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canyonwalkerOahu travelog #14
Waikiki, HI - Sun, 26 Dec 2021, 6:30pm
Ahh,, it's been a tiring day. We were up early to get ready to start the day with a hike. ...Actually, we were up early because jet lag, and try as we might we couldn't get back to sleep after 5am. Around 8 we headed out to get the car to drive to Lulumahu Falls.
The car's trunk was still wet from a cooler leak two days ago. A cheap, $1.25 styrofoam cooler let melting ice soak through its bottom, and letting it sit in the trunk in the parking garage for almost 2 days (we didn't use our stupid-expensive rental car yesterday) didn't make things any better.
Also in the category of things not working out quite right was my breakfast plan. "All the ABC Stores, of which there are, like, literally three on every block in Waikiki, sell prepackaged sushi," I noticed yesterday. "I can grab that for breakfast in the morning." Except I grabbed some for dinner last night and was disappointed to find it's mostly rice. And the dish of poke I had from the supermarket from Wednesday night was too spicy. I threw it out.
Breakfast today wound up being at a 7-Eleven. But that's not as grim as it sounds. Where 7-Elevens elsewhere in the country have warming cases of cheap pizza and disgusting chicken tacos, the stores here have a variety of bao, including char siu bao, but they call it something else. I had 3 steamed pork buns and Big Gulp for breakfast at the trailhead.
Speaking of trailhead, our hike for today was Lulumahu Falls. The trail starts from a pullout on highway 61 driving up over Nu'uanu Pali. I'll post more details about it later when I have time to touch up the pictures. For now the super-condensed version is: Mud, more mud, OMG there is so much mud, wow those are nice falls. Update: blog with pictures from Lulumahu Falls added.
We were pretty wiped after hiking the trail. There was about 1,000' of ascent on the trail, plus the constant effort of not slipping and falling in the mud. We headed back to the hotel and discussed where to get lunch. We wound up dumping our stuff at the hotel first— which was a good thing because it also allowed us a chance to wipe off some of the mud with a washrag. We didn't fall in the mud, but our legs were covered in it from our muddy boots brushing against them on the narrow trail.
After lunch we relaxed in the room for a bit. The gloomy weather sapped my interest in going out to the beach, which had been our plan. The weather forecast told us, though, that gloom is basically all we're going to get from here on out, so we chose to make the best of it. We were out on the beach for 90 minutes or so.
After the beach we headed up to the hotel's pool deck. I was afraid it would be super crowded but surprisingly it was not. Perhaps lots of other people were turned off by the gloom? Anyway, Hawk and I soaked in the hot tub for a while to loosen our stiff muscles. Just before 6pm we toweled off and headed upstairs to our room.
Now we're deciding what to do about dinner later tonight. It's still a bit early for dinner, as we had late lunch around 2pm. But now's a good time to make a plan. The challenge is, though, that we're tired. We don't feel like going much of anywhere. And we don't want to go anywhere we have to eat indoors, anyway, because of the Covid surge in Honolulu. Maybe we'll try room service. But ugh, it's so expensive for what you get.
Waikiki, HI - Sun, 26 Dec 2021, 6:30pm
Ahh,, it's been a tiring day. We were up early to get ready to start the day with a hike. ...Actually, we were up early because jet lag, and try as we might we couldn't get back to sleep after 5am. Around 8 we headed out to get the car to drive to Lulumahu Falls.
The car's trunk was still wet from a cooler leak two days ago. A cheap, $1.25 styrofoam cooler let melting ice soak through its bottom, and letting it sit in the trunk in the parking garage for almost 2 days (we didn't use our stupid-expensive rental car yesterday) didn't make things any better.
Also in the category of things not working out quite right was my breakfast plan. "All the ABC Stores, of which there are, like, literally three on every block in Waikiki, sell prepackaged sushi," I noticed yesterday. "I can grab that for breakfast in the morning." Except I grabbed some for dinner last night and was disappointed to find it's mostly rice. And the dish of poke I had from the supermarket from Wednesday night was too spicy. I threw it out.
Breakfast today wound up being at a 7-Eleven. But that's not as grim as it sounds. Where 7-Elevens elsewhere in the country have warming cases of cheap pizza and disgusting chicken tacos, the stores here have a variety of bao, including char siu bao, but they call it something else. I had 3 steamed pork buns and Big Gulp for breakfast at the trailhead.
Speaking of trailhead, our hike for today was Lulumahu Falls. The trail starts from a pullout on highway 61 driving up over Nu'uanu Pali. I'll post more details about it later when I have time to touch up the pictures. For now the super-condensed version is: Mud, more mud, OMG there is so much mud, wow those are nice falls. Update: blog with pictures from Lulumahu Falls added.
We were pretty wiped after hiking the trail. There was about 1,000' of ascent on the trail, plus the constant effort of not slipping and falling in the mud. We headed back to the hotel and discussed where to get lunch. We wound up dumping our stuff at the hotel first— which was a good thing because it also allowed us a chance to wipe off some of the mud with a washrag. We didn't fall in the mud, but our legs were covered in it from our muddy boots brushing against them on the narrow trail.
After lunch we relaxed in the room for a bit. The gloomy weather sapped my interest in going out to the beach, which had been our plan. The weather forecast told us, though, that gloom is basically all we're going to get from here on out, so we chose to make the best of it. We were out on the beach for 90 minutes or so.
After the beach we headed up to the hotel's pool deck. I was afraid it would be super crowded but surprisingly it was not. Perhaps lots of other people were turned off by the gloom? Anyway, Hawk and I soaked in the hot tub for a while to loosen our stiff muscles. Just before 6pm we toweled off and headed upstairs to our room.
Now we're deciding what to do about dinner later tonight. It's still a bit early for dinner, as we had late lunch around 2pm. But now's a good time to make a plan. The challenge is, though, that we're tired. We don't feel like going much of anywhere. And we don't want to go anywhere we have to eat indoors, anyway, because of the Covid surge in Honolulu. Maybe we'll try room service. But ugh, it's so expensive for what you get.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-27 08:20 am (UTC)They probably call it some kind of manapua. That's what the place up in Waikoloa called them, at least.
Oh, and Kenichi's in Keauhou makes a "Kenichi manapua" which is Peking Duck on a flat bao with most of the fixings. You eat it sort of like a taco. Om nom nom.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-27 08:30 am (UTC)Coincidentally I had Peking duck on flat bao for dinner the other night. Always a favorite since I encountered it in China many years ago. And this was the best I've had since that time in China many years ago.