Koko Crater? Been there, done that...

So! For the first time in about a year, I didn't have to work on a Friday night. And what do you do when you've got a whole luxurious Friday evening to play with? Go hiking, of course!! (What did you think?)

I got a babysitter, and headed in to town to rescue Quinn from his work. We were originally planning for me to get him at around 4:20pm, but I was running early, and ended up in the parking lot a few minutes after 4:00pm. We were going to go do Koko Crater again, but while we were talking on the way there, we realized that we were both curious about checking out Diamond Head instead. I've got this great book, Oahu Revealed, that I keep in the car at all times, so I did a bit of reading while Quinn kept driving. It looked like a lot of fun, and we hadn't been there before, so we did a bit of course correcting and off we went!

Before I start, if you click only ONE link in this whole blog entry, make it THIS ONE. Quinn put together a YouTube video of our adventure, full of hiking goodness and silly fun galore!

When we got there, just before 5pm, we saw a sign at the entrance that the park closes at 6pm. Since the land belongs to the military, they don't kid around about the closing time. If you haven't left the property by 1800 hours, you'll get a fine! So we had our work cut out for us, since it's a .8 mile hike to the top, with an altitude change of 560'. We knew we were up for it, though, since Koko Crater is MUCH more strenuous.

We set off at a brisk walk up the paved path. It didn't stay paved for long, but while it lasted, it was fun to think that we were hiking inside a *civilized* crater. ;) The path itself turned into a rocky, uneven mixture of concrete, rocks, and just plain dirt, with lots of switchbacks as you go up. The higher you go, the prettier the crater looks from the inside. Since it's the end of the "summer", it's been very dry, and all the trees and grasses look dead. It's actually very lovely, though, since they've turned a light tan color, against the darker brown of the dirt. The hike isn't entirely done outside, though. There are sections that include a set of concrete steps, a tunnel section a few hundred feet long, and even a chunk inside the last part that's a spiral staircase up to the very top! It's like an adults fort or hide-out. Very cool!

Once you emerge at the very top, the view is awesome. You can see a lighthouse almost directly below, on the edge of the water, where there's a very popular surf break. To the northeast, the back of Hanauma Bay and Koko Crater are visible, and to the northwest, you can see all of Waikiki spread out below. Just outstanding!

After a brisk trip back down the crater, we managed to get out of the park at exactly 5:58pm, driving past the disapproving stares of 2 security guards who were ready to close the gates momentarily. Good thing we weren't stuck inside all night! :D For a novel way to see our hike, check out this Runkeeper link. Runkeeper is a free app you can get for your iPhone that will track distance, speed, and even *altitude* of where you go, then generate a map of your activity.

Since we'd seen the lighthouse from the crest, we thought it'd be fun to buzz by it on our way back out of the area. We drove there, and watched some of the surfers having fun on the waves. By this time, we'd worked up quite an appetite, and headed towards our next destination, Cheeseburger Waikiki! It's one of the first restaurants we discovered when we moved here 3 years ago, and it's still one of our favorites. They make *the* best burgers that we've found, and the decor really makes you feel like you're on vacation in paradise. It's the perfect way to stop the rumble in your tummy after a fun hike.

After we'd filled up on cheese fries, a guacamole & bacon cheeseburger (for me), and a pineapple & avocado cheeseburger (for Quinn), rolled ourselves on out of the restaurant, and on to our last stop on the date.

Every Friday evening, the Marriott hotel puts on a wonderful fireworks display at the water's edge. We got to the marina where we planned to see the show, found a spot, and within 2 minutes, they started going off. They were directly in front of our car, and very close. We couldn't have chosen a better spot. :)