Hawaii Day 3 - Kaena Point & Honolulu

The day was the hardest day of our trip. We had been told that Ka'ena Point was an amazing hike. We wanted to get an early start because we were warned that it would be crazy hot - and it was! The hike wasn't hard, but it was hot and long. We hiked four miles and it took about four hours. 

The unevenness of the lava rock trail was really hard on my hip.

The road was closed off so we had some extra walking to do before we got to the trail head.

The views were spectacular from beginning to end.

We saw a few of these beautiful red crested cardinals.

Everything was green.

And the trail was along the ocean all the way.

There were only a couple of shady spots.

These plans looked prehistoric.

Can you see the little arch?

We spotted our first seal. At first, we thought it was dead, but we later learned they all look like this. The seals here are Monk seals and they are the most endangered seals in the world.

More arches.

We found an old car wreck.

When we got to the bird preserve, there was an old World War II pill box up on the hillside.

Can you see the pill box?

The albatross preserve was pretty cool with birds nesting and flying close by the trail. The birds here are Laysan Albatross.

Light house and pill box at the easternmost point of Oahu.

Our second seal.

Guarding the nests.

Monarch butterflies

More seals on the way back.

We noticed formations we missed on the way out. Everything was so beautiful - even though we were exhausted.

I had the "brilliant" idea to drive to Pearl Harbor and see if we could get in. We hit Honolulu traffic, but we saw this amazing rainbow. I had never seen one so big with each color band being so wide. I finally understood why it was called the rainbow state.

We were too make it to the Arizona memorial, but we decided to walk around. The Battleship Missouri is available to tour.

Jalen's class has been studying WWII and Pearl Harbor so he really wanted to see it.

Barge in the harbor.

The memorial.

The funnest surprise was that Dennis, Cathy, Christina and family were there! It was so fun to run into them again. It was their final stop before heading to the airport.

We decided to go to Iolani Palace, the only palace in the United States. First we saw the Aliʻiōlani Hale - home of the Hawaiian supreme court and former seat of government of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

The palace was beautiful. It had electricity before the White House or Buckingham Palace! It was very modern and even had a telephone. We got there just in time as they were shutting the gates shortly after we arrived.

Banyan trees

A mausoleum was built on the grounds to house the remains of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamāmalu.

Sacred threshold of Liloa.

Memorial to Captain Cook.

Our final stop in the area was the Pali Lookout. We got there at 6:30 and it was supposed to have closed at 6:00. We were worried we might get locked in, but we were able to make a quick visit. It was an amazing view.

We took the super long way home in hopes of having a corndog from a guy a used to babysit in Blanding. Sadly, it was closed when we got there. We learned everything closes early on the North Shore so we ended up at McDonald's.

We were completely exhausted, but had an incredible day.