oahu day 7: breakfast, amazing view, hike, beer garden

//day 7
//sunday
//kailua, nu'uanu pali, diamond head, ala moana, waikiki.

BREAKFAST_boots & kimo's (kailua).
may be overrated, but still pretty dang good.


bear: corned beef hash omelette. has some other hawaiian name, but can't remember.
REALLY GOOD.
portion looks small, but it was hefty.


me: the famous pancakes with mac nut sauce. i opted for the banana pancakes.
neither of us like pancakes that much.
THESE WERE ******DELICIOUS*****!!!!1!!!1!!!
fluffy with chunks of moist banana. mmm.
the sauce is really that good. like melted, sweetened whipped cream.

SCENIC DRIVE_nu'uanu pali lookout (off pali highway, on the way back to honolulu from kailua).

seriously the best views. very windy, though.

you have to pay a few bucks to park in the lot. because we weren't planning on staying long, we just took turns going to look while the other stayed in the car.

yeah, we're *those* cheapass asians.




prehistoric craggy-ness.

HIKE_diamond head state monument (diamond head).

so winnie warned me ahead of time that this hike isn't nearly as easy as people make it out to be.

there is some warning, though.

good thing, as i was all super scurred of the hike,
so it ended up being way less scary than i feared.

note:
i am out of shape.
i have short legs.
thus i am slow.
my balance sucks.
i hate going down steep trails and get all scared.
i am afraid of heights.
Y U NO ATHLETIC, POTATO?!

however, i need not have feared so much. the entire trail is rather rocky rather than dirt-y, so it's not as slippery as the dirt trails i'm used to in california. you just need to watch your step/ankles as the path is nice, hard rock but is pitted.

also, my biggest fear when hiking is falling over the edge of the trail in steep areas.

but they have RAILS all along the path!  yay! made me so much more confident and less afraid.

see?


switchbacks!

ok, so the part of the hike that really IS that bad are the stairs. OMG.
first, there are a set of like 40-something stairs. not *too* bad, despite no landings.

but then you get here:

99 stairs,
and a landing ain't one.


almost.
there.
legs.
burning.
bear at the top laughing and taking pictures of me.
ugh.


after the 3 sets of stairs (the aforementioned two, then a super skinny spiral stair), you end up in concrete bunker thingy.
and you get this gorgeous sliver of a view.
then you have to climb some more stairs and squeeze through that sliver.


at the top!

(plus some chick's sweaty back & bra straps.)

then back down again.

it took us about 20 minutes to get to the top.
despite crowded trail.
we walked at a nice clip,
but remember i am slow w/my short legs.

LUNCH_fort ruger market (diamond head, near kapi'olani community college).
share: poke. again! was pretty good, but she over-salted it. meh. this one had sesame oil. mmm.
beef stew plate. like the beef stew my mom used to make growing up. think dinty moore, but from scratch and with big, super mushy chunks of beef, potatoes, and carrots. served on two scoop rice and with mac salad. overall very satisifying and warm.

bear's side: portuguese sausage & egg musubi. SO. GOOD. instead of white rice, the sausage & egg were on fried rice!!!

my side: mochiko chicken musubi. aiite. the fried rice saved it.


SHOP_ala moana center (ala moana).
because we're mallrats when on vacation, apparently.

HAPPY HOUR/DINNER_beer garden at shirokiya (ala moana center).
while walking around the mall, we saw a sign advertising $1-3 pints of japanese beer for happy hour at shirokiya's "beer garden." yay!


another version of the sign, once it started.


our pitcher of as-ahhhhh-hi. mmm.

i had a delicious bowl of udon with my beer.
i really, really love fat noodles.

the bear had a dimsum bento. he enjoyed everything in the bento very much.
and he usually finds 1 or 2 things he doesn't like in most bentos.
not this one.

got mistaken for locals again.
are we *that* tan? hmph. i guess better than being mistaken for being from the midwest =X.
cutest old couple next to us.
the old lady asked the bear if he caught "the game."
we happened to have caught part of the university of hawaii game the day before.
bear & lady had cute conversation about football.

love the food stalls here.

NIGHTCAP_attempted duke's. ended up at the beach bar at the westin moana surfrider again (waikiki).

um, so duke's was too much of a scene. of mostly over-dressed american tourists in the 30-50something range. too crowded. too loud. so we moved on.

the bear tried a blue hawaii as he needed to try a blue drink. after that, he went back to his standby of vodka tonics. dudes, the drinks here are poured STRONG. like the vodka tonic was vodka with a splash of tonic. prices are high, but very worth it.

plus this bar is chill, quiet, and on the beach. so nice (cue bebel gilberto).

i had a giant glass of wine. like he filled the wine glass to the rim.
i had to lap/sip it w/no hands to get it to a handle-able fill.
i still spilled some.
wah.

got lots of good recs from our homie marnie (one of the bartenders who is like your favorite filipino uncle) for our last breakfast on the island.

well, first he recommended IHOP and original pancake house.
us: "what? we have those on the mainland!"plus i'm not insomniac. i don't love IHOP like she does.

the following recs were better:
"boots & kimo's overrated. cinnamon's in kailua much better."
"side street inn." (we checked, and it doesn't open 'til 2 pm. LOL.)
"zippy's. get a plate lunch PLUS a 'pac.'" (whatever that is. might have to try since it's the mcd's of hawaii.)
"rainbow drive-in." (been there, done that. know it's good.)
"nico's on pier 38. nice but kind of expensive. i take my girlfriend there." (eh, out of our way.)
"buffet at the moana surfrider. expensive but very good." (this rec was from another bartender who was our strong-drink-pouring homie.)

BREAKFAST THE NEXT DAY_zippy's.
bear: some special, limited time only plate lunch to benefit some major league baseball player's foundation. was really good. had like 3 meats, eggs, rice, mac salad.

me: small chili rice. REALLY good chili. sooo good on rice.
saimin. really good and perfect for our mini hangovers.

to go for the plane: teri beef plate lunch. was A LOT of meat. the meat was just OK, though. plus we ate it cold on the plane.

get the chili rice.

until next time, mahalo, hawaii, for showing us a great, delicious time!

omg, props to everyone who read all of these long-winded recaps. yeesh to me.