Chapter 25, “Oahu, last week, striving to be Happy.”

 

How do you trump a great Memorial Day weekend? You really don’t. We tried, though, by taking a hike to Makapuu Point to see the lighthouse.  Along the way we came across “Navy men” in training. At the top of the point, we met Greg, a gregarious young man who likes to laugh. He has a bright future with that winning personality.

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Looking at the “Windward” side of Oahu.
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There is no direct path to the Makapuu Lighthouse, but the views from the overlook are incredible.
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We saw the Navy training on this hike. The walk up is a bit of a puffer.
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We found Greg to be inquisitive. His upbeat attitude is refreshing.

We stopped at Waimanalo Beach, ranked #1 in the United States. It is a nice long sandy beach with an awesome mountain background. There were a number of tents pitched on the sand dunes. Plenty of people camp in Hawaii. It is one of those understood activities that are free for everyone. We found the bathroom, though, to be filthy.

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Waimanalo Beach is gorgeous and deserves to be ranked, but number one?
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An incredible backdrop to Waimanalo Beach.

Our favorite windward beaches are Kailua and right next store, Lanikai.  Lanikai Beach was the one we loved the best with snorkeling and several picturesque islands off shore. The only problem with Lanikai is that there is no bathroom facilities and parking can be a problem. We can easily see why it is a favorite for so many.

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Lanikai is a beautiful crescent beach. Limited parking and no bathrooms can make going here a challenge.
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We marveled at this house perched on the side of this cliff. A Japanese couple looking for their bus.
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Team rowing is a big time activity in Hawaii.

The next morning, Kathie and I walked from Waikiki all the way to the top of Diamond Head.  It was easily a five mile trek.

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It is a spectacular view at the top of Diamond Head.

We left to hike Diamond Head a bit later in the morning and it was hot. It didn’t keep the people away though. Busy as ever. We did pass a young man wearing an “Ohio Wesleyan” shirt.  He is an entering freshman and looked like a football player.

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There is an extensive defense bunker layout on Diamond Head. It is a bit of a puffer going up.

We did talk to a firefighter who has made “tons” of rescues at Diamond Head. “People just under estimate the degree of difficulty this hike can be,” I remember him saying.  Just the other day we did see a helicopter going inside the crater.

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The Diamond Head is a crater. It acts like an oven.

We spent $16 to go to Hanauma Bay. You have to take a ten minute video course on “protecting and knowing the reef.” It is quite a process they have to protect this natural and famous Oahu landmark. I did enjoy snorkeling. Even though there are a lot of people who come to this “crater-beach,” there seemed to be plenty of room for everyone.

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The Hanauma Bay is quite impressive.
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I love to snorkel.

We went back to Punchbowl to the National Cemetery of the Pacific. I wanted to find where “Ernie Pyle” is buried. As some of you know, he was a famous correspondent in W.W.II. His words moved many. Unfortunately, on a small Pacific island Ernie was killed by a sniper.  Kathie was a bit confused when it read “World War I.”  Ernie was on active duty for three months in WWI.  Ernie Pyle is one a few “civilians” to be honored with a Purple Heart.

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Ernie Pyle is but a few civilians to actually be awarded a “Purple Heart.”

Ernie Pyle and Challenger astronaut, Ellison Onizuka, are buried close to the driveway where tour busses stop to conduct their tour. It is too bad that these tours don’t allow the people to walk around.

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Ellison was actually an Hawaiian.
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As you may remember, Christa McAuliffe also died in the Challenger explosion. She was a teacher and is buried in Concord, NH.
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The views on top of the crater at Punchbowl are quite impressive.

There are times we eat our meals out of one of the local supermarkets here, in this case, Safeway. Other times we go out to the best Happy Hour restaurant we can find, and in this case, The Yard House. It was there that we met Jessica from Philadelphia. She recently got married and moved out here from Philadelphia. Her husband, Richard, works for the U.S. Army. He is still an attorney, but now changed to “social work.” He loves his new job, with the same pay.

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Jessica from Philadelphia and Kathie at the Waikiki Yard House.

My last “snorkel experience,” in Hawaii was to travel to North Shore where I dove off of the “Three Tables Beach.” The water clarity was at least sixty feet with plenty of fish .

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I swam past the Tables. The fish and underwater rock formations are outstanding.
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Plenty of fish at Three Tables on the North Shore.
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An arch at Three Tables.

Hale’iwa is the famous historic town close by. A shave ice from Matsumoto’s was in order.

