Maui

 

When planning the trip to Hawaii, I had to decide which islands we'd visit, and how many days we'd spend on each one. One of the reasons we are spending the shortest amount of time on Maui compared to the other two islands we visited is because it is definitely more expensive. If we had another day here, I would have included the famous Road to Hana in our itinerary. In the end I only included beaches and Haleakala National Park (another volcano). On Friday evening while we were at a beach on Hawaii, I got a message saying that the vehicle we were going to be renting through Turo wasn't available after all due to mechanical difficulties. When I had searched months ago, the prices through Turo were better than through a rental car agency. At the last minute, Priceline offered me a better price than Turo, but as I had used $269 in gift cards to rent the vehicle through Turo, I went with the worse deal and selected another vehicle through Turo. The lesson I have learned here is that it's better to take a statement credit than to redeem for gift cards the majority of the time. If I had booked the van through Priceline, I would have felt obligated to use Turo in Europe in May, and that would have meant we would need to fly into London. Using those gift cards means I can be more flexible in picking the best flight deal for our next trip as we might fly into Dublin or some other city instead. I could have saved money by picking a vehicle located 1 mile away from the airport, but I remembered how much we did not like walking with our luggage to and from the airport on Oahu. Our Turo pick-up and drop-off was much easier on Hawaii as it took place in the airport parking lot. So, I paid a little more so that we could do the same on Maui. Our flight to Maui was really, really short. Only a few minutes passed after we reached our cruising altitude before it was time to start the descent. We spent more time in the airplane on the tarmac than in the air as it took a while for us to be able to deplane in Maui.

Kona Sea Salt Farm

Our first stop was at the Island Cream Co. for ice cream. I had read they had the best ice cream in all of Hawaii. They have more than 150 different flavors, and they make 36 flavors each day. Their island cream is a cross between gelato and ice cream. It was not cheap, but it was very, very tasty. I tasted a sample of ube (a purple sweet potato that is popular in Hawaii). Ube was good, but I chose lilikoi and pineapple cream for my two scoops. If we were staying longer on Maui, I felt quite confident we would have visited Island Cream Co. more than once. Most of the time we saved money by buying ice cream at a grocery store on this vacation. Our second stop was Kahekili Beach. The beaches on Hawaii sometimes didn't have any sand. There are some beaches on Maui that are rocky (no sand), but the beaches we went to had sand, which the kids were happy to see. After swimming and snorkeling there, we got our dinner at Round Table Pizza. Usually, getting pizza is a way to save money on vacation, but that is not always true in Hawaii. We went to three different pizza places on this trip, and only one of them had a 16-inch pizza, and the cost of one pizza (even though it was much smaller) was FAR more than what we pay for a pizza in Pennsylvania. To compensate for the smaller size of the pizza, sometimes I purchased an order of garlic knots or breadsticks. Paul liked the first pizza place the best - Black Rock Pizza in Kona. After dinner, we spent some time at Black Rock Beach. Paul and I watched the cliff diving ceremony. Our last stop before we checked into our Airbnb was to get some groceries for breakfast and lunch. Our unit is on the 5th floor. We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Nadia is sleeping on the futon in the living room. There is an outdoor pool, but we didn't use it. This unit didn't include beach chairs, umbrellas, etc. like the Airbnb's on the other islands, but it did have a washer and dryer that we could use for free. It was nice to be able to do all our laundry so we can go back with clean clothes in our suitcases. I also appreciated the iron and ironing board so I could iron Nadia's dress before our family photo shoot.

On Sunday morning we walked to the beach that is five minutes from our Airbnb for photos. The last time we had a nice family photo shoot was in Myrtle Beach in 2019. The pictures this time aren't as good as the ones in 2019. First of all, Oliver seems to have lost the ability to smile. Secondly, Nadia and I accidentally ended up standing next to each other, which was not what I had in mind given the colors of our outfits, but there have been years that passed without us having taken even one single picture that included all five of us, so at least that is not the case this year. I have something to use for our Christmas card, ha ha! A couple from Canada who were on the beach, helped us by taking some of the photos. When we first arrived at the beach there was a rainbow over the water. It was SO beautiful, but my camera was acting up (scary!) and wouldn't work at first. Thankfully it started working again eventually, but the rainbow was gone by then. 

