Still Day 8 – Arrival on the Big Island

After our flight landed, we collected our bags, and got our rental car, we had juuuuuust enough time to stop in at Pine Tree Cafe for dinner. The ladies working there were so, so nice to us. Ian was quizzing them about their fries – how were they cooked, how were they seasoned, how big were they (he’s picky, go figure). In addition to patiently answering all his questions, they brought one out for him to try (he loved them).

I had a delightful fried shrimp sandwich. Maya had a very small serving of poke. Sean went overboard. He ordered a mixed plate with garlic chicken and hamburger steak with gravy. I got to try everything and there’s no denying it was all spectacular, but wow did he have a lot of food.

We arrived at our fancy-pants hotel in the dark. More so than any of our other island hotels, this one has a resort vibe. It’s gigantic. There are separate pools for the kids and the adults. The kids’ pool has a 200-foot slide, which Maya and Ian were very, very excited about.

Day 9 – Sunrise at Pololu Point, Akaka Falls, Rainbow Falls

When we were originally laying out this vacation and deciding what we would like to do and see, we cooked up this plan to rent a jeep and try to get to the top of Mauna Kea to watch sunrise. (If I remember correctly, the need for 4WD is less about the rough road and need for high clearance – the road is actually well-maintained – but more about the steep grade as you head back downhill. You need to be in low gear to keep from burning out your brakes.)

In researching what kinds of vehicles were good for driving up to the summit, we happened upon a warning that you shouldn’t proceed beyond the visitor’s center if you are under 13 years of age, and that the prolonged high altitude exposure could cause bodily damage. I’m a scoffer, so I initially scoffed and figured we’d all be fine. But there’s a difference between taking stupid risks with your own body and health and life and taking a risk with that of your children, and so I looked into it further. After reading about the higher risk for pulmonary edema and cerebral edema, coupled with the fact that you’re really far from anywhere that can help you, it just didn’t seem worth the risk. We’d live to see that sunrise another time. Or maybe we wouldn’t. No big deal; there are lots of beautiful things in the world.

And so it was that our poor, mistreated kids were woken up a little after 4:00 in the morning (their parents were up even earlier) so that we could go watch sunrise at Pololu Point instead. The 1.5 hour car ride was completed almost entirely in the dark.

It was every bit as beautiful as we were lead to believe. Maya and Ian got to marvel at just how quickly the sun went from a slight sliver on the horizon, to a half-circle, to a full sun. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy, so we didn’t get to see the golden morning light washing over the cliffs. Given that we had not yet had breakfast and had not yet fully recovered from our epic waterfall hike, we chose not to do the hike down to the beach, though it looked like it would have been quite lovely as well.

We had started to listen to “Divergent” by Veronica Roth on our return drive from Alabama at the end of July. We thought we’d listen to the book during some of our longer drives on the Big Island as well, so now that the kids were both truly awake, we worked on our book some more. It kept them from getting bored, but unlike screen time, it left their eyes available to take in the unique Hawaiian landscape in all its endless variety as we drove around the island.

Our stop after Pololu was to indulge in breakfast at the Hawaiian Style Cafe in Waimea. We had kind of been looking forward to breakfast here the whole trip, so lovely was their menu. They warn you that their portions are big, but I honestly had no idea what was in store for us. And worse still, we were so busy eating, none of us remembered to snag any photos. Whoops.

For example, I ordered their famous hash, which came with rice or hash browns (the latter), two eggs (over easy), and a pancake, waffle, or toast (waffle, for Ian). Holy. Shit. That waffle was like a whole second breakfast. With just my order, I could probably have fed any three people. By the time we realized our mistake, it was much too late. Each of us had ordered our own breakfast. And Sean even upgraded his pancake side to haupia pancakes, which turned out to be a very wise choice because the haupia sauce they slathered on top was absolutely divine.

Their menu explains that leftovers don’t go to waste, that they’re fed to the pigs. Sean has a new theory that the Hawaiian Style Cafe also runs a pig farm and we customers supplement the pigs’ feed.

After breakfast, we hit the Waipi’o Valley Overlook. The coastal scenery was gorgeous, of course. We also saw a kitty hanging out by a cross that may or may not have been marking a grave (probably it was a memorial). The cat looked for all the world like it was guarding that cross though. It seemed to kitty-smile at us, and we thought it might come over for some scritches, but it stayed firm at its chosen post.

We also saw some really neat spiders hanging out all over the ceiling of the picnic bench area of the lookout. Ian, unfortunately, is not a big fan of spiders, so he was on edge while we were there. We looked them up, they are Hawaiian Orb Weaver, Hawaiian Garden Spider, or Banana Spider, depending on who you ask.

The Laupahoehoe Point lookout may have been the kids’ favorite. There were huge black lava boulders to clamber over, little crabs to watch scuttle about, interesting rocks, shells, and fossils to hung, and several colorful little birds to watch.

We were all still full from breakfast, so we skipped our lunch spot and drove straight to Akaka Falls. In 2008, this was a loop trail. In 2024, it was under construction, so it was an out and back instead. The 400-foot tall falls were still magnificent, and the thick coating of tropical vegetation was a sight to behold. This is a well-loved waterfall though, and there were a LOT of people, so that part wasn’t always pleasant. In fact, if you ask Maya which of the hikes she liked the best, her enjoyment was inversely proportional to quantity of people on the trail.

We took a particularly pretty drive (the Onomea Scenic Drive, the guide says) along the Old Mamalahoa Hwy (instead of the more direct Mamalahoa Hwy), and the scenery was beautiful. The drive goes past the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden along this route, and I just have to wonder, as much as the islands are covered in an abundance of widely varied flora, what do they choose to display in the botanical garden?

We stopped in at some random place for shave ice and snacks, and all the things we had were nice enough. The highlight here though was a friendly rooster who would eat pieces of tortilla chip from our hands. Sometimes it’s the little things.

Rainbow Falls was nice enough, but wasn’t particularly striking after our visits to Akaka Falls earlier that day and Hanakapi’ai Falls on Kauai. However, the grounds around the falls were pretty. There was an impressively large banyan tree that we had fun hiding in and climbing on.

After this, we decided to head back to the hotel to let the kids have some pool time. For the record, this is the first time we’d seen our hotel in the daylight. It was very large. As predicted, the 200-foot water slide was a huge hit with the kids who made endless trips down the slide, coming down forward, backward, on their knees, resting their heads on their hands and looking hilariously nonchalant.

After swimming, Sean and I let the kids hang out and get showered while we foraged for dinner that night and something easy for breakfast the next day. As we headed from the hotel room down into the parking lot, we were presented with a giant rainbow! It was amazing.

Foodwise, I was personally pushing hard for more of that excellent and affordable grocery store poke. Alas, by the time we got to the Sack-n-Save, there wasn’t much left. We wound up snagging dinner from some random ramen joint that night instead. The kids had the pleasure of hanging out at the table on the deck and eating their ramen – a compromise since Ian wanted to eat his ramen in bed. The poor dears.

Day 10 – Kealakekua / Captain Cook, Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, Manta Magic

Today we started and ended our day in the ocean. After a quick breakfast of provisions we had collected in our hotel room (my guava bread from the Sack N Save was excellent), we suited up to go on a snorkel trip to Kealakekua Bay, the same site as the Captain Cook Monument.

The Captain Cook Monument is a little controversial, especially to native Hawaiians. Apparently, explorer James Cook wasn’t known to be particularly kind to the indigenous people he encountered in his travels. It sounds like he wound up stopping in Kealakekua Bay in 1779 to repair a ship’s mast and stayed for a bit. On February 14th, he attacked a village and shot one of the native noblemen. He was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in the surf. The big 27-foot monument is set on land that is technically owned by the British. There’s a small plaque in the water that’s said to mark the exact spot of his demise. Evidently this monument gets defaced with some regularity, even though it is reachable only by docking a boat or by hiking a 2 mile trail. The area is also a very popular snorkeling location.

