Visited Date: - Year 2009: 02/10, 02/11, 02/12 & 02/16
My Two Cents:- I love the Oahu Island. It's one of the best place ever that I have been to. There are so many things to do and see, especially the beach is just beautiful and people there are very friendly. Oh, and don't forget the nice weather that they have. I would love to go back again.
Things To Do:- I was fortunate to stay with my friend, John. His condo was close to the Waikiki Beach. I would say if you can afford a place by that beach, that would be awesome. Take a walk there during day time and there are tons of stores around. One of my favorite ones is the International Market. Stuff there are cheap. You can also go for a walk at night at the beach, it's really soothing.
(View of the city from John's condo)
- Make sure you check out the pink hotel called Royal Hawaiian. It's on the Waikiki beach. It's really cool.
(View of the pink hotel from the Diamond Head Crater)
- If you like to hike up, go for the Diamond Head Crater. Keep in mind that, their parking lot is not that big. When we were there, the parking lot was full and we had to drive to a near by park and parked the car there, then walked to the Diamond Head's entrance. It was quite a walk, actually, haha... but not bad (look at the picture). I would strongly recommend you to hike up there though because it has incredible view once you get to the top. It's a long hike but well worth it. There was a table on the top that you can buy a certificate that you have hiked to the top ;)
(We walked through that tunnel to the entrance/parking lot)
- You can also go to visit the USS Arizona Memorial featuring the Pearl Harbor. When we were there, the parking was free. One thing to keep in mind though you cannot carry any bags into the Memorial, even a camera's bag. Everything was free unless you want a self-guided audio. There will be a documentary movie, and then you get on a boat to go to the Memorial. It's really neat looking.
- Love to snorkel? Hanauma Bay is about 45 minutes from Waikiki beach. You park the car, then you go down to the bay. You can rent snorkeling stuff there or rent them before hand if you can find a better deal. There will be a locker rent as well if you don't want to leave your stuff on the beach or have no one to guard them. The water was cold, but I had so much fun there. It was my first time snorkeling. It was uncomfortable a little before I got used to it. Oh, and don't forget to get an under water camera if you want to take pictures. You can get those from Walmart.
- There is this hiking spot called Makapuu. The view was amazing. Check it out if you have time. You can even hike down to a tide pool. The wave down there was WOW!
- This is one of my best favorite spots about Oahu island. The North Shore! Actually, it is not a spot, it's a shore that you drive along. You will see so many things including the Sea Turtles, and stop at so many places/beaches. I asked John to send me the word document that his friend send to him. The document lists many tourist attractions that you can stop in an order as you are driving along the shore. You can print it out here. North Shore is the best experience that I have ever done. Please read that guide to look for things that strike your interests. There's one beach that is my favorite. The water is very green and people were kayaking and wind surfing there. The name starts with a K, I will have to look it up.
(Sea Turtle at Sharks Cove)
- There are more that you can do such as surfing, kayaking, and more. If I go back there again, I will be looking for new things to do ;)
Restaurants:- We did not go to many fancy restaurants, and I hardly remember the names now. But we ate at Costco, an oriental place (I can't remember), Shabu-Shabu by John's condo, and finally a pretty neat looking restaurant by the University. Sorry, I know this doesn't help much, but I don't really recall the names of those places. Oh, and Cheesecake Factory by Waikiki ;)
- Shave Ice at M. Matsumoto Grocery Store at North Shore (strongly recommend).
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Visited Date:- 02/13/09 & 02/14/09
My Two Cents:- The time we spent in Maui wasn't that long. But the island itself is more calm than the Oahu Island. If you are looking for somewhere to get away from the crowd in Oahu, then Maui will be an option for you.
Things To Do:- We went to the Luau there. It's called Old Lahaina. If you have never been to Luau before, let me tell you. It's like a performance event that takes about 3 hours. Basically, you go there to eat, drink, and look at the Hawaiian culture and performance. It's not cheap either but it's worth it. And the food is Hawaiin Buffet. Yum! If you are couple or just married, then you can dance. I am not sure if they do this at all the Luau's though.
