hiking and heat

we arose on our first full day to tackle diamondhead crater. and while we heard it's great to be there at sunrise (at the top, mind you, after already HIKING up there), we weren't that ambitious and took our time in the morning, to get there (about an hour from our resort) to start our hike at about 9am.

omg - this is NOT for the faint of heart, or anyone who hasn't been active. the payoff at the top is really quite something, but the hike was difficult. to quote the 'certificate' that jason bought at the top:

"I have officially ascended the .7 mile long trail which is unpaved and has an uneven rock and dirt surface that may be loose and slippery in places. It leads through a dark tunnel and involves climbing 271 steps through a narrow spiral staircase inside an unlit bunker."

yeah, that pretty much sums it up. however, here's the view from the top. that's waikiki and honolulu.


basically, you park in the middle of the crater, and then hike up to the rim. here's our car in the center of the crater...what, you can't see that microscopic parking lot??


the heat was also overwhelming and i could feel a migraine coming on by the time we were done...you probably know where i'm going with this if you read the blog at all...

the remainder of the day we spent in waikiki...we were fortunate to find some free parking at one end of waikiki beach, and being a sunday afternoon, we got some great entertainment from a lot of locals out on their body boards (and some surfing...).

we walked up and down the shopping areas and went to the international marketplace and about a dozen ABC stores (they are literally in EVERY block). as the day continued, and my feet pounded even more on the pavement, my migraine headed into full-force...we left waikiki after a walk on the beach from one end to the other, and headed back to the area of our resort where we knew we could grab some lunch and some other condo necessities at the grocery store (like the $7 box of cereal and $5 half gallon of milk).

i spent the rest of the day, minus about the half an hour i got up to eat our sushi lunch take out, in bed, drugged up and sleeping. i'm not surprised that the day went the way it did...disappointed, but not surprised. i can't expect my body to handle that kind of travel, hike and heat without suffering the consequences. here's hoping it's the last headache of this trip.