We got ourselves to the right location and then kind of meandered till we figured out the right group to board with. While we were waiting, Ian – reptile hunter extraordinaire, caught one of the geckos we had seen all over the place during this vacation. We looked it up – it’s a Gold Dust Day Gecko. After Ian held it for a bit and let it crawl around on his arms, he kindly gave Maya a turn holding it and checking it out as well.

The morning looked like it was going to be cloudy, but as our boat pulled into the bay, the sun shone down and the ocean colors came alive. Ian was in the water for all of about three minutes before he wanted out. The crew assured us they’d keep him entertained while we snorkeled. I love it that the kids are now old enough that I feel okay with that. We have joked a few times now that Ian’s trip was more of an expensive boat ride than anything else.

Maya lasted maybe 30-40 minutes before she became irritated with a wonky mask (which I understand) and headed back to the boat. From the kids, we heard that snacks and sodas and jumping from the boat were part of the fun while Mom and Dad stayed in the water.

The snorkeling was great. The water shimmered, the corals popped, and there were so many different fish to observe. I told Sean later on that it was like a little kid had gotten ahold of a crayon box and let their imagination run wild.

Toward the end, while I was watching some of the smaller fish feeding among the coral, I happened to see an octopus unfurl and move a few feet before camouflaging itself to invisibility again. I called Sean and his GoPro over. We stared and stared and I was starting to worry that he would doubt me when we finally saw another small burst of movement. We were running out of time when I happened to see Sean dive down and swim almost to the bottom. Sure enough, he managed a brief recording of the octopus to show Maya, our octopus lover.

We boated back to our launch point maybe 30 minutes away. They had fresh cut pineapple as part of their snack offering. I have decided that fresh pineapple lightly seasoned with salt-watery hands and mouth and air, after 90 minutes of brilliant snorkeling, is among the best flavors there is.

We all washed the saltwater off and headed to Reel Aloha Poke (which our nav system hilariously pronounced “poke” like you would do to someone’s shoulder if you were trying to get their attention). The selection wasn’t vast but it was unique, especially their side dishes, and everything we tried was super fresh and flavorful. For example, I had as my sides a pickled ogo salad, whose primary ingredient was a fine-branched brownish purple seaweed. Sean and I both tried the Ho’io salad, made with a local fern. For Ian, Sean walked to a nearby McDonald’s and bought him a chicken sandwich instead. The rest of us loved our poke though.

We next drove to the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau national monument. Sean and I had been before, but we thought it would be good for the kids to understand that Hawaii, while being one of our fifty United States, has its own unique history and heritage. As I understand it, this is (or was) a place of intense mana or spiritual power because of the 23 chiefs whose bones were protected in the temple. This mana was available only to royalty and those who served them. (I looked it up, the bones were relocated in the 1800s, so I suppose the mana moved along with them.)

Additionally, this is place served as a sanctuary during wartimes. It was also a place of refuge for those who might break a kapu, or sacred law. Infractions might include a commoner casting a shadow on royalty or someone catching a fish out of season. The penalty for breaking kapu was death. If the criminal could outmaneuver their pursuers and make it to the Pu’uhonua, they might be absolved of their crimes by a priest. Evidently the law of kapu ended in 1819, but the site remains sacred to the Hawaiians.

I’m not sure how engaged Maya and Ian were. There was a game, called Konane, that involved black and white stones on a large stone playing surface. We didn’t take the time to learn the rules, but it looked like it could be interesting. We listened for while to what the different woven baskets on display were used for.

After this, we stopped by St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church, the famous painted church. Maya and Ian did a great job of reigning in their normal loud and boisterous natures while they were in the church.

Everyone was oddly tired after all this, so we had some down time before heading out for an early dinner at Kona Brewing Co. Sean and I used to love a beer of theirs called “Koko Brown,” but it seemingly hasn’t been available in Austin in ages. We thought maybe in the Hawaiian islands, we’d find it available, but thus far, it hadn’t been seen in any of the establishments we visited – not at any grocery store or convenience store even. Surely if we went to the brewery itself it would be available, and sure enough, there it was on the menu!

Imagine our disappointment when they said they had run out a couple days prior and weren’t sure when it would be back in stock. Oh well.

After dinner, we had just enough time to get dressed in our swim things again and get to the meeting spot for our big event: nighttime snorkeling with manta rays!

Here’s how it works. The tour operator sets out a light board – a retrofitted surfboard with lights shining down from the bottom and handles all around its perimeter. Us intrepid snorkelers attached floats to our ankles (to avoid accidentally kicking the mantas), grabbed those handles with our hands and just laid on top of the water. With this setup, we very much limited our chances of accidentally touching the federally protected manta rays.

The light attracts the plankton and the rays gracefully swim by with their big mouths agape and scoop it up, gently flipping over as they do so to expose their undersides. Since they are federally protected, we of course we couldn’t touch them, but that they could touch us. I was brushed at least a couple times as the huge creatures swooped past.

We had been told that morning about a locally famous manta ray known as Big Bertha, whose wingspan is around 16 feet. We didn’t get to see her, but we saw probably eight other mantas (individually identifiable by their unique spot patterns) roughly half that size. I even had a little trouble with my mask leaking (I had to stop every few minutes and dump the water from it), and I still can’t be anything but thrilled with the experience with those huge and gentle sea creatures.

I was worried that Ian would be a little weirded out by the size of the manta rays swimming around him. Plus I was a little nervous that he’d bail a few minutes in like he had this morning. But nope, both kids stuck it out and by all accounts were just as thrilled as the grownups.

Day 11 – Punalu’u Black Sand Beach, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Today was our big Hawaii Volcanoes National Park day. To be fair, in 2008, when there was active eruption activity going on, visiting the park was a much different experience. At the time we visited in August of this year, there was no eruption happening, but we figured it was still worth a visit to see such a unique landscape.

We started our day with a small tide-us-over snack in our hotel room before heading out on the hour and twenty minute drive to our actual breakfast stop, Punalu’u Bake Shop. Sean, Maya, and I enjoyed malasadas and other sweet pastries. Ian had a bacon, egg, and toast breakfast plate that was more to his liking. We hung out in a pretty courtyard in a gazebo, watching another gold dust day gecko puttering around in its eaves.

Afterward, we headed to the Punalu’u Black Sand Beach. The sparkly black volcanic sand there was truly beautiful, but the part that I loved most was seeing the big green sea turtles.

We were sort of idly puttering around on the lava rocks along the beach, watching waves crash and crabs scuttle. Two beach dudes wandered by and told us to take our family a little further on – there was a turtle just hanging out eating. They even walked us over to where it was and showed us.

Sure enough, in the water right along the shore, a sea turtle was just happily sitting in the water, chomping away at algae and whatever else they chomp on. Its colors were so much more vibrant than the ones we saw in a roped off section of the beach. (They had the beach section roped off because the turtles are endangered and thus a protected species. You’re not allowed to touch or even approach them.)

After gazing at the turtles for a while and figuring out that we didn’t know how to capture that beautiful black sand sparkle in photos, we headed on into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

We started by checking out the Kilauea Visitor’s Center, where Ian, who was filling a bit cold, almost immediately parked himself in front of Pele’s fireplace. Maya, who abhors the smell of fire, gave the fireplace a wide berth and went outside to look at the Halema’uma’u crater (the caldera of the Kilauea volcano), which honestly didn’t smell a whole lot better.

The caldera looks quite a bit different than when we last saw it in 2008. The big eruption in 2018 drained some 1 billion cubic yards of lava from within the volcano. The loss in pressure and structure allowed the summit to collapse. Signage at the Visitor’s Center said that Halema’uma’u crater sunk 1,600 feet down, which is particularly impressive given that Kilauea’s elevation is around 4,000 feet.

We started our exploration by letting the kids check out one of the steam vents. There’s a whole trail that takes you to additional vents, but the one right in the parking area suited us just fine as a novelty. Ground water seeps over magma-heated rocks, and it evaporates into steam. It was pretty brisk outside, but leaning over the steam vent, we’d be hit with little bursts of hot moist air, occasionally almost uncomfortably hot. It was pretty wild.