After our photo shoot, we got our bathing suits on and spent the day at the beach. Our first stop was Kapalua Beach. We spent about 90 minutes at that beach before walking to Napili Beach. If I had paid for all day parking instead of 3 hours of parking, I think we would have stayed there the rest of the day as the kids thought it was the best beach. We had trouble locating the other beach I had planned for us to try, so we ended up going to D.T. Fleming Beach which was a very good beach but not *quite* as good in the kids' opinion. Also, the parking at D.T. Fleming is much more expensive. If you go to Maui, we highly recommend the beach near the Napili Kai Beach Resort! When we were on Hawaii, we attempted to have shave ice, but the place I had chosen happened to be closed the day we went there (they had put a post-it note on the window saying they were closed that day). I had read so much about shave ice while planning this trip that I was determined that we wouldn't leave the state before we tried some. I found one only 1/2 mile from the D.T. Fleming Beach. This was even more expensive than our island cream treat. Gasp! But we had to try it once. We each tried different flavors of shave ice. Oliver had guava, passion fruit, and mango in his. The kids all picked vanilla for the ice cream portion of the treat. I picked haupia as I wanted to try something new. It definitely was better than a snow cone, but if I'm spending that much money, I'd rather have ice cream or a smoothie. I'm glad we tried it once though. It's challenging to find a place to eat on Maui that doesn't cost a fortune. At the Burger Shack on the beach this afternoon I saw that a burger cost $32! Yikes! We paid a lot less than that for our meals that we got at Mama's Ribs and Rotisserie.

Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Haleakala Volcano and some beaches that are closer to the airport before we begin our flight back home. Red eye flights are not exactly my favorite, and I'm also not keen on adjusting to a six-hour time difference, but I'm very, very grateful we could have this once in a lifetime trip to Hawaii. Nadia, Paul, and Ian said their favorite island of the three we visited was Hawaii (Big Island). Oliver said he liked them all equally. If we were to go on another beach vacation, we'd probably go to the Caribbean, but I'm so glad we were able to visit our 50th state! Nadia's astronomy class through Liberty University begins tomorrow, and Ian's two classes through Cedarville begin on Wednesday. Summer is quickly drawing to a close. 

The island in the background is Molokai

Coffee and more

When planning a vacation there are umpteen decisions to make regarding where to spend the night, what to see and do, where to eat, and where to get a vehicle. Some activities that I originally thought to include in this trip were eliminated due to the fact that we haven't made any money this year. These included going to a luau, going on a snorkeling trip near the Captain Cook memorial, and visiting the pineapple farm on Maui. One tour I had booked (abalone farm tour) was cancelled due to the company going out of business, and another was impossible (octopus farm) because they are temporarily closed due to moving to a new location. At one point I considered a beekeeping tour on this island, but I eliminated that because that's something we can do on the mainland. I wanted to stick to tours that are unique to this climate. Oliver wishes I had included a tea farm (on the Hilo side as there wouldn't be enough rain on this side to grow tea), and Nadia wishes I had included a macadamia nut farm tour (which surprised me because she and Ian don't eat tree nuts). I definitely could have included the macadamia nut farm tour, and that is something strongly associated with this island. The farm tours I selected were coffee, chocolate, vanilla, sea horse, and sea salt. The sea horse farm was the most expensive, and the coffee farm was the cheapest to visit.

