Week 13: 3/26-4/1

Katie Frame
Apr 1, 2017
15 min read

Sunday: Downtown Honolulu

Today was a super fun and adventurous day! I spent most of the day pretending I was Danno and McGarrett from Hawaii five-0. We spent the day in downtown Honolulu! It was amazing walking around and recognizing some of the areas from where McGarrett and Danno went out to fight criminals. It was SOO MUCH FUN! Today compared to any other I think I stood out like a tourist because I would keep telling my grandparents where McGarrett and Danno were fighting in an episode and that they won, or where McGarrett and Danno drove on this rode or ran across this street J. It’s easy to say I am a fanatic about this show and Hawaii and who wouldn’t be. I was a fan girl the whole day. It was amazing. So back to my day and not my obsession with Hawaii five-0. We started the day eating breakfast in our room, I had left over pizza and my grandparents ate cereal. When we were finished eating breakfast we got in our car and drove around downtown and made our way to Waikiki Beach! And y’all it was BEAUTIFUL! I think this is the most incredible city I have ever seen! It was Gorgeous! Driving around made me feel like I was a rich movie star that lived in the city. It was so cool! There were palm trees everywhere; you could see the beach, tons of skyscrapers and people walking around. When we made it to Waikiki we parked our car and decided to walk down to the beach so we could take a walk, splash around in the water and go see the resorts. The water was cool and it was amazing getting to splash around for a little bit. Then we walked along the pathway and came across the Duke Kahanamoku statue who was the native Hawaiian to popularize Surfing. When we were done taking pictures, we walked to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel which is something my Mimi had always wanted to see. So, we walked around the hotel and explored. It was so Pretty! Next time I come to Hawaii I am going to stay there for a night! We decided to grab a snack so we could relax! I had a coconut turnover, my grandfather had an apple turnover and my grandmother had a macnut cookie. They were yummy! While we were sitting there I couldn’t help but watch the men’s Elite eight game to see if my boys could beat Florida! And WE DID!!! I was screaming and jumping up and down I was so excited. I practically ran around the hotel like a crazy person, but who could really blame me! Several people came up to me and asked who won and when I told them the GAMECOCKS beat Florida they smiled and gave me a hug or a high five! It was so fun! I ended up running up and down the street just smiling and cheering. I wanted to start the Gamecock cheer sooooooo badly, but well no one here would have known to scream back COCKS when I screamed GAME and I wasn’t about to just scream out COCKS walking around Waikiki. I’m not that crazy, well if my grandparents wouldn’t have been with me I would have done it, but I didn’t want to embarrass them anymore and I don’t think my grandmother would have approved of me screaming COCKS so it was for the best I didn’t do it J! When we were done walking, and exploring Waikiki we got back in our car and drove to Diamond Head!

Diamond Head is incredible! It is so beautiful and it was a great hike. You start in the middle of the crater and work your way up the side. There is a path the whole way but at some point, it went from a sidewalk to rocks. You climb as you go back and forth on the switch backs just slowly rising. There was some shade on the hike but not a ton. Make sure if any of you do the hike to bring water it can be very hot! When we got towards the end there are two paths you can take to get to the top; one is you go to the left and take the switch back path up to the top. There are a couple stairs but not a ton or you can go the adventurous way like I did. This includes climbing up about 300 stairs that just climb straight up. When you get to the top of that you walk down a little corridor and go up another staircase but this one is a spiral one and is only about 90 steps. When you get to the top you are in this lookout tower. In order to get out of the tower you climb through this hole in the wall and come out to a great view of the city! It was BREATH TAKING! You can see the entire city! When you are done admiring the view which for me was about 15 minutes later, you walk on the dirt path to the stairs and then climb them and you are there. The view is even better than the last one! It was amazing but I think the best part about the hike was that my grandmother made it to the top too! Pete and I didn’t think she was going to make it but she did! Then we started the climb back down the crater where we got in our Car and drove to the University of Hawaii Mānoa Campus. My grandfather has been to Hawaii one other time when he was 14 years old and stayed with his cousin at UHM for the summer. He pointed out the apartment complex he stayed in and told us how much the campus has changed. It was so neat to see. I have wanted to visit the campus for a long time. I am so glad I got to come visit. I fell in love with the campus instantly! It was beautiful! I would love to go to graduate school there! We will see what happens but it would be amazing! When we were done exploring, we grabbed lunch at Burger King because it was easy and quick. When we were done eating we went to Iolani Palace and to the King Kamehameha statue so I could get a picture with the king ;)! Not only that but the King Kamehameha statue is located in front of HAWAII FIVE-0 headquarters! You can just imagine how important it was for me to come visit this super important building! Just think McGarrett and Danno have been here and stood exactly where I stood…okay fan girling again! AHH incredible! When we were done taking pictures, and trust me yall I got a lot of them we got in our car and went back to the hotel to eat dinner and sleep! We were all so exhausted from our day.

