Fave Places to Eat & Visit in Oahu, Hawaii!
Fave Places to Eat & Visit in Oahu, Hawaii!
Hey guys!
I just got back from Oahu last night. I was a little sad to be leaving the beautiful island, but work is fun too, so I’m not upset at all 🙂
This was a half work – half vacay trip, which are always the best kinds because I feel like I get 2 things done with just one flight! Great for someone like me who despises planes and the act of traveling. Although, the flight was actually very nice. The plane was supposed to be filled to 220 or so passengers, but there were only 70! Got to spread out and lay down! Oh and I finally got to watch “JOY“. Have you seen it? It was inspirational, BUT I felt like they could have gone soooo much deeper. I wanted to get to know Joy Manzano (inventor of Miracle Mop) as a person and as an inventor better. Read reviews later and learned that the real Joy is a private person, so I guess that’s why I felt like I wanted to know so much more.
ANYWAY!
I want to share with you what I did while I was on Oahu, in case some of you are planning to go to Hawaii in the future! Ready? Let’s get started!
As soon as we got into Honolulu, we rented a car and drove straight to our hotel – The Outrigger Reef. The hotel is LITERALLY right on the beach. This is the view as soon as you step out of the hotel. YAH. Seriously.
As I mentioned, this was a work-vacay, so the first duty was to teach a big POP Pilates class at the local 24 Hour Fitness to welcome POP into all gyms in Hawaii! Look at all the POPsters who showed up! Everyone was so kind. And I’m not just saying that…literally Hawaii has some of the warmest, sweetest people I’ve ever met. It’s in the Hawaiian blood!
Sweaty selfie post class! I was a sweaty mess too. It was increds.
Thank you to everyone who gave me a lei and gifts. I usually never get gifts at meet ups, so it was such a warm welcome onto the island! After the meetup, my Program Director and Master Trainer, Jules, led our POP Instructor workshop and got this fine group ready to TEACH! Welcome to the POP Army Hawaii!
After the class and training day, we were ready to start the vacation part of the trip!!! I had to get my macadamias to prepare for island beach snacking of course. Onion & Garlic is my fave flavor, but it leaves your breath pretty stinky and not nice for kissing, so have a mint on hand.
I could tell you about all the beaches we went to, but this place stood out the most to me. This is the Lanai Lookout. It’s about 15 minutes north of Hanuama Bay (which is so incredible for snorkeling, very commercialized, but amazing nonetheless).
Technically, you’re not supposed to go out after the mini rock wall that gates this beauty from the parking lot, but we saw people doing it, so we did it too! The view is just breathtaking. These pics do NO JUSTICE to what you can experience with your eyes and your body. You need to go here.
Another MUST-SEE spot is the Waimano Waterfalls. It’s not easy to get there though. The hike I mean. I read on a blog that it was considered “Beginner” but I have to honestly admit that it felt more like intermediate-advanced to me! I think I will do a whole blog post dedicated to the hike because IT IS WORTHY. For now, I’ll show you what you will see when you get there.
The falls has 3 pools. The first one is shallow with the huge waterfall, probably about 30 ft tall or so. Then there’s a mini pool in the middle, about the size and depth of a hot tub. And at the final and lowest pool, YOU GET THIS. TARZAN ROPES!!!! All the water is fresh and no there aren’t any weird fish or bugs! Just tiny baby fish but I didn’t encounter any Lochness Monsters, so I think you’re pretty safe here 🙂
OK, can we talk food please? All my friends told me we HAD to go to Gionvanni’s Shrimp Truck on the North Shore, so we trekked there to see what all the hype was about!
I got the Spicy Shrimp, and within a minute I regretted it. On the menu it said something along the lines of “This is VERY SPICY. We will not offer refunds!” I was so cocky, I was like yeah, whatever, it’s gonna be a piece of cake. Honestly guys, for a girl who puts habanero sauce on her salads at lunch, I was DYING. THIS IS SPICY!!! Very spicy!!! Luckily Sam got Garlic and Butter shrimp (the most popular dish) and I traded him some of my shrimps so that I could survive.
So did it live up to the hype? Yes, it was yummy! But have cash on hand! There’s an ATM machine at the McDonald’s across the street though if you forget, like me.
When in Hawaii, you MUST have an Acai Bowl! This one is from Nalu Health Bar & Cafe which is in Kailua, HI. There are plenty of places to choose from (just Yelp it), but make sure the fruits they put in your bowl are FRESH! I bought another bowl from another place the next day, and it seemed that they were using pre-frozen fruit over pre-blended acai. Not cool. You can significantly taste the difference. This one had bee pollen crunchies on top and it was spectacular.
Finally…THIS.
Obscene much? Yes. Very very much. If there’s one thing you don’t know about me, it’s that I am very egotistical when it comes to bragging about how much food I can eat in one sitting. I LOVE watching food eating competitions – it’s just so fun! There’s one food challenge that I’ve ALWAYS wanted to attempt, and that’s the Macdaddy’s Pancake Challenge at MAC 24/7 in Honolulu. The challenge is to eat this ENTIRE stack of pancakes in under 90 min and you get a free t-shirt, your face on the wall of fame, and your pancake bill paid for. I believe these were about $25.
I went in thinking I could totally take it down – easy peasy.
BUT BOY WAS I WRONG.
I FAILED SO HARD.
GUYS IT WAS EMBARASSING.
I ate way less than a quarter and nearly passed out.
Nope. This was my first food eating challenge and I am officially going to say that there is no need to ever attempt any food challenge again.
So those are the highlights from my Hawaii trip! You can see more of my pics on Instagram @blogilates. Like I said, I will blog entirely about the hike because I think it is something you guys will TRULY enjoy. So stay tuned for that!
Have you been to Hawaii yet? Do you plan on going?
