The Dysfunctional Librarian: March 2007

I wanted to write a more detailed account of our trip while it is still fresh in my mind. So, here it is:

We arrived Wednesday afternoon, rented a car and drove to Waimanalo Beach and found the house. We were taken aback at first because there were swimsuits having over the banister so we weren't sure we had the right place. Turns out that it is a split level house and the owner lives in the bottom 1/2 of the house and rents out the top. The outside of the house was average with a lawn with fencing and lots of scraggly palm trees. The inside was older but had been repainted and decorated nicely. It had two bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen, dining room and living room with an attached, covered patio.

We dumped our stuff and took off down to the beach. Beach access was between two houses with no facilities which made it nice because only the locals use that portion of the beach. It was about one block from the house. The only unsettling thing about our stay was that everywhere you went there were signs saying, don't leave any valuables in your car, theft is rampant. Fortunately, we didn't have any problems with break-ins.

Waimanalo Beach is a crescent shaped beach backed by a forest of trees. It's on the windward side of the island so we were worried that it would be too cold and windy, but it wasn't. The wind was perfect for cooling you down, temperatures were in the mid 70's to low 80's.

Thursday we spent the morning at Waimanalo, I was playing in the waves and my sunglasses were knocked off my head. I figured they were long lost and didn't even try to find them. A couple of hours later Justin managed to rescue them for me. Funny thing is that the last time we were in Hawaii with Jackson we were canoeing and I dropped my sunglasses off the boat - Justin was able to dive down and rescue them for me. He seems to have a knack for finding sunglasses. In the afternoon we drove around the island seeing Hanauma Bay, Sandy Beach, and stopped at a number of whale lookouts. We did see several whales in the far distance, but they were below the surface so all we could make out were their spouts. Finally we ended up in Waikiki and shopped around at the various malls and shopping centers.

Friday we got up early to get into the Hanauma Bay beach - it's a wildlife preserve that was used as the summer vacation spot for the past royalty of Hawaii. It has amazing snorkeling. Ian and Grace couldn't quite get the hang of the snorkeling but we found that you could actually see many of the fish right from the shore it was such clear water and the coral came right up to the beach. They made us watch a short video which explained that the bay was actually the rim of an ancient volcano, over time the outer edge was flooded thus creating the amazing spot. Jackson and Justin were able to explore more and Jackson saw a turtle along with all the huge, colorful fish.

Saturday we went to our beach again where Jackson mastered the art of kayaking and then we went back to Waikiki to visit the International Marketplace. Unfortunately it was a very busy place and I was trying to navigate and drive and rear-ended a car. I felt so awful, luckily I barely tapped them and didn't do any damage. The lady I hit was so sweet, it just made me feel worse! Justin and I had walked this area when were were in Waikiki before and knew the kids would like it. We came home and stopped at a little outdoor food stand, I had the Kailua Pig which was delicious. Later that night we barbecued stakes on the grill on the patio. The kids discovered that there were lizards living all over the yard and spent some time trying to catch them.

Sunday we went to the beach and then home to check out. We then drove to Pearl Harbor where we watched a video, toured the USS Bowfin submarine and then visited the USS Arizona memorial. Sadly, my sunglasses dropped from my head and down into the bowels of the sub. I guess I just wasn't meant to keep them afterall. It was a beautiful day and we didn't have to wait in any lines. We then went to Waikiki and found a really fun restaurant to eat in in the Waikiki Prince Hotel. It was called the Oceanarium and it had a 3 floor aquarium. We were all tired so we had fun sipping fancy drinks in pineapples, trying all the sea food and deserts at the buffet. After dinner we waddled down to the beach to watch some Hawaiian dancers in the twilight perform traditional hula dances. The gas torches were lit all along the beach and it was beautiful.

Over all it was a lovely trip that we will all remember fondly!

Sunday we once again went to our beach