Hawaii Recap

Here's a not-so-brief review of our travels to Hawaii...

Wednesday: Left Denver around 11am and arrived around 3pm at Honolulu International Airport. The airport count was 15 people wearing sweats and 8 people wearing hawaiian shirts. Got our rental car, and surprisingly got a free upgrade to a convertible. One word: Sweet! Checked into our hotel, The New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel right on the quiet end of Waikiki Beach and near Kapiolani Park. Got to the hotel just in time to attend a manager’s reception with free pupu’s (appetizers)and mai tai’s. Also got our room upgraded for free to a partial ocean view. After a couple free drinks and pupu’s, we walked down Waikiki Beach to the Mai Tai Bar in the Royal Hawaiian hotel (where the Mai Tai was invented). Drank our first ‘real’ mai tai (of the many that followed that week...) Then we walked on the beach to Duke’s Canoe Club (right next to The Royal Hawaiian) and ate dinner there- had Opah fish, so yummy and, of course, more tropical drinks. After, what I considered a fantastic first day on the island, we walked back to the hotel along the beach, stopping in the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotel, which is this gorgeous hotel built in, I believe, 1909 for a quick walk-through.

Thursday: We got up pretty early because of the time change, I think around 5am-ish, had breakfast at the hotel, and headed to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial. Drove around the free parking lot for what seemed like hours trying to get a parking spot, stalking military men leaving base, who only were changing in their cars and not actually leaving. It seemed like all of the other stalker drivers around us were getting parking spots but none for us... No luck, so we ended up paying 5 bucks to park in the lot farther from the memorial! With over an hour till our tour, we did the audio tour that told of the history of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the memorial. Watched a movie about the memorial and then took the ferry over to the Memorial. What I found interesting was that we saw lots of Japanese tourists there, which was sort of weird, in my opinion. And even weirder that they (and American tourists as well) were getting their photo taken in front of the Memorial. Just seemed wrong to get your photo taken in front of what is in effect a grave of over 1000 people. From Pearl Harbor, we headed up the Kamehameha Highway, which we dubbed the Kakameme Highway as we were having problems pronouncing the hawaiian words, so this name stuck, and even the locals apparently shorten the name to the Kam Highway, to the Dole Plantation. Ate a yummy Dole Whip (mine in a waffle cone, Brian’s in a cup with coconut), then rode the train around the plantation. I got some fantastic photos of the wooden cut-out people ‘working’ on the plantation. After the surprisingly short (and somewhat disappointing) train ride, we opted out of the world’s largest maze and decided to head up to the North Shore. Ate lunch at Kai Ama Sandwich- which we had read about- yummy hamburgers in the north shore surfing town of Haliewa. From there, we continued on the Kakameme Highway towards with Windward side of the island, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Banzai Pipeline, but with it being summer, the North Shore waves aren’t as crazy as they are in the winter, so it was hard telling where that was. Oh yeah, and it didn’t help that street signs and directions in Hawaii are basically non-existent. And if they do exist, the sign is typically off to the side of the rode behind a tree so you can’t see it until you’ve just about passed it. The road took us back down towards the South side of the island, where Waikiki lies and took the Likelike Highway back to our hotel. After freshening up in the hotel room and cooling off in the A/C, we headed out to dinner at Keoni’s, a Thai restaurant. I had my first curry dish, which had shrimp and pineapple in it and it was quite delicious! After dinner, we headed back to our all-time favorite bar in Oahu, the Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Hawaiian, of course. Had another delicious Mai Tai, enjoyed some local music and the view of the beach, and then headed back down Waikiki to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped at Tiki’s Bar and Grill, which we had noticed several times because of the gigantic tiki’s they had lining their second floor lanai of a bar/restaurant. We finally get to the bar, after Brian took us on a crazy elevator ride to a floor with just hotel rooms and we ended up walking along some outdoor pathway by the parking garage that looked like something only housekeeping uses. Thankfully we were able to find our way back into the hotel and found some stairs to take us down to the level of the bar and headed there to have some more tropical drinks. I must say, I was looking forward to, and so was Brian, going to this bar, because it looked so cool and fantastic from down on the street. But we get to the bar, order our drinks and were quite disappointed... It was nothing more than a chili’s-esque restaurant outdoors with gigantic tiki torches. After just one drink we headed back to the hotel. I must mention at this time, after having experienced several bars and different tropical drinks, we decided, hands-down, that the Mai Tai bar is the place to be for drinks. First of all, the drink prices everywhere are quite expensive, like between 7 and 9 dollars. The mai tai’s at the Mai Tai bar are $9, but were well worth the couple extra dollars. The ambience there was awesome; live music, free mixed nuts, right on the beach, and the drinks had a serious kick to them. One of these mai tai’s and I was feeling gooooood.

