Let's Go to Oahu

So, if you're not aware of it already, I'm Hawaii-bound on Friday. Yep, two days after a rather sizable New Jersey snowstorm, I'll be on the lovely island of Oahu. It's a work trip, but I'll have three weekends to explore and have fun with, but I ask: where to go?

Before that question's answered, however, there are definitely essentials that I will need to either remember to pack or get almost immediately when I'm out there:

• Sunblock. I'm a northern gent, never having lived beneath the 39th parallel. The harsh Hawaiian sun will most definitely irk my skin, so I'll probably need to crank up the SPF factor in order to not die. I'm thinking at least SPF 50 or so.
• Shorts. They don't sell shorts in New Jersey in the wintertime, apparently, or at least they're super hard to find. I have a couple pairs, but I'll have to wait until I'm out there to buy more pairs.
• Sandals. I have a pair of flip flops, but I hate them. I need something with a heel strap.
• Sunglasses. I actually have a pair somewhere, but I think it's time for a new one to rock while I'm out in the sun.

All those started with S, how novel! Anyway, I'm staying in Waikiki, which isn't too far at all from most of the attractions or where I'll be working. It's also only about a fifteen minute jaunt down H-1 (Hawaii having interstates just seems improper) from the airport. I'm not really all that worried about getting around, especially considering the island is about 7% the size of New Jersey on the whole. Teensy!

So, some of the things I'd like to do while in Hawaii:

1) Check out the USS Arizona Memorial. The Arizona was, of course, one of the ships lost during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. The wreckage has since been designated a National Park Service memorial, and more than a million people visit it annually. The memorial itself is gorgeous, and it spans across but doesn't touch the ship's body.

2) Climb up the Diamond Head volcano. The structure itself is pretty young on geological terms- about 150,000 years, and been dormant for about as long. The hiking trail available to explore it only takes a couple hours to traverse completely, so it'd be another nice thing to do the first weekend I'm there.