After the obligatory trip to the Voyager 47 Club, we prepared ourselves for a venture outside the big city. I had rented us a pair of compact cars to escape the wiki wiki lifestyle of the Waikiki. G-Diggity (half of Bran to clarify) and I walked over to the sprawling Hilton Hawaiian Village to collect our cars. With G-Diggity in a Jetta and I in a Sentra, we headed back to the Outrigger Reef to collect our persons.
20 minutes later, we had arrived at the trailhead for a hike to Lulumahu Falls. As one might surprise, this trail leads to a waterfall. However, we were mostly going for the initial 100 meters or so that went through a dense bamboo forest. Nicole was (and still is) quite fond of a little show called Lost that is either loved or hated. The opening and closing shots of the show were shot in this very bamboo forest. There were also lots of insects which our party was quick to point out.
After the bamboo, the trail opened up to a flat concrete pathway snaking its way toward the lush green mountains of the Ko’olau range. As we neared the end of the paved path, things were going to involve hopping across streams and ducking under trees, so we returned back the way we came — satisfied with what we had seen nonetheless, though a bit itchier than when we started.
We grabbed some lunch at the Kona Brewing Company’s location in Hawai’i Kai before heading back on the road in the area of Koko Head to make a stop at the Halona Blowhole. Not much blow was coming through the hole, but it was still a nice vista looking toward Sandys Beach to the north and the rocky cliffs elsewhere. We even spotted a few sea turtles in the water.
From there, we made a brief stop at the Koko Crater Botanical Gardens, which showcased different biomes such as desert, Madagascar, and Hawaii, but we elected to not do the two mile loop trail after such a busy morning. I sensed the crowd was starting to fade a bit, so we took the keikis back to the hotel before I awkwardly worked my way back to the Enterprise dropoff at the Hilton Hawaiian village.
After recovering for a few minutes, I felt the need to jump into the water and go for a wee swim. I used to do this back in the day as I swam from the movie screen near Kapiolani park then parallel the beach until I got to the Royal Hawaiian hotel. Today I was not so ambitious and was in and out in about 15 minutes. I didn’t see any sea life other than some corals.
After showering, we soon spied the familiar forms of Salt and Bran rampaging their way through the offerings of the Voyager 47 lounge. Salt, in particular, tried to evade the paparazzi, but have not had as extensive training as Bricole in this matter. You and that slushy are going to be front page of the National Enquirer tomorrow, mate.
Nicole and I were seated at the end of a long table near a young lad with poofy hair who was paying a visit to his mom and grandma. It sounded like he was studying here for just the semester, but is actually a student at a college on the east coast. He said his classes are at the Aloha tower aka he’s a student at Hawaii Pacific University. Just hours earlier, I was wearing an HPU shirt. Just 20 years ago, I too had the very poofy hair — not to brag, but it was much poofier than this young lad. As an introvert, I listened but did not contribute to the adjacent conversation. Nevertheless, after a couple samosas, some banana bread, and a chocolate chip cookie, “dinner” at the Voyager 47 was complete and the sun was setting.
There was brief deliberation back at the rooms before it was decided that there would be a march to . . . Target. We accompanied the gang for about a block and a half before veering off toward Lawson’s — another Japanese convenience store chain, but heavily altered for the Hawaiian tourist market. Their ichigo sando (strawberry cream sandwich) was pushing $10. That’s a bit out of hand. We walked along a coastal path trying to find some supplementary food and ended up in a tsunami of humanity cascading over us on Kalakaua Avenue. As in ancient Rome, all roads seemed to lead to the Cheesecake Factory. This nexus of society was rather overwhelming and we eventually retreated back to the Outrigger where we grabbed another pizza at the Monkeypod and a musubi at the ABC store.
We attempted to recover from the experience out on our lanai back at the room. That was a lot. When I lived here, I guess there was a sort of lack of food options for tourists in a way. They were limited to whatever was attached to the hotels or Hard Rock Cafe. Locals had more options, albeit very low brow ones. I usually ate at L&L, Burger King, or various other Asian plate lunch type places. There was a Denny’s if you wanted to be posh. All of those, except the Denny’s, are long gone. Now there are a lot more options for the tourist and virtually nothing for anyone else. It’s hard to even track down a Subway in these environs. I guess it’s good for Waikiki tourism if you look at it that way, but wow is it overwhelming for someone like me. Tomorrow is our last full day and it sounds like a lot of us are taking to the waves — maybe one of the few ways to escape the crowds in Waikiki.
