560ft atop a volcano!

 This past week we did something that has been on our bucket list since planning our trip to Hawaii, climb Diamond Head! The hike itself wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. We were told to go very early or very late before closing to not only avoid the large amount of tourists but to beat the heat! We left our house just before 8:00am and honestly that was cutting it close with the parking. As we pulled in the parking lot we were lucky to find the very last spot. If you aren't so lucky as we were you will just have to hang out by the entrance of the parking lot and in some sense stalk those leaving (brought us back to our University of Wisconsin- Parkside days when we had late morning classes, haha). We started our journey about quarter after eight with a backpack of frozen water (so nice to have ice cold water by the time we were hiking up the mountain). The first part of the trail was very easy on a paved path not to steep. It was about 10 minutes in that the path became not as flat and required your attention to avoid tripping from the uneven surfaces. The views going up were breathtaking.. we stopped at every single lookout point to take a deep breath and take in the scenery and the moment. It wasn't until we were almost to the top that the hike became a little more difficult. You climbed up a pretty steep set of stairs (we saw very fit people at this point getting tired, haha) that brought you to a 225 ft dark tunnel leading through the center of the mountain. The tunnel was dark and creepy, but only in a really awesome way. Once we found our way through the end of the tunnel we came to a fork in the road.. we had two choice left or right.. we luckily went left! Trust me do not go right unless you want to climb up a very steep staircase and then a tall, narrow spiral staircase (this way you will also encounter a lot more stairs, and not get the amazing view if you choose to take the left way). We did end up going down this way when we were finished at the top and found it very cool going down at least. You have to crouch down to go into the bunker and then go down the staircase. The spiral staircases reminded us of those of the Victory Column that we climbed when we were in Berlin!

The spiral staircase of the Victory Column in Berlin, Germany.

Spiral staircase in the bunker at the top of Diamond Head.

 (^Must be on a desktop to view video, doesn't always work on mobile version of blogger. Sorry for the creepy red eyes in the video too, haha it was so crazy dark in there and our dang iphone video didn't do the best job with not making my eyes look super freaky!)

Once you get to the top of Diamond Head the 360 degree views are incredible. It's almost hard to describe how amazing it feels, in a sense like an out of body experience because of the beauty. We enjoyed the view for about 20 minutes then started our journey back down! The hike down was almost worse trying to brace yourself to not tumble down. We walked as fast as possible and made it down quickly where at the bottom we enjoyed a nice refreshing shave ice! The hike itself didn't take long, but was fun stopping at all the lookout points and not missing a great photo opportunity!

One of our favorite beaches to people watch is Sandy beach. The waves are always crazy and it's so fun watching people surf and body board. It the beach with the most injuries out of any other beach in Hawai'i (we've heard a few people refer to it as break-neck beach). There's a reason we are only spectators at that particular beach, haha. When we were at Sandy a few days ago we were able to see a Monk Seal (or in Hawaiian known as; Ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua) come ashore and bask in the sun. The Hawaiian monk seal is an endangered species (there are only about 1,100 left in the wild) so it was very exciting to see him. We also saw a Hawaiian monk seal when we were on our honeymoon on the Big Island.. Maybe the same little guy followed us to Oahu! 

 

 

A few more random adventures....

We love hanging out downtown Waikiki.. We can find good, live, local music almost every night.

At the Diamond Head Bark Park!

Last week on Wednesday June 11th, we were able to see the draping of the King Kamehameha Statue in front of the Ali'iolani Hale building in downtown Honolulu (also the headquarters on the Hawaii 50 TV show fyi)! The presenting of the leis dates back all the way to 1901! King Kamehameha united the Hawaiian islands in 1810 and became Hawaii's first king. Hundreds of long strands of leis were over his shoulders as well as on the ground surrounding his statue. King Kamehameha day looks to celebrate as well as protect Hawaii's culture (dance, food, chants as well as other important pieces of Hawaiian history).

Sunset 6/17/2014

Malama pono, (take care)

Jen & Mark