I have never had a desire to go to the islands until Curtis had to teach a class there. So I thought I would tag along. What did we do for the week we were there?
After our LONG flight there we arrived in the middle of some killer traffic and at night. It was difficult to see what was going on and really any spectacular views in the dark so we just went to the room, checked out the hotel and went to bed. Time difference was 5 hours. I knew it was going to take a bit of getting used to.
This is what I woke up to the next morning. The Waikiki Embassy suites was an amazing place to stay. It was 1/2 block from the beach, had a shopping mall in the hotel, a YARDHOUSE restaurant with 40-11 types of beers (Curtis was in heaven), a FREE breakfast every morning - not just a continental here's your donut breakfast - omelets made for you, scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast, amazing fruit (FRESH PINEAPPLE), miso soup (?) - and a free manager's reception at night with FREE cocktails and snacks. We will stay here again WHEN we go back to the ISLAND.
Our first day there Curtis had to head out of the hotel pretty early to teach his class. We were not able to stay at the location where he was teaching. It was only a couple blocks away. So after that superb breakfast I headed out on my own. First stop -- THE BEACH of course!
This was the view off an asphalt sea wall/pier thing that was the first thing I saw. The views are breathtaking. I haven't seen nature this spectacular since my drive through the mountains of Tennessee in the Fall. It was amazing!
I am beginning a walk down this sidewalk toward what looks like a "public" beach. This is looking back toward the concert pier with the hills and hotels in the background. I then realize that this whole beach is a public beach. I could "cop a squat" where I wanted to and no one was going to chase me away.
The beach of course is littered with hotels and shops and restaurants and bars. I see an outdoor restaurant
with this really cool statute. And some of you know I fancy myself a photographer so I am shooting pictures of this statute. And then I realize that the eyes are blinking on this bird. I have never seen a bird like this before. Of course social media helped me out. I posted a picture asking someone to tell me what it was. It turns out it is some sort of bird in the Heron family. He or she was just sitting there in the morning checking out the passers by. When I walked back by the restaurant about an hour later - he or she was gone.
As I continued down this concrete path not too very far from my bird experience, I came across what I thought was the largest hotel swimming pool I had ever seen. Then I realize that the water is not chlorinated and there was a sand sweeper on a tractor. Walking a little farther along I see this "restored" lagoon. It wasn't very deep but apparently during HIGH tide, the water comes in from the ocean and this lagoon is on the public beach and people can swim, and paddle surf, etc.
I sat for about 2 hours on lava rock watching surfers. New surfers getting one or two lessons and then they test their new knowledge in some pretty heavy surf. I play this to not only watch the surfers but to hear those waves. That sound never gets old for me.
The rest of the day was spent exploring Waikiki. The malls, the shops, the beach and the amazing weather. The weather people here have a boring job. Each day it is 82 degrees and sunny. Every day all year round....82 degrees and sunny. I think I could get used to no snow with those temps.
On day two we decided to take a drive. We wanted to head toward the north shore and just see how far we could go. Honolulu traffic is TERRIBLE to say the least. They don't have a rush hour -- they have a rush ALL DAY. They are really land locked and can't make the freeway any more lanes than they already have so that makes driving interesting. So with Curtis navigating and me swearing at drivers, we set out.
The first place we came upon was this overlook of the ocean. As we are driving all I can see to our left are peaks and hills of old lava rock that have now turned into a lush hillside of green. To our right is the ocean. So we pull off and decide to trek down to the beach. Where we stop seems to be a spot for surfers to put in to the water. This is looking down quite a few feet to the ocean.
A bit of perspective about how high up it is - this lighthouse is right there in the distance and that is the top of the light house.
We sat on the beach for about 45 minutes watching the surfers. The waves here were much higher than on Waikiki. We were not even near the North Shore yet.
I need not only SUNSCREEN but a hat as well. The sun is mighty mighty there. And this red headed German had to be careful and not stay in it too long, even with sunscreen slathered every where.
Stay tuned for the next part of the HAWAII adventure. I will post PART TWO next.
Mahalo!
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