March 17 - Honolulu; Waikiki and Diamond Head

The time change is proving to be a bit of a challenge.  Delma and I were both awake at 4:00am.  Oh well, we needed to get to the Hard Rock Cafe by 7:30, so we got up and decided to make it an early day.  No problem getting to the Hard Rock Cafe; Garmin is a wonderful thing.  Found a place to park, and with almost an hour to kill before our breakfast orientation, we took a walk to one of the Waikiki hotels (to check out their beaches).  Found a beach, and wow, off to the left was Diamond Head.  Amazing!!

OK, enough of that, we head back to the Hard Rock Cafe.

We had a very nice breakfast while watching hula dancers from the Polynesian Culture Center perform hula dances.  Very nice start to the day. 

We left there and headed to Diamond Head.  Thought we would get that out of the way before it got too crowded and hot.  WRONG on both counts.  There were people all over the place and we certainly got hot, sweaty, and sunburned before our little trek was over.  Fortunately, this is one of those times the view is definitely worth the climb.  However, neither of us feel inclined to do it again.  It was a bit on the tough side for a couple of old broads.

Here are some statistics about Diamond Head:

1.  The trailhead at the parking lot is located on the crater floor at an elevation of about 200 feet.
2.  The steep .8 mile hike to the top of the crater includes:
     - 74 concrete steps leading in the tunnel
     - passage through a lighted 225-foot long, narrow tunnel (not lighted that well at all)
     - second stairway consisting of 99 steep steps
 3.  The summit of the crater and the uppermost level of the Fire Control station are at an elevation of 761 ft.

Look at these switch-back trails!!  Look at the top of the picture behind Delma and me.  We have a long way to go.

But, we made it!! Check out this view.

Wow, I look like Elton John in my new sunglasses -- how funny.  Anyway, we made it to the top of Diamond Head and back down without an incident.  Our legs were rubbery but, darn it, we made it.

Got back to the car and headed back to Waikiki looking for the International MarketPlace.  Garmin didn't take us directly to the location, but we didn't know that when we got out of the car.  We started walking and ran into an Irish parade (it is March 17)!  Who would have thought about a St. Patrick's Day parade in Hawaii.  What a treat!  What was especially neat was hearing a band playing the Yellow Rose of Texas as they were marching down the road.  Delma talked to some guy (who was from Baylor) and found out the band was from Texas.  How funny!

There were a couple of more things Delma wanted to do.  She wanted to see King Kamehameha's statue.  Off we go.  Delma's happy.  When she watches Hawaii 5-0, she can now say she's been there!

One last stop - at Hilo Hattie's (a famous Hawaiian gift shop).  I'm not going to even talk about what that cost me!  Needless to say, I have a beautiful new necklace and earrings.  Delma got a new necklace.

Stopped by a Target (ok, THIS was the last stop) to pick up some water and Aloe Vera.  I needed it to smooth my burning skin from today's hike to Diamond Head.  The stupid thing was I brought suntan lotion from home, had it in the CAR and still didn't think about putting it on.  I will be wiser tomorrow!!

That's it for the day.  On to Pearl Harbor tomorrow.