To say my first exposure to Oahu wasn't very positive would be an understatement. I had absolutely loved the quiet, laid back, mostly rural nature of the Big Island. Then, I get my broken foot (accidentally) stepped on by DH just before our flight to Honolulu started. And then, with a throbbing, achy foot, I disembark in the much larger airport in the enormous city of Honolulu.
Did I mention that the airport in Kona is small? And it's outdoors? It was sooooo neat! There were roofed areas, typically where there were desks/gates with computers, but no walls (with the exception of a few air conditioned lounges for those of membership status with specific groups).
The Honolulu airport was a different world. Ultra urban. Multi-level, sprawling walled-in structures with glass and long roped off mazed sections like cattle chutes in a stockyard. Outside the walls wasn't any more calming.
Culture shock. High rises everywhere. Traffic everywhere. People everywhere. My anxiety level ratcheted up exponentially. I don't do cities. I don't like cities. I don't like crowds. I don't want to do this. Where's the escape button? To say I was overwhelmed on Oahu more often than not would be an understatement.
Anyway, back to my story.
Because parking fees were so exorbitant, and because DH was sure we could walk pretty much everywhere in Honolulu (an opinion formed by the resort's claim to have everything you could ever want within a short walk), we'd decided not to rent a car on Oahu. We planned to get a ride from the airport to the resort, and from the resort to Pearl Harbor and back, but pretty much walk everywhere else. We were only going to be there three nights and two full days, so even with my foot recently broken, we felt we could do it and save close to a thousand dollars on the combination of car rental and parking fees.
We got a Lyft to our resort. Which was like a night and day difference from the resort we'd just been at. That one had been maybe three stories, but I think it was only two. It had been quiet, we'd had a suite and a lanai. This resort was a high rise hotel (and hotel is how I refer to it). I don't remember how many stories, but I do remember it was more than 33 because I accidentally punched 33 into the elevator call button once when we were actually headed to the 3rd floor (where the pool--indoor--was located. Nope. I didn't swim in that pool, not once).
And our suite was, well, it was a suite in that it had a separate bedroom off the living room area. It did not have the same homey feel as the other suite though. It felt like a hotel room with a separate bedroom.
I have to mention that the bathroom had a bidet. I'm not a bidet person; I'm rather funny about when and where water can touch me. This was a very fancy, high tech bidet and it drove me nuts; every time I sat on it--so, every time I needed to use the toilet--it would make noise (I think contact woke up the computer part to be ready for me to push buttons for what I wanted it to do) and that was too much for my all ready jangled overwhelmed by the city nerves. The seat was also weird, sort of slanted, to put you in a good position for spraying off, I guess; it was not comfortable. I hated having to use the bathroom. I just wanted a regular old low-tech toilet to sit on.
I do have to say, our Lyft driver was a great young (ha, probably in his early 30s) man. He was polite, he was a good driver, and conversation with him was easy, not stilted. We leaned that he had a regular day job, and would pick up Lyft passengers on his route home (or close to home) every evening. Which was really a good way to make efficient use of his commute, cover the gas expense, and a way to meet people from all over the world without having to spend a lot of time with anyone who turned out annoying or otherwise unpleasant. Not would I would do, but definitely a side hustle idea for anyone who commutes to and from a largish city, likes driving and is also kind of extroverted.
Also a shout out to our server that night at Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu. (The only place within walking distance on my throbbing re-smashed foot that had both food that sounded like I could eat it and not more than an hour wait for a table.) I believe his name was Levi. He was awesome. One of the first things he asked was if either of us had any food allergies, to which I said I was sensitive to soy and artificial sweeteners. I picked my entree very carefully from the menu, paying close attention to the listed components of that offering, and even so, Levi came back a few minutes after we'd ordered and informed me that the marinade for the chicken in my entree contained soy, and would I like to order something else? Since it was a minor 'contact' ingredient rather than a major exposure to me kind of thing I decided it was worth the risk (of later stomach upset) and kept my order rather than changing to another entree. But it was so wonderful that he had the thought and took the time to ask the kitchen staff about ingredients without me even asking him to do that. Best server encounter ever!!! He was awesome in all the normal waitstaff ways too, and we left him a BIG tip.
