Day 9

We leave tomorrow and want to stay. Hate the thought of leaving. I don't know if a month would be enough time. However, we were rewarded wtih a beautiful rainbow this morning. We decided to skip our walk today and go to Waimea Falls. This is a botantical garden that has a waterfall. It is huge and quite the hike. I even ended up with blisters we hiked so much. This was the perfect conclusion to our trip. I think this is where the Garden of Eden was, or it was at least the twin. Everywhere you looked, you marveled at the beauty. It is a valley with so much foilage and flowers you had to stop every few feet and look.


We went to lunch at our favorite place Haleiwa Joes for lunch. I had a crab and avocado salad that was out of this world. We stopped by the soap factory for some soap and body oil. It is famous for the outstanding soaps.

We watched the wind surfers, regular surfers and big waves before heading back to the hotel.
I tried to read, but fell asleep before I knew it. It was a short nap and we went to watch the sunset before going to dinner

For dinner we went to 21 and I ordered Moi. I love Moi, but when my dinner arrived there was a dead fish on my plate! Head, tail, fins the whole thing. Eyeballs and all. It was kind of curved around and it was disgusting. I tried to eat it, but it wouldn't fall off the bones so each bite was full of bones. It tasted horrible. Of course, Jim let them know and it was taken off the bill, but my appetite was completely destroyed!

Day 8

We began our day once again with a long walk. The winds were furious and it was drizzling but we walked about 4 miles until we found the perfect little beach. It is sandy, protected and very secluded. I think it might be fun to go back in the summer to snorkel. It was just gorgeous. They are making a film, called, "Soul Surfer" staring Dennis Quad, Helen Hunt and Carrie Underwood. They had the set up and were shooting mostly the unknowns but it was fun to see the sets and all the crew in action. It is a movie about the girl that had her arm bit off by a shark but still surfs. Think I will go see it when it comes out.

When then decided it was the perfect day to go to Waikiki. We found the most amazing road that took us high up into the mountain and had views of the city. Even with the cloud cover and drizzle it was beautiful.

There were hiking trails all over and it was like a wonderful, beautiful jungle. It was as pretty as any area in Hawaii and just minutes from Waikiki.

We ended up at Punchbowl National Cemetery. As we walked around the monuments it was a very solemn experience. There were the names of 28,000 that were killed in World War II and Korea whose bodies were never recovered. It was a very patriotic feeling to recognize the sacrifice of so many. I was glad we stopped, it not something you often experience.



We went back to the hotel and it was sunny and bright. We were on the beach by 12:30 and stayed until 4:00. It was great. We almost got too much sun. Virgin Pina Coladas, reading, snorkeling, swimming, and of course a nap as well. Jim swam with a turtle so the trip was complete for him. We went to Haleiwa Joes for dinner again. It is so good.

Day 7

Today was the aftermath of the storm. Windy and rainy all day. We started the day with a 4+ mile walk. We walked along the coast, through beautiful wooded forests and past a horse farm. It was raining and we had a 30 to 40 mile wind to deal with. Before we left 30-40 mile wind doesn't sound like much, but when you are in it, that is a different thing altogether. Made for a bad hair day.
Halfway though our walk we found an old World War II bunker. Really cool.

Since we were soaked and cold by the time we got back we tried to remember what people who don't like the beach do for fun. So we spent most of the rest of the day in the town of Haleiwa, walking through cute stores and mostly looking. We went to Killer Tacos for lunch, very good with tacos made from Kalua Pork. On the way back we stopped to watch the wind surfers. That was really amazing. They must have been going a hundred miles and hour. It was the perfect day for wind surfing. We finished the day reading and taking it easy. Finished my book. It was OK but nothing to write home about.

Day 6

This is the day that started out like a lion and ended like a lamb. We found a paper under our doors when we woke up telling us about the Tsunami warning. We turned on TV and heard about the earthquake and the severe warning for Hawaii. The people were scared and taking no chances. We were told it was several hours away so we decided to go to the beach and see what was up. We spent some time sitting on the rocks and walking along the coast. It was a little rough but really beautiful.

After a while the police came in 4 wheel drive and had a loudspeaker ordering everyone to get off the beach and return to their hotels. We slowly worked our way back to the hotel. Most of the staff did not come in to work so they offered everyone a half price breakfast buffet which was nice. After that everyone was told to go to the 4th, 5th or 6th floor and stay in the hallway or lobby area. They brought in water, blankets, pillows and glow sticks. Since we were staying on the 5th floor we just stayed in our room, where we could see what was going on.

Of course, I didn't want any damage, but I was hoping for a little bit of a show. All the tsunami did was cause a really low tide, followed quickly by a moderate high tide. That was it. No big deal. However the roads were still closed and the officials were afraid there could be another surge. So we had to wait several more hours for the roads to open.

When we were finally able, we took a drive around the windward side of the island. It was beautiful, very tropical and green. Nothing was open, no gas stations, no 7-11, no grocery stores. Hardly any cars on the road. Everyone took the day off. We returned to the hotel for dinner and an evening of walking around the hotel grounds before calling it a night. Could have been a lot more exciting. But few people can say they witnessed a tsunami first hand!