2022 Oahu Adventure-travel day

This year we were super blessed to be able to take a family trip to Oahu!

 Back in August I received an email from Scotts Cheap Flights,  alerting me to a super great deal to the Hawaiian Islands.  I hemmed and hawed, and tried to decide just WHICH island to go to.  Charles and I had been to Kauai, and I knew we wanted to try a different island this go-round. By the time I actually got to book the flights, the deals were gone. (wah wah waaaahhhhh).  I promised myself, if I ever saw that email again I was going to jump on it.

Then in September my luck struck again.  Another email with even CHEAPER flights.  Charles happened to be in the next room, and I yelled to him "Hey I am booking tickets to Hawaii, where are we going?"

He asked how much and I said $275 round trip per person!! CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT???

He said, "Well at that price I say we take Finn with us and go to Oahu, since there is so much history stuff to see that he would enjoy!"

Well you dont have to tell me twice. I had those tickets booked before he could even blink. (AND it was all 3 of us to Oahu for less than what used to be 1 normal price ticket!!) 

Now all we had to do was wait!!  Since Finn was coming with us and this would not be a "just us/romantic" vacation, we decided to find a place to stay that had 2 bedrooms, because I mean, what 18 year old wants to sleep in the same room as his mom and dad and have to go to bed when they do?

Well January finally rolled around and our first day was a LONG travel day.  When I booked the flight we left our home airport around 2pm and had a 1 hour layover in Seattle and then straight on to HNL.   

Due to flight cancellations and covid and all that other bull----, our original 1st leg was cancelled and rebooked with a different flight.  We were still through Seattle, but now we had a 4 1/2 hour layover! WOOF.  The flight to Honolulu itself in total was less than 7 hours,  but with the travel time, airport time, our new and (not) improved layover, we now had a very long day. All in all it was about 13 hours.

When we left our home it was a dry, snappy 25 degrees F.  Seattle wasnt much better. However when we reached Hawaii it was a toasty 80 degrees!! We walked out of the airport and a moist blast of warm air hit our faces. Finn immediately went "Woah, it's hot...I forgot what humidity felt like!"

I did manage a quick selfie so we could see the Aloha on the Airport sign, However it is difficult to get a good selfie with all three of us because Finn is so tall..and my arms are  not. 

Here is the airport tower without us blocking it.  It is the first thing you see as you depart the terminal and head towards baggage claim.  ALOHA!

COVID DETAILS:  With the covid restrictions in place, we did  upload our vaccine cards (or a negative 48 hour pre flight test result) to their safe travels website.  We were verified and sent a QR code to our phones for the quarantine exemption.  Once we reached Seattle (or to the final leg of your flight that goes into Hawaii), we took our QR code to the covid pre-check area in the airport. They scanned our code, verified our identity against our ID's and gave us a wristband so we could bypass the lines in Honolulu.   Once we arrived in HNL they waved through anyone with a wristband , and those who did not pre-check had to wait in line and show tests or vaccine cards.  Glad we took the extra steps to upload and get the wristband. 

We had prescheduled a shuttle with Aloha Airport Shuttle.  They were prompt, courteous, their van was clean and best of all they were friendly and affordable.  Highly recommend. 

We went to our Air BnB that I had rented for the week, up in the Palolo valley.  We wanted to be out of the hustle and bustle of the city (HNL) and I KNEW that I would have zero use for Waikiki, as it is a walking tourist trap.  I found this AMAZING little place on Air BnB, it was a renovated basement apartment, complete with kitchen, washer and dryer and all the other little perks.  PLUS he also rented us his SUV through Turo for 1/3 of what a car rental would have cost.  Our car was there ready and waiting for us at the house! 

The Palolo area of Oahu is up in the hills about 5 miles from downtown Honolulu, and it was far enough away to feel like paradise, but close enough that you weren't driving forever to do anything.   

Once we got to our Air BnB, we opened up the windows and let a gorgeous crossbreeze through and fell asleep listening to the sounds of crickets and birds. It was wonderful.

 

Day 1:capitol reef national park.

DAY ONE: Capitol Reef National Park

I have never been to capitol reef. To be honest, I had never really heard of it until I started researching for this trip.  But in my reading and internet surfing, I found a common theme. "a gem". "hidden treasure". "nobody knows about it".
Capitol reef doesn't get the respect, recognition or props it deserves. It its competing with other more popular parks in southern Utah, like zion, Bryce, arches, and canyon lands. And let me say, it is a shame. We LOVED this park. So glad we decided to give it a chance. We will most definitely come back.

Started the trip with the obligatory park sign photo opportunity.

When we first entered the park, we oohed and aahed and stopped at every look out point, every drive off point...everything just got more beautiful then the last.  Finally we had to actually get into the visitors center etc, because quite frankly we had spent 3 hours in the first few miles of the park. Every turn was a surprise, every stopoff was more beautiful than the last. I didnt think it could get much more beautiful ...boy was I wrong.

We hiked up one of the trails at Chimney Rock. That was really spectacular. Just the sort of hike two adventurous boys loved.  No paved trails. Scrambling over rocks and up cliffs, death around the door at one missed footstep. (Needless to say we kept close watch on Peter)
Downside...the elevation is so high up there, you only get like 70% of the oxygen. I was kind of light headed and dizzy and winded most of this trip.  But we soldiered on.

Chimney Rock

Peter and I starting the hike at Chimney Rock

 The rock formations were really interesting. This was just such a fascinating park. I had never really seen anything like it before.  The sad thing is, it was never really crowded. Like I said, this was a park that not a lot of people come to.  It isnt as famous as its competing parks in Utah.  BUT It is NOT to be missed. It was amazing.

Stopping off at a nice cool overhang...

Charles and Boys resting

Love the patterning on the rock from freezing and erosion

You can see how far the parking lot is at one point.

hiking more.

You can see the fault like and fracturing as explained in this sign and below is our photo of the same area. It is amazing.

So we finally made it to the visitors center and CASTLE ROCK.

You can see it from the side as we were driving up to it.

 Facing front, visitors center directly behind me as I took this picture.








Close up of the rocks.










After the visitors center we took a scenic route through the park and stopped off at various points of interest.  We went to the Petroglyphs.

 These petroglyphs are attributed to the Fremont Culture, that was here between 600 and 1300AD.
The Fremont people were contemporaries of the Puebloans of the Four Corners Area.

 Some of these are very faint, but you can still make them out.  Unfortunately, there are people who have carved things into the walls as well, effectively graffiti-ing over it.  Now there are fences so you cant get too close.





Now here are some photos of the various other beautiful points of the park:

Yes, thats Finn walking along that rock bluff
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 Finn, again, having the time of his life.

this is the one room schoolhouse the mormon pioneers built when they settled in the area.

Gooseneck of canyon floor

Peter "The Hulk" holding up a rock for us.

The Golden Throne

    

Egyptian Temple formation

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Close up of bands on rocks

All in all I would say that this was a successful trip and outing for Day 1.  We stayed in Torrey, UT that night and went to Slackers for dinner.  Boys had a great time, we had a great time and went to bed tired, worn out and excited for the next days treasures awaiting us.

As far as this National Park is concerned...it is one of my favorites. I am going to add my vote as "A true hidden Gem. NOT TO BE MISSED".  Capitol Reef, I WILL be back.