(sorry for the hiatus on these, things have been a little hectic since I’ve been back.  Hopefully I still remember everything, but if not, I’ll try to at least make it entertaining)

So Day 7 started by being attacked by a giant island snake.  I think I’m remembering that right.  Let’s try again.

Originally I was just going to work this whole day, but Ron and Joel suggested climbing Diamond Head, which was the mountain we could see from our hotel.

That one.

So needless to say, I couldn’t very well pass that up.  So once again we got up early (pretty much every day of the trip we got up early), and we headed out to climb Diamond Head (by climb I mean take the path and many stairs up to the top).  Joel and Ron wanted to walk all the way to Diamond Head as well.  I was hesitant.  We took a cab there, but walked back (which drove home that I was very glad we didn’t walk there and back).

Diamond Head itself is actually a crater, so to hike the mountain, you first have to go into the middle of the crater.

So this is from the inside of the crater, where the path for climbing it is located.  Needless to say, on the way up, there was plenty to look at and snap pictures of.

The entrance.

That’s Joel and Ron.

These are all while heading up (and up and up and up).

Another wink to Corinne.

I thought that was a pretty great shot of Joel.  He was not posing, by the way.

There was a tunnel through the mountain at one point on the way up.

And eventually you get to the top, by crawling through a little hole that was designed for someone who’s 2’10 to walk through.  But once out, you realize it’s amazing.

The building all the way to the right there is our hotel, where I snapped the picture all the way at the top of this post from.

That’s my elderly asian friend.  Actually, I don’t know who he is, but the sweat on my shirt is very very real.

In the background there (between Joel and Ron), you can see Mitch, who was this guy who stood at the top, covered in sweat, and repeating a blurb about Diamond Head and various Hawaii things on behalf of “guides of Oahu.”  By repeating, I mean that he would say his little 3 minute or so speech, wait about 5 minutes, then repeat his speech from the top, word for word.  We heard it about 4 times while we stood at the top taking pictures.  We’ve talked to many people who have gone to the top of Diamond Head who have never seen a tour guide or anyone like this, so we’re thinking he may have just been a crazy person.  Our favorite statement he kept making was “you may have noticed a cactus on the way up here, well about 2 miles away from here is a lush tropical rainforest” as if the two had anything to do with each other.

So after we realized that we had just taken the same pictures over and over, as it was just immensely beautiful, we decided to trek back down, which would be incredibly easier than going up.

These were the stairs at one point in the climb that threatened to explode your heart.

And then like a glorious pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, at the bottom on the way back out there was a shaved ice truck.

(best honeymoon ever)

We decided to walk back, which was fine, but soaked our already sweat soaked clothing even more.  And on the walk back, I had to quick snap a pic of our conquest.

Yep, we were just at the top of that.

Eventually, I had to get some work done while Joel and Ron wandered around Waikiki.  But first, we had lunch at Teddy’s again, as we were craving giant burgers after our long hike apparently.  Ron got “the Hangover” and since I had eaten it on the first day there, I had to snap a pic.

The burger has both a hash brown and pastrami on it.  It was amazing.

So as Joel and Ron wandered, I worked from the Starbucks across the street from the beach.  Something I spotted in Starbucks:

For those of you that know Vijay, this silhouette that Starbucks has up in their location appears to be modeled off of him.  I don’t believe he even got any money for it.

I switched locations, and on the walk, had to take a picture of the beach to send to friends back in Chicago just to rub it in a little bit.

Eventually, I went to another open mic, this one at the same place that we had the party at on Monday (aka Day 5).  So I played from a stage that had this view:

Needless to say, it’s a little nicer than the view I have from my open mic stage (but the talent at my open mic is WAY better).

Eventually we made it back to Alan’s place, as we had to check out of the hotel.  And let me say that for anyone thinking of going to Hawaii, stay at New Otani.  It was quite possibly the best hotel experience I’ve ever had.  Amazingly courteous staff, and they look out for you big time (even hooking us up with a shuttle to the airport, housing our bags, and even giving us a courtesy room to shower in after we had already checked out two days prior).  Big big thumbs up to New Otani.

So we crashed that night, and little did I know that my shirt being entirely soaked in sweat would become a trend over the following few days.