Monday: Drive around Oahu

We woke up earlier today than any other day this week. We had a lot to do that we could miss out on since today was our last day on Oahu! So, we started our drive by going through Honolulu and up the east side of the island. Our first stop along the way was at Nu’uanu Pali State Wayside in Kaneohe. It was a really pretty overlook of Kaneohe and the mountain range on Ohau. Then we got in our car and drove along the coast. We stopped in a couple places to look at the beaches. One of the places we stopped at was Kualoa Beach Park. There the mountains were literally next to the ocean! Then we continued to drive down the coast and stopped at a food truck called the shrimp shack on the road along the way for lunch. Fun Fact, they have been featured on Food Network before and it was one of the places my dad told me I should try and find! It was really good food! I had Coconut shrimp with Rice and Guava honey dipping sauce. It was yummy! Then we continued to drive down the coast and we stopped at the Polynesian culture center to see it and so I could get some gifts for people. Then we continued to drive and made our way towards Northshore, but before we got there we decided to stop and explore Waimea Valley and I am SOOOO glad we stopped. My grandparents had been told it was gorgeous and had breathtaking walks and several movies had been filmed here but no one told me that this is where CATCHING FIRE WAS FILMED!!! For those of you reading who have known me for a long time you all know that I love the Hunger Games Franchise and have visited other set locations the movie was filmed. However, I didn’t realize that catching fire was filmed on Oahu, I thought it was Kauai! Other movies have been filmed here too like George of the Jungle, the Journey 2 the mysterious Island, which also stars Josh Hutcherson, The Chimpmucks Shipped wrecked, and several animated movies like Lilo and Stitch featured this valley in the movie. So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw the movies sign in the welcome center and Catching Fire was there! I was taking even more pictures than normal because guys Josh Hutcherson has been here! HE HAS WALKED IN THIS SPOT! I was going a little crazy again! We walked through the gardens and they were just as pretty as we had been told. At the end of the walk there is this waterhole with a waterfall that people are allowed to swim in if we wore a lifejacket. The water was 30 feet deep and cold! The water felt so good! It was so nice and relaxing! I even got to climb up the water fall! When we were done exploring Waimea Canyon we drove to Northshore and y’all the waves are BIGGER than I ever imagined! They are GINORMOUS! They are huge masses of water; the waves were around 15 feet tall when I went to the beach! They were so big and destructive that no one was allowed to swim near the shore, but you could swim if you were surfing. We decided to go shopping and looking for the Wave Riding Vehicle store for my dad since he wanted a sticker from there. We spent around and hour looking for the store and then found out that it was no longer here. I was sad to hear that! By this time, we were so exhausted that we got back in the car and drove the rest of the way back to our hotel so we could eat, relax, return the car and pack for tomorrow because we are heading to Kauai!

