Moving To Laie

Swimsuit: Old Navy (similar) // Z’s Suit: Carters (similar) // Kris’ Sunglasses: SPY

Ok so I am going to let you in on all the secrets of Laie. I lived there for a bit over three years, so I know a few gooders. Not an expert, but I know my way around. Laie is a super small town that is made up half of locals and half of university students from Brigham Young University. There is one grocery store. Foodland, the place where you can buy milk for $5/gallon, but if you buy $200 of groceries you will get a coupon for the deal of the week, which could be as awesome as six whole rolls of toilet paper free. It makes you feel somewhat better about spending $8 on a tiny jar of pesto and $15 on a little bag of macadamia nuts.

So that is your grocery situation. Not sure how I got on that tangent.

Let me tell you something about Laie that is a little more interesting than groceries though, there are two waterfalls that you can hike to walking out of Laie. Laie Falls and PCC Falls. These falls are small and safe to swim in, and both have some cliff jumping too – nothing crazy exciting though. PCC falls hike starts behind the Polynesian Cultural Center. Laie Falls hike starts near the Laie graveyard. Both are about 3 hours roundtrip. If you are in Laie and having trouble finding them ask almost any student or local and they should be able to help you out. There are lots of students and locals around Laie, you will have no problem finding those.

Now lets talk about beaches. There are three main beaches in Laie that you can walk to from basically anywhere in Laie. Hukilau, Temple and Bikini. Most people like Hukilau the best because it has medium sized waves that are great for boogie boarding, especially if you are a beginner and don’t want to get hurt (too badly). My personal favorite is Bikini Beach. I love it because it is the most quiet beach. It never gets crowded and lots of times you can go and have the whole beach to yourself. It is just peaceful, beautiful and calm and has some great coves within the coral if you want to swim laps or something and get some exercise. Just wear goggles so you don’t swim into the coral by accident. Believe me. You don’t want to do that. I stayed in Hawaii for one summer when all my friends went home, I made some new and awesome friends, but I spent a lot of time by myself and almost every day I would go to Bikini beach for 3 hours and just lay on the sand and read or sleep. Those are some of my best memories of Hawaii, I have a good relationship with Bikini Beach. Now I am a mom and can’t even imagine the luxury of being able to spend THREE HOURS ALONE. I can hardly imagine that one day a week, let alone every day. I will admit though, Zoey is much cuter than any beach. Temple beach is my least favorite and I rarely ever would go there. I remember it being the ‘talking beach’, since it was the closest one, when a friend and I were having a good talk we would often wander around Laie and end up there. Oh. And it is also a great place to go skinny dipping. Don’t ask me how I know that.

Aside from beaches and the waterfall hikes there really is nothing else to do in Laie. Unless you consider fast food something to do. Oh and there is a very small theater. That about sums up Laie. Maybe it sums up me too since Laie is my favorite place I have ever lived. Really though, who isn’t happy when they have sun, sand and water. Obviously only crazy people.

xoxox,
rach