View from the top of Diamond Head Crater.

The Diamond Head Crater is a unique part of Hawaiian history.  The location overlooks most of Honolulu, and offers a strategic vantage point to protect the city.  The crater once was fortified for the purposes of spotting for artillery fire and verifying radar readings.  Now it attracts tourists in droves because of the scenic nature of its location.

The downside is the climb up to the peak of the crater isn’t exactly easy.  I should be more clear, it isn’t difficult by any means, but because of the attraction, there are a lot of people who overshoot their capabilities and end up having troubles completing the climb.  Round trip it is roughly a mile and a half and gains somewhere around 700 feet in elevation (depending on which source you believe).

Yes, those are people you can see…

Most of the kids, 75% to be exact (Chloe decided she’d rather skip the hike and go right to the shave ice) made the climb.  Since they hadn’t seen each other in over a year, the kids really enjoyed each other’s company and had a great time on the walk.

Almost halfway up, standing on an overlook letting everyone know to “hang loose.”

One of the more amusing parts of the trail was the tunnel we had to walk through.  It is barely lit, meaning almost totally dark.  As a side note, if you are 6 feet tall, the ceiling is very close.  If you’re 6′ 6″ or greater, there is at least one significant head whacking opportunity.  I know because I heard Peter walk into it.  I’m not sure if he groaned or not because I was laughing too hard to hear.

After that point, the walk got more interesting.  There were some nasty stairs.  Lots of them.  Steep and shallow.

But once you get to the top, it is so worth it.  It is is easy to see why this location was chosen.  The view is remarkable and ironically, the location is such that it only receives about two feet of rain a year, which, by Hawaii standards is insanely low.  For those of us living in Vegas who have only seen a half inch so far this year, it seems like a ton.

Panoramic picture from the top.

We lingered at the top for a little while, took some pictures, and enjoyed the view and breeze.

After the hike, we retreated to the hotel, grabbed pre-made sandwiches, and hit the beach.  We played in the water, ventured back to the pools for the waterslides, and then went back in the ocean.  It wore the kids out, but not enough that they didn’t still want to hang out with each other for dinner.

Working on their travel journals together.

For the first day with all the kids together, things went really well.  I’m looking forward to what then next week and a half will bring.  Tomorrow will be a good test as we tour Pearl Harbor.  Should be super exciting for a group of kids between 7 and 9…