Hawaii - May 30 - Oahu Departure and Kauai Arrival

At some point, our whirlwind tour of Oahu was going to have to end.  Too little time, too many islands to visit.

Melch signing the guestbook at our cool little vacation house

We got up way too early in the morning, turned in the rental, navigated the indignities of TSA goonery, and hopped on for the short flight from Honolulu, Oahu to Lihue, Kauai.

Unlike Oahu, where Melch and I had been many times and had many more activity ideas than we had time to program them, Kauai was going to be a new experience.  After picking up our rental, we followed the recommendation of the man at the counter and made our way down for some breakfast along the scenic Nawiliwili Bay.  We picked out a breakfast place with a second-story view of the bay and sat down for some Hawaiian-style breakfast.

With our stomaches thus filled, we were ready for our next activity - a visit to the Koloa Rum Company!  I'd heard about them while on Oahu and they were close to our breakfast spot so there was no doubt that we were going.

The rum company's tasting room is on a small plantation/park sort of thing where they have a bunch of other tourist activities too.

It was a toss-up between the spiced and the dark for me, but then again it always is...

Wonder why they call it the "Garden Island"

Thus fortified, we set out to tour some of the island's landmarks.  There was an ancient man-made fishing pool nearby:

Menehune Pool

And an even more-ancient, nature-made waterfall:

Wailua Falls

 And a whole mess of beaches:

Wailua Beach

And our very own lodging for the week:

Balcony View

We also checked out the humane society.  They had some pretty swank arrangements and a field trip program where visiting tourists can check a dog out for the day and take them on a trip.  That's just the sort of thing we might be interested in...

Finally we wrapped up the day with a bit more alcohol-fueled tourism.  Kauai Beer Company was on our way back to the motel, so we gave them a look-see-taste.

Not a bad day considering how little sleep we'd had and the usual struggles dealing with post-TSA travel.

Hawaii - May 29 - Diamond Head, Koko Head, Family Dinner

Thursday was our last day on Oahu so we had to squeeze in the must-dos for Drayas.  At the top of that list was Diamond Head.  

Diamond Head isn't a particularly long or challenging or even interesting hike, but it's a famous trek and for a good reason - the view at the top!

As it had been for the entirety of our stay on Oahu, the weather was very warm and humid.  Mid-90's by the time we started the hike, I'd guess.  We got some shave ice to cool us off as we started the ascent.

The hike went by pretty quickly and we stayed around on top to cool off in the breeze and scope out the views.

After some traditional Hawaiian lunch (Drayas got to taste poi for the first time!) and another stop off at Leonard's for some guava malasadas, we moved on to the second hike of the day - Koko Head.  The trail to the top of Koko Head is actually an abandoned tram track.  The rails are in various states of decomposition so footing is a challenge.  The hike is short but very steep, with 1046 steps to the top.

1046 to go...

Watch your step on the crazy bridge!

 Once again, the views were worth the effort.  Diamond Head overlooks Waikiki, Honolulu and the south coast.  Koko Head is a bit further east, overlooking Hawaii Kai, Hanauma Bay, and the coast out towards Makapu'u Pt.

Hanauma Bay, where we'd snorkeled a few days prior

Hawaii Kai

 Dinner was a last meet-up with Melch's relatives - at another Hawaiian plate-lunch place.  We wrapped the evening up with some outlet shopping at Crazy Shirts.

Hawaii - May 26 - Hanauma, Duk Kee, Leonard's, Waikiki

We had seen Hanauma from the parking lot and from the air, but we had never actually gone snorkeling down there.  Given that the place is famous for reef snorkeling, that was an oversight that Melch wanted to remedy ASAP.  So we made our way down the coast and rented ourselves some flippers.

Hanauma is pretty awesome even before you get your toes wet.  Like most of Hawaii, it's filled with white sand and palm trees.

The snorkeling was pretty awesome too.  The masks wouldn't seal over my copious hair, but I could still breath for a while before the water filled up and I had to surface.  I saw many different kinds of fish and a bunch of reef.  It my first experience snorkeling as an adult and while I did enjoy it, I think next time I'll seek out some nose plugs and regular old swim goggles rather than the combined mask that wasn't working too well for me.

After working up an appetite in the ocean, we headed to Kaimuki to eat at Duk Kee, one of Kerry's old favorites.  We even got some of his favorite dishes, like the abalone.

After that, it was on to Leonard's for their world-famous malasadas.  This is another must-do tradition for myself and Melch and of course another new thing for Drayas.  Sweetening (heh) the deal: the Flavor of the Month malasada was guava!  I love guava and had more than my share of guava malasadas over our stay.

