More Hawaii Stuff

Day 2 was a really fun and slightly crazy day.  We woke up really early (5:30) because of the time
difference.  We grabbed some breakfast and got an early start.  We headed up to Diamond Head Crater.  It's a crater which was caused by a huge volcanic eruption 150000 years ago.  The stairs we climbed at the top were crazy but the view was spectacular!

Scary stairs

View of Honolulu from the crater






I called these the Dr. Seuss weeds because they look like something you would see in a Dr. Seuss book.

  

Gorgeous flowering tree

 

We ate dinner at a local Hawaiin place called Papa Ole's & had delicious food.

After the crater we headed toward the North Shore to the home where we are staying.  My sister Kathy has a friend who lives here who has been kind enough to let us crash at her house for a couple of days.  So on the way to the North shore we stopped at a bunch of lookouts and some beaches to see the views and take pictures.  We stopped for lunch at a little Mexican restaurant along the highway and also visited a macadamia nut "outlet store" (which was actually a glorified and overpriced gift shop that sold many flavors of macadamia nuts.  They had lots of samples of all the different nuts and they were quite delicious.  The driving itself proved to be a pretty big adventures. We had some mpas from the rental place but they were not adequate.  Then there is the problem with the street names.  They are all Hawaiian and they all sound the same:  Kalakua, Kahaki, Kalakani, Kalahiki, Kahula, Lanakai, Lanaiki, Lainaki etc.  My favorite street name was Wakahaka.  My brain is hurting just thinking of the street names.



We (finally) reached our host family's house and were amazed by the amazing view from her back door. Her backyard isthe ocean.  We didn't get in the water today because 1.  We were driving most of the day.  2.  It was really windy 3. It was cloudy and cold and rained off and on all day. We are REALLY hoping for some nice warm weather tomorrow.  Julie, our host said that last week it was hot and calm.  This week it has started storming.  Just our luck.  It is so beautiful though, and I especially love all the flowering trees and shrubs.  The bright pink and orange flowering trees are so beautiful.

While we are here on the North Shore we plan to go to turtle beach, snorkeling in Shark Reef (which I hear doesn't really have sharks.  I am not sure why they call it that.  Turtle beach DOES have turtles.  We are going to the Poly Cultural Center for a Luau tomorrow and we will go bodysurfing and snorkeling.  Hopefully the wind will stop blowing!!!

To Kent and my great kiddos:  I love you guys and I miss you. I wish you were here so you could see all the things I am seeing and experience this adventure with me!  Kent, you are awesome!!! Thanks so much for making this trip possible for me.  I love you.



The Laie Temple at night.  So beautiful