Nadia wanted to shop at a t-shirt store near our hotel, but when we went there after dinner one evening, they were closed. She and I ventured out for a coffee/shopping trip yesterday morning around 9:00 am. I bought myself one t-shirt. She bought herself one t-shirt and one sweatshirt. I bought her a Kona coffee latte. Then the five of us left the hotel and began to drive south of Kona. I had planned for us to visit the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, but when we arrived there yesterday, we found out that they were closed due to August 15 being the holiday when they celebrate the fact that Hawaii was admitted to the Union (August 21, 1959). Thankfully, Greenwell Farms was less than 2 miles away, and they give free tours and free samples. When we pay for a tour of a farm, I don't tip the tour guide, but I did tip that tour guide since the tour was free. The tour was excellent. It mostly focused on coffee, but she did tell us a little about other things growing on the farm (mangos, white pineapple, lychee, apple bananas, vanilla, cacao, etc.). We were able to eat some lychee fruit. Yum! This family has been farming coffee for 173 years at this location. At a grocery store in Maui the next day, I bought a few apple bananas. When I'm buying a regular banana, I like to buy them when they are still partially green. The tour guide had said that apple bananas are much firmer, and that you need to buy ones that are yellow with some brown spots. She was correct! I love the apple bananas!!

Our second stop was at the oldest restaurant on the island. The Manago hotel and restaurant have been in operation since 1917. Our third stop was *supposed* to be St. Benedict Church (aka the "Painted Church"), but when we arrived, we found out it's closed for a few weeks due to construction. So, our third stop was actually Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. The kids each earned a junior ranger badge. The kids also snorkeled in Honaunau Bay (aka "two step") which is right beside the NPS site. On our way back toward Kona we also snorkeled at Kahalu'u Beach Park. It was a beach without any sand, but there were SO many different fish to be seen in the water if you snorkeled. We had dinner in Kona right along the harbor. Although it was still inexpensive by Hawaii standards, it was definitely our most expensive meal on the trip so far. We had a beautiful view, but the food wasn't anything to write home about, especially considering how much we paid. Some days the kids went to the swimming pool at our hotel after dinner, and other nights they used the gym. Last night they chose the gym. 

Coffee cherries (picked when they are dark red) - with coffee bean inside

This morning, we had our final breakfast the Holiday Inn. In general, the breakfast was very similar to what is served at Holiday Inns on the mainland, but there were some differences. The first couple of mornings they served sausage as the meat option. At most Holiday Inns, they usually serve either bacon or sausage. At this Holiday Inn, they served fried chicken as the meat option one morning, spam the next morning, and I couldn't tell what the meat was this morning. After breakfast, we checked out, loaded up the van, and drove to the Kona Sea Salt Farm which is located very close to the airport. We had a guided tour which ended with a tasting session. They gave us cucumbers, tomatoes, and pineapples to use to taste a variety of types of sea salt. Although I enjoy all three of those foods, I found the only one I liked with salt was the tomato. The farm is located right along the harbor, and the tour guide said monk seals can be seen along the trail. Paul, Nadia, and I walked along the trail after the tour, but alas we didn't see any monk seals on the island all week despite the fact we saw many signs mentioning their presence at various beaches. The farm was located very close to the Kona airport, but we had to drive back to Kona for a car wash and to vacuum out the vehicle we rented through Turo before we dropped it off at the airport. We were flying from Kona to Maui. More about that tomorrow! Although we saw license plates from other states on Oahu, every single license plate I saw on Hawaii was from Hawaii. Paul appreciated that the traffic was much less stressful on Hawaii than it was on Oahu. Parking could still be problematic at times, but we were grateful every time we found a parking spot at the beach or whatever place we were visiting. 

Thankful Thursday

1. We really appreciate that we can spend the night at Yvonne's house before and after our trip. It means we get to spend time with their family, and because they provide us a ride to and from the airport in our vehicle, we avoid paying to park our vehicle at the airport for two weeks.

2. We've been able to visit all fifty states! Paul and I have talked about coming to Hawaii for 25 years, and it finally happened. Paul's mom really wanted to come here also, and his parents bought a time share in 2019 so that the seven of us could go to Hawaii, but her health (plus COVID) made that impossible. I know being with the Lord is much better than being in Hawaii, but still it's a bit bittersweet knowing she never made it here. 

3. Paul and I have been married for 24 years!

4. I'm very thankful for the thirteen years of life Oliver has had so far. Praying the next year will be filled with growth and many blessings for him.