Friday: Friday morning we met up with Brian’s friend, Jason, and his girlfriend to head over to Diamond Head for the hike to the top. It was a pretty cool hike, nothing too strenuous, though Jason and his girlfriend seemed to be competing for the world’s fastest ascent up Diamond Head. Brian and I followed behind, sometimes getting caught behind groups of 30 Japanese tourists walking at 1 mph. At the top, there are some old military bunkers and a cool, dark tunnel you get to walk through, and about 100 super steep steps. The view from the top was gorgeous- I got some fantastic photos of Waikiki and up to the north too. After we hiked Diamond Head, we went back to the hotel and cooled off in our icebox of a hotel room. We were keeping the hotel room at about 65 degrees and compared to the balmy tropical weather outside, it felt like a meat locker. It ruled. For, what we a expected, a quick drink, we went to Lulu’s, a 24 hour restaurant and 22 hour bar. We were pretty psyched about this place too before we actually went there, like Tiki’s but, we got there and after waiting about 15 minutes for a waiter or waitress to come to our table were about to leave. Finally an absent minded waiter came to our table and took our order, who was apparently surprised we hadn’t ordered, apparently having a closed menu in front of you means please don’t come take our order. After the whole waiting for service, we were pretty disappointed with the place, especially since they weren’t at all crowded and had numerous wait staff hanging around. And the drinks weren’t THAT great. After this, we headed for the free trolley to Hilo Hattie, apparently the official store of Hawaii. We anticipated this would get us over to the downtown area, and we’d stop at Chinatown on the way back, but the way the trolley worked, we weren’t able to do that (though the trolley did drive us about 1 block from the Dog’s office, so that was exciting). So, we just hit up Hilo Hattie, got some souveniers and then headed back to our hotel, via the free trolley. Friday night we headed back to the Mai Tai bar (yes, again) to meet up with Brian’s friends that were in town for the wedding. We decided this night that we would get drunk, and drunk I got. We each had 3 mai tais at this bar, because we purposefully got there early to get a head start on the evening. With the combination of empty stomachs and the very strong drinks that we had become addicted to, the night was off to a great start. We walked over to a japanese bbq place that we were really looking forward to eating at, but with a group of 8 on a Friday night, the wait was an hour, so we decided to move on to find a different restaurant. Several of Brian’s friends have been to Oahu a few times, so we left the dining decision in their hands (I think... I was quite drunk at this point) and walked around a bit, passing a Planet Hollywood that I was very concerned we were going to end up eating at and very adement that this not happen (of course in my drunken confusion, I don’t even think this had ever been an option) and then on to a very odd hotel that had a Japanese restaurant in it. After being buzzed in, we walked by the pool and entered the restaurant. The food was quite good, from what I remember, I had california rolls and shrimp tempura, along with a slew of side items that accompanied the meal. Following dinner, we headed to the Shore Bird Bar on the beach. I think I had a Mango Margarita or something of the sort. We had one drink there and then walked back to our hotel. We decided we would give Lulu’s another shot and have a drink there on our walk back, but when we arrived, discovered there was a cover charge and once again Lulu’s dissed us. So instead, we stopped by Jack in the Box for a cheeseburger and then one of the 5 million ABC stores on Waikiki and picked up a 6 pack of beer to take back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel, drank a beer on the lanai (balcony), and then I literally passed out!

Saturday: Waking up a tad hungover, it was a slow-going morning. We walked what seemed like miles to Leonard’s Bakery to get some of their famous Malasadas. On the way back, we saw a super cool sushi bar with a conveyor belt that the food goes around and you take what you want- it looked like so much fun! It must have been a pretty popular spot too, because before they even opened there was a line at their door. We then stopped at Ono’s Hawaiian foods for a traditional hawaiian lunch. With not many descriptions on the menu, I ordered Chicken Long Rice, which turned out to be like a soup. Brian had Kalua Pig and with our main items, it was accompanied by some sort of salmon/tomato salsa like dish, a beef jerky? I think, poi or rice (I had the poi, which is pounded taro root- quite interesting), and coconut called haupia which was quite tasty. We can’t say we would go back there, but am definitely happy I had some real traditional Hawaiian food. Heading back towards the hotel, we stopped at Bailey’s a vintage store with an enormous collection of new and used Aloha shirts. The task of looking through these shirts was daunting, but Brian found a cool one that had tiki’s on it and said “aloha” (did I mention I said this word a gazillion times with my own special inflexion during the trip?? Plus constantly saying Mahalo over and over again). After the long and exhausting walk, we made it back to the hotel, took a nap and then got up to get ready for the wedding. We headed up to Kualoa Ranch in Kaaawa for the wedding. The setting was beautiful, overlooking the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other. The ceremony was really nice and included a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. After the ceremony, the wedding party was subjected to what seemed like 2 hours of photos while the rest of us guests enjoyed drinks and some tasty pupus. After the wedding party was announced we feasted on a delicious buffet with a whole kalua pig (it is tradition in a hawaiian wedding for the groom to bring pig), prime rib, crab covered ono fish (soooo yummy), salads, macadamia nut chicken, rice, and garlic mashed potatoes, among I’m sure other items I’m forgetting about. After dinner, we danced the night away.