Sufficiently fat and happy, we made our way down to Waikiki to hang watch the sunset and have a round on a rooftop bar.  Pretty good way to wrap up an eventful day before heading over the hill to sleep.  The bar we went to had a pretty decent duo playing live music.

The central theme of their songs seemed to be around happiness I suppose ;)

Hawaii - May 28 - East and North Shore of Oahu

The north shore of Oahu is famous for a reason.  The northeast shore isn't, but I don't know the reason for that at all.  I think it's awesome.

We'd already been up and down the southeast side from Kailua, around Makapu'u and all the way to Honolulu - several times.  But Drayas had never been north of Kaneohe, except on our plane ride.

Time to fix that!

We had some breakfast at Moke's in Kailua:

After that we went to Kerry's funeral in Mililani.  I have some photos from that too, but that was his adventure and his family's, not mine.

The group gathered for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Mililani-Mauka and then we all split off.  Val and her friend Karen headed straight north to Hale Iwa to look for turtles and hang out on the beach for the afternoon.  Melch, Drayas and I took the H3 to Kaneohe and began the counter-clockwise path north and westward towards the north shore.

Chinaman's Hat

I experience the ocean through a camera.  Melch uses her feet.

It was even prettier in person

If it's wrong to spend a bunch of time watching a puppy eat a coconut on Sunset Beach, North Shore, Oahu... then I don't want to be right.

So many wild chickens in Hawaii.  And chicks too!

Pipeline

Sea turtle at Laniakea Beach 

Setting sun on the north shore

We finally made it to Hale Iwa ourselves as sunset approached.  To me, Hale Iwa means two things - surfers and shave ice.  We didn't have time or boards for surfing, but we definitely had time for shave ice!  Matsumoto's is the famous location for that, but they were closed when we arrived.  San Lorenzo would have to do, and they came through just fine.

A Hale Iwa tradition

Once we had our sugar buzz solidly buzzing, it was time for the nighttime drive down the center of the island.  Melch wasn't feeling well, so we dropped her off and went to a pub for some real  (i.e., not sugar-water) food.  Their kitchen was closed, so we had a round and then went to Zippy's for some late-night burgers before heading to bed.

It was a very long, very busy day.  It wasn't all fun, but some of it was very fun.  And it was definitely another adventure.

Hawaii - May 27 - Plane rental, ultimate and Ala Moana Center

Really high atop the "things to do on Oahu" list was of course: go flying!  I found Barbers Point Flight School through Open Airplane (even though I haven't actually gotten checked out through Open Airplane yet).

Sweetening the deal was their tail number - not too far off of the 411BP that I fly so often back in Santa Barbara.

We actually went on two flights around the island - one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.  That allowed for me to fit Melch, Drayas and Val (my mother-in-law) in with myself and the instructor.

So the extremely astute observer might notice that the photos below are actually sometimes from opposite sides of the plane.

The flight was phenomenal.  We flew around the entire island, twice.  The instructor was pretty friendly and helped when necessary but generally just let me do my thing.

The views were just awesome.  I tried to take photos as often as I could, but every reef, every valley and cloud, was just stunning.  I've been coming to Oahu for a while now and driven pretty much everywhere that one can drive and it was such a cool thing to see how it all fits together from the air.

I took stop-motion videos in both directions:

And of course the photos:

Dillingham Field 

Hale Iwa, looking south towards Honolulu

This is just awesome

Flying around some rain and under a rain cloud near Kahuku

Awesome Valley

Kaneohe Bay

Kaneohe Marine Base

Me, Melch and the Sam (the CFI)

Kaneohe/Kailua area

Kaneohe/Kailua area

Olomana Peak - where we hiked on Saturday

Approaching Waimanalo Bay

Makapu'u Point

Hanauma Bay, Koko Head and Hawaii Kai

Diamond Head, Waikiki, Honolulu

Downtown

Aloha Bowl

Honolulu Airport

Pearl Harbor

Hangin' with my brother!

Val enjoying a new view of her old stomping grounds

Actual route of one of the flights

 After the flights and a bit of ultimate, we went to Ala Moana center for some Genki Sushi.  Genki Sushi is a "fast food" sushi joint like they have in Japan.  Plates are pre-made and move around on a conveyor belt.  If you want something special, you can order it.  It used to be that special orders would be brought out by the wait staff, but the more modern Genki experience includes little cars on tracks that zoom out and deliver whatever you requested.  Usually within a minute or two.  Tons of fun.

Spam Musubi! 

Each special order vehicle was different - race car, space ship, train, even a surf board!

Really, what a phenomenal day.  Got to see Oahu in ways we never had before.  Got to take Val up for her first small plane ride.  Sunset ultimate right along the ocean at Ala Moana park.  Fun Sushi and goofing off in Ala Moana center.  Great adventures from sunup to sundown.