5. We've had some amazing experiences here in Hawaii such as swimming with dolphins, parasailing over Diamond Head, surfing lessons, hiking on a volcano, swimming at beautiful beaches, holding a sea horse, etc. 

6. Yesterday when we stopped for malasadas, the man who was ordering ahead of us only wanted to purchase one, and the minimum you could buy was three. He gave us two and wouldn't accept any money from me. 

7. Yesterday we visited a National Park site where we learned more about Hawaiian culture and history. It was our 179th National Park site that we've visited (29 of those were "National Parks"). The kids have each earned four Junior Ranger badges so far on this trip. If all goes as planned, they will earn one more tomorrow and another on Maui next week. 

Oliver tried so hard to catch this gecko!

8. Today we saw many sea turtles at a National Park site that is 1,500 years older than the one we visited yesterday. It was our 173rd National Park site that we've visited (29 of those were "National Parks"). We also swam at Alula beach which is very close to the National Park. When we first arrived, there were other people there, but after they left, we had the beach to ourselves. As we were exiting, another family was walking toward the beach. The "path" to get to the beach involved walking over a lot of rocks! Ian had a bad encounter with a sea urchin shortly after we arrived, but thankfully we otherwise had a lovely time. The waves were almost non-existent, but the water was so clear that you didn't even need to wear a mask and snorkel to see many beautiful fish. Not counting the sea creatures, the animals that have caught our attention the most have been mongooses (SO many of them), chickens (ALL over the place), geckos, and cattle egrets. 

9. This morning, we had a wonderful tour of a vanilla farm. It was very informative - even more so than the chocolate farm tour. At the end of the tour we ate some delicious homemade vanilla ice cream. 

10. This evening, we had an amazing experience with manta rays. It was our second biggest "splurge" of the vacation in terms of cost (followed by swimming with dolphins last week). We had a very short (less than 5 minute) boat ride. There was one other family who was on the boat with us. The ten of us held on to a board that had lights underneath which attract plankton which then attract the manta rays. They are each between 12-23 feet across in length! As soon as we got into the water, one manta ray was already there. We had four females swimming up toward us and diving back down and then coming up again at the start of our time in the water. Then we had a break without any manta rays coming close. Sometimes we could see them swimming under us, but they weren't coming up to the board. When they came up, some would actually bump into us. After the break we saw two males, one of which came up really close to us. Ian used an underwater camera my sister gave me a few years ago to take some videos of this. It was a once in a lifetime experience to be so close to such majestic creatures! 

11. Yesterday when we stopped for malasadas, there were two other stands set up by the food truck. I bought us a fresh pineapple. It was SO delicious! We had to pay $5 extra to have it cut up, but since we're staying in a hotel right now, we don't have access to a big knife or cutting board. The kids and I consumed it in one afternoon.

Kona

Monday was our 24th wedding anniversary. Our first vacation together was our honeymoon in St. Lucia, and exactly 24 years later we are on another island together. After buying some more bread and fruit at a grocery store and getting breakfast from McDonald's for Paul, Nadia, and Ian, we drove to the Lavaloha Chocolate Farm in Hilo (just a few miles from our Airbnb). We had a guided tour that went from the cacao trees all the way to tasting the final product. We tasted the inside of the cacao pod. The pulp tasted better than the beans, although the beans are very good for you. During the tasting portion of rhe tour we tasted dark chocolate (70% cacao), dark chocolate with salt, dark chocolate with orange (my second favorite), milk chocolate (50% cacao) which was my favorite, milk chocolate with salt, and white chocolate with nibs in it. Oliver splurged at the end and bought a bar of their white chocolate. Hilo receives more rain than any other city in the United States.

