Weekdays in Waikiki - Or, Adventures in Ramen and Udon

I spent a few days at the end of May at a work meeting in Honolulu. I was busy with the meeting so I didn't have time to venture much beyond the tourist neighborhood of Waikiki. We've been to Honolulu before, and the city is just as weird as always. Waikiki is essentially one big shopping mall of Japanese tourists, but it does have a lot of surprisingly good food if you look for it, and of course the famous beach. I didn't have time to visit the beach - it was rainy all week anyway, but with the time change I was waking up very early (3AM on the first day!) so I did get in quite a bit of walking and exploring before the meeting start times.

After landing I had some amazing udon for dinner and walked around a bit before going to bed early. The next day I got to Diamond Head in time for the 6AM opening, and hiked to the top and back to my hotel before going to work. Diamond Head is a volcano with a big crater that looks over Waikiki. The hike to the top is pleasant early in the morning, but I can imagine it gets hot in the afternoon. There are decent views of the city, but it's not really one of the better hikes I've done. It's worth it if you have extra time in the city, but the hikes we did on our previous trip to Hawaii, especially the Kalalau trail, were much more impressive.

Marukame Udon - delicious!

This is the lunch time line for Marukame Udon. And it's worth it.

Banyan trees in an outdoor shopping mall.

Famous Waikiki beach.

The Duke Kahanmoku statue.

The Ala Wai canal. I jogged this path at sunrise a couple of times.

The view before you walk in to the crater of Diamond Head.

The tunnel in to the crater.

Inside the crater.

The Pacific from near the top.

Looking back across the huge crater.

And the view of Honolulu!

It was pretty crowded, even at 6AM.

Part of the path up is these stairs, which were part of an army facility.

The city has a lot of beautiful trees and flowers.

And there are random chickens!

Another cool banyon tree on the beach.

Kuhio beach, which has a protected lagoon.

Looking back at Diamond Head from a small pier.

Time for a taro bagel and coconut frozen coffee at Kai Coffee.

My food goal on the trip was to try a lot of different types of ramen and udon. Hawaii has a huge Japanese influence, so ramen is plentiful. There's also saimin, which is kind of like a Hawaiian fusion version of ramen. Luckily I was able to find unique ramen, saimin, and udon for just about every meal! I certainly got my fill.

Lunch break on the first full day was spicy tonkotsu ramen at Agu. Very good.

And ramen for dinner in the foodcourt of Ala Moana. Pretty decent.

Breakfast the next morning at Kona Coffee Purveyors right next to my hotel. This place was delicious! I came back again.

I got a nitro cold brew and a black sesame kouign-amann.

The overcast streets of Waikiki in the morning.

Another lunch - this time a yummy udon at Sobaya at the Lanai in Ala Moana.

Dinner was Korean BBQ with colleagues at Sura Hawaii.

Grilled baby octopus.

Nightime along the canal.

Brought a couple of local beers back to the hotel.

My hotel, the Laylow, had a chill vibe and a cool aesthetic.

Another delicious breakfast at Kona Coffee. This place was so good!

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, a big pink landmark in Waikiki.

A change of pace for lunch - empanadas from Mami's. Also delicious.

My hotel pointed me in the right direction.

The final evening I was able to try some local beer. There's a neighborhood near downtown called Kaka'ako that has a couple of new-ish breweries and beer focused restaurants. It's pretty much the craft beer heart of the state of Hawaii. We had some happy hour drinks at Village Bottle Shop and Tasting Room, which had a great selection of beers on tap and was full of locals. It's in a new development called Salt, and the neighborhood has a lot of neat art and new shops and restaurants. We met some very friendly locals who gave us tips on what beers to try and where else to go... and came along with us for dinner two blocks away at Honolulu Beerworks. I would definitely recommend visiting this neighborhood if you're in Honolulu. And it didn't even exist the last time we visited!

A taster flight at Village bottle shop. Great place!

There were a lot of cool signs and maps on the wall.

Art in the neighborhood.

Lots of murals.

Honolulu Beerworks had a fun vibe.

Another taster flight!

On the last day, I had some time in the morning to walk around (it was finally sunny-ish!) and of course had one more bowl of ramen before flying home.

The open air lobby of my hotel. Too cool for me!

