Hawaii - Oahu and Some Big Island

This is the first post in my State Series!! I decided to do a post about each state I have visited, post my photos, what I liked, what I didn't like, etc. There will be things added to each post as I visit more and more of the states!
So first up, the newest state to the U.S. HAWAII :)

I went to Hawaii for a week during Memorial Day and stayed at Disney's Aulani resort (see Aulani for Adults post). The resort is outside of Honolulu on the Island of Oahu. I also did an all day tour of the Big Island one day.

This post will eventually include all the islands, but I gotta visit them first! It may be a year or two though :) 

Oahu 

Since Hawaii is an island, you have to fly to get there! (I mean technically you could come by boat too, but I'll just stick to the fastest way of travel). The main airport is Honolulu, there are a couple little airports, but for most people coming into Oahu, the Honolulu airport is where you fly into. 

The main beach area on the island is Waikiki Beach, and trust me everyone knows it and all the hotels are in this area. It is also where a lot of surfing occurs during the year. There are multiple multiple places/people that can teach you how to surf. The prices vary, but I looked at doing a few hours of private 1-on-1 instruction and it was $100 dollars.

Waikiki Beach

Waikiki Beach

Waikiki Beach is actually really close to the Honolulu Zoo and Diamond Head. Now I didn't get to see the zoo, but during my half marathon, I ran past it and heard multiple birds and monkey at 6 am. 

Diamond Head. 

Be prepared to start early if you want to park at the start of the trail. It fills up quickly, however, at the very bottom of the hill, there is lots of parking at the community college. If you park down there, this means you have to hike up to the entrance of the trail to hike up to the top of Diamond head, but what's another mile or so, when you are going to hike another 1.6 miles (total). (If you ask my friends and me it's a lot! :0 ) 

• When you get to the start you have to pay so make sure you have cash! It's 5 dollars per car and a dollar if you walked up there. 
• Also, the only water on the trail is at the beginning, so make sure you bring bottles of water with you! Seriously it is a hike and pretty strenuous so bring water. 
• Bring the appropriate shoes! There are steps and hillsides and the terrain is not flat. Some of the paths have been eroded from the rain and are not level. Wearing high heels (Legit saw some girl doing this and prayed for her poor feet) can and will cause broken ankles and depending on where you on your vacation (beginning or middle), it could ruin it. 
• A final piece of advice: plan this accordingly. The park is open til 6 pm, but they will not allow anyone to start hiking after 4:30 pm. It does take about 2 hours to do this! 

Diamond Head's views are completely worth the hike. Put this on your must do list for Oahu.

Pearl Harbor 

If you are an American citizen and you don't go to Pearl Harbor while in Oahu. You should probably move to another country. I understand a lot of people not wanting to go to battlefields and different parts of American history, but not going to pay your respects to the men and women that gave their lives during this attack is shameful.
I went on Memorial Day with a friend and it was the highlight of my trip. We only got to do the Arizona Memorial due to time constraints but it was worth every minute I got to spend there and I really want to go back one day. 

• Tickets: You have two options with tickets, you can reserve ahead of time. They only have a limited amount of tickets for purchase for the advanced booking. Or you can go the morning of and get tickets. The park opens at 7 am. 
• On the day I went, the national parks website stated that it may sell out of all tickets early, so prepare for that. We got to the park at 6 am and were the first 50 people inside with tickets. The first boat over to the Arizona is at 7:30 am and we were on it. I truly recommend going early, not only to make sure you get in but also it's not nearly as hot at 7 am as it is at 1 pm. 
• There is more than just the USS Arizona Memorial. However, anything other than the Memorial and the museums cost extra and are not actually part of the national park system. There is the USS Bowfin (a submarine that is on the right side of the park), the USS Missouri (where the Japanese surrendered and is on Ford Island) and an aviation museum on Ford Island. 
• There is a shuttle service from Pearl Harbor to Ford Island. 
• What I thought was the best part of my entire time was meeting Sterling Cale, a Pearl Harbor survivor. He is an amazing old man that I would have totally taken home with me. Check out his book if you think about it and read about his life story.

Meeting Sterling Cale

Meeting Sterling Cale 

Arizona Memorial 

Road Trip Hawaii

One morning we did a road trip around Oahu. We started out by driving to Hanauma Bay. Then drove to Waimanalo. On that portion of the drive, we stopped at several scenic viewpoints and hopped over a rock wall to get that perfect photo. We also stopped to see the Halona Blowhole (it was on the drive, I wouldn't make this an important stopping point). From there we decided to continue our drive to Kualoa Ranch. Kualoa Ranch is where a lot of films are filmed! Jurassic Park and the second Hunger Games to name a few. There is a lot of things to do here, ziplining, jeep tours as well as movie tours.
We didn't end up going to Kualoa Ranch, but we did pass by it. We drove all the way up the North Shore stopping at Pipestem. During the winter months, these are some of the biggest waves but in the summer time, it's a nice calm area perfect for snorkeling. Our final stretch back to our hotel, we saw lots of fields and came across the Dole Plantation. We decided not to go in, and I regret that decision. I have since learned that pineapples from Hawaii will become a thing of the past as Dole is to source everything outside of the country, thus the Dole Plantation will be no more.

Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay

Halona Blowhole

Pipestem 

Big Island

Big Island from the Sky

Now on to the Big Island! I flew here from Honolulu and it only took about an hour total. I did a tour with Roberts Tour Company, which is all over Hawaii and seriously if you leave your hotel you are bound to see one of their buses.
Our first stop was at Richardson Ocean Park and to see the black sand beach! I was particularly excited about this because I wanted to compare Iceland's black sand beaches to Hawaii's, and they are not similar at all except in color (both are black! lol) Iceland has more of pebbles instead of actual sand where Hawaii has actual sand. It is a beautiful little park full of surfers.

Next stop was at Rainbow Falls State Park. It's a beautiful waterfall and I would put it on my to-see list for sure! 

Rainbow Falls

We stopped at a garden for a buffet lunch and stopped at a macadamia nut factory too, but really the entire reason I booked the trip was for the volcanoes! I wanted a guide to explain to me different things about the volcanoes, which is why I picked this tour. 

I got to see an actual volcano spewing lava! Obviously, you can't get really close to it, but I got to see it. I also went through some lava tubes and saw where the last volcano made its way down the mountain into the ocean. There is actually a live volcano that has lava going into the ocean, but it is a 4-mile hike both ways to see it, so maybe next time I go. The best part was that I saw a crater that was once an active volcano, inside the crater was a rainbow. 

Real Live Volcano! 

Lava Tubes

The black is the lava rock showing the path going into the ocean

Lava Rock

Rainbow in a Crater 

All in all, I LOVED my time in Hawaii and I can't wait to go back and see more of the islands and the culture!