Julia's Visit - Day 7

The day had come for the biggest hike of the week - climbing Diamond Head! Julia had been warned by her sister that it was tough, but we all jumped in the car and prepared to tackle the hill. Fortunately we headed out a bit earlier in the morning, but it was still pretty hot.
On the way up, we took our time and took many pictures. Of course, the endless stairs were sweat busters, but it actually didn't take very long before we passed through the tunnels, poked our heads out from the observation point and walked out at the top!
Every time I do this hike, it is crowded with tourists (like we're NOT tourists!) But the views of Waikiki and Southern Oahu are always wonderful! Julia, Stefenie, Brooke and I managed to climb on to the roof of the observation deck by ourselves and got some great pics! I think this picture of Julia is SOOOO cute! :-)





The trip back down was obviously easier and took half the time. Of course, everyone was tired when we made it to the car (and air conditioning)! From Diamond Head, we drove over to Honolulu and up the Tantalus Drive.

Tantalus Drive is a winding hillside drive that ascends the mountains North of Honolulu to a peak and fabulous views. It ends in Pu'u Ualaka'a State Wayside Park that has spectacular views of Honolulu, Waikiki and Diamond Head. So on the same day, we were able to see Diamond Head from below, on top and above!

After this, the girls had various discussions. Stefenie wanted to meet a guy she'd met on the town for a tour of Pearl Harbor. Julia wanted to go to the beach and build a sand castle. I supported Julia of course, but Stefenie was really excited about meeting this guy, so Brooke decided to go with her (I think for safety). So, we drove home and while the others got ready, DeAnna and Julia and I grabbed a few kitchen items and headed for the beach!

Those who know me would recognize my approach: Pick a spot just high of the waves and build a big wall of protection, then build a beautiful castle!. Julia started on the castle and I worked hard on the wall... the huge, meandering wall against the merciless waves.

We worked for a couple of hours and Julia's castle went through several iterations. It was more like aimless fun than dedicated work. Finally, the waves proved too interesting, so we abandoned the castle to float and chat in the water. We watched the waves crash until the wall was finally breached!


We stayed until the castle was all but gone. There was a special VIP dinner for work that I had to attend and Julia and DeAnna were invited, so we went home, cleaned up, dressed up and left for a swanky restaurant called Roys in Waikiki.

Interestingly, many of the invitees had RSVP'd that they weren't coming, so we were able to seat Julia and have a lot of interesting conversation - even if it was mostly work related. Julia was patient, and was rewarded with a scrumptious Chocolate Souffle for dessert! (We all had a chocolate souffle)

After dinner, the three of us met Stefenie and Brooke to once again walk around Waikiki and browse the shops for a while. DeAnna and I left the girls to finish up their evening and headed for home. It was quite a day of interesting contrasts - from sweaty, to sandy, to salty, to swanky! Just one more day and the girls would be leaving for home...