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A neat road sign entices you to drive through this historic town. Well worth a stop.
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A cherry shave ice with sweet condensed milk. So good at Matsumoto’s.
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I got this young woman to smile while working the ice machine.

With only three more full days to go in Hawaii, we decided to visit Foster’s Botanical Garden right in Honolulu.  I will write a Trip Advisor review with the comment, “A slice of Heaven.”  It is a beautiful 14 acre park not far from the H1 Interstate.  There were many trees in the park over a hundred years old.

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The Interstate was just a few hundred yards from this park.
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A Quipo tree from South America. One of the widest trees we have ever seen. The wood is soft like balsa.

Our daughter had asked one of the Ambassadors (people who are stationed on Waikiki beach to answer question for tourists)  where the granite came from which paved the sidewalks in Waikiki.  No one had the answer. Kathie found the “ballast stones” at the beginning of the park interesting.  When ships came to Hawaii in the 1700s and 1800s, they would be bringing light weight supplies. Consequently, they would have to balance the ships with blocks of granite. However, they would be carrying heavier things back to where they came from; therefore, they didn’t need the stones.  So they would leave them in Hawaii. Consequently, the Hawaiians used the granite to pave the sidewalks.

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The ballast stones were used to make sidewalks in Honolulu.

In our walk, we met an ex-University of Hawaii’s English teacher, Roger Whitlock.  He came to teach for two years, but has been on the island for forty-five years.   Twenty-nine years ago he turned to painting and never looked back.  Roger is quite an accomplished painter here in Hawaii.  He is unpretentious and friendly to everyone.  He has an impressive web site at www.rogerwhitlock.com

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Roger is an ex-English teacher from the University of Hawaii. He has been painting for 29 years. His web site is quite impressive: www.rogerwhitlock.com

Roger told us not to miss the greenhouse on property.  There were a number of beautiful orchids displayed.

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Far too many orchids to show on this blog. All were incredibly beautiful.

For lunch, we decided to visit Dukes for the last time.  It is one of our favorite restaurants throughout Hawaii.  In 1998, a past student from MCHS was working there and recognized me.  Clint Walker told us that two tables over was Jimmy Buffet.  Sure enough, when we came back in 2002, a Margaretville Restaurant was on the Waikiki strip.

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You can get some great views of Waikiki Beach from Dukes Restaurant.

Kathie had the salad bar, and I had Korean taco’s.  Across from us was this interesting man eating by himself.  I mentioned that the “Basil tomato soup was excellent.” Thus a conversation was started between Nick and ourselves.

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Nick is a down to earth type of guy. Friendly, humorous and unpretentious. You would not figure him to be a CEO of a major California pizza chain.

Nick is the CEO of a pizza parlor company on the west coast called  “Shakey’s.”  The original owner really did have the shakes.  Nick was out in Oahu checking on a store.  Shakey’s is quite big in the Philippines, Mexico City and in California.  Nick once worked for “Chevy’s,” and we discussed the store in Lake Tahoe.  I had the best ribs ever at that Chevy’s.  Nick is a friendly, funny and down to earth guy.  He lives in Pasadena where the company is located.  We know Nick is a winner.

On our last day in Waikiki, we made our last visit to the Diamond Head Farmers Market.  Kathie had some corn and I had a Portuguese sausage.

 

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This farmers market brings in thousands of people in a three hour time on Saturday. The market is very popular with the Japanese.

We took a walk around Diamond Head.  It is a beautiful walk along the coast with million dollar homes dating back to the 1920’s.

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This beautiful beach and community is only a few miles from downtown Waikiki.
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This home along the water is at least five million or more dollars.

The day before our walk, a twenty-two year old man fell off the cliff nearby. He was in critical condition.  You really have to be careful.  People die all the time while touring.  We really wonder about what people are thinking.

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All it takes is one wrong step or a strong gust of wind to slip from that wall. Would you stand up like those girls?

We visited the Waikiki Yard House.  There are a number of exceptional bartenders.  We particularly enjoyed “Fern.”  He is extremely humorous and energetic.  There is also a philosophical side to Fern.  He commented that “Happiness,” is what we all should strive for.  There is a movie called “Happy,” which can be seen on Netflix’s Fern told us about.

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Mitch is on the left and Fern on the right. We enjoyed Fern’s energetic attitude.

Fern also commented that he disagreed with a past girl friend on the comment, “Life is easy.”  He has changed his mind though as time goes on.

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