Strike 3

Jinx...

As I wrote that last blog post last night, I said to myself, "Self... Bad things happen in threes. What's Strike 3 going to be???"

Our plan this morning was to go hike Diamond Head. We got all ready and packed up the cars and headed out there. As we were driving toward the state park in the center of Diamond Head, we saw a lot of people walking toward the crater from many blocks away OUTSIDE the crater (i.e. still a significant walk into the crater via the tunnel much less walking up to the top of the peak). I commented to E sitting next to me, "Dude, these people are CRAZY! Why on EARTH would they park way out HERE and WALK all that way into the crater?" We drove through the tunnel and ended up in the long line of cars being told to make a U-turn and go back out because the parking lot at the state park was full.

Woops. You mean all those people had a REASON why they were walking all that way??? They WEREN'T all just a bunch of stupid tourists???

So there you have it - Strike 3! Cancel the Diamond Head plans. There was no way we were going to park that far out and walk all that way with the kids.

Note to self: When planning on going to Diamond Head, have a contingency Plan B ready to implement.

Instead of Diamond Head, we drove over to the eastern tip of the island and did the Makapu'u Ridge Hike. For more details about this hike, please go back and read my first and second blog posts about our previous trips.

It was a spectacular, gorgeous day out, and the wind kept us from getting too overheated.

We carried our picnic basket cooler with us and had a picnic lunch on top of the ridge by the lookout.

ES wanted to hike up to the very top and see the WWII bunkers again. The rest of the family headed back down the trail to the parking lot while ES and I went up to the top. We also stopped to find one of the geocaches that I had not yet found on this ridge.

Daddy, ES, and his dog Lotis at the geocache with Koko Head crater in the background.

The view from up on top of the ridge, standing on top of the bunkers is absolutely amazing. It is my favorite view point in all of Hawaii. I took a short video panorama this time. It really doesn't do the view justice, but I will share it with you to get a feel for it.