It’s hard to believe that last year at this time I had just returned from a beautiful family vacation in Hawai’i. I posted Part 1 of our trip recap last April (you can read about that here), and planned to finish the details of the time in Oahu, but only 2 days after posting our lives completely changed and we got the call for our first foster care placement. Being suddenly immersed in all things newborn, caring for a 3 day old babe, my travel stories took a back seat and I recently realized I never finished writing/posting them like I said I would. Now, buried in the never ending white stuff and having come through the coldest winter months I can ever remember, I just need to think about somewhere warmer and greener and I thought you might too. So, here’s what I had planned to say a whole year ago…Enjoy!
Day 2 – Honolulu
We started the day by exchanging the rental car – they had given us a full-size SUV because they didn’t have any mid-size available, but the thing was a beast and our gas budget started to disappear much faster than we anticipated!
It was hazy and rather overcast and rainy in Kaneohe, but the weather report said mix of sun and cloud in Honolulu, so we decided to head there for the afternoon. It is the most amazing thing to be driving in pouring rain, enter the tunnel through the mountain and come out to sunshine on the other side! We literally could drive in any direction for a few minutes and have different weather.
One of the things that my husband and I always enjoyed before we had kids was going to the zoo. We have always tried to make a point of checking out the local zoo if there is one when we are on vacation, so we wanted to share the experience with our boys. Honolulu Zoo was so nice. It was the perfect size for our kids, had lots of new animals for them to see that we don’t have at our own zoo at home, and had a big play structure that they were pretty excited about. It was a little disconcerting, however, to go view the lion enclosure and see that one of the panes of glass was missing and it was boarded up instead!
Directly across the street from the zoo, is Queen’s Beach (named after Queen Liliuokalani – first queen and last monarch of Hawai’i – because her beach house and its pier used to be located here), so when we finished at the zoo, we decided to cross the street to the beach and go for a stroll. As you walk down, past the Waikiki Wall, you come to Kuhio Beach which is a very calm, sheltered beach, surrounded by a low stone breakwater. We weren’t dressed for beach play, but that didn’t stop the boys from getting soaked! They love the beach!
When we came to the end of Kuhio Beach, we decided to take a walk down Kalakaua Avenue, which seems to have an ABC Store every 20 feet by the way – in the rain that had now reached Honolulu – in search of shave ice. We ended up stopping at Lawson Station Moana Surfrider and enjoyed our first ever Tropical Rainbow shave ice. Of course, we were too busy enjoying it before it melted to think of getting a picture. By now, we had some wet, tired, hungry and cranky little boys (not to mention their parents), so we headed back to home for supper and bed.
Day 3 – North Shore
The next morning broke like the previous one – cloudy with rain in the air. It was also my youngest son’s birthday, so we made plans to head up to the sunny North Shore for the day. The drive up was absolutely beautiful! I can honestly say that Oahu is one place that I do not mind driving for long periods of time, especially along the coast. To celebrate a certain 4 year-old’s birthday, we started with a trip to Waimea Valley. Waimea Valley is enchanting, rich in botanical treasures and natural wonders. Oh and chickens. There were chickens everywhere!
We had a lovely hike up to Waimea Falls and there were able to don life jackets and swim in the river and out to the waterfall. The number one rule was to keep to the right when swimming, as the left side of the cliff face is known to let go of rocks on occasion. The water was cold, but refreshing, though my little guys didn’t last too long in the water. Walking down to the water, you have to navigate some large boulders and it is a very slippery and rocky entrance before it gets deep enough to float. If you have water shoes that would definitely be a help. My feet got a little banged up and I cut myself when I slipped and landed on a sharp rock – nothing too serious though. Hubby and I took turns swimming out to the falls. It is definitely harder than it looks to swim against the current of water, but so much fun!!!
After our swim, we hiked back to the car and went looking for a place to have our lunch. We found a lookout point not far up the road from Waimea Beach. I convinced hubby to climb down and sit on the rocks in front of the swells coming in and we had a perfect view for our picnic. After lunch, all my boys went exploring a bit and found some sea glass.
When lunch was packed up, we headed to the Dole Plantation to check that out. It was interesting, but I am glad that we booked it as a secondary attraction. There was not a lot to hold the attention of our young children for very long, except for the Pineapple Express train tour – THAT they enjoyed immensely. We tried the Pineapple Garden maze, but I was a little disappointed. It was also very hot in the sun once we got into the maze and the air was close, so we did not finish it. It might have been more fun if the boys were older. After the train we went into the store and learned how to grow, select, and cut a pineapple and were able to sample some – the sweetest I have ever tasted, I might add! It was so good!
For supper we ended up heading back to Haleiwa Town on the North Shore and sampled the food trucks. Karl and I had garlic shrimp with rice and coleslaw at Hono’s and the boys enjoyed coconut, strawberry and Nutella crepes from Delice Café. Again we were surrounded by roaming wild chickens who kept waiting for something to drop. (I did some research to see where they all came from and if they had some sort of cultural significance. Though no one seems to know exactly how chickens took over the island, one reigning theory is that Hurricane Iniki in 1992 was responsible for ripping apart backyard coops and freeing the birds, which then went feral. With no real predators to keep the numbers under control, the feral chicken population has sky rocketed and you can see them happily roaming everywhere.) We drove back to our rental along the coast on the Kamehameha Hwy. It was breathtaking to watch the waves rolling in bathed in the golden rays of last light. A perfect end to a perfect day and some pretty sweet memories made for a certain 4 year olds’ birthday!
Stay tuned for Parts 3 & 4. Cheers!
Of Shattered Things 