A Day on the Windward Side

Last week, a little more than a week into our visit with the Childresses, we finally decided to show them the other side of the island. We'd told them that the windward side of the island tends to be, well, more windy and more rainy. And we had visited briefly earlier in the trip, but we hadn't given it the attention it deserves. Just the drive to the windward side is worth it -- the fastest route travels over the H-3 freeway. The freeway is an engineering marvel. Almost entirely elevated, it cost $100 million per mile to build... (Honestly, come see your federal tax dollars at work, folks.) When you emerge from the H-3 tunnel, the view of the mountains and the bay is truly, truly amazing.

Our first stop was the Nu'uanu Pali Lookout. From the viewing deck on the pass, there is an incredible view of the Ko'olau mountains and the Kane'ohe Bay and the towns of Kane'ohe and Kailua. We snapped a photo of our families where you can see how amazing those mountains really are.

You can also see that it was pretty cloudy at that point -- in fact, it started to rain just as we left!

The lookout is a frequent stop for big tour buses. While we were there, we were joined by a large group of Japanese tourists. Now, Japanese tourists have loved Kathleen since she was a little baby. It sounds crazy to say it, but it's true. We think it's because she's so blonde. Anyway, the tourists love to take pictures of Kathleen. At first they'll just surreptitiously take her photograph. Then they'll start leaning in, so they're in the frame with her. And this time, they took it to a whole new level. A lady just scooped Kathleen up and had her friend take photographs. Kathleen was not at all happy, poor girl. Even though she's a little firecracker at home, Kathleen is actually pretty shy in public and very wary of strangers. I took her back as soon as I could (without causing some sort of international incident) and calmed her down. While I was doing that, the lady continued, taking photos with Madeline and Anna. (What's better than one fair-headed little American girl? Three!) Anna's Mama and Daddy had their heads about them, though. By the time Anna was the subject of the photoshoot, they snapped their own photo:

Anna was much calmer about the stranger's photography than Kathleen had been. And although Kathleen recovered pretty well, she wouldn't go anywhere near the tour group after that. She'd run to hide behind us as soon as she saw them. We've tried to track down the clinical name for a phobia of Japanese tour groups, but we've not had much luck...

Fortunately for us, Kathleen didn't have much time to dwell on her scary photo session. We hustled her away from the main platform to a lower level, where she quickly forgot her fears. The lookout is at a pass, which forms a sort of wind tunnel -- the trade winds really blow through there! The girls thought the wind was great. Madeline kept laughing. Kathleen just ran and ran!

Eventually we'd had enough of the wind, so we loaded up and headed down to Kailua. We passed up the beach park at Kailua, opting instead for the private and picturesque Lanikai. (By the way, all beaches in Hawaii are public. If it's private, it just means there's not parking... so we parked on the street and used a public accessway to get to the beach.) Lanikai is one of our favorite beaches, and we enjoyed it just as much as we'd expected to. Although it had rained on the drive down the mountain, by the time we'd set up camp on the beach, it was a gorgeous day.

Really, we didn't go to a studio with a phony backdrop. It was just that gorgeous. The water was turquoise. And, oh, so warm! The surf was gentle. The sand was as fine as sugar. It couldn't have been more perfect for Kathleen and Anna. Or the rest of us, for that matter.

Lanikai wasn't nearly as windy as the Pali Lookout, but it had its own soft breezes. The wind made standing even more fun for Madeline.

We were tempted to stay on that beautiful beach all day, but eventually we had to go. We stopped for lunch in Kailua, where the girls were delighted by a fountain. (They just can't get enough water!)

And then we were headed home, back to our side of the island, wishing we had more time!