Next we drove along the Pepe'ekeo scenic drive which features rain forest, waterfalls, and coastal views. It was gorgeous, and part way along the drive we stopped at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. It quickly became my most favorite botanical garden that I've ever visited. There were so, so many beautiful flowers. I took so many pictures! We also enjoyed watching some crabs along the shore. We also stopped at a state park which featured two waterfalls - Akaka and Kahuna (Akaka was definitely the prettier of the two). After this hike, we stopped at Tex Drive-In for malasadas. I had chosen one place for us to try shave ice and four places (between the three islands) for us to have malasadas. This was our second time to have them. At this stop Oliver and I chose mango, Nadia chose Bavarian cream, and Ian chose strawberry.  Our last scenic stop was at the Waipio Valley Lookout. We ended our day by driving to Kona, which is on the dry side of the island. We checked into the Holiday Inn, ate pizza and breadsticks at Black Rock Pizza, bought groceries and socks at Walmart, and swam in the pool (or sat in the jacuzzi) at our hotel. We have to pay $15/ day for parking at this hotel, but considering we paid $36 total to stay here for five nights and that includes free breakfast every day, spending $111 total for five nights is a good deal. 

On Tuesday our first stop was a Sea Horse Farm. We had a guided tour, and we each got to hold a sea horse, which was very special. The babies (fry) are SO small! We fed them some brine shrimp. We also saw leafy sea dragons while we were there. We then spent about five hours at Manini'owali Beach in Kua Bay. Both of the Airbnb's we stayed at provided us with beach chairs, umbrellas, fins, snorkels, etc. We brought snorkels from home, but while we're staying at a Holiday Inn we won't have access to the other beach gear. Paul and the kids encountered two sea turtles very close to where they were swimming at the beach yesterday. All of us saw some spinner dolphins from a distance. On our way back we stopped at Patricio's Mexican Taqueria for dinner. Since it was Tuesday, the tacos were $4 each. Oliver had a shrimp taco, and Ian had a ground beef one. I had a cheese enchilada (also $4), and Nadia had a quesadilla. We also got an order of nachos to share. The food was very tasty, and for Hawaii had very affordable prices. After we parked the van at our hotel, we walked along the shops closer to the shore. Oliver had a smoothie, and Nadia had a Kona coffee milkshake.

On our flight from Seattle to Honolulu, some of us had a can of a Pass-O-Guava drink. Since then we've purchased cans from various places (grocery stores, gift shops, etc.). Some cans have been under a dollar, and all have been under $2 each. Paul likes their iced tea. The kids and I have tried a variety of flavors such as Lilikoi Passion, Guava Nectar, Passion Orange, etc. We were pleasantly surprised that at the Holiday Inn breakfast on Tuesday morning one of the choices was Pass-O-Guava! I stopped drinking juice at breakfast about 30 years ago, but I made an exception yesterday for Pass-O-Guava.

On this vacation we've encountered a higher percentage of international travelers than we typically do. We've heard many different languages being spoken around us. The other family that joined us on our tour of the chocolate farm was from the UK (same language, different accent). In particular, it seems that there are many people from Japan here on vacation. 

Hilo

There are two airports on Hawaii (Big Island). We flew into Hilo yesterday (eastern side), and we're flying out of Kona on Saturday (western side). This morning, we started our day by driving to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The visitor center is currently closed as they are building a larger one, but we were able to get Junior Ranger booklets and badges and a magnet at a temporary welcome station. I'm counting today as our second day of school for 2025-26. We saw steam vents, hiked through a lava tube, and then hiked the Kilauea Iki Trail, which is 3.3 miles long and is a pit crater created through an eruption in 1959. This volcano has erupted many times this year. We would have liked to watch it erupting, but it hasn't erupted for the last four days. It wasn't raining while we hiked those trails, but it started raining a bit later. I had left the umbrella back in our Airbnb. Thankfully it wasn't raining when we parked to see the Holei Sea Arch, but it started raining again so we skipped the Petroglyph hike and the Desolation trail hike. It was raining when we viewed the Kilauea Overlook. I didn't include the larger volcano (Mauna Loa) in our plans. We do plan to visit one more volcano (Haleakala) when we are on Maui next week. Paul and I have been to several volcanos over the years (ex. Mt. Etna and La Soufriere), but the only other ones the kids have been to before are Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. Mount Rainier is one of my most favorite national parks in terms of natural beauty, but I have to say that the hikes we did on Kilauea were phenomenal - very unique. Today we spotted one mongoose and three wild pigs. I enjoyed seeing some beautiful flowers. We also saw a mongoose on Oahu. 

