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| Us at the top of Diamond Head |
There was no sunrise for us this morning. There was no beach. There was no sea glass. But there was
coffee. And we desperately needed
that. We managed to get out the door by
7:30 to drive to Diamond Head for a hike.
I wanted to go early, before the afternoon sun had the same effect on us
as a giant fat kid holding a magnifying glass over our heads as if we were
ants. The parking lot was already full when we arrived (lousy tourists), so we parked outside the entrance and walked in through the tunnel to the park entrance. We paid the admission of only $1 each, and started the hike. It was already hot, and although the hike is only eight tenths of a mile to the summit, it didn't take long before we were shiny with sweat. The trail started off paved nice and smooth, and then quickly turned uneven and
steep. There were a lot of stairs (173
to be exact), there was a 225 foot long nearly-pitch black tunnel, there was a great deal of heat,
and there were plenty of comments like this one from Ali: “Now I know exactly
what the Trail of Tears felt like!” The
way up was quite a work out, but once we reached the top of the crater, the cool
breeze and the magnificent views of Waikiki made it worth the hot climb. The walk down was much easier, although I sort of felt like we looked like those poor donkeys that carry people down into the Grand Canyon. When we reached the bottom, we were
ready to cool off and reward ourselves by eating at Duke’s.
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| Our view from the top of the crater |
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| Heading back down |
Duke’s is in the Outrigger Waikiki hotel, and is named after Duke Paoa
Kahanamoku, who is famous for introducing surfing to the U.S.
We had a nice table on the lanai, we ordered mai tais (two of us
did) and a delicious lunch. We watched
people surf and swim while we ate, and we enjoyed our last views of
Waikiki. After lunch, we walked out to
the beach, staggering and lurching our way through throngs of other
tourists, and ended up at Duke’s statue. We walked through the shops for awhile, but we couldn’t stand the high-pressure sales tactics and cheap crap for sale. And everything smelled, too.
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| Lunch and mai tais at Duke's |
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| Jackson's version of the shaka is different than most |
We left Waikiki and drove to I’olani Palace, which is the only royal palace in the U.S. The palace is now a museum, but I decided
against forcing my family to take the tour.
Instead, we took pictures of it, and then walked across the street to the King Kamehameha
statue. I only went to this statue because
the Bradys did. If you watched those
episodes, you’ll remember when David explains to the Bradys how Kamehameha was
the first island chief to get all the islands under one rule, and Cindy said, “I
bet I know why he was king.… Look how big he was!” Cindy Brady always annoyed me with her
childish remarks. But that didn't stop me from saying it to my family.
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| Us with King Kamehameha (because The Bradys did it, that's why) |
Although our
stomachs were fuller than they should have been, and stretched out like Glad
Force-Flex garbage bags, the kids asked us to take them back to Waiola for
shave ice; which we did. Four of us ordered ice cream in ours, Ashley selected
the azuki beans, and she gave all of us a sample. Imagine taking an un-drained can of pinto
beans and putting about 1/8 of a cup of them in the bottom of shave ice. It was terrible. I'm going to write a letter to Hawaii and tell them to stop this practice.
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| Our sleepy momentarily-non-fighting babies |
From there we had
a 30 minute drive to Valley of the Temples.
The kids feel asleep (or collapsed from exhaustion, I'm not sure). When we arrived, we drove through an immense
cemetery, and ultimately found what we came for: The Byodo-In Temple, which is
a replica of a 900 year old Buddhist Temple in Japan. The temple is surrounded by beautiful gardens
and huge koi ponds. There is a 5-foot,
3-ton brass bell that you can ring as a blessing of some sort. We just liked the “gong” sound it made. So we rang it—a lot; probably to the great displeasure
of the other visitors. We removed our shoes and went inside the
temple, and there, in the middle of it, sat a 9 foot Buddha, the largest wooden
Buddha carved in 900 years. And it’s
covered in gold and lacquer. After
walking the grounds and taking pictures, we went home.
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| Byodo-In Temple - one of the most peaceful places we've been to |
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| The giant carved image of Buddha |
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| Hey, didn't we see this place on Lost? |
Scott came over
for dinner. It was getting windy and rainy on our
side of the island, and the waves outside were huge, so we spent about 10 minutes on the beach, and then Chad
lit the grill and we had hot dogs, chips and fruit. We caught up on old times and new, and had a
very mellow night at home. I think the
kids watched 3 or 4 episodes of Lost. We
are starting to slow down a bit, and I think tomorrow I may even sleep in past
5:30. After all, we are on vacation.
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| My old buddy teaching me to to be cool |
Dreams come true
In blue Hawaii
And mine could all come true
This magic night of nights with you
–
Elvis Presley
-The Niemeyers
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