by Diane Brady

great way to enjoy a winter holiday is on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Oahu.

My husband and I did just that a couple of years ago, beginning with Thanksgiving dinner in Waikiki. The next day, the island kicked off the holiday season with a huge parade down Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. It was marvelous to see the islanders go all out, with Christmas lights, tinsel, decorations and Christmas trees all over town, and even Santa on a surfboard in a fountain!

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, at the western end of Waikiki. It is one of our favorite places to stay, as it is away from the traffic congestion of Kalakaua Avenue, yet within easy walking distance of most Waikiki attractions.

There is much more to Oahu than high-rise hotels and Waikiki.

We were told by a travel agent not to rent a car, as it was unnecessary in Honolulu. But, if you’re like us, you will want your own transportation. One of the most relaxing things to do is to drive around the island by yourselves, not on a bus with 40 other people and a tour guide cracking corny jokes (your significant other can take care of that).

There is much more to Oahu than high-rise hotels and Waikiki. Here are some things we found fascinating.

Senator Fong’s Plantation and Gardens (35 minutes from Waikiki) is preserved to look as it did when the first Polynesians arrived in Hawaii. Here we learned of two interesting plants that the ancient Hawaiians used are now used in modern cosmetics. One is kukui nut oil, which softened and smoothed their skin, and is sold everywhere today in Honolulu. I decided to try it, liked it and have been using it ever since. They also used a type of ginger called awapuhi as a shampoo, and this is now used in the Paul Mitchell line of hair-care products.

We love trains, and discovered a small railroad devoted to preserving the memory of the narrow gauge railroads that once crisscrossed the islands, hauling sugar cane, pineapples and passengers. On Sundays, excursion trains run on 6.5 miles of restored track, from Ewa to Kaena Point. On a warm Sunday afternoon we drove from our hotel, past Pearl Harbor to the town of Ewa, arriving just in time to get our tickets and board the train for the 90 minute narrated journey. We sat on benches facing sideways, and at Kaena Point changed sides so we could see the rest of the scenery on the way back.

One new attraction, officially opened on December 7, 2006, is the Pacific Aviation Museum at Ford Island, in Pearl Harbor. The Ford Island Naval Air Station was a major target when the Japanese attacked, and the hangars still bear the scars of bullet holes and shrapnel. Fortunately, just as our aircraft carriers were at sea, so were the many carrier-based aircraft normally parked on the tarmac. If they had been there the progress of the war might have been much different. Access to Ford Island, formerly only by ferry, has been enhanced by the construction of a causeway from the “mainland.”

My husband doesn’t feel that he is in Hawaii until he has had a drink under the huge banyan tree at the Moana Hotel. On our last evening, we performed that ritual, then took off our shoes and walked barefoot in the sand and surf of Waikiki Beach.

Hilton Hawaiian Village: tel. 800/445-8667; hiltonhawaiianvillage.com.
Senator Fong’s Plantation: tel: 808/239-6775; fonggarden.net.
Hawaiian Railroad: tel. 808/681-5461; hawaiianrailway.com.
Pacific Aviation Museum: tel. 808/441-1000; pacific-aviationmuseum.org.

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