Day 0
Doris and I arrived in Oahu, checked in and had a quick dinner, no photos were taken as we were tired from travel and wanted to be able to begin enjoying our week-long vacation the next day. Other than being "randomly selected" for a cavity search before boarding the plane and getting lost trying to find our hotel, nothing too special happened.
Day 1, Pearl Harbor
Special treatment goes to the first thing we did, a visit to Pearl Harbor. The Bowfin, a submarine that gives us a taste of what a WW2 era submarine was like. There was the Missouri (aka. "Mighty Mo"), which has the largest guns on any US battleship. Finally, the Arizona, which was completely destroyed in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, killing over a thousand men when a torpedo ignited the magazines onboard.Overall, it was a moving experience... more moving than I had expected.
Day 1, Otherwise
We pretty much went back to Waikiki area and chilled, taking up sights and exploring the area, looking at shops and restaurants, beaches and people.
Day 2
Did a hike to the top of Diamond Head to start off the day. Diamond Head is a crater overlooking Waikiki... the hike to the top takes about 40 minutes or so and provides a beautiful view. From there, we took off to find Bellows Beach, which is an unspoiled military-controlled beach open to the public only on weekends, but ended up finding a bunch of other stuff along the way. On the way back, we stopped at Sandy Beach Park, which has some of the most dangerous rip tides and waves and plenty of surfers, body boarders and so forth.
Day 3
Started off with a hike to Manoa Falls, not too far from Waikiki. It's a nice hike, but we were forewarned about lots of mosquitos. We packed appropriately and Doris sprayed bug repellant liberally. Unfortunately, that didn't deter them, and Doris picked up about a dozen bites on her legs and arms. Then we went to Hanauma Bay, a marine wildlife preserve with gorgeous coral reefs and a beautiful beach. Finally, we watched the "blowhole" and spent a little more time at Sandy Beach Park.
Day 4
A pretty eventful day, we went on a trip all around the east ("windard") and north shore parts of the island. We stopped at the Byodo-In Temple in the middle of the Valley of the Temples, a cemetary. There was a stop at Kauloa Park and some photos of "Chinaman's Hat". Chilled for a while in the Waimea area, as well as the north shore surf shops of Haleiwa. Then we attempted a hike to Kaena Point, the northeast tip of the island, for a sunset. We ended the day with a perfect meal at Duke's in the Outrigger, at (to our luck) the best seat in the house with a stunning ocean view.
Day 5
After the very busy day 4, we settled down for a relaxing 5th day with a trip to the Waikiki Aquarium. Then we decided to go to a doctors office to check on Doris's worsening alergic reaction to the bug bites she got at Manoa Falls (all is well). Then we just spent the day chillin' around Waikiki until dinnertime. For dinner, we ate at the famous Sam Choy's restaurant. Mr. Choy hosts a local cooking show that is filmed on location in the restaurant we ate at.