Hawaiʻi Five-0

Our last day on Oʻahu.

To check out of the condo, we just entered a code in the keyless entry to let them know that we were leaving - totally contactless! We would definitely stay here again!

Then we drove over to Diamond Head Market and picked up some goodies from the bakery.  Clockwise from the top left:  Diamond Head torte (peanut butter cheesecake, chocolate pudding, bananas, Oreo crust), chocolate ganache cake, blueberry cheesecake scone, and lemon crunch cake. Although we are all about the food, dessert for breakfast is a little much, even for us. So they all went straight into a cooler bag for later enjoyment.

Climb Every Mountain

One of the things that was on our must-do list for Oʻahu was a pillbox hike. So after we finished lunch, we drove over towards the windward side of the island to tackle the Kaʻiwa Ridge Trail up to the Lanikai Pillboxes in Kailua.

Mighty Mo

Remember how I said that tours to the USS Arizona Memorial were set to resume in time for our tour today? 

Well, yesterday the NPS posted on their Facebook page that all programs out to the memorial have been paused "out of an abundance of caution." Since the safety concerns were in regard to the shoreside dock, we wouldn't even get the opportunity to board a shuttle boat for a "float by" viewing. So disappointed! 

Time for Plan C - visiting the Battleship Missouri Memorial ("Mighty Mo") instead. 

Rainbow Connection

R was up and out the door early this morning so that he could get malasadas from Leonard's Bakery for the fam before the lines got too long. What a guy!

And in case you were wondering if the four of us ate all of those malasadas in the picture, the answer is "NO!" He bought enough to share with his cousins, who were coming over to visit today.

Backup Plan

Knowing that tours to the USS Arizona Memorial have been cancelled in the past due to high winds or dock repairs, when I made reservations eight weeks ago, I bought tickets for both today and Monday, just in case. The cost was minimal ($1/person), so it was well worth it to give us two shots on goal.

As it turned out, all tours out to the memorial were suspended the day we arrived on Kauaʻi because the shoreside dock required repairs. I have been stalking the Pearl Harbor National Memorial Facebook page for updates ever since. Yesterday I saw a post that visits were set to resume tomorrow. Yay!

So, our backup plan for today was a scenic auto tour around the island!

Island Hoppers

K is usually on her way to work by 7:00AM, so the boys got up early to take a pic with their cousin since we were flying to Oʻahu today.

After saying our goodbyes and packing up the rest of our stuff, we decided to head to the airport early, return the rental, and wait in the terminal until our 9:35AM Hawaiian Airlines interisland flight. 

Surf's Up!

R's cousin A arranged for surf lessons for M and J with his buddy Kevin, owner of Heʻe Nalu Surf School. Since Kevin scouts out several locations for the best conditions each morning, we were up early, eagerly awaiting the notification about where to meet up. By 8:30AM, we were at Kalapaki Beach in Lihue. A was already there, ready to go out on his foil.

End to End

We were out the door early this morning to visit Waimea Canyon and Kōkeʻe State Parks. It was raining steadily as we drove around the southern end of the island, but when we stopped at the Hanapepe Valley Lookout, we were treated to this sight.

Totally Tubular

When I started planning out our itinerary, one activity I really wanted to do was mountain tubing. The pics I've seen of friends floating through irrigation ditches looked so fun! The 10:00AM tour was the only thing we had on the schedule for today, so we didn't have to be up too early since it would only take us about 15 minutes to drive to Hanamāʻulu. (Stupid chickens didn't get the memo! Grrr!)

After we checked in with Kauai Backcountry Adventures, we were provided with helmets, head lamps, and gloves. Then we boarded the truck with the rest of our tour group and headed up to the lands of the former Lihue Plantation.

Up the Creek

Yesterday we saw so many different varieties of wild chickens roaming the island and thought they were really fun.

This morning at 3:00AM, not so much.  

Hey Siri, can you kill feral chickens on Kauaʻi?

Cock-a-doodle-booooo...

The Garden Isle

One thing to love about UCLA being on the quarter system is that the boys were finished with their finals on December 10. This meant that we could time a trip to Hawaiʻi before the prices on lodging and rental cars went up for the holidays. Another incentive to traveling off-peak would be avoiding crowds (and hopefully COVID!)

On the topic of COVID - all four of us have been vaccinated and boosted, so we were exempt from having to pre-test or self-quarantine upon arrival per the state's requirement. United even had a customer service counter in the terminal at LAX where we could show our proof of vaccination to get a wristband to bypass the verification line after landing in Lihue.