Wow ! Almost a year and a half since I've done a post. Talk about slacking! Well it catch up time! and I think I'll start with our trip to Hawaii in December - It was a last minute trip planned in October. We had no intentions of even taking a trip this year but when I found flights from SFO to Honolulu for $299 a person I knew we had to jump on it - Logan has begged us for years to take him and adding that third person in is always a strain on our bank accounts. We didn't bother to tell him we were going. We just picked him up at the airport at midnight and got right back on another plane the following morning at 9am

Day One: We arrived on Oahu around 12:45pm after an hour delay out of San Francisco. The weather was horrible in the bay area and we were excited to get to Oahu. We rented some kind of weird SUV thing from Hertz Rental Car and off we went. We stopped by Costco to pickup supplies and have lunch. The cheapest meal of our entire vacation $7.68 to feed the three of us. What a deal! After Costco we headed to our hotel (Waikiki Resort Hotel). We were an hour early but they let us check in and up we went to our rooms to freshen up. This hotel is basic but cheap and the location is ideal for Waikiki beach if you’re on a budget. We hit the Waikiki strip and fought all the other tourist trying to get from point A to point B. We checked out the International Market Place but didn’t buy anything. Are they going to tear down that beautiful tree when they tear the rest of it down? If so, that breaks my heart. We headed to Lulu’s for dinner since I remembered it from my time in Kona years ago. The food was extremely underwhelming. We called it an early night and I was sound asleep by 7:30pm Hawaii time.

Day two: I wake up early. I like to wake the rest of the family up with me. I know this is not nice but it’s what I do. I make breakfast and pack our lunch. We are on a budget a very tight one. We head to Pearl Harbor for the 9:30 showing. We get there at 8:15 and manage to get bumped up to the 8:30 showing. Pear Harbor is unbelievable. My emotions get the better of me and I shed a few tears. I’m a firm believer that anyone visiting Oahu should come here. If you don’t, you’re missing a great opportunity to see a huge part of our American and Japanese history. Plus it’s free. Can’t beat that! After Pearl Harbor we head to the National Cemetery. It is the third anniversary of our friend’s death and we stop by for a visit. We’re impressed with how well kept the grounds are. For a cemetery this place is beautiful and has some amazing views of Honolulu. Once again I shed a few tears. Next stop is Manoa falls but before heading there we decided to stop at Lyon Arboretum which is right next door and advice from trip advisor says that you can park in their parking lot and explore both places. Needless to say that Lyons has a nice little sign asking you not to do this. We spent a good two hours getting lost on their trails before we finally made it back to the parking lot. This place was amazing! So beautiful that had I been lost for another four hours it would have been fine with me. Another free activity that exceeded my expectations. Next we drove down to Manoa falls and paid their 5 dollar parking fee. We hiked up this nice trail but it seemed so lacking next to Lyons trails. We were also disappointed that the falls were barely a trickle. We head back to Waikiki but do the loop at Puu Ualakaa State Park first. Impressive views and well worth the visit. Back at the hotel we once again walk the strip, sit on the beach, and enjoy the last few minutes of the sun before having dinner at The Yardhouse. It was better the Lulu’s but not great.

 

 

 

Day Three: We’re up again early and hiking Diamond Head by 8am. I am out of shape and all this humidity is kicking my butt. The boys make it up in no time. I sweat, moan, and cry but I make it. The weather hasn’t been ideal and the view is average at best on this particular day. The number of people wanting to hike Diamond Head was our biggest turn off. So many people trying to compete for the same spot. I personally would skip it next time. We’ve got time to kill before we have to check out of our hotel so we head north east and visit the Halona Blow Hole. There are 6 tour buses and 500 people standing to see it. We weren’t impressed but we also live on the beach in Northern California where our blow hole shoots 50 feet up in the air. Maybe it was a bad tide day. We’re not sure. We leave there and head back to Waikiki but stop first at the spitting cave. Now this was impressive. Only two locals on the rocks watching the whales and turtles go by. We head back to our hotel and grab some lunch at Lyasume Musubi. It’s excellent! We then pack and off to Makaha we went! . We arrive at our condo (Makaha Beach Cabanas) around 2pm. It’s beautiful! The ocean and beach are stunning and we are so glad to be out of Waikiki. We spend the rest of the day at the condo checking out the whales and turtles.

 

 

 

Day Four: We once again get up early (are you seeing a trend yet, poor guys) we head to the Aloha Stadium to stock up on souvenirs. This was our kids favorite thing. I'm pretty sure he's going to be on an episode of hoarders. After the market we head up to the North Shore and hit the beaches. The boys boogie board. I work on my tan. The weather is poor and we end up only staying for a few hours but we did manage to hit up a shrimp truck and this made all the driving worth it. We take the long way back to the Condo and hit up the Valley of Temples. It’s more than worth the 3 dollars they charge you to get in.

 

Day Five: We head to Kahe Point Beach to snorkel. It amazed me to see how many people pay for someone to take them snorkeling when they can just drive to that location and walk right in. The snorkeling was decent but they want to check out the snorkeling at the Ko’olina lagoons. We pack up and head that way. The snorkeling in lagoon two is decent but they quickly grow bored of this and want to boogie board. We head up to Yokohama Beach but the surf is not ideal for boogie boarding. We load the car back up and head to Makaha Beach. The boys are once again not happy with the boogie boarding. They want to pack up and head elsewhere. I throw a fit. I am tired of lugging everything to and from the car. We stay there for two hours. I am happy.

Day Six: I let them sleep in. We don’t start moving until around 10:30am. They want to head up to the north shore again and boogie board. I’m not happy with this. We should have gotten up early if we were going to do all that driving. They give in and we hike the rock by our condo. Stunning views but you better have a good grip. We then attempt to visit Kane aki heiu but are informed at the gate that it was vandalized in March and is shut down until repairs can be made. Boohoo! We decided to spend a couple of hours on the beach at our condo I love it there! At 2pm we head to the Bishop Museum for some exploring. We should have left earlier. I didn’t feel like the two hours I allotted to explore was nearly enough. We left the Museum and head into Waikiki for dinner. It took us 1 hr and 15 minutes to travel 8 miles. There is a parade in Waikiki to celebrate Pearl Harbor. I love this but wish we had known prior. We end up turning around because we couldn’t find parking. We ate at Gorden Biersch and it too was disappointing.

Day Seven: We head home – boohoo! On the plus side the weather in San Francisco is amazing which made leaving a little easier.



All in all I’m not sure if I would go back to Oahu. We preferred Maui and even the Big Island over Oahu but it’s our goal to visit all the islands during our travels and I’m glad we went.