So I guess I technically made it to the beach on the way to more ramen?

The last ramen was at Ramen Nakamura. It was good, and the space was fun - just a horse-shoe shaped ramen bar with room for about a dozen people.

This is inside the airport!

I flew on the Spirit of Atlanta back home.

Waikiki is definitely worth visiting. If you make it to Hawaii, you should really try to get to the Big Island and Kauai, which we loved. But don't overlook Honolulu and Waikiki. Yes, it's touristy, and yes, it's weird - but it's a one of a kind neighborhood. And oh, there's good ramen. :)

Fun Times in Cleveland Today!

In May we took a short trip to Ohio to visit Cedar Point for Paul to get his roller coaster fix. We made a three day weekend out of it and spent some time in Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park before heading over to Sandusky.

Cleveland has a pretty bad wrap, but is actually a pretty nice place. There are bad spots, but also a number of nice neighborhoods with fun restaurants, nice parks and pretty views of Lake Erie. We've been before for a wedding in March about 8 years ago, which was much less pleasant weather-wise, but going in late spring treated us with cool weather, lots of flowers and more people out and about.

It's Cleveland!

Jack Frost Donuts. Fuel for our trip to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 

Always have to stop at the entrance signs!

Boardwalk to Brandywine Falls.

Brandywine Falls. There used to be a small town here that used the falls to power a mill.

A popular spot in the National Park is the Ledges. A long series of sedimentary deposits within a forest.

Millions of years of history laid bare.

Beautiful forest in the National Park near the Ledges.

Nature has grown all up and around the cliffs with some remarkable trees and roots.

Part of the Ohio-Erie Canal.

Boardwalk across a beaver marsh. There were lots of critters here. We saw some herons and turtles.

The southern portion of the National Park has a large marsh. Reclaimed and flooded by beavers in the 1980s.

Post National Park shao long bao and noodles at LJ Shanghai near downtown.

These are really cute and similar to drawings we saw in Korea.

Delicious and spicy chongqing noodles.

Dessert at Mason's Creamery west of downtown.

West Side Market - like Atlanta's Curb Market but better.

The ceiling is pretty epic.

After visiting the national park and hanging out in Cleveland for a couple hours, we decided to start the drive over to Sandusky. On the drive, we took the slow route along the lake and stopped at some small towns and parks along the way to enjoy the beautiful cool day.

Paul booked our stay on Cedar Point property at the Breakers Hotel. Staying here includes early entry into the park, making it a no-brainer. Paul was so excited to go try the new roller coaster, Steel Vengeance, that he went ahead and entered the park that evening as well. Paul enjoyed a couple of rides on Steel Vengeance, Maverick, and Millennium Force while David watched the Atlanta United game back in the hotel.

The next morning we lined up bright and early to enter the park before the crowds, and went right to Steel Vengeance so David could try it out and Paul could get some more time on this coaster, his new #1 favorite steel coaster! As soon as they opened the gate it was a mad dash of coaster-fanatics heading to the new ride, before the line got long. It was a little less than a half mile, which we covered with a quick jog (thanks Orange Theory Fitness). We ended up on the second train, and the line behind us quickly reached 2 hours. We spent the next 5 hours bouncing around to all Paul's favorite rides before calling it a day and heading back towards Cleveland to catch our flight home.

Several little lighthouses and parks along the drive.

Paul's new #1 steel coaster!

Model Steel Vengeance at the Cedar Point Museum inside the park.

Paul wrapping up a ride on Gatekeeper!

Life goal: be skinny like the mayor of Boneville.

Cedar Point from Sandusky. Not a great pic, but you get the idea. It's basically a peninsula of fun!

Lunch after leaving Cedar Point. This place had Sweetwater beer on tap! Random.

Strawberry custard on the way back to the Cleve! The Midwest has tons of cute ice cream/custard places like this.

Downtown Elyria.

Gotta love the cavalier attitude of this business owner!

That's all for this trip to Ohio! Overall, Cleveland is a bit underrated. The downtown has a few nice streets and there are lots of really great neighborhoods all around the city paralleling the lake. Maybe it's not the most touristic place we've visited, but it's easy to see why people like living here...in the summer! I'm sure we'll be back the next time they open a new roller coaster, and we'll be sure to explore some more of what this city has to offer.