Hawaii - Day One

We slept in! No one woke us up requesting a waffle, a juice cup or a diaper change. We piddled around a little after having breakfast, just checking things out. We looked into visiting Pearl Harbor, but it wasn’t doable that day. We looked for something to do that night; since it was New Year’s Eve, lots of nice things were fully booked…but we found something. Then we went on our first scenic drive.

On our drive, we found:

Diamond Head Crater

Diamond Head is Oahu's largest tuff cone formed over 100,000 years ago by an active bubbling volcano. Nineteenth century British sailors nicknamed the crater Diamond Head when they mistook the calcite crystals for diamonds. A well-graded trail leads you up the 760-feet summit to a World War II bunker with a bird's eye view of Honolulu.

Donald says to me, “Do you want to walk or drive?” I say, 'Uh, drive.' I’m on vacation, being lazy is my goal. So we paid to drive. Or so we thought. The signs say something like “On Foot = $1, Per Car = $5” We thought that meant that you could drive up. No. We actually paid to park. We get out of the car and start walking…I thought we might just check out a few things…and before I knew it we were hiking. Not what I signed up for. Not on my list of things to do before I turn 30. Not what I planned on doing that day. That Donald. I think he tricked me.

All the way to there?!?! ---->
It was a slippery, muddy trail that included several sets of concrete steps and a tunnel. There were places where it was necessary to turn yourself sideways to pass the people heading in the opposite direction. The people coming down weren't saying much...I guess they were concentrating on not tumbling their way down the trail. That, or they were internally laughing at all of us still climbing. No one bothered to tell us that there were 8,000 stairs in our future. I burned calories that I had planned on keeping all to myself that day. But I did it. Huffing and puffing my way up the trail with my best ‘Little Engine that Could’ attitude…I made it to the top…and obviously, I did not die. Wow. It was a cloudy day, but the view was still beautiful.

View at some point on our way up. View of Waikiki. View overlooking a lighthouse.


<---- View to the south east, opposite of Waikiki. The journey down the trail still required work. Trying to keep from falling, allowing gravity to not-so-gently return you to the parking lot, requires careful attention to your steps. And as you're passing the folks on their way up...you are thinking 'You just wait 'til you see the stairs!! I'm glad it's you and not me this time. Good luck!!'

After the hiking adventure, it was time to return to the room, get a second shower for the day and head out for our New Year's Eve show of choice.

We chose: Cirque Hawaii

This awe-inspiring and incredible show blends beauty, grace and strength in one fantastic compilation of aerial, dance and acrobatic artistry. Children delight in the fanciful characters and comedic antics while adults sit in amazement over the jaw-dropping aerial acrobatics and stunning choreography.

What a treat! It really is jaw-dropping, simply amazing. And somewhat stressful. You're hoping that these people don't fall and break their faces...the talent was great.

<---- And the 'bendy' chick...really is incredible. The girl in our show held a bow in her toes with one foot and shot the arrow with her other foot to bust a balloon...oh, with her feet over her head! So cool. Made my back hurt watching her.

After the show, we had a couple hours to kill before midnight. We walked the main drag in Waikiki and looked at all the street acts they had to offer. Amazing artists, magicians and still-standers...people painted up as statues, we saw a 'pewter' guy. They try to stand super still on a box that says 'Please tip if you look or photograph'. Sorry, not happening. The pewter guy had on his box that he could breakdance or do the robot, for a fee. Someone paid him to do the robot...he should've just stood still. *g*

We walked for a while...another great people-watching place, for sure.

We sat on Waikiki Beach to ring in the New Year with fireworks shot from a boat in the ocean. Very nice. We shared the beach with a lot of drunks...with fireworks of their own...very entertaining. We kept waiting for someone to shoot their eye out or lose a finger. One guy close to us was just asking to ignite certain things in his nether region. Someone would light a 'fountain' and this doofus would dance around it and jump over like Jack-be-Nimble...only since he was drunk, he wasn't so quick.

Wonder how he was feeling the next day...