Tuesday: Fly to Kauai and Waimea Canyon

Our flight to Kauai left around 11:30 am and was a quick 30 minutes to the island. We got to our hotel around 12:30, checked in and you wouldn’t believe it but the guy graduated from USC in 2014 the May before I got to USC. He said I was the first person he has ever met in Hawaii who is also a Gamecock! It was so great to meet someone who is just as big as a Gamecock fan as me here! We talked for about an hour about our experience at USC and about our basketball games. When we were, all checked in my grandparents and I went and grabbed a quick lunch of Hamburgers in the town of Lihue. When we were done eating we got in the car and drove to Waimea Canyon, if you haven’t noticed yet there are a lot of Waimea’s in Hawaii. We took the scenic drive up Waimea Canyon. I have never seen the Grand Canyon but this could be it if I didn’t know any better. It was huge and beautiful, green and lush and you could even see waterfalls. It was just breathtakingly beautiful. We continued the drive up the canyon and stopped here and there to go to look outs and get pictures. We drove down the road and ended up driving through three different state parks and made it all the way to the end of the road at the Na Pali Coast. It was beautiful! Then we drove back and stopped by a grocery store so we could get dinner food to make in our hotel room. We all went to bed nice and early so we could wake up early and go exploring tomorrow!

Wednesday: Dinner Cruise

I think today was my favorite day so far on spring break. Mimi, Pete and I have been talking for a while about doing one of the dinner cruise on the island so we can see the Na Pali Coast line, which you can only see either via boat or helicopter or if you are brave soul and are willing to hike in and out, which I want to do come back and do some time. But since the dinner curise was in the afternoon, we decided that we were going to go to an old plantation house that has been turned into a restaurant and a train that takes you around the plantation. It was really neat. We saw pineapple fields, lemon trees, lime trees, lychee, mango, orange trees, sugar cane, taro and a bunch of other fruit trees. The restaurant only uses the fresh fruit that they grow here on the property. The train ride lasted about 45 minutes and when we got off we decided to take a walk around the property and we found a random fruit tree and one of the fruits fell. I went over and picked it up and had fun peeling it. As I was peeling it I realized that it was a grapefruit and ate some of it. It was really good! After we finished touring the plantation house, we went back into Lihue and grabbed some sandwiches for us to eat on our way to the boat. When we got to the office, we signed in and headed straight down to the boat so we could load up. We left around 2:30 pm and about 30 minutes into the trip we saw whales. We ended up stopping and just went with the current and watched the whales. There were about 3 circling around us. The best was when the Humpback whale breached right next to our boat and then swam under the boat and proceeded to breach again behind the boat when we started to drive off again. After we got a little farther the captain stopped the boat and told us a story saying that one time he took James Cameron on a sunset cruise and that’s what gave him the idea for the famous Jack and Rose scene in the Titanic. He then proceeded to play Celine Dion’s famous song, My Heart will go on and all of the couples came up and reenacted the scene on the bow of the ship. Then the Captain told me to come take a picture and the first mate took my camera, but to my surprise the captain came and joined me and helped me reenact the scene. He said my jack must have been too scared to get on the boat with us so he would help me out!! I laughed so hard; it was great! When everyone had their chance to do the Jack and Rose pose we continued on our trip and made our way to the Nā Pali coast and it was incredible. They mountains and valleys were incredible. As we made our way to the end of the coast Captain Mike pointed out different waterfalls, blowholes and valleys. One valley he pointed out is the valley where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean and Jurassic Park were filmed. It was incredible! When we made it to the end of the coast we saw a mama whale and her baby, and then started our way back towards the dock. When we got about halfway back we were served dinner. We had Teriyaki chicken, Koala Pork, salad, pineapple, rice, rolls, cookies and sweet potatoes. It was so yummy. When we finished eating Kaitlyn, who was a 12-year-old girl on the boat celebrating her 12th birthday, and I stood at the front of the boat and road the waves. The captain moved us at one point because the deck was getting wet and we were soaked to bone. When he stopped to move us, more whales popped up again. We stopped the boat again and watched them for a good 45 minutes. This time there were about 3 or 4 playing around and slapping the water with their fins. After a little while we had to keep moving so we could make it to the place to watch the sunset. We made it just in time to see the sunset and it was beautiful. The sky was pink, orange and yellow. Captain Mike made a joke that if you look close enough you might be able to see the green light that occurs right before the sun sets and all of the little kids were like I saw it I saw it. It was really cute and he just went right along with them. Some asked if they could see Will Turners ship and he was like just beyond the horizon he is going to meet up with Elizabeth Swan! None of the little kids got the joke it was hilarious!!! After we watched the sunset we continued our way back to the dock and I spent the rest of the ride on the bow of ship. I love the feel of wind blowing in your face and going up and down with the waves. It’s so much fun! When we docked Mimi, Pete and I made our way back to the car and got back to the hotel and fell asleep.