Next we visited the Thurston Lava Tube (known as Nahuku in Hawaiian). Lava carves a path through the landscape (as things do when they’re more than 2000 degrees Fahrenheit), but the slower moving exterior edges of the lava flow can harden and form a sort of crust. Eventually that crust builds up and joins at the top, creating a tube. Even after the lava drains away, the tube remains. And we could actually hike through the Thurston Lava Tube.

The dining options inside the park weren’t really thrilling us, so we drove to the nearby town of Volcano and ate at the Tuk Tuk Thai Food Truck instead. While there is no seating around the truck itself, the extremely nice lady working at the truck gave us directions to a park where we could sit and eat our lunch. The kids had hot and sour soup. We all shared some egg rolls, and Sean and I had a big steaming pile of pad kee mao (drunken noodles). It was such a delicious and soul warming treat.

After our late lunch, we decided to drive down Chain of Craters road. We wanted to show the kids the sea arch, and we wanted them to see how the road just ends because lava rock has overtaken it.

We parked the car and had a fine time taking a look at the Holei Sea Arch from the overlook. The lava rock is younger and more stark in this part of Hawaii, and it was interesting to see the beautiful deep blue water crash endlessly into the jagged black rock. Indeed, it was pointed out that the sea arch won’t last forever. With the constant attack of the ocean waves, it will eventually collapse too.

We started walking down the road to see where the lava rock crossed over. We walked till the black desolation stretched to either side of us and then walked some more. The kids spent some time clambering around the jagged fields of lava rock, admiring the different iridescent colors that shimmered in the sun.

The air temperature was not hot, maybe 85 degrees, but that sun is so incredibly direct that we were all cooking by this point. And that’s about when we noticed the sign advertising the evacuation route. Maybe as a result of the big 2018 eruption, the lava-blocked road had been cleared.

I had been wanting to walk the Kilauea Iki trail, but we were running out of time and energy. The sun sets pretty early here, and the restaurants don’t tend to linger late either. What’s cool about this trail though is that you get to hike down into a now dormant volcanic caldera. Kilauea Iki means “Little Kilauea” in Hawaiian, and that’s kinda what it looks like on the map – a little caldera to the east of the big Kilauea caldera. (Oh, and hey, I just saw in my trail guide that Kilauea means “spewing” in Hawaiian, which is what happened in Kilauea Iki in 1959.)

I wish we had more time to enjoy the trail, but what we did see what fascinating. Were we ever to find ourselves there again, I might make sure we had more time to do this hike properly. As it was, at 6p, the sun was rapidly dropping, and it was so late (not really) when we got back into town, that nothing was open except McDonalds.

Day 12 – Wandering, Last-minute Shopping, Heading Home

We actually took it relatively easy today. Sean and I (mostly Sean) packed our bags for the return trip that evening, and I wandered the kids down for one last swim in that glorious pool with its glorious slide.

Over the past several days, we kept seeing small brown creatures romping through the parking lot or poking around in the hotel lawns. They were squirrel-ish but much too large to be that and they moved differently too. We finally looked them up – they are mongooses! (Yes, that is the correct plural form.) They were introduced in the 1880s to help control rats in the sugarcane fields. That may have been well and good then, but now they are considered invasive. The problem is that they eat lots of other things too, including endangered birds and the eggs and hatchlings of endangered sea turtles.

After we loaded up the car and bid our hotel farewell, we headed north to try out Kohala Burger for lunch. I think only Sean had an actual burger, but regardless, the food was solid and service was nice and relaxed. For the first time during this giant long time in Hawaii, we had either Dole Whip (pineapple ice cream) or fancy drinks made with Dole Whip. I love that stuff, and outside of Disney World, the only place I’ve had it is in Hawaii.

On our way back south, we stopped to see the Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site. A heiau is kind of a temple or place of worship. This particular heiau is one of the last to have been built (1790-91) before outside influences impacted traditional Hawaiian ways.

After learning about the social / political structure of the early Hawaiians, with the chiefs and priests and so on, and learning about people being put to death for breaking kapu, or for ruling land another chief wanted, and after seeing their various weaponry back at the Bishop Museum, Maya, while sitting under a shade tree at the Heiau site, said, “I’ll never think of Hawaiians as easygoing beach people again.”

Because we’d been so busy, we really didn’t manage to squeeze in much wandering and shopping since back on Oahu when we were hanging out in Chinatown. In the Waikaloa Village area, we stopped in at Reyn Spooner to search for proper Hawaiian shirts. It took a while to try everything on and make selections (I actually held out and found one I liked at Kahala instead, which I ordered after we were back home), so the kids were jonesing for a treat by then – one last shave ice, pleeeeeeeeese?

The nice fellow working at Reyn Spooner sent us over to Original Big Island Shave Ice Co. While the line for the place was lengthy, the texture of the shave ice was the best we’d had so far during this trip.

We took a little walk around the shopping center after this popping into stores as the urge hit us, buying a few little take-home treats here and there. Somewhere in our wandering, we saw a little display with different types of solidified lava and explanations for how it was formed. We saw the usual pahoehoe form that hardens from slow-flowing lava and looks (to me) like brownie batter. And there was the counterexample to the pahoehoe, a’a, which is loose and jaggedy and is created from faster moving flows. We also saw a terrifying thing called a volcanic bomb (which we had learned about yesterday as well during our Kilauea Iki hike). Globs of lava fly into the air and cool to solidification on the way back down. We saw one I hadn’t heard of before called Pele’s Hair. These are long strands that occur when lava is thrown into the air and stretched out by the wind.

On our way back down to Kailua Kona, we stopped in for one last long look at the weird dark black lava rock meets blue ocean water vistas around us. The kids chilled out in the car for a little whiel while we soaked up the last bit of Hawaii before we had to leave. We saw a few bikers come and go. Watched some folks who’d rented jeeps – probably to get to the top of Mauna Kea – take some photos and move on. And finally it was time for us to leave too. Sigh.

We filled up the rental car and headed back to the airport. The Kona airport is kind of an open air marvel. This is our second time through this airport, and I still wonder what happens if it rains. We were “late” in the evening, so of course it was hard to find food places that were open and when they were open, that hadn’t run out of food. We managed to get dinner in and get to our gate with plenty of time to spare.

It’s sort of a weird experience walking out across the tarmac to get to your airplane, but I like it (again, we haven’t encountered rain yet – might be different then). We boarded our plane, started to taxi out to the runway, and then sat and waited for what felt like forever. They let us know there was a medical situation and that over the Pacific Ocean wasn’t the best place for that to escalate, so they taxied back to the gate and we waited a while longer for a person or people to be escorted from the plane. And it sounded like there may have been some clean up required as well. From where we were sitting, the details were a little vague. Probably that’s a good thing.

As it was, by the time we left, we were probably two hours later than our original takeoff time. We were going to have had a 75 minute layover at LAX, but of course, that ship had sailed. However, on our Delta flight, we were able to use the onboard wifi for free (I can’t remember if this was available to all or if you had to be part of their frequent flier program), and so when our flight was irreparably delayed and we were definitely not making our connection, they rebooked us on the next available flight out of LAX and we simply had to confirm that change via their app. This all happened without us having to hustle to find a gate agent or desk agent who, in our past experience, have varying levels of interest in helping you.

We had plenty of time for breakfast, and so we did. And our flight from LAX to Austin went without a hitch. Our luggage made the flight change with us, so we were able to get home without further incident. And since we arrived home on a Saturday, we still had one more day to clean up and decompress a little before we started back to work.

We had an outstanding trip. Sean especially did a ton of planning, and other than suffering for not getting to do everything he had intended, I think the plan served us well. Were we to do another trip like this, rather than cramming three islands into just under two weeks, I think we’d visit no more than one island per week. The other thing we’d like to figure out is how to streamline our beach-going. The getting from car to ocean and from ocean to car wound up being a far lengthier process than it seemed like it should be. We’ve managed to extend the aloha a little longer by cooking some Hawaiian things, reading books set in Hawaii, and writing up these travel notes. The kids still grumble about the big hike, but they tell me they loved the trip too. It may not be Maine or Iceland, but I guess it’ll do.

