After eating breakfast in the lobby of the Hale Koa, land of the greatest macadamia nut muffins ever, we headed to the Diamond Head State Monument. 
This is Diamond Head. It's a volcanic crater on the end of Waikiki, and has a trail that you can hike up to the observation deck at the top.
We set off on the trail.
Along the way, there were tons of places to stop and take pictures. This is me with the mountains of Oahu behind me.
After navigating the uneven terrain of the trails, some very steep staircases, and a very scary spiral staircase with backless stairs (you all know how I feel about backless stairs), we reached the final staircase to the observation deck.
From the observation deck, we could see all over the island and the ocean. This is a view of the side of the crater, a lighthouse, and the Pacific.
This is a picture of the crater.
And one of Honolulu and the beach.
Tricia and me with Honolulu and the ocean in the background.
On the way back down, Mary stopped to pick a plant that she referred to as "monkey balls."
At the bottom, there was a giant cage for empty water bottles. I guess they thought they would escape if they weren't caged. By the way, Taryn, I drank every single one of those bottles of water.
At the bottom, there was a lovely place selling shave ice. Mine was watermelon and coconut. I believe Tricia's was raspberry.
After showering the nature off of ourselves, we headed to the beach. This is the view from where we were sitting, toward the lifeguard stand. You can see the Hilton Hawaiian Village behind it on the right.
Tricia and me on the beach. There is a lovely herd of Beach Boys who rent chairs, umbrellas, and those super cool beach paddle bikes you see in the background. I love my beach chair, but when I sit on a nice, padded, rented lounge chair, it makes me far happier than my chair ever could. I'm sorry, chair. You know I would've brought you if I could!
Tricia and Katy ventured into the ocean with one of the high quality Target rafts I brought.
That evening, we headed to a beachside restaurant called Duke's. 
Meet my new friend, Crab and Macadamia Nut Wonton. I could eat nothing but these forever and be perfectly happy.
The view from Duke's dining room. Note the pink hotel. And the ocean :-).
**Taryn, bird alert. Skip to the next picture**The one problem with a beachside restaurant is that there is no way to prevent the birds from entering. We had many such visitors, some so bold as to walk up to our table. These two perched upon a nearby table's umbrella, and proceeded to essentially make out with each other.
The very nice waiter took our picture (without any birds).
After dinner, we went to downtown Honolulu to wander around. Katy made friends with a silver drummer.
And Mary made friends with another far scarier silver person. He took quite a shine to her. (...heh.)
And this, dear readers, is proof that Satan is afoot in this world: an entire store of Crocs.
Walls and walls of the things...and there were children everywhere, exposed to them! I swear, they should keep these things behind opaque walls or something, like they do porn, so as to not damage young, impressionable minds.
After such a strenuous evening, we soon retired to the Hale Koa for bed. Even though it was barely 8 pm EST. Stupid time difference.
The very nice waiter took our picture (without any birds).
After dinner, we went to downtown Honolulu to wander around. Katy made friends with a silver drummer.
And Mary made friends with another far scarier silver person. He took quite a shine to her. (...heh.)
And this, dear readers, is proof that Satan is afoot in this world: an entire store of Crocs.
Walls and walls of the things...and there were children everywhere, exposed to them! I swear, they should keep these things behind opaque walls or something, like they do porn, so as to not damage young, impressionable minds.
After such a strenuous evening, we soon retired to the Hale Koa for bed. Even though it was barely 8 pm EST. Stupid time difference.
4 comments:
Wow, Hawaii truly is hell on Earth, complete with the Croc store!
Ok, so first of all, I am so proud of you for going out into nature and hiking. I laughed very loudly when you wrote about washing nature off of yourself, because I knew that was coming.
Is it wrong that I want to go to a Croc store just to see if they have the one pair I like. They look like Mary Janes and not at all like Crocs!
To be fair, Carter, this was easily the ugliest part of Hawaii. The rest is dreamy.
And Sarah, just because they don't look like Crocs doesn't mean we should give the Crocs people our money. I don't necessarily object to their flip flop shape alone, but the fact that buying them would give them money and perpetuate the fugly makes me refrain from buying them. I do know the style you mean, though, and if you had to choose this brand, that would not be the worst shape you could choose.
And yes. Ew. I got nature on me ;-)
Did you not note the sarcasm? If Crocs are the only thing awful in Hawaii, it must be hellish to get to vacation there.
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