Ohana Means Family

Did you miss Part 1? Here it is!

Even after eating an amazing meal at Chef Mavro and crashing out hard in our condo at the Ilikai, we were awake pretty early the next morning. We figured this would be the case, since it was our first true morning in Hawaii, and our bodies were still waking up along Arizona timelines. Knowing this about ourselves, we planned to hit the town right away, riding the bus to Diamond Head State Monument, so we could climb up and see the crater, something we'd never done on our previous trips to Oahu.

Spoiler alert: Hawaii is still pretty

Since we were up nice and early, we had a chance to see the world outside our balcony become light, which was a fun experience.

We were in a west facing room,

and thankfully, the sliding glass doors

had a nice coat of tinting.

Afternoons would have been toasty, otherwise.

Once we were prepped (read: coated in sunscreen), we strolled downstairs to the coffee shop to break a $20 (the bus only takes exact change), and then it was on to the bus stop, just a few streets over.

Mahalo! We're waiting for TheBUS.

It was a short ride to the bus stop for Diamond Head, and we hopped off the bus and started walking up the pedestrian pathway to the monument entrance.

But first, we took a picture with the sign

As we were walking along the path, we noticed the moon was still out, and we figured it would make a good picture to grab a shot of it. Chris was using our true camera at this point, and as he stepped back to get a snap of the moon, he misjudged the drop off the side of the path; feeling himself go down (it wasn't a big drop - just a foot or so), he attempted to avoid rolling his ankle and took the brunt of the impact on the outside of his left foot. He immediately knew something had gone pretty wrong, but after doing a quick assessment of the situation, we decided to continue on into the park.

Our picture of the moon.

Probably not worth it.

The entrance station and small visitor center/gift shop is in the valley of the crater, and then you start the climb up to the top of the ridge. As we strolled toward it, we grabbed a few shots of the surrounding higher areas.

Looking back toward the ocean

The tunnel through part of the mountain -

everyone goes through this to get

from the main road to the visitor center

From inside the crater area

Once we were inside, Chris found a handy bench to more fully examine any damage that might have occurred.

It was his pinky toe on this foot -

thankfully, you can see that it's not bleeding

and/or bent in any unnatural direction.

We figured it was broken,

but we decided to carry on!

I'd like to take a moment and thank Chris again

for being the clutzy one on this trip.

That's normally my role,

and it gets old after a while.

The hike up Diamond Head is cool, and you pass right by all sorts of neat things - old bunkers, shooting ranges, and the like. You also walk through a few tunnels, which were used during past conflicts to ferry men and arms up to the top of the facility. Of course, the biggest draw is the outstanding scenery.

The final part of the stair climb to the summit

An old bunker at the summit

Diamond Head lighthouse

Heading into another tunnel...

It gets crowded and warm on the hike,

so it's important to get there early.

Looking east toward Waikiki

Not a bad hike!

As you saw in the pictures up above, there's a small bunker way up on the top of the summit; Chris made the trek, but I stayed below - too many people in too small of a space for me.

Chris, heading up.

He's wearing his Left Hand Brewing shirt,

which makes it easy to find him in a crowd.

I love the way the houses are built on every square inch

of flat space, right up to the slope of the hills.

He won't let a broken toe stop him!

(While he was up there, I had a

conversation with an Aussie lady who

came to Hawaii with a broken foot -

she made it up here in a walking boot

and everything -

so a broken toe maybe isn't that impressive)

We headed back into the crater, making the round trip hike in just about an hour; after getting back down, we decided we'd join the line for the Dole truck in the parking lot, and we enjoyed (actually, over-enjoyed - that was a lot of sugar) a Dole whip and a mango smoothie.

Mmmm...Dole whip!

After waiting a few minutes back at the bus stop, we hopped aboard and headed back into Waikiki; on the way to the Ilikai, we stopped at the Food Pantry for more legitimate groceries to get us through the rest of the week.

The important things: OJ, butter,

yogurt, iced tea, and Maui Blonde beer

Back at the condo, it was time for showers and to get cleaned up, as well as assess the toe a bit more thoroughly.

11am assessment: it looks angry

From past experience, we knew if we went to an urgent care, we'd spend a few hours getting x-rays and paying co-pays, only to have them tape the toe to the one next to it and send us on our way. We decided to skip all of that and head back out for more sightseeing. Our plan was to hop on another bus and ride to Chinatown for a lunch of dim sum, but the protests in a nearby park (against the new telescope on a neighboring island) threw the buses off course; the toe was really starting to protest, so we bagged that plan and limped the short distance to Cheeseburger Waikiki, which we'd noticed the day before at Waikiki Brewing. Our lunch was quite good, and after burgers and beer, we ditched the rest of the plan and spent the remainder of the afternoon napping in the AC in the condo.

5pm update: Getting a bit purply

(most of the dark bit is his flip flop tan line from home)

We caught up with Risa, who'd flown in just a bit earlier that day, and once evening rolled around, we put on our fancier duds and strolled along the beach for food and drink. Our first stop was the Barefoot Bar in the Hale Kau, where we enjoyed a mai tai and a rum punch. Toe got into the action as well:

It's the same color as my flower!

Delicious libations!

Our next stop was Rumfire Bar and Grill, inside the Sheraton. We snacked on poke and had some rum drinks - Chris enjoyed their double barrel aged rum straight up, and I had one of their special mai tais; according to Chris, the waitress made a really good face when I ordered it, and I was feeling it quite a bit once we got up to move to our final location.

We were there earlier today!

Our final stop was for dinner at House Without a Key in the Halekulani Hotel. In addition to having great food and drink (our meals were both awesome), they offer authentic Hawaiian music (and the occasional hula dance); everything was absolutely lovely and so peaceful. Although it sprinkled just a bit, we very much enjoyed sitting there watching the sun go down.