Day 5 – Arrival in Kauai, Kilauea Lighthouse, Hanalei Town

After a flight that took less than an hour, we descended into absolute paradise. This is saying something given that we’d just spent several days on Oahu, which is no slouch in the gorgeous scenery department. We loaded into our rental car, and much to the kids’ delight, a nice family who was leaving the island that day gifted us with a boogie board that they couldn’t pack along on their flight.

We had a later reservation at Kilauea Lighthouse and needed to kill about a half hour. We stopped by for a few quick photos a Wailua Falls to pass the time. There is a lookout to these falls almost directly from the parking lot, which I was personally delighted about. After yesterday’s hike, my hamstring was still aching, so a quick walk from the car to the 140-foot waterfall sounded just about right for us.

By the time we finished there, we were actually in danger of being late for our lighthouse reservation, but we needn’t have worried. When we arrived at Kilauea Lighthouse, there was a huge line to enter. We wound up stuck in this line for probably 20-30 minutes before we finally got to park.

Kilauea Point is actually a national wildlife refuge, providing protection for vast quantities of seabirds. As we wandered the grounds, the movement in the air was nearly constant as birds fished the ocean below. Sean had his big camera out, trying to catch the action as the birds endlessly soared and swooped. We spotted, among other things, red-tailed tropicbirds, white-tailed tropicbirds, red-footed boobies, and great frigatebirds. Plus, a helpful employee pointed out a nesting wedge-tailed shearwater hanging out near the visitor’s center.

And Kilauea Point, the lighthouse on the grounds, was lovely as well. The Daniel K. Inouye Kilauea Point Lighthouse was built in 1912 and dedicated in 1913. Interesting note – there was no road serving the lighthouse till 1927 so needed supplies were brought in by boat until that time.

As is our habit, we were now behind the schedule Sean had made, but we soldiered on regardless. We made a quick stop to check out the Hanalei Valley overlook. Imagine a lush green farmed valley that supports taro fields with those abrupt volcanic mountains as a backdrop. I saw some rainy-season photos online that showed waterfalls cascading down the mountains. We didn’t see that, but it was gorgeous nonetheless.

We had a delightful lunch at Hanalei Gourmet. I don’t remember what anyone else ate, but I had some really excellent fish tacos. We took the kids over to the Holey Grail food truck to try out some doughnuts. As they ate, we got to watch a hen show her passel of chicks how to scratch back the dirt and search for bugs and worms.

We had intended to visit Tunnels Beach next. We had heard snorkeling there was great and that green sea turtles were often spotted there. A co-worker had raved about the density of parrotfish around that beach.

Alas, by the time we arrived, figured out where to park, rooted through multiple suitcases multiple times to gather towels, swim suits, goggles, and snorkel gear, and finally got changed, it was late and everyone was frustrated. No one wanted to walk the extra 15 minutes over sandy beach to get to Tunnels, so we played at Ha’ena Beach instead. The kids made ample use of the gifted boogie board, and Sean managed to do a little bit of low-key snorkeling at this beach as well. I ferried kids to and from the bathroom multiple times, but still managed to play in the water a little as well.

As I recall, we had intended to make reservations for our dinner destination that night, Ama, but that even as early as Sean was, they were all gone by the time he checked. Luckily, they set aside some seating for walk-ins. We wandered in, fresh from the beach, and they seated us right away.

Maya and Ian ordered interesting mocktails. Mom and Dad ordered interesting cocktails, Sean continuing his survey of Hawaiian mai tais. We split an appetizer of seared Brussels sprouts that all four Woodses absolutely loved. The thing to order here are ramen bowls, and they are indeed delicious. The kids both love love love ramen, and so they were pretty excited about this restaurant. All of our noodle bowls were really well prepared, but Maya was the big winner with her laksa, which she kindly let us try. It was so flavorful!

As good as the food was, the scenery was even better. At least where we were seated, the back of the restaurant is open to the outside. From our table, we could look out back and drink in the views of jewel-green Kauai mountains. It was such a relaxing way to end a day that had started so, so early.

And after all that, we finally found our hotel and checked in! The kids were delighted with the hotel’s open-air front desk and lobby area. Little birds would sometimes sneak in and the breeze was soft and pleasant.

Day 6 – Hanapepe Swinging Bridge, Waimea Canyon, Na Pali Coast Cruise

We got up early enough to see our first sight before having breakfast. We passed through the quiet town of Hanapepe and stopped just long enough to see their famous swinging bridge. It’s a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Hanapepe River. It was interesting, if a bit unnerving, to walk across this bridge with its swaying walkway and its twanging metal cables.

We stopped at Aloha Sweet Delites for breakfast pastries. After carefully choosing from a well-stocked case, we ate breakfast in the car. My pineapple fritter was moist on the inside and crispy on the outside and very flavorful. Sean enjoyed these tiny little coconut custard filled doughnuts.

We spent the rest of our morning puttering around in Waimea Canyon. In deference to the huge hike we had planned for the next day, we tried to contain our visit to short walks and pullouts to scenic overlooks.

The Red Dirt Waterfall wasn’t particularly spectacular, but it was fun to clamber around on the red dirt and take in the surroundings. Ian in particular could range far and wide and run into very little trouble. The red dirt comes from the iron rich basalt oxidizing over time. I was just reading that apparently Waimea means “red water” in Hawaiian, and the famous Hawaiian red salt gets is color from oxidized basalt as well.

The Waimea Canyon Lookout was incredible. They call Waimea Canyon the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and to a certain extent, I can see why. The canyon is up to 2500 feet deep, about a mile and a half wide, and over 13 miles long. The porous volcanic rock has weathered in a stark and craggy way, exposing layers of often brightly colored rock. The abundant rainfall means the green does its level best to take over, providing a bright contrast to the grays and browns and reds. The main artery is the Waimea River, but there are side streams and canyons as well.

The Pu’u Hinahina lookout gives you an alternate viewpoint on the canyon, sort of a ‘down the canyon’ view as opposed to an ‘across the canyon’ view from the first lookout. The Kalalau lookout faces out to the ocean in the Kalalau valley along the Na Pali coast. The tall cliffs loom next to impossibly blue water. Especially if you will see Na Pali no other way, this view is not to be missed.

We thought we might have time for one more small walk on our way back to town. We had read about a ten minute walk along the Cliff Trail that got you another pretty view of the canyon. What had been left out of that description was the high-clearance vehicle road you had to walk down (if you lacked a high clearance vehicle) to get to the start of that ten minutes. The view of the canyon from the opposite side was indeed lovely, but our twenty minute stroll wound up costing a lot more time and energy than anticipated. And that’s the story of how we ate McDonalds for lunch instead of Kauai Brewing Company.

We had to arrive on time for our big deal boat trip. We were going to see the Na Pali coast and enjoy dinner and a sunset on the ocean. We checked into our Holo Holo Na Pali coast boat ride and walked down to the dock. We left our shoes in a little cubby and boarded the boat barefoot. It turns out that traction and balance are easier if you aren’t wearing shoes. Fine by me!

After a safety briefing, we were on our way. They told us the closer we stood to the front of the boat, the more sea spray we would feel. Maya’s eyes lit up with delight. Ian wanted to stay in the back. In fact, poor dude was apparently not feeling too well, and he went into the cabin part of the boat, laid down on a cushion, and had a little nap. Our theory is that the Dramamine I insisted we all take was making him feel drowsy. Luckily, he emerged and seemed to enjoy the snacks and the ginger candy if nothing else. (I think he liked the boat ride some too.)

