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In May of 2005, the Richters found inexpensive tickets to Oahu. What follows is a brief log of the trip:
Wednesday, May 11th: Late arrival into Honolulu after having spent 4 hours in the LA airport where Charlie was entertained with cart races between he and the luggage. The flight from LA to Honolulu was long--Charlie slept most of the way after falling asleep in Chuck's arms; breaking from tradition he had cried, "I WANT DADDY, I WANT DADDY!..." That might have been the best moment of the trip for Chuck.
Thursday, May 12th: Walked to the beach from the condo we were staying at and swam while watching the sun come up. We drove to Diamond Head volcanic crater and climbed to the top of the rim where we got a great view of the city of Honolulu. After the hike, we cooled off swimming in the ocean on the beaches of Waikiki. Later we met Steve and his roommate Julia for supper.
Friday, May 13th: Did some swimming and snorkeling at a volcanic reef called Haumanau. In the afternoon we went to Pearl Harbor and saw the USS Arizona memorial and toured the retired submarine USS Bowfin. In the evening we returned to Waikiki beach and wandered upon Perry's Smorgy Restaurant where the buffet food filled three empty bellies. Charlie fell asleep on Chuck's shoulders as we walked back to the car through the international market district.
Saturday, May 14th: Drove up the east coast of the island. Stopped to get free samples of macademia nuts and coffee at the Kualoa Farm. Saw the Chinamen Hat island featured in background shots of the movie "50 First Dates". Attended the Polynesian Cultural Center for the bulk of the day, where we watched finals in the fire-knife juggling competition.
Sunday, May 15th: In the morning, we met up with Steve and Julia on the North Shore area where we swam with sea turtles, spent time at the beach where they apparently filmed the later episodes of Baywatch. In the evening we watched a movie and went out for some shrimp from a shrimp shack.
Monday, May 16th: Swam at the Waimaia Bay Beach where the waves strong with a steep sandy break and saw dolphins swimming off shore, doing flips, and having fun. In the afternoon we returned to the Polynesian Cultural Center, before driving south to Honolulu. We stopped at the Dole Plantation where many pineapples are grown. In Honolulu we took a skyline/moutain top winding road as the sun was going down, and at supper at Don Ho's restaurant before catching the flight out of Hawaii at 9:30pm. The night was rough, as it's hard to stretch out in United's Economy Minus(TM) section, but some of us caught a few z's.
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