Though it has been ever a month since we got back, I have only now been able to sit down and write about the wonderful time we had on our trip to Hawaii in February for our tenth wedding anniversary.  Why did it take so long?  Read.

Our original plan was to fly to Honolulu and then on to Lihue on February 1, but with all the problems Japan Airlines has been facing lately, that schedule didn’t go exactly as intended.  We were informed that our flight was cancelled and that the airline wanted us to take a different flight later the same day.  But since the later flight meant that we would miss our separately purchased connecting flight on Hawaiian Airlines, we asked for and got a change to a JAL flight one day earlier.  Changing the Hawaiian Airlines flight would have cost $100 per person, even though the original tickets cost about $80 each.  Not worth it.  We figured it would be better to fly to Oahu on the 31st, stay in a cheap Waikiki hotel (plenty of those!), and then take our originally scheduled Hawaiian flight out to Kauai.  With this little problem solved, we booked a room at the Holiday Inn in Waikiki and on January 31, flew off to Honolulu.  The flight went without incident, and we got to watch the movie “Up” on the way.

Once we arrived on Oahu, we rented a car.  None of us had every been to this island before, other than the airport, which doesn’t really count.  We got a GPS system, since I don’t know the roads there and I would be the one driving.  I punched in the address of the Holiday Inn and then off we went.  First instruction: “Take the ramp onto the H1 Highway.”  Highway?  In Hawaii???

Driving down the H1 toward Waikiki, Tomomi and I were pretty quiet.  We passed in and out of several small rainshowers, and then, right around the Punchbowl area, Tomomi finally said, “It doesn’t feel like Hawaii at all, does it?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I replied.

“It feels more like Tokyo,” she went on.

“Yokohama!” I corrected.  Yup, definitely Yokohama.  Our previous Hawaii experiences were all on Maui, where all the roads are more of either the easy-going country style or the elegantly decorative garden boulevards found in resort communities.  But no highways.

We drove on.  After about 25 minutes of driving, we arrived at our destination, only to find that the Holiday Inn was nowhere to be found.  We circled the block about four times looking for it, but where there should have been a Holiday Inn, there was instead a Ramada.  Finally I went inside to ask and found out that this Ramada Hotel was the Holiday Inn “until yesterday”.  OK…

They honored our reservation, though, so we unloaded the luggage and then got back in the car.  It was only about 10 in the morning, so we had the whole day to explore.  We hightailed it out of the city altogether.

The kids at Nuuanu Pali State Park on Oahu

We drove up the Pali Highway to Nuuanu Pali State Park, where there is a great view from the cliffs down to the windward coastline of Oahu.  The kids liked the view almost as much as the family of chickens strutting around the parking lot up there.

Next we drove down to the windward coast and headed up toward Kualoa County Park.  On the way, the whole family fell asleep, so I kept driving, making our way all the way up that beautiful coastline to a town called Hauula, just south of Laie.  There we had lunch at a great local eatery called Papa Ole’s.  We ordered a couple of plate lunches, scoops of rice with huge portions of teriyaki chicken.  It was way to much for our family, but very good!  Just as we got there, a biker gang of about 30 people rode in to have lunch.  A few of them played peek-a-boo and gave little waves at Noah and Sara.

The kids at Kualoa with Mikolii Island in the distance.

After lunch, we headed back down the coastline and stopped at Kualoa County Park.  There we let the kids out to run around and play a bit.  The view of the mountains on one side and out to sea the other is wonderful there!

Next we drove back toward Honolulu and on the way stopped at the Valley of the Temples.  There we saw an almost full-scale replica of the Byodo-In, a famous Japanese temple.  This replica was built in the 1960s to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Japanese laborers arriving in Hawaii.  We tried to keep the kids as quiet as possible here, but that was a very tough thing to do!

The Moana Hotel in Waikiki.

We finally got back to the Holiday Inn Ramada in Waikiki.  Our plan was to change and then take a walk down to the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani hotel, where Tomomi read there was a decent dinner buffet.  Walking past Fort DeRussy Park and then down Kalakaua Avenue, we discovered that Waikiki is a lot bigger than any map can suggest.  What I thought would take about 25 minutes too closer to 50, but the little tike Sara insisted on walking all the way there.  We had our double stroller with us, but this three-year-old absolutely refused to ride.  On the way, I finally understood exactly why Japanese people like Waikiki, yet I can’t explain it in words.  The best sight I had personally, was of the Moana Hotel, the oldest in Hawaii.

Dinner was good, and there was a live music and hula show to watch.  Anri and Sara were almost as entertaining as the hula show itself.  The girls were imitating every move the dancers on stage were making, and several of the guests devoted more attention to our noisy kids than they did to the professionals!

We had to get back though.  We couldn’t stay too late because the next day, very early, we were flying off to our originally intended destination, Kauai.  So, we walked back, a casual stroll, with Sara once again insisting on walking herself.  We stopped at a few shops along the way, kind of surprised that they were open until 10 and sometimes 11pm.  Once back at the Ramada, we crashed out.  Everyone was tired.

(A word on the Ramada:  It was surprisingly elegant, more than expected, and the staff was very friendly.  It was only $115/night.  A great deal for someone only staying overnight in this area!) 

The next morning, February1, we were up and on the road before sunrise.  Off to Kauai!

Read part 2 of this story here (including the part on why it took so long to write about this trip).

Photos of this trip can be viewed here.