Mauna Lahilahi

Mauna Lahilahi translates to “Thin Mountain”, and according to the locals this is the World’s smallest mountain. A couple months back I said I wanted to hike that mountain and ever since then every time we drive by it Jewel says, “Man, I really want to hike that mountain”. Now I don’t know if she’s saying that because she heard me say it or because it’s just screaming to be climbed, but today we decided was the day.

I did a brisk walk this morning up to the water tower and back, then figured we’d spend the afternoon at the beach. But then we remembered it was Sunday and since Jake only wants to go if he can surf, we figured we’d just wait until tomorrow after everyone goes back to school and work. (At least that sounded better then we were just plain lazy.) Then by about five Jewel was having a breakdown because she spelled a word wrong and Jake corrected her. I determined she was having saltwater withdrawals, so her and I took off for the beach, but brought hiking shoes just in case.

We headed straight for the mountain, and after walking almost all the way around it I had to ask a local on the beach how to get to the trail to go to the top. There’s a few paths but nothing that looked like an official hiking trail. Basically it was just find your own way up the mountain.

About half way up we were treated to gorgeous views of Maunalahihi Beach Park and Waianae Valley

We trudged along pretty good, really enjoying the easy challenge of the rocks

And then we hit a vertical wall and thought we were done, but we weren’t ready to give up yet and after a lot of debate we made the decision to tackle it.

I was very scared to climb it for a few reasons. One: Not a soul except the homeless man on the beach knew where we were. Two: My daughter is only eight years old. Three: We’re in bathing suits

Carry on.

We made it up the wall and then our adrenaline was through the roof! Jewel was thanking me for bringing her on this hike, saying she wanted to remember this moment forever, and that this was a GREAT day. I’m thinking the same things, but I’m also thinking: Holy crap…where did I bring my baby? What if she slips? Hawaiian rocks are infamous for giving way and killing hikers. What if I fall?  What if it gets dark?

  l’m literally shaking at this point and she’s all “Look…sailboats!”

Looking inland offered perfect views of our valley. Top left are The Towers which is near our condo.

We walk a little more and then get to another vertical rock wall that I’m frankly too ill prepared too conquer. I had planned on looking for the geocache hidden at the summit, but considering our situation and my inexperience with this mountain we decided to turn back. I want to try it again when I have some pants on and maybe with someone that’s done it before, or at least without my baby. I could never live with myself if something happened to her and I already felt like we accomplished what we wanted to do. It was MUCH harder and scarier than I thought it would be, and am actually extremely proud of what us girls accomplished today.

One thing I didn’t expect on our way down though, was to get lost.

Can you see the trail in this picture? Yeah…neither could we.

We ended up going down the wrong rocks and having to climb back up and around. At this point Jewel’s starting to get a little worried, and it’s funny….her fears kicked me into power mode. I had to let my fears go and assure her we would get down safely, and before dark.

Then because we didn’t take the same route down we passed our water bottle I set down to free up my hands, so Jewel happily climbed back up to retrieve our water.

After our hike we walked down to Turtle Beach

Where we enjoyed a sunset swim and snorkel

Hawaii. Never a bad day.

Mauna Lani Point on Dwellable

Glenwood Canyon Adventure Park

Every time we go into Glenwood Canyon we pass by the big hot springs pool. We also see a tram (or gondola) that leads way, way up into the mountains, and other than the small tram station there's just a small sign saying Glenwood Canyon Adventure Park. I look up the park online and decided as soon as summer hours start, we are there! We were going to do both the hot springs resort and the park, but opted for just the park.

You have the option of the tram or an old schoolbus to get up to the park, natch we went for the adventure.


First thing we did was ride the coaster

Only it wasn't your ordinary roller coaster, it was gravity fed, with you controlling the speed. Everyone else went full bore, while I had to use my brakes some going around really tight curves. Even though in my mind I knew it wouldn't run off track, I couldn't convince my body to not be afraid. Plus since I had Jewel with me I figured she'd be scared to death, guess it was just me.

We then had about thirty minutes for our tour of the caverns so we tried out the Swing Shot.

You'll notice there's no ground on the other side of our swing. After buckling in we're pulled back, and up, before being shot out to swing over the canyon. At first Joey and I thought we would lose our lunch, but eventually our stomachs settled back down, enough for me to do it again and talk Jake into trying it. Jewel wanted to but she was too little.

We met up with our extremely knowledgeable tour guide, Kathy, for the longest tour ever.


The highlight of the tour was King's Row


But this has to be my favorite

She had some food item name for this formation, as almost the whole cave has, but we know what it really looks like.

After seeing cauliflower, mushroom, popcorn and bacon in the formations Jonas had a question for her when she asked if anyone had one: "Umm yeah, can you stop talking about food you're making my mouth water."

While we were in the caves (we toured two different areas) there was a thunderstorm. Because of the storm they had to shut everything down so almost the entire park cleared out by taking the bus back down. We decided to peruse the gift shop where the kids all got more sleeping animals, as if two black bags full aren't enough in 200sf. of space, but I digress. I got a new night light, I can never have enough of those.

It felt like there were only about 10 of us left in the park at this point, and the sky has cleared up and it couldn't be a better day to have an adventure Park all to ourselves. I even learned the names of the employees.

While waiting for Wade to get back to the rock climbing wall, the kids, and I'm including the 200 lb. one in that, rode the coaster about four more times. We got lucky, the kid that measured Jonas said he was too small to go alone which meant he had to go with a bigger rider, and go for free. Jewel was already free so we had a lot of extra ride tickets for the kids, it worked out great, especially considering the other ride with restrictions measured him tall enough. For the first time I kept my mouth shut and went with it, normally I'd try to prove that he was indeed 48" tall, but when I can save a few bucks...well, you know how I feel about that.

I think I was more excited about rock climbing than anyone else. Joey tried telling me that it's harder than I think, as if I might not be able to do it. It was so easy! I loved it! I want to go do it for real now. My arms were sore the next day because I was too afraid to let go. I started climbing back down until I finally had the guts to just push off, and I didn't stop until my butt hit the ground.


Jonas really got into as well, going about three times and making it to the top.

A fun time was had by all.