Our trip to Hawaii started with a flight to San
Diego to visit Cathy’s brother, Mike and his wife Gloria and their two children
Michael and Stephanie and their families. On the day of our arrival, we went
with Mike and Gloria for a walk on Imperial Beach.
Saturday we flew to Kauai via Honolulu. We met up with Zach’s brother Paul and his wife Debbie. We shared a two-bedroom suite at the Marriott Waiohai Beach Club. Nice place!
On our first day there, we went to Kilauea Lighthouse and Princeville on the north shore,
and Wailua Falls near Lihue.
The next day we went to the spectacular Waimea Canyon State Park, the grand canyon of Hawaii,
and Kokee State Park with Waialeale, one of the wettest places on Earth.
On Tuesday we went to Allerton Garden (where parts of
Jurassic Park and The Pirates of the Caribbean movies were filmed) and then
onto Spouting Horn.
That evening we went to dinner with Zach and Paul’s
cousin Colette and her husband Bruce. We had not seen Colette in over 40 years.
On our last day we went and hiked the Mahaluepu Heritage Trail
and spend a few hours on the beach with a bunch of roosters that seen to be everywhere.
The next day we flew to Hilo on Hawaii, the Big Island, and Paul and Debbie went to Maui. We went to the Pacific Tsunami Museum, Lyman Museum and Mission House,
and Rainbow Falls.
From there we drove to Volcanoes National Park and stayed for two nights at the Kilauea Military Camp. We saw numerous Steam Vents and that night we went to the Jagger Museum Kilauea Overlook.
The next day we hiked the Kilauea Iki Trail,
Thurston Lava Tube Trail,
and Puu Hulululu Cinder Cone and Mauna Lau Lava Shield Trail.
From there we drove the Chain of Craters Road to the end of the road. The road has been buried for over 15 miles by lava flow.
The Holei Sea Arch is also there.
On Saturday, we drove to Mauna Kea to hike the trail to the top. Mauna Kea is actually the tallest mountain on Earth measured from the base it rises over 30,000 feet, only 13,796 are above sea level, however. We drove to the Visitor’s Information Center located at about 9000 feet, it was foggy, and drizzling, not a good sign.
The Humuula Trail starts near the Visitor Information Center and goes near the summit. At the top, climbers hike the Observatories Road to the short summit trail. There are about 10 observatories on top of the mountain, but we could barely see any of them because we were clouded in. 
We have climbed many mountains; this was the first time we only saw clouds. Every other climb we had sunny days.
From there we drove to Kailua-Kona and stayed at the Marriott Courtyard for two days. This was definitely the nicest Courtyard we ever stayed at. It had its own beach among many other amenities. Kailau-Kona was our favorite place to stay. It was a right size place, not too big or too small. We enjoyed walking the streets,
and had lunch at the Kona Brewery,
and spent time on the beach.
From Hawaii, we flew to our last island, Oahu. We immediately drove to Pearl Harbor and World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument and Arizona Memorial.
On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the Iolani Palace, State Capital and surrounding historic area.
Our hotel was in Waikiki. That evening we walked the streets and went to an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant that turned our pretty good.
The next day we went to Diamond Head State Monument.
That evening we went to the entertaining Magic of Polynesia Show starring John Hirokawa. Cathy was picked for a card trick. We closely watched the magician and never figured out how he performed the illusion. Very good!