Our next stop was in Punalu'u where we visited a black sand beach and had dinner at the Punalu'u Bake Shop. At the beach, there were palm trees, and someone was selling them for $10. Paul and I enjoyed one in the Caribbean back in 2021, and when I told Oliver that he wanted to try one. I'm not sure if it wasn't ripe or what the deal was, but neither the liquid nor the solid part tasted good at all. It's a risk you take when you try something new. Oliver wanted to try a poke bowl. He ordered one at the beach on Oahu yesterday and discovered he doesn't like to eat raw fish. Thankfully he usually likes the new foods that he tries. Once we were back in Hilo, we made a five-minute detour to see Rainbow Falls. We weren't there at the ideal time to see a rainbow in the water, but we did get to see a rainbow last week on our first hike of the day on Oahu. 

In the first several months of the year we saw 48 of the 50 states' license plates. We haven't made any progress since May in finding the last two (Wyoming and New Hampshire). When we toured Cedarville in June, a woman in the admission's office said that they had students from 49 states. She was very surprised when I correctly guessed that Wyoming was the state they don't have any students from. She said usually people say Alaska or Hawaii. I made that guess due to playing the license plate game, ha ha! When we were in Ecuador it surprised me that we only saw license plates from Ecuador. Here in Hawaii the vast majority (I'd guess at least 99%) of the license plates are Hawaii plates, but I have seen some from Texas, California, and Oregon. I'm doubtful that this trip will help us find the last two states. We did a fair amount of driving today, but at least the driving wasn't stressful for Paul like it was on Oahu. Neither of us like driving in city traffic, and although Honolulu is very small compared to Chicago or NYC, it still has far more traffic than we're accustomed to dealing with. 

The swimming pool at our first Airbnb was closed due to renovations. It turns out the pool at our second Airbnb is only open from 9-6, and we weren't around to swim at time yesterday or today. The last seven days the kids will have plenty of opportunities to swim in the ocean, and maybe they will swim in a pool at the Holiday Inn in Kona. We're accustomed to eating a free breakfast at the hotel when we're on vacation, but because 8 of the nights of this trip we're staying at an Airbnb, we are only getting a free breakfast five mornings (at the Holiday Inn). 

Many years ago, I bought five t-shirts that were either Larry or Bob (the tomato). We wore them when we were at Sea World in Florida. For the second time in my life, I bought us each a t-shirt. I wanted one that recognized we have visited all 50 states. I would have picked a slightly different style, but I let Nadia pick one on Etsy. When it was time to start packing, I kept reminding everyone to pack their 50-state t-shirt. Ian told me he had packed his, but it turns out he didn't. I was very disappointed. So the pictures today just have four of us. Sometime in Pennsylvania I'll get a picture of all five of us wearing our traveled to fifty states t-shirts. We did bring other outfits that I coordinated for a family photo at the beach (a little dressier). I'm hoping to do that either in Kona or on Maui. The last time we had family beach photos was in 2019. Paul accidentally forgot to pack socks, and the only shoes he brought were sneakers. Since Ian brought sneakers, crocs, and sandals, he loaned Paul some of the socks he packed. We're hoping to buy Paul some more socks while we're on this island.

All in all, things have been going smoothly. We're all healthy. Nothing has been cancelled. The only time rain interfered with our plans so far was today. Thankfully, Nadia figured out that Cafe 100 wouldn't be open tomorrow at the time we planned to go there for breakfast, so we had time to make alternate plans. I wasn't keen on the mattress at our Airbnb in Oahu, but I like the mattress at this one in Hilo just as much as our one at home. We also are enjoying that the boys have one bedroom, we have another bedroom, and Nadia is sleeping on a futon in the living room. 

Farewell, Oahu!