Toward the beginning of the ride, we saw the island of Ni’ihau, except we didn’t know at the time exactly what we were looking at, so Maya asked the captain the name of the land mass we were seeing. After he told her, she grinned and insisted on calling in “meow” instead. Ni’ihau is interesting because it’s owned by the Robinson family so you really can’t visit it without permission or as part of a special tour (for which I’m sure someone needed permission). Evidently they’ve owned it since 1800 when a great-great-grandmother bought it from King Kamehameha V. The visitation restriction allows the Robinsons to preserve the island’s culture and natural beauty.

On our way to the Na Pali coast, Maya spotted flying fish several times. At one point, Hawaii spinner dolphins joined us, leaping out of the water and playing in the boat’s wake. As we passed the actual Na Pali cliffs (pali means cliffs in Hawaiian, so I’m saying the cliffs cliffs and it’s bugging me), we spotted several mountain goats and a few brave hikers. Along the way we saw tons of rugged coastline, several magnificent waterfalls, and some interesting sea caves.

We were on a sailboat, so we couldn’t venture into any of these caves. The notion was that we’d sail back after seeing the cliffs, but the wind was not in our favor. No worries though; I think we were able to go a little further along the coast since our return trip by motor would be a bit faster.

We were served drinks, snacks, dinner, and dessert, and a champagne toast to celebrate the sunset. The ride back to the dock was particularly bouncy, and Maya insisted on being up where the action was. And she wanted company. She and I were soaked through by the time all was said and done. The experience was amazing though. We took so many pictures, and I’m not sure any of them could really capture what it was like to be on the water with those massive cliffs towering over you. It was one of my favorite experiences of the trip.

That evening, Sean and I managed to get through about 2/3 of our accumulated laundry. Unfortunately, this meant that we were in bed somewhere around midnight. It wasn’t optimal for the big day ahead of us tomorrow, but today had been so spectacular, I’m not sure either of us cared.

Day 7 – Hanakapi’ai Falls Hike, Culinary Wonders of Foodland

When we had first picked up our rental car at the airport a couple days ago, the nice man helping us warned us about the lack of cell coverage on the island and that we should make sure we have a physical map. The one he gave us was pretty basic, but by and large, our route along the eastern and northern part of Kauai was the Kuhio Highway. If we ever found ourselves a bit off the beaten path and our cell coverage was no more, if we found our way back to the Kuhio Highway, we were in good shape. I had taken to calling it, The Road.

Well, The Road abruptly ended at our hiking adventure for today. Kuhio Highway essentially ends where the Kalalau trail begins. And we couldn’t even drive to the end ourselves; we would be taking a shuttle bus to Ha’ena State Park and heading to Hanakapi’ai Falls via that Kalalau trail.

This adventure actually started a month ahead of time, when Sean tried waking up early enough to be online at 5:00 in the morning (midnight Hawaii time) to make parking reservations at the actual state park. Alas, though he got up early, they were gone in milliseconds, and so we were left with no choice but to pay (overpay) for the parking shuttle.

Before our scheduled shuttle time at 7:40, we got ourselves packed with hiking essentials and drove to a nearby Foodland to pick up pastries for breakfast and sandwiches for a mid-hike lunch. We got to our shuttle parking in plenty of time and had about a 20 minute ride from the shuttle pickup point to the park. And then we had another five or so minutes of walking to get to our trailhead. This walk took us past some demonstration gardens and a turn off to go to Ke’e beach.

This hike is, to put it mildly, challenging, especially for sedentary office types and their elementary school aged kids. We waxed and waned on whether we should give over an entire day to this endeavor, but ultimately, Sean and I decided that we weren’t getting any younger and if we were going to attempt this hike, we better do it now.

The hike starts with 2 miles along the Kalalau Trail. This trail moves along the Na Pali coast so there are plenty of uphills and downhills along fluted cliffs rife with vigorous tropical foliage and gorgeous ocean vistas. Then, you turn inland for two more miles hiking up the valley to the Hanakai’ai Falls. The falls are roughly 300 feet tall, and the really fun thing is that you can swim at the base of them. And then you reverse that and hike the four miles back out again.

Eight miles doesn’t sound too bad to seasoned hikers, but these are tough miles. By some reports, your total elevation gain is in the vicinity of 2500 feet. Once you turn to the falls trail, it becomes unmaintained. There are stream crossings and rock scrambles to negotiate, and all of this gets harder as you grow more tired.

Somewhere along that first two miles, the kids saw a centipede. Apparently it scared the tar out of Ian, and all Maya could talk about seemingly forever was keeping on the lookout for another centipede. I think the hike was half dead to her by this point. For me, one of the weirdly pleasant things about the hike, other than the insane vistas, was the aroma of fallen lilikoi. At a few places along the route, there must have been passionfruit vines, because there’d be lilikoi fruit in various states of broken and squashed, and they filled the air with their delicate perfume.

We negotiated our first stream crossing right before the turn off to the falls trail. In wet season, I think it’s considered a fording situation, but we were able to “rock hop” our way across. All of that sounds innocent enough, but this is a large stream and the rocks we were hopping were often large boulders. Plus, we had one kid who was way too confident and another who was not confident enough. I am not a creature of grace on a good day. Add to that a bad back (which can make my balance poor) and the concern over the kids, and I had a really hard time with most of the crossings. Everyone made it across the first stream with their feet dry except for me. Luckily I could wring out my wool socks and have them be mostly wearable, but I would not recommend being 2 miles into an 8 mile hike and getting your socks wet.

We spent a little dab of time having snacks and seeing the Hanakapi’ai Beach. After that, as we ascended the valley toward the falls, the trail of course became much more difficult. We negotiated several more stream crossings on our way up. Sean managed to rock hop all of them. There was one that I just walked through barefoot, hiking boots tied together with a butcher’s knot and slung over my neck. The trail ended with a fairly difficult rock scramble, though maybe it would have been easier had we not just hiked four miles.

The Hanakapi’ai Falls themselves were gorgeous. Unfortunately, they were also very, very cold. After we sat and had our sandwiches and cleaned up, Ian put a toe in the water and noped out with a quickness. Sean and Maya wanted to swim under the falls, and they did briefly, but Sean said his muscles kind of seized up, and it became hard to move. I think backstroke was his savior on that one. Poor Maya, the one saving grace for this bullshit hike her parents drug her on was swimming in that waterfall, and then it was too cold to really relax and enjoy.

For my part, I got in to about knee-height to refresh my feet and try to take photos of my intrepid swimmers. During all this, Ian puttered around on the bank, looking around for neat rocks.

Because it had taken us so long to get to that point (it was around 2:00 in the afternoon when we finished up at the falls) that we didn’t really have a lot of time to swim. This is probably okay since the water was so cold anyway. But the last shuttle left at 6:40, so we would have to make better time on the way out.

That walk back was physically and mentally hard for all of us. The big payout had happened, so for Maya especially, there was not much to look forward to other than being done. Even Ian who is usually a bundle of energy and genuinely seems to like hiking was sick of it. For my part, if I’m trying to work through something that’s physically hard for me, hearing other people’s complaining is a huge, huge drain, so I was really struggling by the end. We stopped halfway through and had an afternoon snack and everyone forced smiles for the photos. We rolled into the pick up spot in time to make the 6:00 shuttle.

We stopped by Foodland again on our way home from the park and loaded up on drinks, pie, treats, sushi, and poke to have for dinner back at the hotel. It was an excellent and well-deserved feast after a very hard day. And then, Sean and I finished the rest of our laundry.

Was the big hike worth it? I think the answer is yes. The scenery was spectacular and at least 50% of the Woodses got to play in the big waterfall. I have a thumb injury that even in late September is still bothering me. Thanks to my wet socks, I have three toe nails that are eventually going to go (which has never happened to me on a hike before; I’m meticulous about foot care). Maya and Ian may never hike with us again. But, no one can take away the fact that we did it. We completed the challenging hike and saw all the pretty things. And as of this writing (late September), apparently the trail and campgrounds are closed due to a norovirus outbreak (yuck). So hey, at least *that* didn’t happen to us.