- We also went to a volcano national park called Haleakala National Park. It was my first time going to a volcano park, which was really nice.
- If you have a quest for nature and scenery, then take a drive to Hana. It's on the island. But on the way there, you will see many beautiful nature and sceneries.
(Peacock at a garden's entrance on our way to Hana.
The garden is not free, and we didn't do it.)
- I heard Maui has many beautiful beaches. We didn't stop at many beaches, but we did drive along them ;)
(Taken on our way to Hana)
- We had some time, so we also went for a drive to Kihei. It's just another town, but it's something for you to check out if you are interested.
(In Kihei)
- I'm sure there are more things to do there. Check out "More Info" below to see for yourself.
Things To Know:- If you are going to the Haleakala National Park, don't assume that Hawaii's weather is always warm. You are going up to the mountain to the park. It's freezing up there. We didn't know so we were cold when we were up there. So make sure take a coat/jacket with you, that way you will enjoy outside more ;)
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Restaurants:- Old Lahaina Luau and just some quick check out places.
(My buffet plate at Luau)
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Visited Date:- 09/08/09
My Two Cents:
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park is incredibly beautiful. It is a very different National Park from all the ones that I have been to. You go deep down to the cave. The rock formations are just so cool looking. I would not mind visiting it again in the future.
Things To Do:
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Visiting Date:My Two Cents:
- I have never seen such an amazing architecture. When you drive close to the park, you could see the wonderful view of Mt. Rushmore and it just makes you so excited about it. And that's time to get off the car and take some pictures.
Things To Do:
- Mt. Rushmore is a small park. The admission fee is cheap too per vehicle. You can spend 2-3 hours there including browsing the gift shop. Or if you are a hiker, there's a trail that you can do also to hike up close to the mountain. We didn't do that, but we enjoyed very much the view of the Four Presidents.
- We also returned at night to the park to see Mt. Rushmore glowing in the dark. I took some photos that time but they really don't capture that incredible view very well, but they can give you an idea about what Mt. Rushomore looks like at night. It's really cool.
- Next to Mt. Rushmore, of course it's the Crazy Horse Memorial. I will talk about that in another post.
Restaurants:
- When we were there, I did not see any food stands/fast food places there at the park.
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Visiting Date:- The Crazy Horse Memorial is really cool. It is a small park as well. Most people are only aware of the Mount Rushmore, but not this memorial park. It's really close to Mount Rushmore, and it's worth to check it out.
Things To Do:- Mount Rushmore is near by.
- There is a visitor center inside the park. You can go there, walk around and see some history of the Crazy Horse Memorial.
- Take the shuttle to go down to see and take picture of the Crazy Horse up close. The guide will tell you some stories about the memorial. It was so cool though for me to see it really that close.
- If you have time, you can drive to Wyoming and visit the Devils Tower National Monument.
Things To Know:- When we were there, the park admission was $20. It was expensive, but the thing is all those admissions fees are donated for the memorial's work and maintenance. As you probably know, the memorial is not done yet. They are still working on it. I am not sure if they still charge the same fee or not.
Restaurants:- We had chilil hot dogs at the park. There was a fast check out restaurant in the park.
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Visiting Date:- I went to visit the Devils Tower National Monument was during my visit to Black Hills for the quest for Mount Rushmore. This is a nice little state park that you can look at the big giant mountain showing up to the sky lol. and that's the Devils Tower. We had a little time in hand, and therefore, after visiting the Crazy Horse, we went for a drive to see this Tower. It's really cool to check out once. You may have to google map to see how far it takes you to there from Black Hills. I can't remember, but it wasn't really bad far.
Things To Do:- As mentioned above, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse are not bad far from the Devils Tower.
- You will see how cool it is that you are driving up close to it, then kind of circle around it.
- If you like to hike, you can hike around the Tower.
- Take pictures. It has very good scenaries there.
- When I was there, there's a gift shop right before you enter the park. So you can either shop before or after you enter the park. We went to there like late in the evening (you can see the sun shine in my picture), so I did the shopping first, just in case ;)
Restaurants:- I didn't recall seeing any restaurant there.
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