Aloha! Diamond Head

Charles and I debated a little on what hike to take while visiting Oahu. I wanted to hike Diamond Head. He wanted to hike Koko Crater. Koko Crater looked a lot more challenging and Charles was pretty sure he had a broken toe so we ended up hiking Diamond Head. (yay!)

It is a fairly easy hike. There are a couple parts that are a little challenging, but it's really not that bad.

There are several scenic lookout stops. They all offered beautiful views!

I had wanted to hike another trail. The day we went it was so windy. Our eyelids were flapping all over the place and we both knew the hike would not be a pleasant one. Maybe next time!

Aloha! Hawaiian King's Palace

As we all know, Hawaii was not always part of the United States. They had their own royalty for a while. The royal palace is now a museum that you can visit. It is interesting to view it compared to the surrounding city. Honolulu seems to be a downtown of 1960's style buildings (in other words, not very pretty). But the palace is a relic of the past and stands out from the neighboring buildings.

This is another building near the palace

Parking was challenging. We literally drove around the Palace a couple times before we figured out where to park. But we eventually made it!

When it was time for our tour to start, we were both given little booties to wear over our shoes. The thing I liked about the tour was that it was self-guided. Everyone is given a listening device with headphones. It prompts you when to start and lets you know which room to stand in for each part. You have the option to listen to more or move on to the next room. The self-guided tour gave a lot of interesting information about the royal family and the palace. 

Wouldn't you love to live in this beautiful building? I love the porches.

Formal dining room. How fun would it be to host a dinner party here?

 

Aloha! Welcome to the North Shore

After finishing up at the Dole Plantation, we headed up to the North Shore. It was a quite windy day, so my idea of laying on the beach was squashed. The scenery was so beautiful, though. I hated not being able to sit and enjoy it. But sundresses and gusty winds do not mix well.

Walking around the town was nice. There are a bunch of great shops. We came out with a few souvenirs. One that I am really in love with is the Heather Brown print (see below). She is a native Hawaiian artist. Her art is so fun and colorful. I chose this print because it reminds me of the Bradford Pear trees that bloom in the early spring.

 

There are a ton of food trucks at the North Shore. I thought Charles was going to get something from a shrimp truck, but we decided to get an Acai bowl. It had acai sorbet (I think that's what it was, at least) with fruit and honey. We shared it and it was so delicious!

I did not see many surfers; maybe the weather was less than ideal. We did see some wind surfers, though. I just know I would blow away if I attempted that.

Aloha! Dole Plantation

Who doesn't love pineapples? I have to admit that I used to not like them. I cannot remember how I was finally converted, but I am thankful that I was. My roommate in college loved pineapples. I remember her referencing a Pineapple Princess song. Random memory, but I cannot talk about pineapples without thinking of her.

One stop on our Hawaii vacation was the Dole Plantation to see some pineapples up close!

The Dole Plantation has a great garden you can walk around. It has a ton of signs that tell you about the local plants. It was very informative!

Enjoying that Dole Whip!

We had to return a second day to finish our Dole Plantation activities. On the first day, we were able to do the Garden Tour and a Train Ride. When we boarded the little train, it started to rain. The rain did not stop for the rest of the day.

On the second day, we completed the maze. The maze is gigantic! There is a bit of a hunt to find the various signs which each have a little image to trace on your map. Luckily Charles is an excellent navigator and we were able to find all the signs. If it were just me, I think I would still be lost in the maze.

Aloha! Pearl Harbor...enough said

By far my favorite part of visiting Hawaii was Pearl Harbor and the other WWII sites and monuments. I enjoy learning about that time period, so it was neat to see it all up close.

As I mentioned in my last post, our first day in Hawaii was spent touring Pearl Harbor. We woke up bright and early to make sure to get tickets to the Arizona Memorial. We got on the first tour!

Then we walked around the park. They have a lot of plaques and such to commemorate December 7th and the many soldiers, marines, airman, and others that lost their lives in the war.

