I had heard about Kakaako Waterfront Park for many years, but was never inclined to investigate. I mean, it’s an industrial area. Didn’t sound all that appealing. But one day I was attempting to brave the Children’s Discovery Center (not for the those with even the slightest aversion to noise and general mayhem) and discovered it was closed. Okay, this actually happened twice. They have stupid hours. As I was fuming in my car I noticed a set of stairs and a sign for the park and headed off for plan B. It was actually kind of nice.
The park has great views of Waikiki and Diamond Head, downtown and the Waianaes. Lots of fun hills with a bike path meandering throughout and a waterfront promenade. There are lots of picnic tables and great shade trees. They even have a couple sets of stairs leading down to the water. One heads to a protected swimming cove and the other heads to the Point Panic surf break just off shore. For the transportation lover, there is an endless parade of airplanes, helicopters and boats to enjoy. They have an amphitheater with pretty decent concerts too.
On the downside, there always seem to be a handful of sketchy people around. The kind that make me want to keep the kids a little bit closer (which didn’t allow me to take many photographs). Also, some of the areas, like those little pavilions along the waterfront, are a bit trashy – cigarettes, bottle caps, fishing line – a.k.a. toddler magnets.
It was the bike paths that brought us out here on this trip. Micah had been using a balance bike for a couple of year and had no clue how to use pedals. We got him one with training wheels, hoping we could take them off in a couple weeks. It was a nice change of scenery and I plan to come back again with a giant piece of cardboard to take sledding down those beautiful hills. Having kids makes that socially acceptable.
P.S. right after our trip to Kakaako, Micah asked us to remove his training wheels. He mastered his bike within 15 minutes. Those balance bikes really work!
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