We need to file this day under "What in the world were we thinking????" That said, this was the most FUN day we had in Hawaii. Pure fun.
First, we got up early enough to get to a motor scooter rental place when it opened. We wanted to rent for four hours, but they said we had to rent them all day since it was spring break and they were busy enough to get enough people to rent them all day. We considered walking to some other scooter rental places to try to get a half day rental, but I decided it wouldn't be woth the time and energy, considering the all day rental was only $10 more. This was out of character for my dear husband, the comparison shopper, but he agreed with me :-)
It had been a few years since I'd driven a scooter in Gatlinburg, but I picked it back up easily, with Chris as my instructor. Steering is really all about the leaning, having very little to do with the handlebars. I had to remind myself to not smile as we drove around, so as to not swallow any bugs, but it was hard not to smile. I really think I need to get one of these things to drive to work. The parking pass would be cheaper and closer to my building.
The most frightening part was driving in Honolulu traffic next to a city bus. I kept trying to determine what I would do if the driver decided to suddenly switch lanes. I felt much better once we got out of traffic and back to the Diamond Head area. We drove around some residential areas where the city's wealthy live. Some of the homes were absoultely breathtaking, especially considering the views of the ocean some of them had in their backyards. Most of the housing in Honolulu appears to be low income, although it's obvious the residents aren't poor...there were Lexus cars in a lot of the driveways. It wasn't uncommon to see a washer and dryer on a front porch or clothes hanging to dry.
But these homes in Diamond Head were very nice. I got the little scooter up to 45 m.p.h. at one point. We stopped at an overlook for a break. We also parked the scooters and chained them up to walk on the beach for a while.
The chains and padlocks we had to use were huge. Although we didn't personally experience it, we were told theft is a really big problem in Honolulu. At Pearl Harbor you are not allowed to carry a purse or any sort of bag onto the memorial, but they advised people not to leave anything in their cars in the parking lot because of the theft problem. Chris and I thought it was odd that even on a military base, they can't keep petty criminals out of cars in broad daylight. The scooter ride through Diamond Head was one of the highlightes of the trip for me. Probably not as exciting for Chris, since he's used to a more powerful ride on his motorcycle, but I liked it.
We had to return the scooters after lunch because we had a reservation at the Kualoa Ranch for an ATV trail ride.
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