Sunday: Our day began with some Malasadas for breakfast and then we headed to the beach outside of our hotel. Of course, the one day we decide to lay on the beach clouds roll in and we get sprinkled on, however it was glorious laying in the sand and listening to the waves roll in, and the clouds were probably a blessing because without them I’m sure I would have fried. After spending the morning at the beach, we headed back to the other end of Waikiki to visit the monstrosity known as Hilton Hawaiian village who's only saving grace is the Brady bunch stayed there. We went to lunch and drinks at the House without a Key. We dined on some yummy food, I had a delicious crab salad sandwich and Brian had a mahi mahi sandwich and there we tried a few different tropical drinks (mai tai’s at the Mai Tai Bar are still the fave). After House without a Key, we stopped at Big Kahuna’s Marketplace, which apparently looked like an awesome spot from the commercial Brian had seen on hawaii TV back at the hotel, but we got there and it was just a big room full of those carts with junk on them. We headed back to the hotel for a quick nap and then got up and walked back down the other end of Waikiki to see Don Ho! I must mention at this point, each time we walked from our hotel to the other end of Waikiki, it was a bit of a hike. Nothing bad, since, come on, we’re walking along the beach in Hawaii, just need to point that out, because by Sunday, my feet were a bit tired. Anyways, Don Ho. Now this was an experience. We got into line and the amount of elderly people there was awesome. I was really hoping to be the youngest person there, but alas when we get into the theater and are seated for dinner, I see several kids younger than me. Bummer. Anyways, we got our dinner, which was predominantly gross. Picture the worst wedding reception food ever. Then Don Ho posed for photos with whoever wanted a pic taken. Brian and I went to get a picture taken, but my stupid camera’s flash didn’t go off so it didn’t come out. Then they had their ‘professional’ photographer taking photos as well, for purchase, and that came out even worse. I was looking in one direction, Brian in the other. It was quite humorous. Anyways, so the whole performance was more of a variety show, with several different guests performing songs here and there and then Don Ho starting and ending the show with “Tiny Bubbles”. He’s getting pretty old, but is quite humorous and terribly un-PC. After the show, where did we go?? Yup, you guessed it, the Mai Tai Bar. There we had our last official mai tai of the vacation, as we were leaving on Monday.

Monday: Monday morning we had breakfast at the hotel at the beautiful Hau Tree Lanai Restaurant- it’s all outdoors and under a beautiful Hau tree where supposedly Robert Louis Stevenson, author of “Treasure Island” once sat many moons ago. I had poi pancakes there again, with Coconut Syrup and Maple Syrup- mixing the two syrups is scrumpulescent. We then packed up our stuff and checked out of the hotel. Our flight home wasn’t until 1030pm, so we had the whole day ahead of us to do a little more sightseeing. We drove up to the Halona Blow Hole to check that out and saw Haunama Bay, Sandy Beach, and a few other gorgeous scenic overlooks. After the Blow Hole, we drove to the Ala Moana Shopping Center to check that out. It’s like a big outdoor mall with super expensive, designer stores. And then Sears, which proved to be the best spot. They had some great Aloha shirts at unbeatable prices. We had a snack at a bar at the mall where I tried yet a couple more tropical drinks and had some nachos. Oh, and I must give this bar props because they actually had a fruity tropical drink with a decent amount of alcohol in it. Of course, I scoped out the menu and was trying to determine which drink would be more bang for the buck, and I found it, because even the waitress said it was a good choice, as it had a whole additional shot of liquor in it, compared to the other drinks. A girl after my own heart. Following our mall trip, we went to what I guess you would call another mall, the Aloha Tower. It is like a smallish outdoor shopping center and is surrounding the Aloha Tower, which is a really old and used to be the tallest building in Honolulu. I think I’m getting that right. This was a depressing spot. It was totally dead, like no one ever goes there, except to board the dinner cruise ships docked on the side of the shopping center. Though, I must say I found a store I liked quite a bit and got a couple of tanks there with a nice aloha shirt style print. We then drove to Chinatown for dinner at Little Village Noodle House. It was good food, though I started feeling pretty sick while we were waiting for our food and didn’t actually get to each much of it. Following dinner, we headed to the airport to check in and board our long, overnight flight home. I had never been on an overnight flight before and thought it was going to be a piece of cake, however, it only made me exceptionally crabby and miserable. I did get much more sleep than Brian, but it was still nothing that could compare to a real night’s sleep.

Tuesday: We arrived to Denver at 930am and spent the day laying around, taking multiple naps, and I actually did do a little work. It was so nice to have a vacation where I was actually on vacation, had my phone turned off, and no access to my emails. Due to the multiple naps, I’m still up and it’s now Wednesday... Almost 3am. Better try to fall asleep soon, I’m flying to Dallas tomorrow afternoon for a business trip.