Day 8 – Puka Dog, Koloa Rum, Flight to the Big Island

Because everyone had worked so hard the day before, we rejiggered our plans so we could pack at a leisurely pace and let the kids have some pool time before we had to check out of our hotel. While at the pool, the kids found another family to bestow the gifted boogie board upon, so we didn’t even have to deal with carting that around.

We went back to Puka Dog afterward to fulfill Sean’s desire to have the much-loved treat from our 2008 trip again. Back then, there was one in Waikiki, but in researching for this trip, Sean discovered the only remaining location was on Kauai, near Poipu Beach park. (I looked around a little bit just now. Apparently the husband-wife founders of Puka Dog divorced and the Missus got the Oahu stores, which she was required to rename “Hula Dog.”) A puka dog is unique in that the bun fully encloses the hot dog or polish sausage. The way the central hole is created is for the bun to be stabbed onto a metal spike that toasts the interior. They have lovely sauces and relishes and you truly can customize it to your preferences.

Poipu Beach is likewise gorgeous. Once we collected our lunch order, we walked over to some picnic tables closer to the water to enjoy our puka dogs with salt breeze in our hair. The food was good, but Maya and Ian’s favorite part was that they met a hen and her chicks as they wandered unafraid amongst the picnic tables, seeking out crumbs. The kids even managed to briefly and gently hold the little chicks, which tickled them to no end. Mama hen didn’t even seem to mind that much. Maybe she was happy for the break.

After this, we walked the beach a bit, but I think everyone was too tired to bother about swimming. And then it was time to head to Koloa Rum for our 1:00 tasting. The kids again hung out in the car, puttering with their screens, excited to have the extra screen time.

We started our tasting with a small mai tai on which we floated their dark rum. We sampled their silver, dark, gold, coconut, and cacao rums. They were all good (except the coconut one was too sweet for me); we thought we might seek out the cacao one when we were back in Austin, but I don’t think we’ve done so yet.

There wasn’t a ton of time before our flight to the Big Island, so we spent the next little while just puttering around lovely Kauai, soaking up the last bit of its pretty mountains and greenery. The Lihue airport is tiny. Other than having nowhere for us to refill our water bottles, our flight was uneventful.

We struggled mightily with our big summer vacation this year. First we were planning to go to Boston and up into Maine. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get reservations for the puffin visiting boat tour I had my heart set on. Ok fine, you know where else we can see puffins? Iceland. We were a goodly way into thinking this was going to be the trip for us when we realized that everyone else had gotten their accommodation booked well ahead of us and there just weren’t many options left. We waffled for a bit, but Sean eventually talked us into Hawaii.

I wasn’t entirely convinced since there are so many places to visit and we had already been to Hawaii, twice. Once in 2008 we went for an excellent trip with Sean’s family to see the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu. Then in 2018, Sean talked us into taking Maya and Ian to the Aulani resort, which is on Oahu. Sean is hardcore Disney, and this is a Disney resort. Plus, Maya was way into Moana at the time, and the kids were young enough to believe they were really meeting the characters. Eventually, I relented and we started trip planning as quickly as we could.

There wasn’t a ton of time to plan, so we wound up using Costco Travel to book the hotels and inter-island flights. I didn’t examine our options the way Sean did, but he seemed satisfied with the process and the outcome.

We were sweating it leading up to the trip. Lolli and Pop had sent us home early from our Alabama visit in hopes of us avoiding whatever illness they had picked up, but it seemed like everyone had varying degrees of not-quite-right as our departure time approached.

We were almost entirely packed by the Sunday before our Monday morning flight, but had been slowly gathering gear for a couple weeks. We had plans for snorkeling, hiking, swimming, and photography, all things that require some specialized gear. And all that gear wound up consuming a LOT of space. In fact, because we wanted to take our trekking poles, we wound up buying a bigger suitcase. As we zipped up our bags, we worried about trunk space in the average rental car. It was going to be tight.

Day 1 – Flight, Monkeypod, Waikiki Beach

We scored a direct flight on Hawaiian Air from Austin to Honolulu. We managed to get out the door on time, and the airport was a normal level of busy, so we had no trouble catching the flight. We were amused to notice that instead of gate 13, there was a gate marked with an infinity symbol. Apparently it’s an interactive art installation called “Interimaginary Departures” and it’s been there since 2021. We’ve just not noticed before now. Next time we have spare airport time, we’ll have to examine it in more detail.

The flight was long but uneventful. We landed a little after 1p local time, but didn’t secure our bags till well after 2p. A nice lady arranged via Costco Travel plied all of us with beautiful, fresh flower leis and showed us to the shuttle bus that would eventually deposit us and our massive luggage at the hotel. Since we were the very last stop on the route, we didn’t get checked in till around 3p.

We were determined to plow through the jet lag, so we immediately headed out to wander along the street by Waikiki Beach on our way to Monkeypod for happy hour. We were all looking a little careworn and scruffy, but they still plunked us right at a prime table. We had a lovely view of the ocean, had ready access to the bar, and were delighted to find we were near a very talented live musician.

Sean and I of course had the famous Monkeypod Mai Tais, complete with a lovely dollop of lilikoi foam. The kids had mocktails, and we all split some snacks as well. We watched the waves coming in on the ocean, sipped our drinks, and listened to the gentle guitar and effortlessly yearning voice of our musician as he belted out his own rendition of radio classics through the ages. We were all sort of in low power mode, listening to the man sing, when I hear “Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down …” I couldn’t help laughing out loud and poking the kids. We came all the way to an oceanside bar in Oahu … to get Rick-rolled.

Suitably happy-houred, we headed back to the hotel to change into bathing suits and go play in the waves at the nearby beach. Maya was sad that thanks to a wave-break wall shielding a large portion of Waikiki beach, she wouldn’t be getting pummeled with waves. So she was extra thrilled to find that the wall ended just about where we accessed the beach from our hotel. That kid loves to let the waves crash against her, often diving headlong into them. Even Ian was diving into them with her.

After a post-beach shower, I could very happily have gone to sleep. The kids insisted they were hungry though and needed dinner. We got ourselves seated at Maui Brewing Co maybe a little after 8p. Keep in mind that to our internal clocks, this felt like 1:00 in the morning, and we’d been going all day. Dinner was fine, but by the end poor Ian had more or less fallen asleep sitting upright at the table. And even Maya confessed to being tired.

Day 2 – Daimond Head, Ko Hana, Stand-up Paddleboarding, Shark’s Cove

We didn’t rent a car for the full time we were on Oahu because so much of the stuff we wanted to see was in town and because parking at our hotel was really expensive. So for this, our North Shore day, Sean left the hotel room early to fetch a rental car from a place called Sixt. My job was to corral our children and all of our stuff for the day out of the hotel room and down to the street so he could scoop us up without having to find anywhere to park.

After loading up the car, we headed straight for Rainbow Drive-In for breakfast. At the advice of someone in line, Sean wound up ordering the Portuguese sausage fried rice and eggs and holy wow was it good. The rest of us did ok, but I think this is the kind of place where you have to order a few things a few different ways to dial in your preferences. Maya was supremely irritated that there were signs everywhere forbidding her from feeding the avian left that clearly flocked to the place in search of a handout. Ian had a myna bird straight up try to steal the waffle from his plate. Later on that myna bird plopped himself on the bench between Maya and Ian, patiently waiting for scraps.

After breakfast, we headed out for our scheduled access to Diamond Head. I don’t remember us having to schedule everything ahead of time back in 2008. We’re wondering if this is a holdover from the pandemic, or if it’s meant as an antidote to overcrowding, or maybe both. I had the QR code for the reservation pulled up on my phone, having made it a couple weeks earlier. Sean handed it over to the guy checking reservations as we drove in, and he said something like, “this is all good, but you have the wrong day.” Every ounce of the paranoia at my middle-aged brain not performing as expected – a paranoia that has been steadily increasing over the past months – washed over me in a wave of disappointment, self-doubt, and a smidge of self-loathing. I could totally believe that I had screwed that up. He didn’t let me suffer for more than a beat though before he grinned and said he was just kidding. We were good to go.

