Ku'u Momi Makamae (my precious pearl)

Waikiki, O'ahu Hawai'i

In my quest to visit all fifty states I spent February vacation on O'ahu. I was pumped to finally make the trek to Hawai'i. I only had a week and two of those days were going to be travel days so I didn't have a lot of time. When I was doing my research for this trip I read that Kaua'i is the place for adventure, Maui the place for romance, the Big Island (Hawai'i) the place for space and O'ahu the tourist trap. Here's the thing, the two things I wanted to see most in Hawai'i are on O'ahu, surfing at the North Shore and Pearl Harbor. I didn't want to waste too much time traveling between islands so I came to grips with the idea of only being able to visit O'ahu. Every person I talked with before I left kept telling me not to go to O'ahu." Go to Maui! Go to Kuai'i." Something just kept telling me that O'ahu was the place for me right now.

Pearl Harbor 

I arrived in Honolulu on a Saturday evening and immediately crashed in my hotel room. I booked an early tour of Pearl Harbor with O'ahu Nature Tours. They picked me up at my hotel at 6:00 am on a Sunday morning and our whole tour group consisted of 3 people, the tour guide, one other woman and me. We were the first to arrive and practically had the place to ourselves for the first hour or so. When the alarm went off I questioned why on earth I picked a 6 am tour on the first day of vacation, but once I got there I was so glad that I did. At the museum I had time to stop and read things without crowds of people around me. Our boat from shore to the U.S.S. Arizona was not crammed with tourists. Pearl Harbor is an unique experience. The two closest things are the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC and the new 9/11 Memorial in New York City. It is a combination of serenity and eeriness. If you spent too much time thinking about it, it can overwhelm you. Our guide told us that a few weeks before we were there they had a ceremony where one of the last survivors of the Arizona had asked for his ashes to be sprinkled in the waters around the Arizona so he could be with his "brothers." Standing out there on the deck of the memorial and thinking about what was below it is hard not to image that day. Looking up at the sky for planes. Looking around at the other ships. Looking out at the shore. I definitely felt a sadness and wasn't ready to leave when it was time to go.

The Great Aloha Run

The next day was President's Day and people in Honolulu celebrate the day by participating in the Great Aloha Run. It is an 8-mile run through downtown Honolulu and ends in Aloha Stadium. The majority of the run in on a highway and the scenery isn't what I imagined until the highway climbs and you are overlooking Pearl Harbor. The best part of this run for me was the chance to spend time with the locals. Coming from New York I was in the midst of "Linsanity." The New York Knicks basketball team phenom of the moment was a young Asian-American named Jeremy Lin. He immediately became a superstar in New York and a hero to many Asian-Americans. Hawai'i has a huge Asian population. For the run I decided to wear my Jeremy Lin jersey. I cannot even begin to count the number of people who came up to talk to me or just yelled " Linsanity" during the run. People were incredibly kind and funny. It was a wonderful opportunity to chat with people and get some O'ahu insider tips for the rest of week.

Makapu'u State Park

 Now that I had seen Pearl Harbor and ran the race, the only other must-do I had on my list was to watch surfing on the North Shore. I took a tour for that and unfortunately the waves weren't huge (by their standards but pretty huge by mine) and the tour guide decided on minimal time on the shoreline and more time on the Dole Pineapple Planation. I was disappointed but that is the chance you take when you book a tour. You lose the freedom to choose. During the run one of the tips I received from a native to Honolulu was to check out the South Shore. I took one of the city busses to the end of the line to Makapu'u State Park and the Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline. I arrived about 6:30 am on a windy morning. The park was empty except for a lone surfer. The blue sky with the even bluer water contrasting with the black volcanic rocks gave me my favorite picture of the entire trip. There are trails to a lookout with a lighthouse and trails that go through this valley along the coast. The valley is HOT. You really feel like you are traipsing through a desert and the view of the Koko Crater is just stunning. I am pretty sure I stood there with my mouth open for a solid 10 minutes.

Koko Crater

I never left O'ahu. Maybe Kaui'i and Maui are better but every native Hawiian I met said to go to the Big Island when I come back. I think I'll take their advice. People are right, O'ahu can be a tourist trap, if you stay in Waikiki and never leave. That gives O'ahu the reputation as being the cheesiest place to visit in Hawai'i. I don't think that is true at all. If you get out and explore you'll find out that there is a lot more to O'ahu. I've learned this over and over again on all of my travels, the most important thing to do on a trip is talk to the people. Tour guides are good but talking to native people about their home will be the best vacation decision you'll ever make. People are proud of where they come from and they want you to appreciate it. So, ask questions and say mahalo (thank you). You'll get great advice and a smile.