Oahu

Kauai was next up on our Hawaii adventure, but there’s a lot to tell about it, so I’m going with Oahu first since it’ll be easier to finish! With just a few nights there we hit up all the major sites (Pearl Harbor, Waikiki) and managed to do a driving tour of most of the island. While not our favorite island, there are definitely beuatiful parts and we are glad we went because now we don’t feel the need to have to come back!

As soon as we landed and checked into our Airbnb, we headed to the north shore (in our upgraded Dodge Charger!) We had a list of eating at a famous shave ice place, getting shrimp at the famous trucks, and hanging out on the beach. Well, it was far more tourist/busy than we expected, which was espcially a culture shock after the calmness of a week in Kauai. We didn't end up doing much of what we planned, but we ended up finding some other food trucks and a nice beach for sunset. This area reminded us a lot of California beaches and the surfer lifestyle there. While the waves weren’t as big as they get in the winter while we were there, it was still fun to watch tons of surfers catching some waves!

The next day we made our way to the windward side of the island, which despite some cloud cover, is definitely the prettiest part of the island. Parts of it reminded us of Kauai. We decided to do the “mini” Crouching Lion hike that I’d read about online. You start just off the highway, and while it was short, it was a bit more intense than we planned. You gain altitude very quickly, which also leads to some great views. It was super windy at the top, which made the drop offs even more scary, at least for me!


We then drove to the famous Hanauma Bay to spend the day at the beach and snorkeling. It was definitely beautiful, but there was a hefty entry fee and felt very touristy beacuse you had to sit through a touristy movie before you could get to the beach. The snorkling was good, but not better than we’d seen other places, probably because there were so many people in the water. Still a nice way to pass the day, just not somewhere we’d recommend going back to!

Waikiki: no, no, no. It’s expensive, claustrophobic, and fake. We thought we’d be able to find some cheap souvenirs here, and instead all we found were high end stores that you can find anywhere, and lot and lots of people tourists. Downtown Honolulu was clean, but not much to see. We feel no need to come back!

The morning that we flew back to the mainland, we made reservations to visit Pearl Harbor. It was a beautiful, informative memorial to those lost. The museums and exhisibits helped to tell the story behind Japan's involvement, but we wish it had told what happened in the entire Pacific War because there was so much more we were left wondering. Definitely glad this is something we made time to see, though.
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