our adventures! xx