Thursday: Drive around Kauai

After yesterday the three of us where so tired from sitting in the sun and wind all day that we all slept in until about 8. We were very slow moving. We made it out of the hotel around 10 am and decided that we wanted to go and explore the rest of the island. We headed towards the northeast part of the island and stopped at the Kilauea Lighthouse which is also a natural wildlife Refuge. It was a really cute lighthouse and had great views of the cliffs and the ocean. We saw tons of sea birds. When we were done exploring the lighthouse built in 1913, we went and continued our drive along the island. We stopped in Princeville for lunch. We stopped at this cute Tiki Restaurant and got fish and chips so that we could continue our journey. When we were full we paid for our meal, left and decided to drive along the coast through Hanalei on the scenic drive. The road was a good 10 miles and you are between the mountains on the Nā Pali Coast and the Ocean. When you get to the end of the road you are at the edge of the Nā Pali Coast State Park. While we were there I was sitting in the car, and when I looked out the window I saw my friend Elaine. She came to Kauai with a community Service Group and they had just gotten back from doing service work and a hike. I called out her name about 7 times until she finally looked up and she still didn’t see me so I got out of the car and walked over to her. She was so surprised to see me! I also got to see Alexa and Claire. It was such a great unexpected surprise. I got to introduce them to my grandparents and had the chance to talk to them for a few minutes before I had to leave and they had to leave too! My grandparents and I had to leave and go to an urgent care after that because Mimi wasn’t feeling well. We spent about 2 hours there and then after being at the doctors she was really tired so we grabbed a quick dinner and then went back to the hotel to pack and get some sleep. Kauai was absolutely beautiful and I really want to come back here one day! There is so much I saw, but there is still so much to see!

Friday: Leave for Hilo

We didn’t do a lot today. We woke up nice and early and went to the airport so we could drop the car off and get their luggage checked in. When we got to the airport we had arrived super early so we sat and had a snack and listened to a local artist who was preforming for the people in the restaurant. The last song he sang was Somewhere over the rainbow and it was such a beautiful version! When it was close to time for us to get on our plane we went to the gate and got on the plane to Honolulu. When we got to Honolulu we had a two-hour layover before our next flight to Hilo so we sat down, grabbed some food and relaxed until it was time for us to board the plane. The best part about these plane rides is that on Hawaiian you get POG which is the greatest juice ever! We landed in Hilo around 2:30 in the afternoon and went and got our car and drove to my grandparent’s rental house. It was really nice, the people who we were staying with actually lived in the house we were staying in. When we arrived, Mike welcomed us with open arms and showed us around and then my grandparents and I talked with him for the rest of the day. At dinner time, we decided to go out and try the Thai Restaurant. It was delicious. Fresh Thai food is great. When we got back to the house after dinner we talked some more and then we all went to bed.

Saturday: Basketball and downtown Hilo

Today was another down day. We were still so tired from our adventures in Ohau and Kauai that we needed another day to just relax. I woke up around 9 am and Mike, the person whose house we were staying at made breakfast for us and it was a southwestern omelet. It was so yummy it had peppers, onion and ham in it. When we were done with breakfast I watched the men’s basketball final four game. Even though we lost to Gonzaga I was so proud of our boys and for taking us on the ride of a century. It really was a Sinderella Story. While I was watching the game my grandparents went for a walk on the beach and when they got back we left for lunch and to explore them downtown Hilo. We ate at Lucy’s which is one of the only Mexican restaurants in Hilo and all got Burritos. When we finished lunch, we got back in the car and I showed them Hilo Bay, we went by the market and then made our way to UHH campus. We parked the car and I showed them my dorm, where my classes are, the library, cafeteria and all sorts of things. When we were done with the tour of campus we went to Rainbow falls and I showed them the falls and we went to the top of the falls as well. When we were done exploring, we went back to their house and around dinner time, we called a pizza place. Pete and Mike went to pick it up and Mimi and I unpacked and I worked on some homework while we waited. When they got back we ate outside and talked some more. I was so tired from this week that I wasn’t able to stay up much longer and ended up falling asleep nice and early.