We had an early morning checkout and on to the bus by 7:20 this morning for our journey back to Arizona. It was a great week spending time with my sister and enjoying the sun and beach.
I will leave you with a few more pictures from the week and wish you all the best! A hui hou! (Until we meet again.)
Today was our last day in Hawaii and we were busy – relaxing!
I walked to the International Market Place this morning to do the rental car return. We dropped it off last night, but the Budget kiosk is only open 8-3:30 so I had to return the keys. No worries, a little walk this morning was no problem. It rained overnight and was still sprinkling a little when I set off so I was treated to a beautiful double rainbow. Our week here started with rain and are ending it the same way. After doing our airline check-in we headed to the beach. We had some serious relaxing to do!
Bette has never snorkeled, but she wanted to give it a try. She wasn’t 100% comfortable once in the water so she opted to do beach time while I went out. Snorkeling definitely takes practice before hitting the ocean.
I went out on my own, although there were plenty of other folks in the water either snorkeling, paddle boarding or kayaking so I wasn’t alone. There was a small reef area and rocks and I was surprised at how many fish I was able to see. Angel fish, convict tangs, threadfin butterfly fish, black trigger fish, and even a few of Hawaii’s state fish, the humuhumunukunukuapuaa. Say that three times, will ya? There were several sea urchins and some sea slugs, too. A couple people said they saw sea turtles, but I didn’t. After about 45 minutes, I was back on shore, relaxing, too!
We decided to eat at the Steak Shack for lunch today since the wait last night was so long. It’s a tiny place with long lines and delicious food! We split the 10 ounce steak plate which came with rice and salad. It was served with a teriyaki sauce for dipping and to put over the rice. The smell coming from this little place was like a little slice of Heaven! SOOO GOOD!! We were both stuffed!
We needed more beach time so we found a shady spot for Bette to relax while I snorkeled again. This tree gave off some serious shade!
After snorkeling, I had so much fun watching these little house finches in the sand. Only a few feet away from me, they were busy digging little holes in the sand then fluffing their wings in the sand. Tobey will appreciate this – I must be a cheap date because I am so easily entertained!
Around 4:00 we enjoyed our last views of the ocean and started our walk back to the condo.
Showers, packing, and dinner in were on the agenda since we leave tomorrow morning. This has been a great sisters’ week! Mahalo, Tobey.
We picked up a rental car this morning for a driving tour to the North Shore and beyond. Our first stop was Leonard’s Bakery for malasadas. A malasada, sometimes called "Portuguese fried dough," is a fried type of doughnut, made of flattened rounds of yeast dough, flavored with lemon zest and coated with granulated sugar and cinnamon. Leonard’s also has malasada puffs which are filled with custard or coconut cream. We lucked into a parking space in the lot and made our way to the end of the line which wraps around the building! The wait was worth it, they were amazing!Leonard’s has been around since 1952 and is a favorite with locals and tourists.
We made our way north and turned onto Highway 83 and pulled over to get our first views of the North Shore beaches.Next stop,Waimea Falls. In addition to the waterfalls, the Waimea Valley has beautiful botanical gardens to enjoy on the way, as well as a living archeological site built in the traditional methods of native Hawaiians.
It was interesting to see as we made our way to the waterfalls.
We didn’t swim in the pool, but there were lots of folks who did! We saw lots of red-crested cardinals in the park today, also.
Alae Ula
The 'Alae 'Ula is an endemic water bird (found naturally only in Hawaii) that is an endangered species with a total population perhaps in the hundreds.
Next to the Waimea Waterfalls parking lot is Hale O Lono. This site is dedicated to the Hawaiian god, Lono. This heiau (religious place of worship) is believed to have been originally constructed around 1470 AD.
We continued on to the North Shore Fish Taco food truck for lunch. The shrimp taco was much better than the fish, but our tummies were happier so we could continue our journey!
We stopped several times as we made our way across the North Shore. It was fun watching the waves coming in and seeing surfers trying their luck.Other areas the rocks provided breaks which allowed families to be in the water and not be knocked over!
We headed back south along the windward side of Oahu. I stopped to get a picture of some plumeria.
Our next stop was Mokolii, which means “little lizard” in Hawaiian. It's also called Chinaman's Hat because of its cone shape, which resembles the peasant's hat worn in rural China. The basalt island is part of Kualoa Regional Park.
Besides a few lonely palm trees and two small beaches, there isn’t anything else there! Looking back to the west from the shore, you can see the clouds hanging over the mountains.
We made several more stops on our way back to Waikiki.
We spotted hang gliders at this beach. This guy actually came down and landed above the parking lot, regrouped and took off again!
Near Diamond Head Monument (which was already closed by the time we got there) was a nice view back to the northeast.
Our “circle” took us about 110 miles today – not bad for 10 hours!
We got our rental car back to the parking garage around 7:00 and headed to the little beach restaurant where we hoped to have dinner. No luck – 1-1/2 hour wait!
It was a long day, so we decided to head back to the condo and regroup. After deciding on pizza, we headed out. Our first choice was closed (A Slice of Waikiki) even though their sign said 10pm, so on to Giovanni’s. We opted for take-out and brought it back to the condo, finally getting dinner about 8:30!
It was a fun day and while there was a lot of traffic, the driving wasn’t really that bad. I enjoyed just spotting beaches and pulling over for a while to watch the waves.
Tomorrow is a “relax and hang out at the beach” day, and unfortunately, our last day here. A hui hou aloha and mana'o nahenahe. (goodnight and sweet dreams)
One of our friend’s daughter and her family live here in Honolulu. She came and picked me up this morning so we could visit. It was so fun! We went to the farmer’s market at Diamond Head and I got a chance to meet her darling little girl who is almost two years old. I got to be “Auntie Sue” and loved it.
Bette stayed in and rested since she wasn’t feeling very good today. Something from the dinner last night didn’t agree with her so having some extra time to sleep was good.
When I came back from my visit with Melissa, I went for a walk down to the beach. This crazy rooster came strutting his stuff along the street across from the condo. He called and had another rooster answering him. He didn’t know how close he was to becoming chicken dinner!There weren’t too many people out yet when I got to the beach. That changed later today!
This afternoon Bette was feeling better so we walked back to the beach to hang out. We went a different way and went past the marina near the Hilton.
There is a lagoon (the Hilton Lagoon) when we got beachside. Lots of local folks were there, too, setting up picnics under the shade of the palm trees.
We circled around and found a spot on the beach. The water was pretty warm and we went in a few times. There were lots of folks actually out snorkeling and on SUPs, too.
We watched this dog for the longest time. She loved swimming – and had on her life jacket. Her owners tossed the tennis ball out and she was off retrieving it, time after time after time! I am sure this pup will sleep well tonight!
I was pretty excited when we were heading back to our condo when I got to have a Facetime call with my granddaughter and her parents. This Nana was missing her a bunch!
Our walk home took us past some interesting flowers. They are crinum lily plants. The Crinum lily plants are poisonous – even just touching them can be toxic. In fact, while they’re called spider lilies, they’re also called poison bulb! We have seen white ones and these reddish-purple ones. Many of the plants grow four-six feet tall!Crinum lily bulbs
We also walked by a hedge row of gardenias. The tiny white flowers are so fragrant, I didn’t want to move!
We fixed dinner in and are planning a quiet night. Tomorrow we are renting a car and cruising to the North Shore. Aloha!
