The Circle Island Tour

On Saturday, we decided to take the bus on the circle island route. The bus in Hawaii is extremely useful, and runs nearly everywhere someone may want to go. Like any other bus, it nay take a little while longer to get some places than it would with a rental car, but there are some definite advantages to the bus. Starting with the low, low price of a monthly pass of $60(compared to 2.25 per trip). For senior ciizens t is even more ridiculous, as they can buy a year pass for $30 total.

The circle island route starts at Ala Moana Shopping Center, and goes up H2 through Mililani and.  On its way towards the north shore of the island and Haleiwa.

Haleiwa is an old plantation town that in recent years has become more of a small shopping area for those looking for something slightly less touristy than Waikiki. Like many of the other places on the island, there is a very quiet beach there.

After getting back on the bus, we continued the tour northeast. The bus follows Kamehameha highway the rest of the way, and we got off at the Turtle Bay resort, which is where the first half of the route ends.

The Turtle Bay resort is a semi-private resort up on Oahu's North Shore. For all intents and purposes, it is a very nice resort, but there really isn't a whole lot out there at that point besides the resort. As a result, nearly all of the guests of the resort go to the beach that is there. We had packed a picnic lunch, and found a shady spot under a tree near the beach to relax and eat.

After taking some pictures on the rocky edge of the beach, we headed back to the bus stop to wait for the next bus going to the windward side of the island. The bus was supposed to run every 30 minutes, so we figured we would not be there for long.

30 minutes went into 45 and nearly an hour passed before the bus we wanted finally arrived. In the meantime, we talked with another person waiting for the bus. An elderly lady, she was definitely a local. She told us that she took this bus just for the views off of the road, and that she thought it was one of the prettiest stretches in all the island. She was right. Around every turn seemed to be another small to mid-size beach, but missing were the tourists. Only the locals really stop at these beaches, she said, since they were so far from Honolulu proper. The most amazing thing to see was the water. Off the windward coast, these beaches were very much untouched, and not really affected by the issues that large quantities of tourists can bring. As a result, we could see at least 4 different shades of blue in the water as we passed it, and was practically clear in a lot of areas.

As the bus ride continued, the elderly lady continued to point out different spots off the side of the road, which realistically we probably would not have really noticed without her there. About halfway back to Honolulu, another local man also began to point out different landmarks along the ride. Essentially, we had a pair of tour guides from the time we left the resort, without having to pay for them. As we came back into the Honolulu area via the Pali Highway, we were shown a couple of locations that we needed to visit at some point during our stay here in Hawaii.

Overall, it was a very interesting trip, and has given us a whole lot of places that we can go visit that are a bit off the beaten path here in Hawaii.

The King Kamehameha Parade

Friday was a state holiday here in Hawaii - King Kamehameha Day. You can read all about King Kamehameha here on Wikipedia, but the long and short of why he is celebrated is this: Kamehameha was responsible for the unification of the Hawaiian Islands under one ruler. As a result, he is celebrated here with a state holiday on June 11th. For many employers here, it's a day off of work.

On the Saturday (the 12th), the City and County of Honolulu had a parade with which to help celebrate the day as well. 


This was the start of the parade. I'd like to tell you that I know what that means off the top of my head, but I don't. If I were to guess it had something to do with the celebration and the parade.









This was the float carrying the "representation of the Royal family". They build them big here, no doubt on that one. My wife posted this one on Facebook as well, and needless to say it got quite a few comments on it.

This is the Royal Hawaiian Marching Band. They actually sounded pretty good, and I was surprised honestly that there was a Royal Hawaiian Marching Band.

As a part of the parade each year, each island has a "princess", who is usually a notable citizen of some type or other. In many cases, it was a respected member of the local community, although they may not necessarily have been from the island that they represented. Each of them is on horseback, along with a standard-bearer with the information on it.

The parade ends over at the statue of King Kamehameha that is across the street from the Iolani Palace. Every year, there is a ceremony on King Kamehameha day to drape these flower leis on the statue. Apparently since they are 13+ feet long in some cases, it requires a small crane of some sort. There is also a lot of paperwork entailed with being allowed to put a lei on the statue, and during the ceremonies and parade there are members of the Royal Guard patrolling to make sure that no one is allowed to put anything on the statue that isn't authorized.






Overall, it was very interesting to see this parade, because while it was only about an hour long, there were quite a few of the main groups in Hawaii who were represented, including all branches of the military stationed here on Oahu. Not surprisingly, since the parade route went partially on Kalakaua Avenue, which is one of the main entrances to the Waikiki area, traffic for the day was a complete disaster area. All in all, a fun time though still.

Welcome to Hawaii!

Well, I know it has been a little while since I have written here. Honestly, there had not been a lot to write about until we got here to Hawaii.

I was flying standby (thanks to Brynn's grandpa for that), and as such was subject to the whims of other people not buying tickets or showing up. The hope had been at the beginning of the process that I might be able to get into first class.

Once they posted the standby list, it became clear it might be a close call whether or not I would get on the flight. As they were nearing the end of general boarding, I was still standing there, hoping. I had nearly thrown in the towel, as my name was still 5th on the standby list, but it also said only 1 seat remained.

I was saved! I am not sure entirely how it happened, but my name was called! I rushed up to the counter and collected my ticket. I was on the plane! I ended up in a middle seat, but t was of no concern as long as I was on my way.

Upon arriving, I stopped long enough to purchase a flower lei, a standard greeting for travelers, for my wife. I gave it to her when her flight arrived, and my uncle was kind enough to take us out to lunch (at Zippy's!) and drop us off at our apartment.

Finding housing that was in our price range had been no small feat, as we are going to be riding the bus here, and needed to be near a route that would take her to the hospital.

I would say that we did fairly well for ourselves.






We are within easy walking distance of Waikiki beach, and many of the tourist attractions witin Waikiki. In addition, we can take the bus to nearly anywhere we desire on the island. Life's hard, I know.

Today is King Kamehameha Day here in Hawaii, a state holiday. I am hoping to have a post up about that and the Pan-Pacific Festival going on all weekend in celebration. The parade is tomorrow and will be going down the next street over. We won't be able to see it from the apartment, but it's only a 2 block walk to see it.

I am hoping to have a few more posts up about some of the things we're seeing in the coming week.