Holiday in Hawaii, Day 5
By my fifth day in Hawaii I had still not beaten the weird hours. I was still waking up super early. But, since my parents woke up super early too, it was more beneficial as it allowed me more quality time with them. However, as the time I woke up each morning stayed the same, my addiction for Nick’s new Playstation 3 was growing. So instead of actually getting out of bed when I woke up, I’d play a little Call of Duty. Then I’d come to a level that required a second player and decide to return later. Coffee was calling.
My dad was downstairs doing his normal P90X routine and mom had just gotten back from her morning run. I really wanted to run with her, but I was on my last week of recuperation from previous running injuries and as good as I felt, I didn’t want to push it and risk another month of no running. Since my grandparents were still getting up and ready for their day, my folks and I decided to drive up to the (in)famous Kolekole pass.
The Kolekole pass is a fairly narrow passage between two hills of the mountain range where the Japanese fighter plans flew undetected before bombing Pearl Harbor. The Kolekole pass is also the only road that shortcuts the Waianae mountain range on the Leeward side of the island. If it weren’t for the Kolekole pass you’d have to drive all the way down and around. However, the road is only open at certain times of the day: in the mornings you can only drive East and in the afternoons you can only drive West.
Kolekole pass in the morning
Dad, Nick and Mom looking at the incredible views. It's also pretty windy.
The pass is pretty incredible and it’s neat to be standing where such an important part of history took place. The movie “Pearl Harbor” was filmed on the other side of the island (which you’ll read about on Day 6) but the part where the boys were playing baseball and the planes flew overhead… that was representing this area.
After spending a little time admiring the views we hiked back down to the car and drove back to the house to get ready for our adventures to Waikiki. My brothers wanted to go to Sports Authority and spend their money on golf and football equipment and I just wanted to look around. I had decided that, in order to not have additional luggage I’d save my shopping for when I got back. I brought an extra bag in my suitcase knowing I’d have more stuff to bring back such as clothes and my new GPS, but it wasn’t large enough to carry much more. There were a few things I needed though so I hoped to find them while we were out.
My mom, Dad, my grandparents and Jennifer all went to the beach while my two brothers and I did some shopping. Waikiki is pretty big, despite being on a relatively small island. We ended up walking close to 5 miles round trip, but we did manage to hit up the Ala Moana Center – a gigantic shopping mall. Jeremy got a new golf putter and Nick got some football stuff. The Rainbow sandals I had for close to five years were wearing thin and I picked up some Reef’s for a good price. I also picked up some sunglasses for while I was there.
The mall was pretty interesting in that it didn’t feel like any mall I’d been to before. Part of it was open-air and it had several floors. The lower level also had a parking garage and the food court. There were hoardes of people, most of them Japanese, and even some stores were in all Japanese. It felt like another country altogether. But it was also very exciting.
After we were done shopping, we made the 2.5 mile trek back through downtown Waikiki back to the beach. We had been gone almost four hours though and by the time we got back my grandparents were ready to get home so we didn’t have any time to enjoy the beach. We loaded up the Nissan Armada and headed home to relax for the remainder of the evening.
Addendum:
How genius is this? It's a bike rack.