Honolulu {not so} Heaven ~ Hawaii Day 7

We did all of the things in Oahu that we planned to do in my previous post.

We rented our car in Honolulu and decided to drive up to the famous North Shore to see if we could see some surfers on the big waves. It didn't take us long to see that we did not like Oahu, especially after we had just come from such a beautiful island as Kauai!

{Plus, it was here that we started getting phone calls from a sobbing 6 and 4 year old begging us to come home. They had done so well most of the week, but starting Friday Brynne started really getting upset about us being gone. I guess she was so inconsolable that night that my mom had to give her some Benadryl to calm her down to go to sleep. We tried to explain that we would be home on Monday (it was now Saturday), but they didn't like that answer. That put a real damper on my day.}

The island of Oahu is very overpopulated and crowded and slummy! It did not have an islandy feel at all, even though the ocean was just steps away from the houses. It had tons of high rise apartments that just looked gross. It had a bad vibe.

We weren't impressed with the North Shore, so just kept on driving.

We were headed to our hotel to get checked in.

Then we happened upon this sweet gem ... The Dole Plantation!


This place was really cool, and almost the highlight of our time on Oahu. I didn't know that pineapples grew like that!



I guess I never really thought about it. There were miles and miles and miles of fields of pineapples.

We didn't pay to do the train ride or the tours or anything, just walked around and took in the beauty of the plantation and the sweet smells!



We bought some pineapple treats and got on the road to get checked into our hotel. We stayed at The Lotus at Diamond Head, right on Waikiki Beach. This was our room.


And this was the view from our 4th floor balcony.

Diamond Head

Waikiki Beach

Since we had a view of Diamond Head we opted out of doing the whole hiking to the top thing. Instead we walked down to the beach for a bit ... very Baywatch! {Rick spent his time watching the girls with their booties hanging out their "bathing suits" .. and I use that term loosely.}


Then it was time to get ready for the Luau. We went to Paradise Cove. I spent a lot of time researching luaus because I didn't want to go to one that was too cheesy. They are all a bit cheesy and commercialized. But, Paradise Cove was located right on the ocean, so it was beautiful!





While we waited for dinner and the show, they had lots of things you could do, for donations, to keep you busy.

I made a bracelet out of bamboo leaves, plumeria and lotus flowers, and we got temporary tattoos drawn on us by some hunky Hawaiian.



Then it was time to eat, and for the show to start. The food was pretty good, more like a Vegas buffet, but whatever. It was filling and the pork was yummy! The show was entertaining enough for us.




Was it worth the money? Oh, I don't know. But, if you are in Hawaii you have to go to a luau. It would be un-Hawaiian if you didn't. I'm glad we did it. And this made the money all worth it ...


We planned to go for a walk on the beach after we got back. But, honestly, it just didn't seem safe. So, we opted for bed instead.