We have made it to Oahu with just a couple of bumps along
the way. Our first issue arose before we
even left Minnesota. On Thursday, Jeremy
got an email that informed us that the condo we were supposed to be staying in
while on Maui was being foreclosed on, meaning that we no longer had a place to
stay for eight days of our trip! He
frantically tried to find a place to stay Thursday night and all day Friday,
but every lead fizzled out. By the time
we went to bed Friday night, we still had no place to stay, but we were hopeful
that something would work out since Maui would be the last half of our trip. There is a big whale festival going on while
we are on Maui, so everything from cheap hotels to the most expensive condos
are booked.
Saturday, February 9,
2013
We woke up on Saturday morning at 3:30am, parked the car,
and shuttled to the airport with plenty of time to reach the gate for our 7am
flight. We had an uneventful flight to
Dallas, where we had a short 1.5 hour layover before our 8.5 hour flight to
Honolulu. We all did well for the first
half of the flight, but my mom started getting nauseous during the last four
hours. There was still about an hour
left of the flight when my dad came and asked us for our barf bags since my mom
had already gone through both of theirs.
I won’t go into detail, but she needed a change of clothes when we
landed and she remained pretty green looking for the rest of the night.
We rented our car and drove to our hotel which is just three
blocks from Waikiki Beach. My dad,
Jeremy, and I left my mom in the hotel to rest while we explored the area. We walked down to Waikiki and then walked
along the beach while the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. I didn’t remember how impressive Diamond Head
looked from Honolulu, but I didn’t have the camera so no pictures until another
night. My dad thought that Waikiki would
be wider and longer than it was. We
meandered through the International Market Place and decided that this was
something that we would have to bring Mom back to when she was feeling
better. It had many small shops with
trinkets and souvenirs.
We grabbed
supper at Hula Dog, which Jeremy had been looking forward to since I found it
on the internet weeks ago. They take
taro bun and skewer it onto a hot rod to toast the inside instead of slicing it
lengthwise. Then they fill it with their
special sauces ranging from papaya to guava to mango. They add garlic sauce ranging from mild to
spicy and then add a polish sausage or veggie dog. Jeremy thought that it was delicious, my dad
thought it was pretty good, and I would have preferred a bratwurst from Target
Field or The Wienery instead. We bought
some beer at a small market and headed back to the hotel to check on Mom. She was feeling a little better, so we all
relaxed a bit before bed.
Sunday, February 10,
2013
We were just getting ready to go down to our hotel’s
continental breakfast when our hotel phone rang. They asked for Jeremy and we were all hopeful
that it was one of the Maui rentals calling to confirm a place for us to stay
next week. It was only 7am and they told
him that they were the front desk and needed to confirm his reservation the rest
of our stay in Honolulu. He refused to
give his credit card information, and when we got downstairs, the front desk
had no knowledge of any such phone call.
This was the first scam that we escaped for the day.
We enjoyed a simple breakfast and then headed to Diamond
Head. Mom still had some flu-like
symptoms, so she opted to skip the hike and read her book while the rest of us
hiked to the top. Diamond Head is an old
volcano that has several old military bunkers built into it. The hike is pretty easy with the elevation
changing about 800 feet in just under a mile.
There are about 200 steps at the end to take to you to the top where you
can get great views of Waikiki Beach and Honolulu. On the way to the top, we saw a couple of
whales in the distance and some surfers.
When we reached the top, it was obvious that it had been raining in
Honolulu and there was a beautiful rainbow over the city. We had to cut our time and picture-taking
short at the top because it started to rain.
By the time we had reached the bottom of the stairs, though, the rain
had stopped. It was a nice start to the
day, and then we were off to the North Shore.
We stopped at the Dole Plantation, where my mom was eager to
see baby pineapples. We avoided the
typical tourist trap souvenirs that filled the store and headed to the café. We split pineapple ice cream, pineapple
macadamia nut cheesecake, and pineapple upside down cake. It was all delicious! We walked around the free section of the
plantation where we saw baby pineapples, eucalyptus trees, and hungry koi
fish. We called to wish my brother a happy
30th birthday and then headed to the North Shore beaches.
We stopped at several beaches on the North Shore to try to
catch a glimpse of some great surfing.
There was an advisory in place on nearly every beach for strong currents
and dangerous swimming/surfing conditions.
There were lifeguards at Waimelea Beach that continued to warn novices
to stay out of the water and to hold onto small children at all times. It was incredible to watch the brave surfers
catch waves that must have been 20 feet high.
We sat and watched the surfers while enjoying the sunshine at the famous
Pipeline beach and then drove along the coast on our way back to Honolulu.
In the evening, we went back to The International Market
Place where my mom had Chinese food and Jeremy, my dad, and I each had an
amazing fish taco and shrimp taco. We
looked through a few of the shops and then headed back to the hotel.
We still have no place to stay when we arrive in Maui. Jeremy thought that he had a lead on a place,
but the deal got a little suspicious and we are quite certain that we avoided
the second scam of the day. We will hear
about another condo that sounds promising at some point on Monday and we are
all desperately hoping that it works out.
