Camping, WHALES, Thai food, more WHALES.

School life has been a bit busy lately, but not too busy to have some Hawaii fun! 

A few weeks ago, Devin and I went camping. We went to Bellows, and stayed on the military side of the campgrounds. The military side has some awesome amenities like actual showers (although not truly hot water), picnic tables, a mini golf course (I would like to put out there that I beat Devin!), and even a little bar that we went to one night for live music. And they even have quiet hours after 10 PM that they actually enforce! We have stayed on the civilian side at Bellows several times and been kept up by huge groups of people being rowdy until 4 AM (no joke), so that was what made us try the military side. And... we are never going back. 

Anyway, Bellows (both sides) are on the eastern shore of the island, by Waimanalo. That side of the island, in my opinion, has the best beaches. Soft sand, perfect blue water... what more could you want? So while everyone back home was complaining about a giant snow storm, we were here:

What snow?

Not too shabby, right? We had a great weekend there, and then on Sunday was went on a whale watch cruise before heading home! We had a Groupon for it, and it was such a cool experience! We got to see lots of whales, and I learned a lot about them, too! Whale watching was on my Hawaii bucket list, and I'm so glad we got to do it! My phone was dead, but the tour included a CD of the photos they took, so here are some of the coolest shots, courtesy of Island Divers: 

Breaching! So, so cool. They look smaller in the photos than they were in real life.

We kept seeing them just swimming along at the surface. We saw a couple pairs, usually a mother and calf.

Look, there are two of them!

I feel like whales have so much fun. Doesn't that look fun?

At the very end, two of them swam RIGHT BY our boat. I felt like I could have reached out and touched them.

They were so close!

When they do this with their tails, it means they're about to dive deep and you probably won't see them for a while.

It's like they're waving goodbye!

Seriously, HOW COOL ARE WHALES? If you don't think whales are cool, you are wrong. So, if you are in Hawaii over the "winter," go on a whale watch!! The peak season is December to March, and then they head back up north to Alaska. (One day, I want to go kayaking with whales in Alaska. That's my other whale-related bucket list item. Well, that and having a pet whale.)

After that adventure-filled weekend, Devin went into the field for two weeks. That gave me more time to watch Netflix focus on my homework, so I got a lot done! And since the whole brigade (I think?) was in the field, my friends were all in the same boat, so to speak, so we hung out without our men, which led to some really nice girls nights! 

On one of the girls nights, my friend Kait and I went up to Haleiwa and ate dinner at Opal Thai, which was amazing. I'd never been there before, but I do like Thai food. (I'm no connoisseur, but I enjoy it!) The restaurant used to just be a food truck, and it was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network, and for good reason! They have their own space now, and the guy who owns it, Opel, will give you a menu and then takes it away and asks you what you like. He listed a whole bunch of ingredients and then he asked if I like all of them. I said yes, so he walked off and I was (very quickly!) brought this totally unique dish made just for me! Talk about royal treatment! It was delicious (so spicy!) and I am definitely going back there again!

Now, it's spring break, which has been relaxing! I haven't had any real plans at all and it has been great! We went for a short hike on Sunday on the North Shore and had dinner at the food trucks there before heading over to meet our friends' brand new baby. And I've finally had time to clean our house! And this weekend I'm seeing Cinderella with a friend, and then we're having a St. Patrick's Day party and a beach day!


Hard to believe there are only 8 more weeks of school, isn't it? On that note, I'd better go do some homework...