Hawaii Day 1

Waking up early was a common theme all vacation- but then so was going to bed early. Since we were staying at a B&B our first four nights we hung out in the mornings watching the news, catching up on e-mail etc. Breakfast was at 8 am every day. Our B&B is run by a British Mom and Daughter (Joan and Barbara) who were super nice and fun to visit with. They have 2 rooms- a king room (ours) and a queen room (Michael from Santa Fe). Breakfast was quite the spread- fruit: watermelon, papaya, kiwi, pineapple, grapefruit, apple bananas (yum!); toasted goods: bagels, english muffins, toast, waffles one day; cereal, sweet breads...lots and lots of food! We definitely filled up before heading out!

After breakfast we headed to Diamond Head- an old crater and state park. It is a relatively short hike with too many stairs. We didn't get there until 9:30 so it was a little hot by the end and pretty busy. We parked in the college lot below and hiked a little extra.

Looking at the trail on the way up- we kind of felt like army ants

I was surprised by how brown it was on parts of the Island

The bay from half way up

With the two of us :)

Looking out at Waikiki from the top

together :)

Looking out over the bay

And from this picture you can tell just how busy it was up there. I didn't feel like I was on a hike- I felt like I was in a tourist trap!

We then headed over to Big City Diner for lunch and discovered how hard it is to find parking around Honolulu. After Big City we headed to Costco and then back to our B&B. We were both a little tired and out of wack so we hung out for a while there. Then we went looking for snorkel gear (no go- we didn't want to pay Snorkel Bob's week price) and looked for someplace to eat dinner. Then we headed down to Waikiki, bought a couple post cards for the boys and sat on the beach in the dark. The sand at Waikiki was kind of rough- something I hadn't expected. Interesting the huge variety in ecosystems on such a small island! I was asleep by 9.