Honeymoon Stop 3--Honolulu

At the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor

For me, Honolulu brought back memories of the two weeks I had spent there five summers ago with my sister and her now-husband. I remembered lazy days at the beach, snorkeling, fresh fruit, Pearl Harbor, Guiness Shakes and rainbows. Sure enough, within minutes of landing in Honolulu, we saw not one but two rainbows.

Although we had been in Hawaii for about two weeks by the time we arrived in Honolulu, we had yet to eat what I would consider authentic Hawaiian food. (Our luau meal at the St. Regis on Kaua'i did not count.) After some search triangulation on Yelp, Urban Spoon and Trip Advisor, we settled on Ono's Hawaiian Foods, less than a mile from the Marriott on Waikiki Beach where we were staying.

Full disclosure: Ono's fits the definition of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to a tee. It's a small space with seats for about 25 guests. Yellowing photos of satisfied patrons and restaurant critics, including Anthony Bourdain and the New York Times, decorate the walls.

We waited for our table outside of the restaurant while the owner told us stories and gave us tips on what to eat. Once inside, we settled on the Pork Plate and a beef soup with watercress. On a busy Saturday night, Ono's was out of its specialty, the laulau, so we came back on Monday afternoon.

The plate dishes come with many sides and we were stuffed with the Pork Plate and the a la carte soup. Our food was served in record speed and even Z, initially skeptical of Hawaiian food, agreed that Ono's was on of the best meals we ate in Hawaii.

Spread of food at Ono's, on our first visit

With the owner at Ono's

We ate another delicious meal at Little Noodle House in Chinatown after we visited Pearl Harbor. Honolulu's Chinatown is one of the largest in the U.S. and Chinatown anywhere can be overwhelming if you don't know where to eat, so, again, we triangulated with a few user-review websites. The steady crowd of customers late on a Sunday afternoon helped to validate our decision. We ordered a Hong Kong noodle dish with curry and a half duck with rice.

No visit to Honolulu is complete without spending time on Waikiki Beach, seeing Pearl Harbor and hiking up Diamondhead. Unless you go just after the park opens, Diamondhead is always busy and is often filled with visitors who are ill-prepared for the hike. Although, the hike is short (about 1.6 miles round trip), it is steep and parts are narrow.

Well worth the walk--views from the top of Diamondhead

We waited until the day-of to try to get tickets to see the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. If you're going on Father's Day, this is not recommended. By the time we arrived, the national park that administers the site was out of tickets. We went to see the USS Bowfin (submarine) and the USS Missouri (battleship) instead.

Obviously, these are two very different ships, and what struck me most was how different the crew spaces are on each ship. It's a starker difference than living in an apartment in Manhattan and living in an apartment in almost any other city in the U.S.