Hawaii run down

This is long overdue. It's been sitting in my outbox waiting to be finished, but it's apparent that it's not going to be. So, for your enjoyment (or torture), here's the rundown:
1. If you have kids, travel with them either in a stroller or in their carseats with some sort of wheels attached to get through the airport. This allows you to go through the shorter wheelchair line. We had no idea until we were redirected by TSA.
2. Have friends (Thanks Auntie Liz and Auntie Mo) pack backpacks for your kids to entertain themselves on the plane, and don't let the kids have them until you are at cruising altitude. This should keep them busy the whole flight.
3. Schedule beachtime during daylight hours or you will come back as white as you left. (Yep, that's from recent experience)
4. Get loco moco as often as you can. It's just not the same here.
5. Eat at the local roadside restaurants/stands. You'll get a plate full of rice, macaroni salad, and either beef, chicken, or pork for $3 to $5. It's delicious and usually enough to feed 2 people. We spent $20 for 5 people and ended up throwing away half the food cuz there was so much of it. I highly recommend Kenneke's. It was the best by far.
6. If on Oahu, go to see the Kamaka Ukulele factory. Sounds dorky, but it was fascinating. One of the sons of the founder is still there. He's 95 years old and made his first ukulele at 5 years old. He does the tours and you get so much more than just a tour with him. It's not in any guidebook, so you'll probably have the place to yourself and his undivided attention.

Can't think of more at the moment, but that's enough "duh" factor for now.

To Diamond Head and back.

I am so proud of my girls. They hiked all the way to the summit of Diamond Head and back again without fussing or whining. I couldn't say the same for some of the adults that were hiking up.

Just so you know what a feat it was for 3 year olds, here are some stats about the hike:
- The trail is 1 and 3/4 miles to the rim (that's 3 and 1/2 miles round trip).
- it takes the average person 1 and 1/2 hours to do it (the girls did it in 1 hour and 15 minutes)
- there are two sets of stairs (one very steep and the other a spiral). The first is 99 steps, the second is 76 steps. Plus there are 3 more steps to get out of the bunker at the top, and about 25 more to get to the actual summit.
- there is 225 foot unlit tunnel as well (this kind of freaked me out, but they were fine.)
- the hike is rated as easy to moderate (realy more on the moderate side)
- there is no shade on the trail (sunscreen works wonders)

Shocking fact of the week

There was a Starbucks in the lobby of our hotel, and I never even had one Starbucks the whole week and a half we were there.

I know. I was stunned myself.

Crazy Loco Moco Bonanza

It's been a loco moco bonanza since we've been here. It everywhere and I'm lovin' it. The best I had was at Keneke's where you could order a triple (I did not). The worst was at Rainbow Drive-in which comes highly recommended (and everything else we had was great.)

All I can say is Mmmmmmmm.

Accounting for headwind is everything.

On the way out here United has a game they play where you have to guess the time (hour, minute, and seconds) that the plane would be geographically halfway to Hawaii. They gave you cruising speed, altitude, and headwinds, and you had to give them the time. Get this. I guessed 2:23:37 and the actual time was 2:23:10. I only missed it by 27 seconds which was close enough to get me the first prize. Mmmmmm, chocolate covered macadamia nuts are delicious.

Lava Day

Today was so cool. We got to see lava made. We were at Bishop Museum in the science center. They put lava rock into a kiln until it melted. When it was poured out, it was the consistency of honey and bright orange from the heat. It quickly cooled to black and began to crack like glass. In fact it was very smooth and shiny like glass. Supposedly this could only be achieved in nature if a volcano erupted through a glacier. At this point it was supposedly still about 800 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit (it started out at just under 3000 degrees). According to the docent it would take 3 to 4 hours to cool to room temperature.