Hawaii

Will graduated from college, in three years, and we had him pick where to go to celebrate. He picked Japan. We watched Japan's travel policy for months, and as the pandemic continued to drag on and they were not allowing any incoming travel, we realized we had to make a different, domestic, choice. We'd never been to Hawaii, so Will picked it.

The flight there was tough. We didn't realize it was treated as an international flight at LAX so we had to claim our baggage and get to another terminal and clear security again. It was a race, and I think in the process we walked 3 miles with suitcases. Then our Hawaiian Air flight was delayed due to a mechanical issue. We'd already boarded, and it was hot as hell in the plane (summer in LA), so they opened the airplane doors and allowed a few people into the jetway while we waited about 90 min. Then they reboarded us and taxied to the runway, then determined the mechanical issue was still a problem so they turned around and we repeated this entire procedure. Then we finally took off, and as we were nearing HI they announced a mechanical issue and that they would be landing on Oahu, and get us on another plane to get us to the big island. But that plane wasn't there yet, so we waited another couple of hours before boarding a short flight to Kona. We were scheduled to arrive at 1:40 PM but we actually arrived at 10:45 PM, and the rental car places all closed at 11 PM. I ran off the plane and got to the rental place barely in time, then we had to find our Air B&B exhausted and in the dark. But the next day, we were in Hawaii and ready to go.

We were surprised by how vocanic the landscape was, where the only thing that could survive were the feral goats. Vast barren fields of black lava intersected by a single highway. We stayed 3 nights in Kona in an AirB&B condo overlooking the rocky beach. We went to the Puuhonua O Honaunau National Park, picked coffee beans at Kona Joe Coffee, the Hamakua macademia nut factory, the Puako Petroglyph Fields on the Kohala coast, Puukohola Heiau National Park, Lapakahi State Historical Park and the incredible Pololu Valley Lookout. We snorkeled on two reefs on a Kona Coast snorkel tour through Fair Winds Tours. We were followed by a pod of dolphins playing in the wake from the boat. 

Malasadas donuts from a roadside stand

Picking coffee-Kona Joe's

Pololu Valley

Pololu Valley

Pololu Valley

Snorkel excursion

Next we drove to Hilo, where we spent 3 nights at the Castle Hilo hotel. We spent a day at Volcanoes National Park, including hiking to see the lava after dark, and stopping for one more hike through the lava tube in total darkness. We saw the 442' Akaka falls, and enjoyed the tour guide at the Lyman museum in Hilo.

Akaka Falls

Volcanoes NP

We flew from Kona to Honolulu, a blessedly easy 45 min flight, and rented a Jeep.We drove to the Polynesian Cultural Center, where we had a great day and a wonderful luau dinner. After the show, we drove to our rented Bambi Airstream (2 nights) on the North Shore, placed on an inlet from the ocean. We spent a beach day at Haleiwa then had a campfire outside of the Airstream. 

Polynesian Cultural Center

Polynesian Cultural Center

Polynesian Cultural Center

Bambi Airstream

Dole

We stopped by the Dole Pineapple Plantation on the drive to Honolulu and checked in at the Ilikai (4 nights) before getting to our 1 PM biking food tour, on which we had all kinds of great foods, including amazing fish tacos with garlic aoli from South Shore Grill, Laulau pork from Da Ono Hawaiian Foods, shave ice from Waiola shave ice and malasadas from Leonard's Bakery.

We rented kayaks at He'eia State Park and kayaked out over extensive lava reefs on which we could anchor the kayaks and go snorkeling. We saw five enormous sea turtles. Then we hiked to the top of a mountain (Lanikai Pillbox) and had great views. At precisely 3 PM we tried to get tickets for the Arizona tour at Pearl Harbor. All 3 of us tried on our phones, but they were snatched up in seconds and we were deflated. Then Will had the brilliant idea to check 10 min later when some left in carts would have expired, and we got 3 tickets- what luck! We went back to South Shore Grill for more amazing fish tacos, then had mai tais at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and watched the sunset. 

He'eia State Park

He'eia State Park

View from Lanikai Pillbox hike

Mai tai

We stopped by Iloni Palace, but because we didn't have advanced tickets we could only see a few artifacts in the basement. At Pearl Harbor we toured the Bowfin submarine and had a 3 PM tour of the Arizona memorial. We hiked to the top of Diamond Head, went to Waikiki beach and spent a few hours at the fascinating Bishop Museum. We made sure to get some last fish tacos before an early flight home. 

Bowfin, Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Diamond Head

Diamond Head