Hawaii part 3, Oa'hu

We spent 2 days in Honolulu, which was also not enough.  It was a perfect sampling and left me eagerly anticipating another trip.  Honolulu itself isn’t particularly remarkable.  It’s very much like most big cities in the US.  Other than Pearl Harbor and Wakiki Beach, there wasn’t much I wanted to see.  But I fell instantly in love with the North Shore and would love to spend much more time there.

We flew to Honolulu, picked up our rental car, found our hotel and crashed. I think I slept through most of it.  My plan for Sunday morning was to hike Diamond Head and maybe Monoa Falls.  But my legs didn’t work.  So after breakfast, we drove to Diamond Head stopped at a lookout spot to admire the view.  The parking lot was full so we skipped the hike and made our way to the North shore instead.  We downloaded the gypsyguide and had a fantastic day letting him guide us down the North shore and around the island.  We spent a few hours at the breathtaking Waimea Valley admiring the endless flowers and trees and dipping our feet in the pools of Waima Falls.  We ate from the legendary food trucks, stopped at the La’ie Temple, watched the big wave surfers and more.  It was a spectacular day as we wandered the island and eventually made our way back to the hotel. 

Husband snuck out early, slipping away to the airport for a 6am flight back to Maui for work.  Meanwhile Z and I slept in and finished packing.  Despite having no working GPS, we found the Pearl Harbor memorial (quite an accomplishment for me) and had a very moving and memorable experience.  It was quiet, just the two of us, but he was an angel—so happy and patient as I took my time through the exhibits and we went over to the USS Arizona to pay respects.  We spent three hours there and he was good as gold.  We finally found the perfect souvenir for him in the gift shop there, a big stuffed sea turtle and he squealed and cooed to it, jabbering away and gnawing on his flippers.  Then we drove for awhile, letting the boy nap and getting lost for a bit.  We found the Iolani Palace and took the audio tour.  Then we did a little shopping and shared one last shave ice.  The sweet gal working the shop was so in love with Z that she gave him his own cup with plain shave ice.  We finally left for the airport, dawdling as long as possible before taking the long flight home.  Z was an angel and slept the whole way.  And eventually I might even catch up on sleep too.