72 hours in Oahu: Day 3 & Video Diary

On our final full day in Oahu, we got up bright and early to try and get to Diamond Head before the massive crowds. We ended up leaving right around 6AM and made it there in about ten minutes.

We paid the $5 fee for our car and parked while it was still basically pitch black outside.

DIAMOND HEAD STATE MONUMENT

We did the hike in the dark, using our phone flashlight to guide us and prevent us from tripping and dying.

We made it to the top in about thirty minutes, just in time to see the sunrise.

It was about an hour long round trip hike, including all the time it took to maneuver around slow people and annoying jerks.

COFFEE SHOP 831
After our hike, we thought we deserved a hearty breakfast so we headed to a little cafe nearby our hotel.

We shared the maple egg & bacon english muffin and the açai bowl. The sandwich was simple but hit the spot. The açai bowl was special because the granola in it was delicious, as was the generous drizzle of big island honey.

MARUKAME UDON
As we headed to the beach after breakfast, we walked by Marukame Udon and it was open and it was busy. We decided we were still a little hungry and we wanted to have it one more time before leaving so we went in and got a bowl of the spicy chicken udon to share.

This hit the spot. By the way, it wasn't even 9AM at this point so I would highly recommend coming here for breakfast because even though it's still busy in the mornings, it's much less busy than it is during lunch and dinner.

KUHIO BEACH
After our two breakfasts, we headed to the beach to have one final tanning and swimming session.

It was a gorgeous day and the waves were a bit more aggressive so we saw so many surfers and we had a lot of fun swimming.

Hot dogs or legs?

M took some paparazzi-esque photos of me while I played in the water. She thought the water was too cold at first so I just splashed around on my own for a bit.

MITSUWA MARKETPLACE
Before heading to lunch, we stopped at Mitsuwa to pick up some spam musubi to eat on the airplane. Can you believe that United doesn't serve a meal on the 10 hour flight because it's domestic? I find that insane; they're so frickin' cheap.

PIGGY SMALLS

For lunch, we headed to Piggy Smalls. My cousin had suggested Pig & the Lady but it's closed on Sundays. M went for the snap pea limeade and I had the Asian pear cinnamon shrub to drink. The snap pea limeade tasted really green and the cinnamon shrub tasted intensely of cinnamon.

We shared the LFC twice fried wings and pho-strami dip banh mi. The wings were super crispy and fantastic. The sandwich was insanely good. I loved how tender the meat was and the little bowl of pho broth for dipping and sipping was a nice touch. We also ordered the good morning Saigon banh mi, which was a traditional pate banh mi with fried egg, in a takeout container so we could eat it on the plane.

After lunch, we drove to the airport where check in took maybe ten minutes and headed back to the mainland. If you can believe it, we landed around 6:30 in the morning on Monday after which we drove home, I took a shower, had an hour long nap, and then drove to work. Honestly, it wasn't terrible because I hadn't even fully gotten over jetlag while we were on the island anyway. But I'm back and it's nasty outside and that makes me sad.

Here's my video diary: