A trip we had been planning for and waiting for had finally arrived. We were headed to Honolulu, Hawaii and after some time in the islands would be cruising back to Vancouver on the Celebrity Eclipse.
We picked up a rental car at the Birmingham airport during our lunch hour, finished our work day, and then headed to Atlanta. Traffic was better than we had expected with only a few slowdowns. Our rental was a Kia Optima FE. She had some miles on her and was at the end of her life as a rental car.
After getting gas, we checked into our hotel, dropped off our luggage and went to return the rental car. The rental return process went so smoothly and in minutes, we were taking the escalator up to the SkyTrain.
We arrived just before Paul's Mom made it to baggage claim, helped her get her luggage, and then had dinner in the atrium of the airport at TGIFridays. After dinner, we took the SkyTrain back to our hotel.
Our hotel was right next to the stop for the train.
We stayed at the Springhill Suites Atlanta Airport Getaway which couldn't have been a better location for what we needed. Just steps from the entrance was the elevators to take us to the SkyTrain.
The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast in our hotel and then took the SkyTrain back to the airport to catch our nonstop flight to Honolulu. Our flight took off on-time, arrived early, and was uneventful. I had special ordered a vegan meal to make sure I received dairy free food I could actually eat and the food was quite good.
A root vegetable chili, grain salad, bread with vegan "butter", and fruit!
Hawaii is quite a long ways around the globe from Atlanta - It was just over a 9 hour flight.
A second light meal of a veggie sandwich and orange (Paul had pizza)
Diamond Head (this blog started with a photo from the summit of Diamond head taken a few days into our trip)
When we arrived in Honolulu we picked up our rental car at the Alamo that was reserved as part of our hotel package at the Courtyard Waikiki Beach. The Honolulu airport is fairly small and a lot of it seemed open air.
Women's restroom at the airport
Our rental car was a Subaru Impreza hatchback.
After checking into our hotel and leaving our rental car with the valet, we set out on foot to explore a little bit of Waikiki. We found some shrimp for dinner at the Waikiki Food Hall and then continued on to walk the beach.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Banan Waikiki Beach Shack located on Surf Alley, to try a dairy-free dessert that was delicious.
Here are a few photos of our hotel room and the view from our balcony.
We ended the day catching glimpses of the sunset and a Pacific Ocean view at what felt like midnight to us.
Our first full day in Hawaii and we had a full day booked. For breakfast, we ordered from the local cafe in the hotel and had our first sticker shock for the prices in Hawaii, although the food was very good. While we were eating around the pool area of the hotel, we made friends with some local wildlife.
We started with a drive through the tunnel out of Honolulu on Interstate H3 which had some amazing views.
We arrived near the Kualoa Ranch around 7:10 a.m. so took a few moments to stop and take a few photos at the beach across the street before entering the ranch by 7:30 a.m. to check in for our 8:20 a.m. Jurassic Adventure Tour, a 2.5 hour tour to take us to many of the sites where Jurassic World and even Jurassic Park were filmed.
While we were waiting for our tour to start, I had my first chance to do some bird watching.
Red-vented Bulbuls (I believe it is a parent on the right and a baby on the left)
Red-crested Cardinals (baby and adult)
These Red-crested Cardinals are smaller than the Northern Cardinal and not at all afraid of people.
Our Jurassic Adventure Tour traveled on an open air vehicle.
Our first stop was at a World War II bunker where they had a number of exhibits for the various movies and tv series filmed on the Kualoa Ranch.
Hawaii Five-O
The vehicle used in Jurassic World. Chris Pratt drove this vehicle. Paul found the pedals to be cramped and the shifter had very long throws.
We continued down to the Jurassic Valley.
Our guide knew just the right angle to take this cool photo - I promise you they were able to escape T-Rex.
You may remember this log from Jurassic Park and the Gallimimus Stampede scene. Jurassic Park only ended up filming some of the movie on O'ahu because a hurricane hit Kauai in the middle of filming.
Common Myna
Common Waxbill
These views were just breathtaking!
The deck were the Gyrospheres were released in Jurassic World
If I recall correctly, I don't believe this actually was used in either Jurassic World/Park movies. They had originally thought to use it but decided against it.
Bone yard from Kong: Skull Island
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Then we made it to a very well-known scene in Jurassic World. This is the enclosure of the Indominus Rex. This man-made created species tricks the humans by making these scratch marks and making himself invisible to the heat-based infrared cameras so that the humans thought it had escaped.
Overall, it was quite an amazing tour. Afterwards, we found some lunch at the cafe which we enjoyed at a picnic table in the back where flies and birds joined us. I had another chance to photograph the very friendly Red-crested Cardinal as well as some beautiful tropical flowers.
We then stopped at a Tropical Farms of Hawaii to purchase some delicious Macadamia Nuts and other treats.
We then continued on to the Byodo-In Temple at the foot of the Ko'olau Mountains, a non-practicing Buddhist Temple.
Black Swan
Spotted Dove
We made a stop at Waimanalo Beach, a gorgeous beach.
We also stopped at the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse, first at a lookout, and then I hiked to the top to see the lighthouse.
Then we parked at the base of the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail and I began the climb. It is a paved 1 mile (one-way) with about 500 ft of elevation change to an amazing view. The trail really wasn't all that busy.
A look down at the parking lot and start of the trail
A number of succulents were along the trail.
The incredibly common Red-crested Cardinal and Zebra Dove were also common at this elevation.
This and the next photo are the views from the very top. It was a bit windy this high up!
I then made my way down to the parking lot. It had been a long day so we didn't have much left to see before getting back to the hotel.
On the drive back to Honolulu, we drove past a lookout of Diamond Head so took a moment to stop and take a photo.
We stopped by an authentic Chinese restaurant that wasn't quite what we were expecting for dinner before continuing on to our last stop of the day at Pu'u 'Ualaka'a State Wayside - Tantalus Lookout. We had heard this lookout provided amazing views of Honolulu, Diamond Head, Waikiki and the surrounding area and was also a great place for sunset. We didn't end up staying for sunset as it was pretty overcast, looked like it might rain, and was a bit chillier than we were prepared for but we did enjoy some great views.
By this time, we were really beat. We had started the morning before 6:30 a.m. and it was about 6:30 p.m. when we left this last lookout so we headed back to the hotel.
