Days 8, 9, 10

We packed and were out of our place in the Ilikai by 11AM. Kate waited in the lobby while Jeff went and picked up the car.

Nice car! We like our rented convertible Smart Car. It is small, efficient, peppy, and comes with GPS and soft top.

Our only beefs about our Smart Car:
It shifts like an old man, taking nearly 2 seconds per shift, whether you use it in automatic, or manual (paddle shifters)
You feel every bump ... Some of them being very harsh
It has a lot of wind noise, especially over 60mph.
Wind does push it around quite a bit.

Otherwise, it is good. We have literally been to all 4 corners of Oahu on one tank of gas.

From Waikiki, we drove the Round Top Loop, and had some spectacular views of Waikiki, Honolulu Airport, and Pearl Harbor. We drove to Waialua (north shore) and stopped for coffee/yoghurt (Kate) and lemonade/muffin (Jeff). Our next stop was Turtle Bay Resort where we checked out the beach. We plan to be back, so when the rain started, we continued on our way.

We drove through to Kailua, where we stopped for groceries. We found our vacation rental easy enough.

The rental is great! It is a large (nearly 800 sq ft), no-expenses-spared, top floor of a house and the end of a cul-de-sac. The rental floor is ENTIRELY marble. The bed is "Comfortaire" (adjustable softness). There is a full (except for stove/oven) kitchen, bathroom, walk-in closet, and 55-inch TV. The view out the back is mostly trees, but you can see Mount Olomana. The view out the front is mostly subdivision, but you can see Ka'Elepulu Pond, the Ocean, and Popoia Island. We have our own deck. There is one other unit. The pool, pagoda, weight room, are shared. It's only 5 or 10 minutes' drive to the town or the beach.

We cooked brown rice, ahi, and broccoli for dinner.

Thursday, we drove a mile or two, and started our hike up Mount Olomana (1000 ft). There are three peaks: we hiked up the first two. On our way back over the first peak, we stopped and ate our packed lunch. We saw fewer than 2 dozen YOUNG people on the entire hike. When we got back down, we went to the beach (Kailua Beach Park). We swam, then Kate read while Jeff wandered around the park. We were offered 2 kayaks for $20 (4:30-6:00PM), but we had already planned to kayak the next morning.

We drove into Kailua town, looking for the authentic Hawaiian restaurant we had read about. What we found was a Thursday-night market that had many local foods: burgers, Thai, sushi, baking, lemonade, desserts, chocolates, etc. So we bought our dinner (Tempura for Kate, burger for Jeff, and shared lemonade and chocolate-covered frozen apple-banana). We walked around a bit more, and went back to the rental.

We booked a kayak rental online for 8AM Friday morning.

Friday morning, we drove into Kailua to get our rental. When we arrived, they told us they canceled rentals for the whole day due to an approaching storm. So, instead, we drove all the way from our rental (South-East) to Ka'ena (North-West). The traffic was very slow through the edge of Waikiki, but otherwise the drive was very enjoyable. Along the way, we meandered our Smart Car around "Ko Olina", where Marriot and Disney have resorts.

We parked on the edge of Ka'ena Park, and walked the 5 KM to the point and back. It was threatening to rain for most of the walk, but it only rained twice ... And only a minute or two each time ... Just long enough for us to get on our rain jackets and pack covers. The rugged shoreline was very cool. Lots of big waves, right next to towering mountains, with just enough space between for people to walk. One guy figured he could drive his highly-customized Jeep Wrangler Rubicon in there, but I'm sure he was sadly mistaken.

At the point, we saw many nesting Laysan Albatross, three Monk Seals, and some incredible wind and waves. That's where we stopped to eat our packed lunch.

As we drove back down the West (Windward) Coast, we talked about stopping at Pearl Harbor. We missed the turnoff, and got stuck in a huge traffic snarl. It was late Friday afternoon before a (local) 3-day weekend, but even then, the folks on the radio were saying this was a bigger traffic snafu than usual. After an hour in traffic, we gave up and drove back to Kailua. We picked up pork chops for dinner and a Mr. Goodbar for dessert. They went well with the Barringer Brothers Pino Grigio, brown rice, and broccoli we already had. Before we ate dinner, Jeff (briefly) hit the weight room, the pool, and the shower.

Kate curled up with a movie ("Born Into Brothels"), while Jeff blogged.

Tomorrow morning, we're hoping we can kayak to Popoia and back, although it is still very windy outside. Then maybe we'll head up to Laie to re-visit the Polynesian Cultural Center and do some snorkeling by Turtle Bay Resort. It will be Valentine's Day, so we plan to dine out for dinner. Tomorrow is our last full day, as we fly out late Sunday night.