Saturday, December 6, 2025
Diamondhead, a blowhole, and another dinner adventure
Unfortunately, the beds and pillows at this hotel kinda suck. I slept anyway because I was so tired, but Deb didn't sleep well at all. So apparently we are now in bizarro world.
Got up and started our day with breakfast at Sweet E's Cafe. Food was pretty good, and the service was great, except for Deb's iced tea, which was pretty bad. We ate outside in a covered patio; we had several guys waiting on us, and they were all friendly, and the food came out really quick. Good start to the day. We then started our Guidealong audio guide thing. There are 3-4 different ways you can go with this app; we chose the "Volcanoes and beaches" way that goes by Diamond Head and some beaches and ocean viewpoints. We stopped several times, seeing Koko Head from the road (no, we didn't hike it). One of the stops was at a blowhole; that was pretty neat. It is a beautiful view with waves crashing on the rocks where the blowhole is.
We drove past the turn for Diamond Head because we didn't have reservations. Deb reserved the 12-2 time slot while I drove, so we'll come back later. We drove to a few more really nice viewpoints, including one by the Makapuu Lighthouse trail, which we didn't do, saving up our energy (and time) for the Diamond Head hike. We got as far as the Ulupo Heiau, a temple built by ancient Hawaiians. This was basically just a pile of rocks in a field, though; the most interesting thing here was all the chickens running around.
On the way back to Diamondhead we stopped at a small makers market, which was underwhelming. We got some water at Walgreens and made a Starbucks stop for iced tea and a frappuccino, some fuel for Diamondhead. We go to Diamondhead at 12:27, just inside our 12:30 cutoff time. We were sternly told that we had to be by 2 o'clock, whatever. The hike started as a paved trail but then turned into broken-up pavement and dirt. It was pretty steep in some parts, but I think we've done worse. Part of the trail goes through a tunnel, and there are quite a few stairs as well. This is a very popular hike, so it was crowded. The views from the summit are pretty spectacular, once you get around the selfie crowd.
After Diamond Head, we went back and relaxed at the hotel pool for a few hours. It's pretty nice there looking out over the ocean and watching fighter jets take off. Made reservations at Kirin restaurant for 6 o'clock. After showering, we went down to get her car from the valet. The valet looked at our number and nodded, then he helped people with their luggage and disappeared. He was gone so long that we asked another valet to get our car; he was gone for a couple minutes and then came back asking what kind of car we had just as the first guy pulled up with it. By this point, we were very late for our reservation, so we jumped in the car and left without tipping the guy.
We had a really hard time finding the restaurant. Traffic was horrible again, and the Google directions aren't as helpful as they could've been. The restaurant is in the basement of the Hyatt hotel, and by the time we got there, it was 6:30. As it turns out, the restaurant wasn't even half full, so we had no reason to worry. Food was pretty good for the most part, but Deb couldn't handle the texture of the dim sum. There was a statue of Buddha in the lobby, which of course we had to get pictures with. We then headed back to the hotel in our beds. I did complain about the beds and pillows, so they brought up some foam pillows and a bed board, which slips between the mattresses, for my bed
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