Week in the Outer Banks

Well, I came back from europe last week to spend a week on the beach in the Outer Banks. Normally this would be a good idea, but this time it left a little to be desired. I liked that it was much less crowded than during the height of the summer, but didn't like the unique opening hours that places kept. For instance, you're apparently not allowed to play miniature golf in North Carolina on Sundays. It's the devil's game, you know. All sorts of places were closed without the benefit of posting signs when they were open. One place that did have a sign only said "hours vary". How quaint. The weather, also, did not cooperate. There was a storm, that later turned into a hurricane building off the coast. So, for the entire week the ocean was off limits due to high waves and strong currents. The weather was so bad, we decided to leave early. On the way back, lots of streets were under water and I was glad to have rented an SUV. Sometimes no matter how well you plan a trip, you just can't catch a break.

Adventures in Kauai

After the crowds of Honolulu, I was hoping to find blissful solitude in Kauai. Shortly outside of the main town of Lihue, I ran into a traffic jam that lasted most of the way to my hotel. While known as the most rural and laid back of the islands, it is certainly not undiscovered, and so has its fair share of traffic as well. Still, the towns feel small and cozy and there is no shortage of nature. I rate this island second so far, behind the big island.

The first day started off with a helicopter tour of the island. This was a bit expensive, but was definitely worth the money. So much of the island is off limits or inaccessible by land that the only way it can even be seen is from the air. There were so many waterfalls (including this one from Jurassic Park) that they couldn't be counted.

From Kauai

And good views of the rugged coastline.

From Kauai

After the helicopter, the rest of the day was just driving around the countryside nearby to a couple of waterfalls and beaches.

From Kauai

From Kauai

The next day was almost entirely devoted to touring Waimea canyon. The canyon is vast and deep and really reminds me of the Grand Canyon, except greener.

From Kauai

From Kauai

I also did a hike there, which turned out to be a little harder than I expected. The hike went through the trees for a long time, but at the end came to a nice view.

From Kauai

The last day on Kauai was spent driving all the way around to the north side of the island and stopping at every beach along the way. The trip was only maybe 30miles from my hotel on the south side, but it took a couple hours to do.

From Kauai

From Kauai

From Kauai

The north side of the island is much less crowded (partly because it is full of the ultra rich). Still, I think I liked this part of the island best, and think it had the best beaches too.

From there it was off to the airport for my next 24 hours and 12 time zones of flying back to Holland and straight to work.

Ugh, Honolulu

I was lucky enough to get selected by work to present at a conference in Hawaii. Of course, this involved three flights totaling about 24 hours of flying time and shifting 12 time zones. Surprisingly, I held up pretty well and only suffered from minor jet lag. The conference was in Honolulu, and the hotel was right on the beach in Waikiki.

From Honolulu

The hotel did not impress me, but it was awfully expensive and thought nothing about charging over $20 each for parking and continental breakfast. Needless to say I skipped on breakfast. Waikiki itself is slightly interesting but, like the rest of Honolulu, is not to my taste. Honolulu is too crowded, with too much traffic, slightly run down, and devoid of nature. The same could be said for Waikiki. Despite its famous name, the beach is only ok. The sand is nice, it stretches a long ways, but it is built up to the edge by hotels and covered with bums at night. Further inland is just a bunch of pricey designer clothing stores and a couple of restaurants. No thanks.

I managed to sneak away early a couple of days and drove around to some things on the edge of the city, most notably Diamond Head. All the signs at Diamond Head warn you about how steep and long the climb is and how you will probably barely survive the experience. In fact, it is a gentle path plus a few long staircases that all told take about 30min to get up without breaking much of a sweat. The view though, is worth twice the effort.

From Honolulu

From Honolulu

It would be beautiful at night, if it were open. Like everything else in Hawaii, it closes by 5pm. Everything from parks to musuems to scenic overlooks seem to close by 5pm at the latest. Opening times aren't particularly early either. It's frustrating and makes it hard to do anything.

The last stop on the island was the Arizona Memorial. The website suggested that there might be a long line, but things were pretty light when I got there.

From Honolulu

From there, it was off to the airport and over to Kauai.

Note: Picasa seems to be inserting links to the album with each picture, doing away with the need for my usual link at the bottom. I think I will try this for a while, if you like or dislike, let me know.