40 thoughts on “Fave Places to Eat & Visit in Oahu, Hawaii!”
There are 40 comments posted by our users.
Heading to Oahu on Sunday…so excited. Think I will try that hike!!!
I’m headed to Honolulu next month! The hikes you mentioned are definitely on my to-do list! 😀
Amazing place!!! great pics
This is somewhat off topic, but I was wondering if you could create some BodyPOP clothing in forest green. I love that color and it would be awesome to exercise in it! And thank you SO Much for who you are and your amazing positive influence on the world!(and me! 🙂 )
omg i want to go there tooo…lv those pic cassey..<3 <3
you should make a post about sam. its awkward that you almost completely exclude him from your image whereas you post a ton about your sister and family. Just own it
Eeek! So beautiful! And it’s so glad to hear I’m not the only one of gets egotistical about how much food I can consume when challenged (Like one YOLO day I had that Cheddar’s Sundae cake all to myself). I honestly think it’s a culture thing cuz my family is Cajun…and I’m used to crawfish boils and consuming like 15 lbs. Props to you Cassey for even attempting! I’m not a fan of pancakes so I’d probably take one bite and be like “ugh…done” haha.
Haven’t been to Hawaii yet but it is on my list. Thanks for the post. Lots of useful info. Those pancakes tho…kudos to you for even attempting! They do look delish..YUM!
Thank you for sharing your experience of Hawaii! I’m hoping to start planning a vacation for after I graduate from my undergrad next year and Hawaii is on my list! In your blog about the hike, might you include recommendations of exercises you think would be best to prepare for strenuous hikes? I do a lot of hiking/backpacking for my work and I’m always looking for ways to improve. Since I began blogilates this year I feel soo much more prepared for this field season than I was last season! Thank you <3
It looks like you had the time of your life girl awesome pics 🙂
Making me reminisce about the work/vacay I had with my sweetie in Oaho a few years ago… Such a beautiful island! We ate fresh local fruit, swam, and hiked every day! Probably the only vacation where we lost weight 😉
Oh my gosh that looks so fun and the island is so beautiful! Would love to go to Hawii one day…unfortunately I don’t do heights well AT ALL so idk how the plane ride would go lol 😉
The pictures look so beautiful!!!!!!! Those pancakes are HUGE!!!! it looks like you had so much fun!
You are very beautiful cassey
I’m traveling to Oahu this summer, so this was super helpful! Where did you get your white floral bikini from?
So jealous!! That hike sounds amazing, I’m trying to get my bf agree that we can go there next year!! 🙂
Hawaii seems really pretty by looking at the photos you took! I really want to go to Hawaii. I’ve never been there before. Your amazing Cassey! Your workout videos are amazing. I honestly lost 20 pounds by doing your workouts. Its awesome!!
Very cool! glad you had a great time, it looks beautiful there!!!
I will definitely need to attempt this challenge one day if I’m ever in Hawaii. I am in the same mindset as you, I will think I can do it. Because food ❤️ and pish posh yes I can eat it all haha!
those pancakes o.O but it seems so yummy !
I’m so glad you got to experience the “ALOHA SPIRIT!” I’m a local girl born and raised on the island of O’ahu. I just moved to Salt lake City,Utah and let me tell you there is absolutely no aloha spirit here! Mahalo Kea uka for enjoying the place I call home O’ahu,Hawaii..
Hi Cassey, Glad you had such an awesome trip looks like fun. I wanted to ask are you ever going to go on another national tour and do any meetups or classes or Pop Pilates training classes in Georgia? I’d love to come to one of your classes or have more pop Pilates teachers here so I could go to one.
That would be awesome if she came to Georgia! 🙂
Oh, my gosh, yes! Pilates in Piedmont Park, anyone? 🙂 Or maybe someplace in Savannah. We would love to have you here, Cassey!
You trip sounds like so much fun, and was the pancake really that big?! From the picture it looks like I could do it but I’ll take your work for it and say that I’d probably give up 1/4 into the way too.
What’s the next pace you’ll be flying to? Wil you come to toronto?
Hello Cassey, although you have not come out officially to speak about the online drama, I know you’ve been enduring it all. Stay strong!! POPsters and your loved ones are always here for you, the rest don’t matter. Love you!!
wow! from your snapchat i didnt realize the pancakes were soooooo huge 😀
This looks like it was such an amazing trip!! I’d love to visit Hawaii someday. That pancake is calling my name! Would love to see more posts like this 🙂
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So excited! Going there on Sunday with my beautiful daughter. Will continue to do the blogilates via youtube xx
Oahu is amazing! My boyfriend is from there so I’ve had the privilege and excuse to visit the island twice in the past year and every visit I can’t get enough. I hope to do your hikes next time, but if you ever go back you should try other hikes like Lanikai pillboxes, crouching lion trail, and Koko head (stairs of death)!
I’m from Kailua
Cassey where are your bikini’s from? The pictures all look stunning! I can’t wait until I finally get to visit Hawaii now! 🙂
That light pink one is from Forever 21!
Forever 21 is like my favorite place to shop (outside of your POP FLEX collection). You should totally do a peony bikini!
Wow, these photos are stunning! I’ve always dreamed of going to Hawaii, Oahu and Kauai seem like such beautiful places to visit, it’s definitely on my list. Your photos are stunning, the look out and waterfall look like something out of a dream it must have been so serene 🙂
My Lovelier Days
Ugh it was perfect!
I really wanted to attend your class on Saturday, but I was stuck at work 🙁 Hopefully you get a chance to visit and teach here again in the near future!
I love Giovanni’s! I miss Oahu so much! The last time I was there was two years ago!
I know what you mean about being able to eat a disturbing amount of food in one sitting lol.
I KNOW RIGHT!!???