It had been raining to varying degrees all morning and we were a little worried for our hike (the reservation was for a two hour block, but you had to arrive for your pre-paid parking in the first 30 minutes of that block). Luckily, we didn’t wait in the parking lot for more than a few minutes before it had cleared up enough to start the hike.

It was a little muddy and slippery and there was some kerfuffle over which kid should be in the lead. And there were a LOT of people. Overall though, it was a very pleasant, if sweaty hike. The views of Waikiki and Honolulu from the top of the crater were spectacular. Also around the top you could see various World War II era bunkers and peer down at the Diamond Head Lighthouse.

Sean and I wanted to try a rum tasting at the Ko Hana rum distillery on our way to the North Shore. We let the kids hang out in the car and play on screens, since they were too young to enter. The day was overcast, and they were delighted with the extra screen time.

We shared an aged flight and a classic flight. The aged flight offered tastes of their Koho aged rum, their Koa which is aged in Koa wood, their Kila cask strength, and their Kokoleka cacao and honey rum, which we had picked up as well during our 2018 trip to Oahu, when the distillery was still known as Manulele Distillers. These were all delicious to be sure. My classic flight offered something we hadn’t really experienced before. The Koho and Kokoleka were the same as with the aged flight, but we also tried two different versions of the Kea (white) rum.

Many varieties of sugarcane are grown for Ko Hana’s rum production (the Ko in their name means “sugarcane” in Hawaiian), and these two white rums were distilled from different varieties of sugar cane to produce two different “expressions” of their Kea / white rum. Our tasting guide, on hearing that we strongly preferred one to the other, also let us know that the one we liked better had been pot-stilled instead of column-stilled. (She also, on hearing us natter on and on about the flavors and different distilling processes, let us try a bit of a special high-proof release of their white rum that was absolutely fabulous, so much so that we purchased a bottle.)

We had lunch at Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. The trailer park it was in was cuh-razy crowded and it took a while to even get our shrimp ordered. In the mean time, Ian needed the rest room, and those can be tricky to come by. Luckily, the trailer park must have worked something out with a nearby shop owner to allow patrons of the various restaurants to use their facilities.

Eventually, we got back from our trek to the bathroom, secured ourselves a picnic table (no easy feat) and laid waste to some excellent piles of garlicky, buttery shrimp served alongside plain white rice. It was messy, it was crowded, it was loud. And it was so, so good. Plus, even with the throngs of people, we still managed to be visited by a handful of meandering chickens, much to the kids’ delight. (I think it was here that we even saw a duck family waddling through.) I swear I don’t recall the chickens being quite so … populous last time we were here.

We had a little time to kill before our next scheduled outing, so we thought we’d try to sneak in a little snorkeling. After being confronted with three completely full beach parking lots, we gave up and arrived early for our family stand-up paddle board lesson. It worked out fine though because 1 – it wasn’t super duper clear where we were to meet our instructor for our lesson and 2 – she was prepared to start early anyway if we liked.

We spent a bit of time on the beach learning how to get up on our boards and how to stand. Then, one by one, she let us try it out. Everyone managed to stand up and paddle at least a little bit, except me. It’s frustrating because I really only got one try at it, and when it comes to physical stuff, I am just not a natural. But, I’m determined (stubborn?), and I would have gotten it if I’d been able to try a bit longer. Alas, most of our lesson time was actually consumed by a scenic paddle up the ‘Anahulu River. We all sat comfortably on our paddle boards. Honestly, if you aren’t trying to stand up, they don’t feel tippy at all. If you can paddle a kayak, you can do this.

We got to see sea turtles lounging on the banks of the river. The folks who could comfortably stand up on their boards kept pointing them out swimming through the water as well. I guess from our seated angle, they weren’t as visible. The kids saw lots of crabs scuttling about, as well as a couple of feral cats. Poor Ian apparently saw a huge, hairy spider, which he described at length. As we paddled back out into the bay, Maya had jetted way, way ahead of us and so it was an anxious paddle till we could get back and lay eyes on her and confirm all was well.

After our lesson / tour was over, we decided to give snorkeling another shot. We had gotten some parking advice from our paddle board instructor, and so we’d have a backup plan if the parking lots were full. We made our way to Shark’s Cove. Fear not, its name doesn’t come from the many sharks that make their home here, but instead for a rock formation that is said to resemble a shark.

The area where we snorkeled was sort of like a giant tide pool. It was largely protected by walls of rock, so you didn’t get jerked around by waves. The fish who had wandered in at high tide couldn’t really get out during low tide. Also, they were used to humans, so, as it was described to us, it was like snorkeling in an aquarium.

I personally struggled a little at first because Ian was sick of salt water and didn’t want to do it. He wanted to hang out on shore. Because I’m Mom, I’m the one he comes to a lot of the time with these grievances because I will take care of him, hang out with him, entertain him. Sean helpfully pointed out to me that he was nine years old and could play on shore by himself. And so, with some hesitation, I finally calmed down and let myself enjoy the water.

The light wasn’t great because it was well after 5 by this point, but the water was jam packed with marine life. Schools of big-eyed silver fish would sort of zip back and forth in unison in front of you. Bright yellow fish, weird dark fish with orange protuberances, deeply patterned tang-shaped fish – you really could just stay still and watch the action happening around you. I finally caught on that people sort of float in salt water, and so, even though I don’t really swim, I could comfortably float around and gaze at the creatures and not worry too much. Sean and both the kids are good swimmers, so I could honestly just relax.

We stayed in that water till just shy of sunset. We collected Ian and showered off and got into our dry clothes (a sentence which is easy to type and much less so to execute). Then, on the way to the car, we were treated to an epic multi-hued sunset as well.

We closed out our day the way started it – at Rainbow Drive-In. Sean and I shared a loco moco, Maya had a mahi plate, and Ian had a hot dog and fries.

Day 3 – Chinatown, Bishop Museum, International Market Place

Today we mostly traveled by Uber, Lyft, or our own two feet. We started our day at Kamehameha Bakery. The selection was pretty overwhelming, and there was nowhere to sit, but we managed to enjoy our haul while hanging out in the parking lot. I tried out their specialty: poi doughnuts. Now, I’m gonna be honest. Poi is not something I personally get excited about. It is considered sacred in Hawaiian culture, but to my tongue at least it’s not all that flavorful. Poi doughnuts are a whole ‘nother thing though. The texture is a dream – so moist! And the doughnuts had just the right amount of sweet from the glaze.

The rest of the various pastries were good too, and all of us seemed to enjoy our breakfast. As we were getting ready to head to our next destination, a nice lady in the parking lot stopped us wanting to know how we had found out about this place. She seemed astonished to see tourists there. Maybe she just didn’t want the secret getting out.

We headed to Chinatown next to see about a walking tour that we had read could be arranged through the Hawaii Heritage Center. Everything on their website said walk-ins were welcome, but we seemed to have caught them off guard. My advice would be to call regardless, just to be sure everything’s set.

We learned much more than we would have had we just been wandering around. Our guide taught us a little about Chinese funeral customs, the Chinese zodiac, and the original arrival of Chinese folks in Hawaii as laborers for the sugarcane fields. We visited (among other places) both the Mauna Kea Market and the Oahu Market. We got to try a variety of small treats – for example, Ian learned that he very much loves fresh lychee. Maya learned that she likes dried shrimp chow fun. We ate so much that we wound up skipping lunch.

After seeing a dragon mural in the street, our guide explained to us that before the dragon comes to dance at a festival, you must first wake up it up. I read a little bit about it later and there’s a whole unique ritual around waking the dragon before it can dance involving spoken words and brushing the dragon with real or imagined water. The eyes are often left covered until it is properly awakened, and then the covering is removed and the dancers begin.

Maya had learned a little about Chinese language and culture in her fourth grade year (Ian is learning about it this school year), and so she was particularly engaged. She kept her eye out for moon gates and could pick out which of the lion statues guarding Chinatown was the female and which was the male based on what they were holding.