 

In 2000 when Paul and I were discussing where we wanted to go on our honeymoon, Hawaii was high on our list, and at that time I thought we'd spend a week on Kaui. I knew that we could *never* go to Hawaii without visiting Pearl Harbor, so back then I assumed we'd add a few days on Oahu to that trip, but we ended up going to St. Lucia for our honeymoon, and we don't regret that choice. We went to several different Caribbean islands in subsequent years, and St. Lucia remained our favorite. Ironically, when I planned this trip to Hawaii, Kaui wasn't included in our itinerary. Considering we were only on Oahu for four days, we certainly didn't thoroughly visit the island. During our week on Hawaii (aka "Big Island") we will almost completely make our way around the island. When the kids were younger, we stopped at almost every science or children's museum along the way. They outgrew children's museums first, and now it's much rarer for me to include a science museum. We've had an ASTC membership for quite a few years, but ours expires this week, and I'm not planning to renew it. More recently we've been visiting zoos and aquariums far more often than we had in the earlier years, but on this trip, I didn't include any zoos or aquariums. Ironically, we were parked in the zoo parking lot today as it was close to where the kids had their surfing lessons. I figured we would just enjoy seeing animals in the wild on this vacation. 

August 7, which was Oliver's 13th birthday, was definitely the kids' favorite day of our trip to Oahu as they all loved the dolphin boat tour and the parasailing. Surprisingly, Paul said that dolphin experience was his favorite also. In particular, he loved it when a sea turtle swam right up close to his face. You're supposed to stay 6 feet away from sea turtles, but the sea turtles don't seem to know about that rule. Pearl Harbor came in as #2 in his rankings. Nadia and Oliver said their top three for Oahu were the dolphins, parasailing, and surfing. Ian agreed with their top two, but he picked the Kailua beach as his third most favorite. Paul's third favorite was the hike to the summit of Diamond Head. 

August 8 counted as the first day of 7th, 10th, and 12th grade for my kiddos because we toured Iolani Palace and then spent six hours at Pearl Harbor. The kids earned Junior Ranger badges. We visited the USS Arizona Memorial (by boat) and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. We had a guided bus tour of the USS Oklahoma and USS Utah Memorials on Ford Island. We had dinner at the Pit Stop Food Truck near our lodging. I *thought* we'd spend time at Waikiki Beach that evening. Our unit was a few minutes' walk away from the beach, but we opted to just relax in our unit after dinner and forgo the time at the beach (and skip seeing the fireworks that one hotel does every Friday night).

Today our day began by hiking to the summit of Diamond Head Crater. This is a VERY popular hike. You have to have paid reservations to do it at a very specific time, and even so it was crowded. We did a total of four hikes on Oahu. None of them were terribly long, but all of them involved significant elevation changes. The least was the first one (about 500 feet), and Diamond Head was pretty similar at 560. I thought the Lanikai Pillbox Trail (613 feet elevation change) was definitely the hardest. Manoa Falls included about 800 feet of elevation change. I purposefully excluded The Koko Head Crater trail although it is located very close to the first trail we did because it has an elevation gain of 1,200 feet in just seven tenths of a mile! After our hike, we had lunch at Barefoot Cafe on the beach. Oliver learned he doesn't like to eat raw fish as he ordered a poke bowl for lunch. Kudos to him for trying many new things! After lunch, the kids had surfing lessons. Oliver was the first to succeed, but all three were successful! After surfing, we began the process of returning the vehicle (we remembered not to get gas right near the airport) and going back to the airport. In hindsight, we should have packed sandwiches for dinner. The prices of food in the airport in Honolulu were ridiculous. Finally, we found some breakfast sandwiches at a Starbucks that weren't as absurdly priced. Our flight on Southwest was very short. The flight wasn't full, and they didn't serve any snacks or drinks due to how short of a flight it is. After we landed in Hilo, we got the van we've rented through Turo. This van was parked MUCH closer than the one in Honolulu. We had a long walk again today (with our luggage) after we returned the van in Honolulu. We stopped and got some groceries and then checked into an Airbnb where we are spending two nights before we head over to Kona's side of the island. 

I haven't even looked through all the parasailing or surfing pictures yet, but I've included a few surfing photos in this post. I took pictures, and Paul took some videos.