Then we hopped on the bus and headed to the Pacific Aviation Museum. It's not a huge museum (at least not compared with the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson), but they had nice displays and a ton of different planes in their hanger.

Then we toured the USS Missouri (Mighty Mo). It was neat to see how sailors live. I could not do it!

The USS Oklahoma memorial is located outside of Mighty Mo. It's just a small thing, but worth checking out.

Aloha! Fill up

I am a picky eater; so I may not love to eat everything, but I love to eat! Whenever I have travel research to do a large part of that is spent on researching where to eat. My philosophy is that I may never visit this place again. I want to make the most out of my eating experiences. I do not want to waste my time and money on a sub-par meal.

We visited Oahu, the most populated of Hawaii's islands. It is home to Pearl Harbor, Honolulu and the North Shore. Needless to say, there are a ton of restaurants. I utilized both the list of places visited on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Tripadvisor to guide me. We ate at some delicious spots while in Hawaii. I did not take pictures of everything, but below are some of the things we enjoyed on our trip.

Charles' plate at the Poke (pronounced like pokey) Stop. He really enjoyed the variety. Before ordering, he was able to sample several of their pokes. They make a ton of different flavor combinations.

My breakfast at the Poke Stop was not as satisfying as I was expecting. I ordered banana pancakes with the haupia sauce on top. I thought the pancakes came with candied macadamia nuts inside, but none were to be found. The haupia sauce did not have much flavor and there was soooo much of it. I would order something different if we ever go again.

While on the island, we visited the Dole Plantation and enjoyed the iconic Dole Whip (with pineapples). It was refreshing and delicious.

Everyone probably imagines a luau when you think about visiting Hawaii. That is a pretty standard touristy thing to do and, of course, I wanted to experience it. Our hotel, the Hale Koa, had their own luau. It was so convenient to our stay. The food was delicious! It included chicken, pork, fish (which Charles ate for me), fried banana, sweet potato, rice, pineapple and a couple appetizers.

One morning of our trip was spent on a Breakfast Whale Watch cruise. Our breakfast included scramble eggs, poi rolls, Kona coffee, pineapple, watermelon, muffins and probably some other items that I am forgetting. It was actually really delicious and a nice scenic place to enjoy a meal. Unfortunately, we did not spot any whales.

Even though I do not like beer, I love visiting breweries and pubs. Honolulu Beerworks had excellent reviews, so I wanted to check it out. Charles ordered a beer flight and I had a pint of hard cider. Our food was so yummy! We enjoyed a pretzel and beer cheese appetizer. I had the mac & cheese and Charles had their special of the night--some kind of crostini with local ingredients. The mac & cheese had a crunchy topping that was amazing! I would want to eat here all the time if I lived in Honolulu.

From my research, there are several places to get delicious pancakes in Honolulu. We chose Eggs 'n Things. It was right around the corner from our hotel. Charles ordered these blueberry pancakes and a plantation tea (tea mixed with pineapple juice). The pancakes were delicious. I had plate envy.

My Eggs 'n Things dish, while yummy looking, was a little lacking. I could not quite put my finger on what it was missing, but the flavors just were not exactly what I was hoping for. My Mocha Kona coffee drink was delicious, though.

A surprisingly delicious food find was at the Pacific Aviation Museum's cafe. On our first day in Hawaii, we visited Pearl Harbor and the other WWII sites. We got up really early to make sure to get tickets to the Arizona Memorial and thus didn't really eat breakfast. We had a snack from the food stand at Pearl Harbor, but by the time we got to the Pacific Aviation Museum, I was feeling a little off. Cafe to the rescue! Charles ordered the pineapple and Spam fried rice and I had Kalua pork. Yum, yum, yum!

On our last night in Hawaii, we enjoyed our dinner from one of the restaurants at the Hale Koa. I had to order a Mai Tai! It's just something you do in Hawaii. I can't remember what Charles' drink was called, but it came with a back scratcher. Isn't that funny?