hikes, hippos, and hawaii

05.10.2008

So when I left off we were about to head to high tea. Tea was great. It was on the veranda of this really nice hotel, made us feel as if we were colonial elite. Our experience started with the presentation of about 7 or 8 teas. Dad went with his favourite (earl grey), mom went with a jasmine tea, and Amanda and I chose some fruit teas. The sandwiches, desserts, and champagne were lovely (well for those of us who were legal for the champagne--poor amanda).

After tea we wandered around some of the shops and walked to the "ala moana" shopping centre... aka mall.

Day 3 (may 9)
We woke up early and took a taxi to "diamond head crater". It was a nice hike with tunnels, switchbacks, spiral staircases, and 271 stairs that seemed to lead straight into the sky. The climb was a little hard at times but the views from the top were well worth it.

The crater wasn't far from the beach so we decided to walk back (it was also a downhill walk so much nicer). Before going back to the hotel/beach we visited the honolulu zoo. It was a small zoo but still fun. The hippos were swimming around, we saw warthogs (pumbas if you talk to mom), swinging monkeys, and elephants among others.

After the zoo we went back to our hotel, changed into bathing suits, and hit the beach. For dinner we went to this cool tapas restaurant called "Rum Fire" and followed it up with cheesecake from "The Cheesecake Factory".

Day 4 (may 10)
Today we met our tour group (Amanda and I are the youngest by a good 20 years or so... making mom and dad amongst the young as well). Some of our tour is joining on monday so I'm holding out hope that there will be some people our age.. but I know it's not likely.

As a group we drove around the island of Oahu, visiting locations such as Pali lookout, Waimea, and the Dole plantation. We drove by Pearl Harbour but won't go on a tour of it until Monday.

After our tour we were all tired so we lazed in our hotel room for a bit and then hit the street in search of a borders books for a good hawaii picture book and ended up at the California Pizza Kitchen for dinner.

Tomorrow is a "free day" so the plan is to wake up early(ish), go snorkeling, and then Amanda and I are going to do a surf lesson (I can't wait!)

Anyways... that's all for now. Hope all is well with everyone back home.

veranda @ the moana surfrider