The story goes that in 1795 King Kamehameha forced his enemies–the O’ahu armies–over this cliff overlooking the Nu’uanu Valley, thereby uniting the Hawaiian Islands.

Thankfully there’s a big wall there now and a railing. For only $3 to park, you can check out the sweeping view of the lush landscape below–a welcome departure from the skyscrapers of Honolulu when you’re looking for something a little more natural. We stopped here on the Pali Highway on our way to the windward side of the island to check out the beaches at Kailua and Lanikai.

It’s very windy here. And there are a bunch of chickens and roosters, which Randy discovered are actually jungle fowl, strutting around and clucking and crowing and making whatever other noises such creatures make.

Also at the Pali Lookout we did our vacation good deed. When we got back in our car the young couple next to us asked if we could give them a jump because their battery had died. I explained that I didn’t know anything about jumping a car (and I wasn’t sure if Randy did either) and I didn’t have cables, but she said that her boyfriend could do it and had the cables. So we said yes, and Randy helped the boyfriend attach the cables and the young woman told me when to rev the engine, and we started their car. They were visiting from Korea and thanked us effusively. It wasn’t like we did anything significant, but I was glad we could help.

Did I mention it was windy? Zoe was wearing her bathing suit because we were theoretically on our way to the beach. She was freezing so I retrieved her sweatshirt but she mostly clung to me like a koala for warmth.