Day seven trip report
We were up early and on the beach by 8am. We wanted to get all we could out of our last day in Hawaii! DD15 wanted to try her hand at surfing again and she convinced her sister and sister's fiance to try surfing. The three of them rented surfboards, (on the beach in front of the HHV, $10.00 an hour), and spent two hours out on the water. They didn't catch many waves and I think daughter was disappointed that she didn't do as well as she had hoped she would. I have to put in a good word here for the surfing instructors at the HHV. As we were walking back off the beach after returning the boards, the two instructors that DD15 had earlier in the week, went out of their way to go up to daughter and talk to her. They gave her a lot of encouragement to try it again someday and to stick with it. They told her they were watching her and noticed that she was using the techniques she had learned and was obeying all the safety aspects of surfing that they had taught her. They also told her that the waves weren't very big that morning, which made it harder to get up on the board. I was really impressed with the way they took the extra time to talk to daughter.
We hurried back to the rooms for showers and final packing. Check out time was 11am and it was closer to 11:30am by the time we finallly got everything together. We checked all of our luggage at the luggage service facility and walked over to the Wailana Coffee House for lunch. We really liked this place for inexpensive, (relatively speaking), breakfasts and other meals! And the location was so convenient to the HHV property.
After lunch we hurried back to the Hilton to catch the trolley to Hilo Hatties. We had heard about Hilo Hatties and just had to do some more shopping before we left the island! Hilo Hatties runs a free trolley to their store and it stops at least every hour at the HHV and other hotels along the way. The troley took us through the center of Waikiki and into another section of town. It was a fun, scenic ride that took about fifteen minutes. The trolley alsomade a stop on the way back at the Ala Moana Shopping Center which, I thought, was a nice way to get there for free! Hilo Hatties is quite the place, almost an attraction in itself. As we filed into the store, we each were presented with shell leis and once inside, there was a variety of free juices to sample. There is the world's largest Hawaiian shirt hanging on the wall. Good backdrop for photos, (there is a photo of DD15 in front of this shirt on my webshots). Hilo Hatties has a huge selection of Hawaiian print clothes and hundreds and hundreds of other items. We managed to find all kinds of things we HAD to take home with us!
It was late afternoon by the time we got back to the Hilton. Some of us wanted to hike Diamond Head Crater and others didn't so we split up. DD15 was tired and not at all interested in going to Diamond Head so husband, (who was more than happy to get out of the hike himself), offered to stay at the Hilton with daughter. They found a couple of comfy chairs at the Tapa Bar/lounge, (a nice little outdoor cafe place), and had sodas and snacks and played cards while we were gone. Daughter also talked her dad into visiting a few shops nearby, and came away with a few new jerseys.
The more adventurous family members, (me, older son and daughter and daughter's fiance), took the city bus, ($2. each person), to Diamond Head State Park. It was about a ten minute walk to get to the crater itself. Now before leaving for Hawaii I had read up on Diamond Head because I knew it was something I wanted to see and I wanted to hike it. I have to say, it was more grueling than I thought it would be. The trail starts off okay, then starts to get a little steeper. It climbs steadily up the mountain, winding back and forth and around corners. Then you're greeted with a long, steep flight of stairs. Okay, I can do this. What! ANOTHER set of long, steep stairs, then a tunnel to walk through, followed by a spiral staircase, then a cement bunker type thing to duck and crawl under, MORE stairs, and finally, you're at the top! I'm not really out of shape and I walk a lot, but wow, I was huffing and puffing by the time I got to the top of that crater. It was worth it, though. The view of Waikiki Beach and the island is awesome! The walk back down was MUCH easier!
We were going to wait for the city bus to take us back to Waikiki but there was a taxi driver shouting at us telling us he'd take us back for $3. each. He could have said $5. and I would have jumped at it. He saved us the ten minute walk to the bus stop!
Our choice for dinner when we got back and met up with husband and younger daughter was the Hard Rock Cafe. That was where we ate our first night on Oahu and we thought it fitting to eat there our last night!
After dinner we took a taxi back to the Hilton, gathered our luggage and took a limo to the airport. the only hitch we ran into involved a problem with the lighter that DS25 bought while in Hawaii. He bought it for a souvenir and had no intentions of actually using it, he just thought it had a neat design on it, and it had no fuel in it. We checked our bigger luggage, then headed to security with our carry-on bags. Son had his lighter in his carry-on. At security there was a huge sign proclaiming no lighters were allowed on board the planes. There was a box filled with cheap BIC type lighters that passengers had left behind. Our son explained to the first security personnel that the lighter was a souvenir, he had no fuel in it, and he paid $35.00 for it and didn't want to leave it behind. He got past that first guy but the second guy said if he wanted to keep it he had to check it with the other luggage. Our other luggage had already been checked so we gave him a bag we were going to carry on, (we couldn't check it ourselves because we had already checked our limit), and son had to leave security, have the bag go through the agricultural check point, check it through to Phoenix, then hurry back through security again. Once in Phoenix, husband had to go with son to baggage claim and get the bag back because we needed to take it through to Boston with us. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Our flight left at 11pm. We arrived in Phoenix around 5:30am, (8:30am Phoenix time), said goodbye to son, daughter and fiance, then boarded a flight to Boston. Husband, younger daughter and I arrived in Boston at 5pm that evening. It was a long night and day of travel, and when we got off the plane in Boston and got hit by a blast of arctic air, it didn't make it any better!
So, that's the end of my trip report. I'll post some final thoughts in a bit.
Until then, Aloha and mahalo for taking the time to read all this! I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone might have.
The pictures are great too.
) for a fellow DIS'r!!! So if anyone has anything they want researched or photographed....let me know.....I will try to fulfill most requests. 
