Wednesday, June 10, 2026 // Day 3
Miracles happen!! I slept in!! Until like 5A, but that’s a typical wake up time for me so I’m okay with it! It was also the first morning I didn’t wake up with a headache - another win!
We had reservations to hike Diamond Head at 8, so at 6 Aaron and I set out for breakfast. I knew I wanted an açaí bowl, but my brother had mentioned they went to Hawaii’s best donut place (Donut King) for breakfast the previous morning, so we went in search of that. Funny enough, Ike and dad arrived just as we did! I ordered a small ube donut to have later, Aaron ordered a glazed coconut donut, and we got a chocolate frosted one to split. On the walk back to the hotel we stopped at Island Vintage Coffee for my açaí bowl. I knew it was a hopping’ place, so I placed a mobile order, and after seeing the line at the entrance, that was the right choice! I ordered the original açaí bowl topped with granola, blueberries, bananas, honey, strawberry and a mint leaf. The açaí was less frozen than the ones I had gotten this far. Though the others had been good, I do think this one was better and see why this place is so popular!
We walked back to the Sheraton as I ate my açaí bowl and when we returned Aaron ate his coconut donut, which he said was better than Bleodows. I think he is clearly confused because nothing is better than Bloedows.
At 7:30 we headed out to the parking garage to get the rental car, then went to pick up my dad, mom, and brother from their hotel before heading out to Diamond Head. Diamond Head is a volcanic crater that was formed 300,000+ years ago. You have to have a reservation to hike Diamond Head, and ours was for 8AM. I was nervous for this 1.6 mile hike. The distance is short, but there are a couple factors present that don’t get along and I worried they’d be fighting each other the whole hike - the altitude increase vs. my lungs and the stairs/elevation vs. my knees. I am an 80-year-old woman, I know. The incline wasn’t really that bad at any point, but I did bring my hiking sticks and I think those saved me. My knees didn’t hurt a single bit when we were finished. Miracle! I took my inhaler before the climb as well and my lungs were fine, so all in all, I’d say it was a success! The views from the top were spectacular and I was glad I made the decision to go.
When our hike was complete, we wandered over to the Dole truck and I got some Dole whip with pineapples and the Li Hing powder that we had on the pineapple at the stand earlier in the week. It was so delicious!
We drove back into Waikiki and Aaron and I dropped my family off before heading to the Sheraton to put on our suits and go to the pool. I read for a bit, rested my eyes for a bit, and attempted to get in the very cold water (I didn’t get very far). Eventually I started to feel a headache coming on, so we returned out towels and went up to the room with a Mountain Dew in hand so I could get my meds and try to shake it before it really set in.
We ended up going to the nearby restaurant Hula Grill for lunch. I ordered the Baja Fish tacos (crispy battered mahi-mahi, north shore corn & bell pepper relish, chipotle aioli, fresh tortilla chips and salsa). Aaron got the Loco Moco (two eggs, pork fried rice, braised short rib, kalua pork, Portuguese sausage, shiitake mushroom gravy). It was very filling, and the ocean-side view was lovely!
We had intended to browse some shops after eating, but I needed some Tums (80-year-old woman, remember?) so we went up to the room before deciding on going to Ala Moana Shopping Center. I called mom to see if she wanted to come and she and Ike joined us. We were hoping to find the Hawaiian shirt I was looking for for Aaron, but no luck. I also was hoping to find a Hawaiian ghost story book, but Barnes and Noble didn’t carry any. We did however fill a container at the candy store, so I still consider the trip a win.
We drove back into Waikiki and came back up to the room where I read on the balcony until dinner time. It is tradition that we go somewhere “Italian” on every trip, so we went to Appetito, a brick-oven pizza joint. We got there at 5:55 and were seated right away. After seeing that happy hour ended at 6, and the three things we wanted to order were all on the happy hour menu, I was hoping with all my hopes that our waitress would get to us in time! At 5:58:27 she came, asking how we were. “Great! But we’ll be even better if we can place our order in the next one minute and 33 seconds!” I said. She laughed and said absolutely! We ordered Naomi's Spicy Meatball (housemade meatball - 50% beef/50% pork - served with their famous spicy curry-tomato sauce) as an appetizer, and Margherita pizza (San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, grana padano cheese and fresh basil) and Italian salami pizza (Italian salami and mozzarella and cremini mushrooms and basil on their tomato sauce) as our meal. It was all quite delicious!
We wandered the shops some more, still in search of the shirt to no avail. By then we were ready to shower off the day’s sunscreen and stay in for the night. Its been so nice to sit out on the balcony as the sun sets, though it does get chilly with the wind way up on the 22 floor!
See additional Hawaii posts here!
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