Diamond Head

Another great day. We started the day by hiking to the top of Diamond Head Crater. It's a fairly steep hike and I was worried my knees weren't going to make it. But, I surprised myself. I set a strong pace and powered to the top. I was well ahead of Val and Ellyn pretty much the whole time. The very last part that was all stairs slowed me down. From the top was a gorgeous view of Waikiki and the ocean. Such a great hike. After that we went to 'Iolani Palace where the King/Queen of Hawaii used to live. We walked around the outside, but did not tour the inside. Still fun. Next we went to a quirky house, Doris Duke's Shangri La. She was crazy rich and really into Islamic art, so she built a huge house filled with her grand collection of Islamic art. It was really beautiful. We got pretty tired so we had dinner then decided to come back to the cottage after a little shopping. Hawaii continues to be great.

In front of 'Iolani Palace

Driving in the car

Spiral staircase on the way down Diamond Head

I was so happy I made it

Awesome view

I came. I saw. I conquered.

Tape knees

Thank you tape!

The long long staircase

The Judicial building

Statue of King Kamehameha I

'Iolani Palace

I am a very good guard lion

At the Shangri La house

These trees have long vines that grow down from the branches and into the ground

At the top of the crater

Yes!

So far ahead of the other girls

Snorkeling

Today was awesome. We started out at Hanauma Bay snorkeling. It was incredible. The fish were everywhere and so colorful. It took a while to feel comfortable breathing through the snorkel, I spent most of the time hyperventilating because of it. It was a pretty cloudy morning so by the time we were done I was shivering like crazy. But it was well worth it. After that we went to the Halona Blowhole. When the ocean is rough water spurts out of it all the time. It was a pretty calm ocean day so we saw some spurting but not a lot. Still fun to see. Then we drove through the jungle on the Tantalus Jungle Drive. Wow. I'm not sure if it is technically a rainforest, but it was beautiful and reminded me a lot of the rainforest in Ghana. We tried to go to Pearl Harbor next but because of the recent budget cuts our tour was cancelled. We are going back on Sunday morning now. Bummer, but it will work out. This gave us time to go to the Dole Plantation. Pretty lame. Had some yummy Pineapple Whip and walked through the world's largest maze, which just made me nauseous. We ended the day at Sunset Beach for a beautiful sunset. So great. We are so tired and go to bed early every night, but it is so worth it!

Our beach cottage

View from our cottage

gorgeous clear water

blowhole

Val and Ellyn enjoying the view

Tantalus Jungle drive

View of Honolulu

Hiding in the jungle

This is me feeling sick after the maze.

Sunset beach

still not impressed with the maze

yummy pizza for lunch

putting on the snorkel gear

getting ready to snorkel

love this one of Val and I

Val is being an Asian tourist

Snorkeling (that's me on the right)

Val

Ellyn

So cold, kept my arms close to my body to preserve heat

Probably about to fall over

The face is because I'm freezing. Teeth chattering. Shivering.

After snorkeling

Didn't want to pick the flower and kill it, so leaned over to have it be in my hair

Fun fun.