2015 Hawaii

We just got back from spending a week in Hawaii on Oahu.  Mona was born in Honolulu and spent her pre-school years there.  She has several cousins and two elderly aunts living on the islands.  For many years she has made an annual trip to Honolulu to visit them.  For over 13 years she was making the trip more than twice a year after her mother suffered a stroke.  This year we made a mini vacation of it since I had never visited the island before.

 

Mona likes to stay in Kailua about a half hour drive from Honolulu.  It is a much more relaxed town than the city.  It is where the Obama's go to relax.  Mona has found this nice vacation rental room in one of the houses about a 10 minute walk to this beach. 

 

This picture doesn't show it, but there was one kite surfer who had a board that was a hydro foil.  It was so fast that I couldn't get a decent picture with my small camera.  It was weird seeing him fly along 3 feet out of the water.

 

Our first day there we went to visit the Pacific War Memorial and took the boat to the Arizona Memorial.  The National Park Service has done a wonder job as the memorials were extremely moving along with being educational.

 

The next day we took the "relatively easy" hike up Diamond Head.  The only problem was the parking lot, a third of the way up the mountain, was completely full. so we  had to hike up from the very bottom.  It is by far the most popular hike on the island and for good reason being close to the city with incredible views. 

 

After Diamond Head we went to visit Mona's 97 year old Auntie Helen.  She is truly an amazing lady.  Her husband, Mona's uncle, was a federal judge on the Ninth Court of Appeals.  Auntie Helen loved to tell of her love affair with Mona's uncle.  They had no children and Mona clearly was a favorite niece.  Auntie Helen kept telling Mona how she wished Mona would move back to the island.  I must look pretty old because once Auntie Helen asked me what I did during the war.  But she quickly recovered saying that she was a generation older than I.  We had lunch with her and visited several times.

 

By the way, Auntie Helen has a beautiful home overlooking the city and Diamond Head.  You can tell that the architect was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.  

 

One night we had diner with several of Mona's maternal cousins.  What a fun group!  It was wonderful just seeing how well they all got along.  It was a great day for the three sister cousins as they went car shopping together earlier in the day and each bought a new car!

 

The next day we went to Mona's Auntie Sarah's 98th birthday celebration with her some of her paternal cousins.  And again, for me, this was a wonderful experience, except when I was introduced to Auntie Sarah.  She slowly looked at me, up and down twice, before approving.  At least I hoped she approved. 

 

Another day we drove up the east coast to the North Shore.  Along the way Mona found a geocache.  I think she has been bitten by the geocaching bug.

 

Mona said that Part way up the coast there was a trail she has hiked that was a nice easy stroll called Crouching Lion.  It was a nice stroll if you were a mountain goat!  It was a good thing there was lots of sturdy vegetation alongside the trail we could use to pull ourselves up with.  Needless to say, this wasn't the hike she remembered.  But the views made the effort more than worthwhile with a nice breeze blowing at the top.

 

Looking north from Crouching Lion

 

Just before we reached the north end of the island we came across a place selling "shave ice", Mona's favorite island treat when it has ice cream at the bottom.  The fellow who ordered in front of me came out with this ball of ice about the size of a volleyball!  I figured that had to be a large so I got a regular.  Nope..... It was a regular!  While we were trying to devour ours we met this young South Korean couple who were obviously on their honeymoon.  They were so cute and surprised to learn than Mona is of Korean decent.  The owner also came out and talked with us for a while explaining he makes his ice so large because it costs him nearly nothing to make them.

 

On the very north end of the island we literally stumbled upon this beach and went for a swim. 

 

The famous North Shore

 

There was suppose to be a women's surfing contest going on but for some reason it was called off for the day by the time we got there.  It was still lots of fun watching the surfers.  Some were extremely good.

 

Just south of where we were staying in Kailua was a hike up to an area called "The Pill Box" because of the WWII bunkers up on the ridge line. 

 

Several times we just went to the Kailua Beach and enjoyed the opportunity to relax.

 

Another hike with great views was up to the Makapu'U lighthouse.  Can you see the para-glider?  There was two of them which were up the entire time we where there.

 

A ways off the coast there were several humpback whales cruising the coast.  At times one would breach.  They made Mona's day!

 

Later we snorkeled at a spot called Hanauma Bay.  The beach was really crowded as it is a main tourist attraction.  The snorkeling was nice though.  Surprising some of the biggest fish were really close to the shore. 

 

Our last day we made a final visit to Auntie Helen, then went and toured the Iolani Palace.  Later lounged on the Ala Moana Beach before catching the "Red Eye", 9pm, flight back home.

 

Except it took a little longer to get home than planned.  When our flight arrived over Spokane, it couldn't land due to fog.  After circling for an hour or so, we turned back to Seattle.  The next flight we could get on was 8 hours later.  Oh Well....  at least we found a spot to sleep for a while.

 

That's it.  I can't wait to get back.  With Mona retiring in the near future we will be able to spend more time and maybe visit some of the other islands the next time.