Ahh Hawaii – four years later… this time we stayed on Oahu and saw more of it rather than bouncing to another island. Although touristy of course, it can easily provide tons of nature experiences in addition to shopping for floral print everything and canned luaus. 
Since the trip *was* due to work, I have to have a little tribute to job stuff here… The job site from a distance, although it may be more east of this, it’s either the place Cujo worked or the neighboring plant of the place Cujo worked. The hall is right downtown near Chinatown, Cujo, Jack and Charlie after our little barbeque, and some of the guys on the same job.
Shark’s Cove (despite the name) is where we did the majority of our snorkeling – it was fantastic after the really rough rocky entry. It’s not so easy to get in with your fins and the waves bashing you backwards against the rocks. There were tons of fish of all different colors and sizes and some folks there said they had followed around a turtle for a half hour. 
Chinatown was a little different from others I’ve been to, in that is was mostly food – like produce and meat – raw meat, most like a grocery. Less trinkets and cheap souvenirs, although they did have quite a few which was enough. The smell was not great. Go figure, we find a CJ in Chinatown for our own CJ! 
Turtle beach – this place delivered, that’s for sure. Apparently almost like clockwork, sea turtles come here daily and sunbathe. This guy swam right in like he belonged and trudged up the beach in a few minutes to nap. They had some sort of protection for them – not sure what agency, but when this one landed, a girl roped off an area around the turtle so people were aware of safe distance.
We snorkeled and boogie boarded a little at Sandy Beach but didn’t see much, so we flew a kite. Great wind for it, in fact, the kite tried to fly away and ended up broken! 
They celebrate Boy’s Day pretty widely in Hawaii – in fact on the news they said both ‘Happy Cinco de Mayo’ and ‘Happy Boy’s Day’, wonderful mesh of cultures. However, some Hawaiians would just as soon protect theirs – this sign was seen more than once. 
Some various sights around Waikiki and the condo we stayed in – in between the canal and the ocean, couple minutes walk from the International Market. 
Cujo got us some beautiful leis for our arrival which smelled fantastic, at the end of our trip we did the traditional throw onto a local statue.
They had Spam Jam in Waikiki while we were there, and got to see Kawao play live, and eat some awesome Kailua pork. Weird, maybe, but I think it definitely warranted a photograph.
They have a pretty big swap meet three days a week at the Aloha Stadium, where the NFL Pro Bowl game is played. The vendors setup all around the outside of the stadium in a huge circle and they sell trinkets, clothes, flowers, food and stuff – for cheaper than in town, and it costs $1 to get in. I swear this little banana from there looks like a thumb, no? 
There is a temple that is a replica of a temple in Uji, Japan that is so beautiful – you drive through the Valley of Temples to the entrance, which is basically a big pretty cemetery. There is a huge eighteen foot Buddha with an incense offering, and a three ton bell cast in Japan. Amazing – so peaceful and serene and picturesque.
Manoa Falls hike – this is said the be the second most popular hike on Oahu (to Diamond Head) and we can totally understand why. The colors here just don’t transcend – brilliant greens of twenty different shades. The hike was still rugged and jaded along the footpath so you really felt in it, with big steps up and down in mud puddles. The 160 foot waterfall itself is at the end of maybe 20 or 30 minutes and worth it entirely.
Driving back through Manoa, we ran into another picturesque cemetery with an amazing view.
This is the poor sad result of crab and wine allergies – RED!
Diamond Head hike – well, it’s what everyone says – it’s a pretty view. The entire hike took only about 1 ½ hours and the top is windy as hell. You walk up a mostly paved walkway to a couple sets of stairs (one has 99 steps) and duck under a low hanging rock formation to reach the top. You can see old bunkers, gun emplacements and lots of cactus. There were all sorts of people doing Diamond Head - some crazy folks were running up and down, and one guy was stopped on a landing with workout gear like those stretchy bands wrapped around a stair pole doing arm reps, others were women with little babies in arms.
We had dinner at Dukes with cousin Barry and got to catch up with him, after unknowingly driving right by his house two hours earlier. Kona beer reminder – seasonal Wailua Wheat – it has a hint of papaya in it – yum yum!
The scenery driving around the island is just simply breathtaking, from driving south through the mountain, so the areas where they film the tv show Lost.
Makao beach 
La’ie Point – Mother Nature did this 
Pu’u o Mahuka Heiau – in order to get here, you drive up a windy road and over ten speedbumps and it’s a little creepy when you get there. This place used to be a sacrificial site back in the day and now it has a couple trails and an offering altar. Very red dirt here, which actually came home with me via my sneakers.
Dragon’s Nostril hike – this is over by Koko Crater and Koko Head and the 500 foot elevation gives you a great view of them. The area is named after some blowholes that you see from the trail. There is also a great lighthouse over here but you can’t get to it directly.
Hanauma Bay is a popular place to go snorkel, sunbathe and play in the water – but it’s one of the beaches that is a state park that costs to enter. And, upon entry, you are required to watch a video about what not to do or touch when you get down there. We didn’t see many fish there, but we did see a few.
Kahana Bay 
Along the western side, there are lots of people that live along the beach in tents. Tents might be a stretch – they were more like tarps – some were nicer than others. We were the sad witnesses of one going up in flames – black, quick flames from the plastic chemicals – and a dog running away from it to safety.
Tantalus is a 10 mile stretch of road high atop (1610 feet) and winding thru the mountains that provide a 25 miles view all the way from Diamond Head to Kahala with amazing winding scenery, enviable homes, and the Pu’u Ualaka’a State Park – a great way to end our trip.
