The Most Wonderful Day...

...except for that one thing.

Last Thursday (September 17) was another day off.  We left early, as usual, with the van loaded up as if we were moving out.  Change of clothes.  Extra shoes.  Bathing suits.  Snorkeling equipment.  Towels.  Beach chairs.  Snacks.  Water.  Suntan lotion.  Bug spray.  Prepared for anything!

We headed to the windward side (east) to the Kailua/Lanikai area to hike a trail that Denise had found that is advertised as "family friendly".  It isn't.  But it is WONDERFUL!  The trail runs along the ridge of a mountain with ocean views and the Mokulua Islands on one side and beautiful Koolua mountains on the other.  It's called the Pillbox Hiking Trail, and it takes you up to the top of the mountain to two pillboxes that were once part of Oahu's defensive system.  They supposedly were built between the World Wars, and were observation posts that could alert shore batteries to approaching enemy ships.

Art is on the way up.

Denise is way ahead of me!

The views are amazing!

The "pillbox"

And then "that one thing" happened.  I fell coming back down.  I don't know exactly what happened.  One minute I was on my feet and the next I wasn't.  I didn't fall down the side of the mountain -- I fell down a narrow part of the path on the ridge.  A lot of it is rocky like in the pillbox picture, and I fell on the rocks.  A man coming up the trail saw me, braced himself, and stopped me.  AND THEN HE PRAYED FOR ME!  Right there on the trail.  People were so kind to me, offering water and antiseptic wipes, etc.  

This is my loving husband, laughing his head off because he sprayed antiseptic on my scrapes and I screamed.  (But that's okay.  I told him if he had fallen I would have taken a picture for this blog before I helped him up.)

Nope.  We weren't prepared for this.  When we finally reached the bottom of the trail, we headed straight to a drug store.  After cleaning and bandaging my wounds, we headed for Kailua Beach for some rest and recuperation.

This isn't exactly what I had in mind.

The beach was absolutely gorgeous, and we would love to visit it again before we leave Oahu.

We found a perfect spot under the trees.

When our hunger pains got the better of us, we left this beautiful spot and found lunch (Tim and Art have been obsessed with cheeseburgers since we got here), then traveled on to take a little ride on the Pali (pronounced Polly) Highway.  We had heard that it is a quite beautiful drive, and we were not disappointed.

This highway ended near Honolulu.  We saw a temple and very unique cemetery from the highway, so we exited to try to find it.  So glad we did!  Although we couldn't actually get to the temple, we were able to walk through these fascinating  grave markers at the Nuuanu Memorial Park and Cemetery.  The park serves families of many different religious and ethnic backgrounds, and the headstones are unique and beautiful.

See the rainbow?

When we finally arrived back at Pu'u Kahea after dark, we all agreed that it had been THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY, "except for that one thing" as Art said.


(This is the fourth day since my fall, and I am getting better each day.  Still quite bruised, and still can't use my left hand, but definitely getting better!  Everyone is kind, and Tim and Denise are picking up my slack.)