On our seventh day in Hawaii, we had a activity-filled day planned and had to be up and ready to go fairly early. While it would have been nice to get up a little later in the morning for a change, we also didn’t want to miss out on some of the activities in our itinerary by procrastinating. But we did get a good night’s sleep in the Lotus Hotel.

Koa Pancake House

We hadn’t had a sit down breakfast thus far on the trip, and since we were now staying in a hotel, this seemed the perfect time. After a brief discussion we settled on the Koa Pancake House, located in the same Hawaii Kai area where we had had dinner the night before.

We didn’t want to spend a fortune on breakfast and wanted something less touristy than what was available in Waikiki. Somewhere the locals would eat breakfast. And we found that.

We had macadamia nut pancakes along with bacon, sausage, and eggs. The serving sizes were plenty big too. They also had some guava and other tropical juices, which are a necessity in Hawaii.

With our stomachs full we set off on the less direct route to our destinations, driving along the eastern shore to take in the views of the coastline.

As we passed the turnoff for Hanauma Bay, I felt my sole moment of true disappointment on the trip. You have to make reservations to go to Hanauma Bay two days in advance and the bay is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately, despite having time in the schedule the following day to go, it was unfortunately a Monday. So we would be missing out on what I had heard was one of the very best snorkeling spots in all of Hawaii.

Snorkeling had been a bit underwhelming thus far, though in Hawaii it can be outstanding. We’d just had some bad luck thus far.

But we still had beach time on the trip. Just not right now. We were on our way to a little bit of Japan tucked away in Oahu.

Byodo-In Temple

Once we made the decision to extend our trip a couple days on Oahu, we started researching places to go and things to do. And one of those places that we found that intrigued us was Byodo-In Temple.

The drive to the temple took us along the northeastern shore until we came to a westward turn inland that led to a cemetery. I didn’t know beforehand that the temple was located in a cemetery, and as we sought out a parking spot along the side of the road, it was a bit jarring to see the throngs of tour buses arriving and departing at the same time to a place that should be a place of quiet reflection.

Regardless of the location of the temple, the choice of outfits and behaviors of some of the tour guests were outright disrespectful. A Japanese Temple is not the beach. And the tour bus guests had little concern for behaving in a dignified manner.

Regardless, the fact that the temple has vendors selling souvenirs is also a bit weird too. Not something you expect at a religious site in a cemetery.

Anyway, the temple itself is very cool and the aura of the surroundings seems idyllic.

We each took a turn ringing the sacred bell (having to ensure that the tour groups didn’t shove past us in line) and then walked into the temple and each lit an incense prayer offering. It was very cool to see the Buddha statue inside the temple covered in gold leaf.

We walked through to the opposite end, enjoying the colorful koi in the surrounding pond and admired the temple structure and surroundings. My youngest son, Evan, takes a class in Japanese martial arts and he enjoyed this opportunity to experience some Japanese culture.

After a half hour we proceeded onward to our next stop, debating whether we should get something to eat before we spent several hours on our UTV tour. We decided we were fine without and could just get a snack once we arrived at Kualoa Ranch.

Kualoa Ranch

Kualoa Ranch is a huge ranch on Oahu in the rainier northeast of Oahu. It’s a place of majestic green mountains sculpted into steep cliffs and long verdant valleys. It’s also Hollywood’s favorite place to film movies set in tropical locations.

Kualoa Ranch has been used as the filming location for scenes in Jurassic Park and World (along with Kauai), Kong: Skull Island, Jumanji, George of the Jungle, and dozens more. It’s far more expensive and difficult to film in places like Costa Rica, Colombia, and Africa, so Hollywood builds sets at Kualoa Ranch, and those sets remain in place for visitors to enjoy.

We had wanted to do an ATV or UTV tour for a while as long as we got to do the driving. We found the Raptor UTV tour at Kualoa Ranch and decided that would be a great way to spend the afternoon.

Our tour guide’s name was easy to remember since her name is the same as one of our pet dogs: Sydney. She was energetic and she took our photos at several stops along the way.

As you can see from the photos we had a lot of fun at the Jurassic Park and World sets. When we were finalizing our trip plans we realized that with us going to Kauai and seeing the valley on the Na Pali Coast where the helicopter entered Isla Nublar, and going to Kualoa Ranch we were experiencing a Jurassic Park vacation of sorts.

With Halloween coming soon after we dressed up as characters in the movies and our dogs were dinosaurs. I dressed as Alan Grant and Shelley dressed as Ellie Sattler from Jurassic Park, and Evan dressed as Owen Grady from Jurassic World.

At Kualoa Ranch we saw the valley and the tree that Alan Grant and the kids escaped from the gallimimus herd, and several spots from the Jurassic World movies including the Indominus Rex paddock.

There were some great overlook spots on the tour as well, with impressive coastal views over Kane’ohe Bay. The island you see in the photos above is called the ‘Chinaman’s Hat’ or its Hawaiian name of ‘Mokoli’i’. The name Mokoli’i refers to the island being part of the tail of a huge lizard that was killed by a Hawaiian goddess.

After finishing our UTV ride, we cleaned ourselves of dust at the wash stations at the ranch and made a stop at the gift shop. Then it was time for more shave ice.

Kane’ohe Bay

The coastline near Kualoa Ranch is a reef protected area known as Kane’ohe Bay. If we had had more time it would have been a great place for a beach visit (there is a sand bar that you can even swim or kayak to in the bay).

But instead we had time only to enjoy the views and get more shave ice. This time from a food truck operation called Coconut Girl and Guys.

The shave ice was great here too and the people running it were really friendly.

After our cool, refreshing desert, we needed to head back to the Lotus Hotel in Waikiki to get cleaned up for our dinner reservations at 5PM.

Waikiki

It took about an hour to drive back from Kane’ohe Bay to our hotel at Waikiki Beach near Diamond Head. We took the more direct route over the center of the island instead of following the coast this time.

Tonight we were going to celebrate my 50th birthday with a dinner at Duke’s Canoe Club on Waikiki. It was about a mile walk (and run) from the hotel, but the Waikiki sidewalks were much more relaxed on Sunday than it had been the day before.

Duke’s Canoe Club

Since we were having my birthday dinner we spent a bit more and Shelley and I enjoyed all the tropical cocktails we wanted. We ordered some good appetizers and Shelley and I also bought the fresh leis they were selling at the restaurant.

I ordered ahi tuna and had a free birthday dessert with a candle brought to the table. When sunset came we gathered as a family for a photo in front of the beach. The final bill was a number higher than I usually spend. But you only turn 50 once.

On the way back we stopped for some souvenir cookies at Honolulu Cookie and enjoyed the statues and banyan tree on the path back to the hotel.

Tomorrow would be our final day in Hawaii with an evening flight home. Tomorrow would also be my official 50th birthday. My plan was to wake up early to enjoy the sunrise from a famous spot on Oahu.