From there we took a walk to see the exterior of the Iolani Palace. This is the only official royal residence in the United States. We thought the kids would only have stamina for one museum type experience, especially after the cultural walking tour this morning, so we confined our visiting to the palace and the iconic King Kamehameha statue in front of the Ali-iolani Hale government building.

Instead, we took the kids to the Bishop Museum, which is a natural and cultural history museum. The Hawaiian Hall and Pacific Hall were excellent – there was a giant whale dangling from the ceiling and so many interesting artifacts to examine. It wasn’t all roses though. We were surprised to find that their planetarium show doesn’t run on Wednesdays (this is clear on their website, if you check the right place ahead of time, so I’ll take the hit on that one – the sample itinerary I looked at described it as a “daily planetarium show” so hopefully I can be forgiven).

We were saddened to discover that their lava experience wasn’t operational … and later that their deep sea tank was undergoing renovations. I really enjoyed what we saw and was delighted that the kids are finally reading signs and placards at museums, even if they tell us it’s just to keep from getting bored. Alas though, if we had known about all the things that weren’t available to us, it probably wouldn’t have been worth the price of admission.

From there, we headed to the International Market Place to do a little shopping and admire the huge open-air spaces in the mall. The kids (and adults) lingered outside the cat cafe for a little while – we were already missing our kitties. We found lychee-flavored Ramune sodas at a Japanese market. We sampled soooo many cookies at the Honolulu Cookie Company.

Anchoring the mall is the Banyan Court, which features a huge banyan tree around which the marketplace was constructed. This tree once held Donn Beach’s original treehouse. Apparently back in the day, he lived in and worked out of this treehouse, sharing tiki culture with all comers. There is a treehouse sort of thing there still, paying homage to Mr. Beach.

After finding some rocking chairs and relaxing a bit, we all walked more or less across the street for dinner at Muragame Udon. The line was predictably out the door when we arrived, but it moved along pretty quickly. We ordered our main noodles and then were sent through a sort of cafeteria style line to collect broth and trimmings. Sean and Ian had some tempura as well. Maya tried out a spam musubi, which she discovered she loved. I took a crack at a different sort of noodle bowl – it was called nikutama and it featured a soft boiled egg and sweet, shaved beef. It was a delight.

We headed back and let the kids play at the pool after dinner. Both our hotel room and the pool area had a lovely view of Diamond Head, so Sean and I relaxed on some lawn chairs and let the kids play and play.

Day 4 – Koko Crater, East Coast, Manoa Chocolate, Kailua Beach

Sean again fetched a rental car for today’s adventures (they rented him a BMW 5-series, which I think made him a slightly nervous – we had lots of messy plans for the day). We had intended to start our day at the main location of Leonard’s Bakery for malasadas, but decided the crowd wasn’t going to work for our schedule and tried out one of their parking lot “malasadamobiles” instead. It worked out well enough. The parking lot surroundings weren’t necessarily the most scenic but we had a gentle egret stalking our every move, so that was kind of fun.

Today was our big Koko Crater hike. This hike isn’t particularly long, but there’s a catch. Rather than a series of switchbacks taking you the slow way up the crater, you instead are instead hiking on old tramway tracks in a straight line up the crater wall. (These tracks, now unused, belonged to an incline tram that was used during World War II to haul supplies to a lookout post at the top of the crater.) It was like hiking up stairs for 0.8 miles, 1048 according to online sources. We didn’t count them. Also, the trail is mostly in full sun, and wow were we feeling it. It was brutal both uphill and down, but the views were amazing. My synopsis: I’m glad I did it once, but I don’t need to do it again.

Ian absolutely tore up the trail. He’d jet ahead of us and then sit and wait for us to catch up. Sometimes Maya would jet along with him, sometimes she would hang with us. This was particularly nerve-wracking because there’s a section of track partway up that is a bridge, so it has no ground under it. There’s nothing particularly hard about it as long as you’re careful, but I would hardly accuse our children of being careful.

Later on, as we neared the top of the trail, we heard a couple of guys coming back down the trail good-naturedly discussing the kid at the top of the trail who thought the trail was sooooo easy. I distinctly heard, “that little shit; someday he’ll be old too.” I asked them if it was a boy with long blond hair. Yup. The little shit in question was Ian. Go figure.

The view at the top was spectacular, and we took our time sitting to have a snack, taking photos, and generally resting. The way back down was certainly easier, but not easy. Poor Maya, who is almost obsessively apprehensive about bees and wasps and the like, kept seeing these tiny little wasps. We’d tell her to calm down, just keep walking, those wasps don’t have any interest in her. Welp, sure enough, as she was climbing down a trail to bypass the open tracks of the bridge, one of those wasps had been flying around her legs. It stung her as she was deeply bending her legs to navigate the rocks. She weathered it well and even seemed proud of how well she coped, but I hate that all her terrible fears are now confirmed.

When we read about it, this was described as an hour-long hike. These two middle-aged, sedentary office types spent about three hours all told, including snacks at the top and plenty of lingering for photos and rests. By this point, our idea of a schedule was kind of shot, so we rejiggered. We went first for a post-hike shave ice at a place called Kokonuts. This kids had scoops of ice cream hiding in theirs. Sean had some condensed milk added to his. The flavors were bright and the ice cooled us down, which I think we all needed.

We drove then to Ono Steak and Shrimp, a place Sean was particularly looking forward to trying out, and were dismayed to find that it was closed, in need of gas-line repairs. Instead, we backtracked a little and wound up at Ono Seafood. (In Hawaiian, ono means “good” or “delicious” or is a name for a wahoo fish.) They had poke! In fact, they even had some made with salmon, which Ian prefers over the more traditional tuna. For the second time that day, we ate in a parking lot. (Third probably, if you count the shave ice.)

After lunch, we drove for a while along the scenic coastline, stopping at various lookouts, trying to see if the Halona blowhole was blowing. Either the tide wasn’t quite right for that to happen or we weren’t looking the right direction. Regardless, the views were stunning and it was a nice way to further our resting.

For the kids (read: Sean), we stopped at Manoa Chocolate for a tasting. Bernadette, our tasting guide at KoHana Rum had told us to look for Kai at Manoa. As luck would have it, Kai was our tasting guide at the chocolate factory. As he tells us, he and Bernadette have been sending each other business for years. You could do worse than rum and chocolate, to be sure.

Along with samplings of their various chocolates, we sprung for each of to have a spritz made with pressed cacao juice and water. We also had tea brewed from cocoa nibs as our palate cleanser between chocolate bites. It was a delightful experience. After purchasing way too much chocolate, we wound up going to Kailua Beach so the kids could play in the ocean for a while. I had pulled or stressed on of my hamstrings during that morning’s hike, so I mostly sprawled out on a towel under a shade tree and rested and watched chickens while Sean and the kids played.

After cleaning sand out of every crevice imaginable, we made our way back to Honolulu. At the suggestion of one of our Uber drivers yesterday, we stopped at Helena’s for dinner. Apparently this place has been around since 1946! They serve traditional Hawaiian food, largely a la carte. Like many places, they close quite early, and we snuck in not long before closing. We asked first if it was ok, and they were supremely welcoming. We picked several different things to try. We discovered that lomi lomi salmon has too much other stuff in it for Ian to enjoy the salmon, but kalua pig is excellent. Maya learned that she is fond of chicken long rice … and kalua pig. They are known for their haupia, and I can understand why.

The kids and I hauled all our stuff back up to the room while Sean returned the rental car. We ended our evening with Mai Tais and mocktails at the Royal Hawaiian. The Mai Tai Bar was packed, but they still found us a nice table. The comparison to our more spare surroundings at Helena’s was almost jarring, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Sadly, once we were back at the hotel, we had to get cleaned up and pack. The Woodses were in for an early morning.

Day 5 – Off to Kauai!

We woke up WAY too early to catch to our 5:15a shuttle bus to the airport. Even with multiple stops to collect more people, we were through security more than two hours before our flight departed, bone tired and with limited breakfast options. I think we wound up with Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts that morning. Our flight boarded and departed with no issues.