What a trip! Earlier this month, Daylen and I took a family trip to Oahu and Big Island Hawaii, and it was a blast. We loved the islands, and cannot wait to go back. Our trip started on Oahu, for just a couple of days, before spending more time on Big Island. Even though we only had a little bit of time on Oahu, we did some really cool things.
Oahu, highlighted on this map, is the most populated Hawaiian Island. Over two thirds of Hawaii's population lives on Oahu. The largest city is Honolulu, which includes the neighborhood of Waikiki. The weather stays close to the same all year, around 80-85 degrees and sunny.
We drove through a snow storm to get to the Salt Lake City airport, so when we landed in Hawaii we were very relieved it was sunny and 80 degrees. We actually missed our flights on the way there for the first time ever! But, luckily, Southwest put us on a flight right away and we ended up landing on Oahu earlier than we would have on our first flight. The flight was about 6 hours long, but it didn't feel like much more than when we fly to the east coast.
After grabbing our rental car, we went straight to Waikiki Beach to grab some food before checking into our AirBNB. We decided on Maui Brewing Co in downtown Waikiki. We loved it! Especially their garlic fries. It was a great view of the city and the beach, too.
Our AirBNB was in Waikiki Beach Tower, about half a block from the beach. It was so cool! We had a great view of Honolulu and the ocean. We were right along the Waikiki Beach Wall, a manmade wall to provide a stretch of beach with no large waves.
After getting settled in our AirBNB, we headed over to the east side of the island to Waimanalo Beach for some family photos. I always make sure to schedule family photos if I can on vacation, so we can all have some great photos to display afterwards, and capture some memories. I met up with Kristen Campbell Photography to swap photo sessions, and edited our own afterwards. They turned out amazing! Waimanalo Beach is more of a locals beach, though every beach in Hawaii is public. There was almost no one else there. It's located on the side of the island Jurassic Park was filmed on!
The next morning, we woke up early to go to Pearl Harbor National Memorial. Daylen has been dreaming of going here for pretty much his whole life, so he was super excited. We stopped at a McDonald's near the military base, and Daylen ordered a meal that included rice, spam, eggs and sausage.
When we got to Pearl Harbor, we started at the USS Arizona Memorial. We waited in line for the water taxi to pick us up. The memorial is out in the bay, only accessible by the water taxi. It was a very solemn experience as we walked along the wreckage of the Arizona.
We also went to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. It's on the active military base, so we had to take a shuttle over to it, to Ford Island. We saw some really cool planes and Pearl Harbor history. It was a really cool experience!
After we spent most of the day at Pearl Harbor, we took a drive up to North Shore before our dinner reservations. We didn't get to do much at North Shore, but it was cool to drive past the Dole Pineapple Plantation and the famous surfing beaches.
We had planned our dinner at Tiki's Grill in Waikiki far in advance to line up with the sunset and we were not disappointed! We sat right on the edge looking out on the ocean. Tiki's was my favorite dinner in Hawaii. It's such a cute restaurant and the food was amazing. I even got to drink out of a real coconut! I'd definitely recommend going to Tiki's if you are planning a trip to Oahu. It's a bit pricey but worth it for a nice dinner.
The next morning, we went down to Waikiki Beach in the morning before our inter island flight to Big Island. We walked out in the water a big, and along the Waikiki Beach Wall. We were hoping to see some turtles while we were there, but there were none out that day. The water was super warm! We also did some shopping for souvenirs along the beach, and got some cute things to bring home.
We had a great time in Oahu! Because we did so much in Hawaii, I'll be writing blog posts about each activity as well (including Pearl Harbor), with all of my recommendations and reviews. Keep an eye out every Monday morning!
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