Our first full day on Oahu, we got up early and took a Lyft to Pearl Harbor, where we spent about six hours. Yes, there were a lot of people there, and yes, the crowds were rather overwhelming to me, but really wait times for anything wasn't too bad, and I would definitely go back if I had the chance. DH and I chose to tour the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and also the U.S.S. Missouri. Really, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but we had a lot of quiet discussion between us pretty much everywhere we went while there.
The U.S.S. Arizona was very somber and thought provoking.
looking toward Diamond Head from the parking area
It was a really cool hike. Just over 3/4 mile one-way, and lots to see on your way to the top. Like Fort Ruger inside the crater.
There's also a tunnel you have to walk through in order to get up to the old fire tower, which you go into in order to get back down. Which was not as confusing in person as I just made it sound, LOL.
At the top, you have great views of the ocean as well as Honolulu.
You also crawl through a small, short doorway and go into the fire tower. Which is where DH and I had a very up close encounter with a mongoose who apparently lives just outside the 'window' of the small room you enter via that doorway. It was a little startling to see a mongoose at approximately face height and only a few feet away.
Once you're back outside again, you are faced with this: The Ninety-nine Stairs! And they are steep, and they are narrow. These I went down sideways so my entire (broken) foot could be flat on the tread rather than the normal way where the ball of your foot carries a lot of weight (because it was the bones between my fourth and fifth toes and the ball of my foot that were broken). It was a long way down!
We hiked through the edge of Honolulu, where there was a surprising (to us rural folk) number of homeless camps in the brush on the sides of the road, through some old residential neighborhoods on side-roads, and into the more bustling main part. Where it so happened there was a street fair that had been set up while we were at Diamond Head and now the main road was blocked from vehicle traffic and the sidewalks were absolutely packed with pedestrians! So many people. Breathe, Kris, and keep hiking!
We found Maui Brewing, and stopped there to eat an early dinner. I don't remember what I ate, other than that it was good and I would eat there again given the chance (my brain tends to categorize food establishments into three categories: Never Eat There Again, Definitely Eat There Again, and Possibly Eat There Again based on if the menu offered much I can/want to eat and how good the food actually turned out to be). I do remember that I ordered their stout, and that it was good. Stout tends to be my beer of choice, yet it's hard to find stout on tap these days, especially during warm weather months or in hot weather locales.
Maui Brewing's stout
After dinner, we walked the rest of the way back to our hotel. And that is how I hiked five miles on a broken foot in one day. It was definitely sore when we got back to our hotel, and I think I spent the rest of the night reading a book with my foot propped up.
The next day, we were catching an overnight flight home, so we had quite a few hours to spend before heading to the airport. We chose to spend most of the morning, until just before check out time, on Waikiki Beach. It was fairly empty at that time of the day, and although I still couldn't actually swim because of my foot, I did enjoy standing about waist deep in the ocean. I hadn't been in the Pacific Ocean before (touching it with my fingertips back in 2007 when DS1 graduated USMC bootcamp in San Diego doesn't count as 'in').
We had spent some time, not swimming, on the beach the first night we were in Honolulu, including watching fireworks over the beach that night. The below picture is from then.
After swimming, we went back to our room, rinsed off, changed clothes, finished packing our bags, and took yet another Lyft (with another great driver, young, very personable and a smooth driving) to the airport. We had a late lunch in the terminal at Sammy's Beach Bar and Grill, which had really good food. Five stars from me, the picky eater/impossible to please person. Definitely Would Eat There Again.
On our long flight home--it was direct Honolulu to Detroit--DH and I rehashed our Hawaiian vacation, pros and cons and what we'd do differently if we came back. The Big Island, we would definitely do again and probably revisit all the same places, hopefully to hike more, see Kilauea erupt, get me to the top of Mauna Kea, and add more days to our stay. Oahu, well, it wasn't what we'd expected. DH has been to some major cities on work trips before, and even he got a little tired of the throngs of people and hugeness of Honolulu. So, next time, if we went back to Oahu, we'd probably try to stay somewhere else, rent a car, and see the 'other side' of the island.
But, the general consensus is that we will go back to Hawaii someday. Lord willing and the creek don't rise.
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