Hawaii: Oahu

We started out our trip by flying into Honolulu. From there, we rented 2 cars (that was the cheapest option), and that turned out to be not as easy as we would've liked. That was the beginning of us realizing that either we were really hard to understand, or that Hawaiians are just dumb. Then we headed to our hotel, which is a military resort right on Waikiki Beach, next to the Hilton Hawaiian (which is where Grant and I stayed the last time we came). Again, there was a tremendous amount of unnecessary communication problems, but once we got checked in, we were so happy with our rooms! Here's a couple of views from one of our balconies.




From there, we went to take a walk on the beach, and get our first glimpse of Diamondhead.



The next day, we made our way to visit the Arizona Memorial. There's a great little movie they show you before taking you by boat to the memorial. And the best part, is that it's FREE! Kendall didn't quite realize that this was a place to be somber.



After that, we took a drive around the island (partially, at least), and stopped at Waimea Bay on the North Shore to go snorkeling. This was such an incredible experience! I wish I had an underwater camera, because we saw so many really cool fish. Another cool part about Waimea, was this really big rock, that people were jumping off of into the water. No one from our group did that, but it was cool to watch other people do it. Most of our time was spent snorkeling, so we didn't really take too many out-of-water pictures, unfortunately. The water was so calm, but during the winter, the waves here can be 25-30 feet high!




Since the price of plane tickets totally sky-rocketed, we were really trying to conserve money in other areas. Which meant that we were on the lookout for cheap food (although, "cheap" in Hawaii is relative). Before our trip, we saw this episode of No Reservations (Anthony Bourdain's show on the Travel Channel), and he went to this place called "Puka Dog" in Waikiki. It looked interesting, and it was cheap, so we tried it out and loved it! We ended up going there twice. It's basically Hawaii's version of a hot dog. It's a big bun with a hole poked through the middle. Then you pick either a veggie dog or a polish sausage. Then, you pick a garlic lemon sauce based on hotness. Then you pick a "tropical relish" (they had pineapple, mango, banana, papaya, etc), and then lastly, you pick a type of mustard. They fill the bun with all the sauces, then put the dog in the bun, and voila! You have a Puka Dog! It might sound gross, but it was very good. The second time we were there, I recognized the owner from Anthony Bourdain's show. I told her I had seen the show, and I think she felt like a celebrity. She was very nice, and was asking about our trip.



The next day was our last in Oahu. But we did it big. We hiked Diamondhead! This was my brother, Tony's birthday (mine was the next day). To celebrate, while we were coming back down Diamondhead, we popped open a bottle of champagne on the trail. My brother and I are 10 years and 1 day apart, so it was a very special thing to celebrate our birthdays this year in Hawaii!