On our final day in Hawaii, we cruised the island in style in our Silver Mustang convertible!
Don't we look awesome! Each day we rented a car we joked with the attendants that they needed to save us a convertible next time. Well when we went to pick up the rental car for the last day, we didn't get to the rental car place until about 10 am rather than right when they opened like on the other days. We decided to sleep in a little bit. So when we arrived at the place to pick up our car, all of the economy cars were gone so we got a free upgrade to the convertible! We were excited!
On our last day we decided to see some of the sites we missed the other days. We started by hiking Diamond Head. This was definitely a hike for a pregnant lady like me. Okay it was a good hike for anyone. The trail led us to the top of the Diamond Head Crater. This is an extinct volcano more than 3,500 feet in diameter with a 760-foot summit. The trail to the top is about 3/4 mile. It’s a switchback trail then the trail takes a steep upward ascent through a series of stairs and tunnels. The last set of stairs is a 99-step climb. From there, the stairs reach an end and you step up to some of the finest panoramic views on Oahu. Yes the hike to the top was long and hot in the Hawaiian humidity but the views of the entire island totally made the hike worth it! Here are some pretty amazing pictures from the top and from every angle on the crater:
And here we are at the top. Proof we made it! I am glad we decided to do this hike. It was awesome to see the island from the top. We stayed on top for quite a while just taking it in. The hike back down did not take quite as long as going up and it seemed we were at the parking lot in no time. Before heading back to the car, we decided to get a shaved ice to help us cool off.
After leaving Diamond Head, we drove around the east side of the island to see the sites over there. As we passed Hanauma Bay, the first site we stopped at was the Halona Blowhole.
The Blowhole was pretty cool to see when it really blew. We had to watch it for a while to see some good sprays but that was okay with us because the view of the ocean alone was worth it! Someone said that there are only three large blowholes in the world this one, one in Ensenada, Mexico, and one in Australia. I don't know if that is true or not but if it is, Russell and I have now seen two out the the three. We were able to see the La Bufadora in Ensenada on our Honeymoon. I guess now we need to plan a 20th anniversary trip to Australia to see the third one!
We continued to drive around the east side of the island and stopped at the Sandy Beach Park to eat our lunch. As we ate, we watched surfers attempt to ride the waves. It was pretty cool to watch. Some of the body surfers were pretty good.
We then made it to the Eastern most point on Oahu: Makapuu Point Lookout.
This was also another cool lookout point and view of the blue ocean. During the winter months, this is an excellent place to see the whales migrating through. Too bad we came in the summer...
It was getting to be time for us to turn our car in so we decided to head back to Waikiki. Before turning in the car, we decided to stop in Honolulu and see the famous statue of King Kamehameha. When we drove by and saw all of the people crowded around, we remembered that it was the 100th anniversary of the King Kamehameha Day celebration! The fire department was decorating the statue with huge leis representing the different islands and cultures of Hawaii.
It was pretty cool to be part of the celebration. Unfortunately, the huge parade was the next day and we would be back home then.
Of course Russell could not leave Hawaii without checking out the fire department and their trucks. Luckily they were at the celebration so we could do both.
We returned the car, and headed back to our hotel. We had checked out earlier this morning so we grabbed something to eat and picked up our luggage from the front desk just in time for the shuttle to pick us up and take us to the airport. We loved our time spent in Hawaii but it was time to head home. All good things must come to an end.
Before flying out, we say this awesome Disney plane. We knew Colby and Logan would love the Cars plane so we snapped a picture for them. We flew out of Honolulu at 10 pm and flew all night long. We tried but I don't think we got much sleep on the plane. At 7:30 we landed in Seattle, WA and rushed to find our next flight. This layover was really short, only about 30 minutes, which was so much better than a long layover. We hopped on our next plane and flew to Las Vegas. From there we collected our luggage which we thought was lost until we realized we were looking at the wrong turntable. Then at 1 pm we boarded the shuttle and finally made our way to St. George and back home. We were sad to leave Hawaii but so happy to be home and see the kids. The kids were so happy to have us home and wouldn't stop talking about all of the fun things they did with Grandma and Grandpa during the week. We were glad they had a good time too.
What a fun trip!
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