ALOHA, OAHU!

After saying "Aloha" to Darrin & Charley at the Lihue, Kauai airport, Lou & I boarded our flight to Oahu. Twenty minutes later we touched down in Honolulu. We picked up our rental car, grabbed some lunch & headed to our first stop, the Hawaii State Capitol.

The Hawaii Capitol building is totally different from most of the Capitols we have visited. There is no dome & nothing to indicate that it is a state capital. It looks pretty much like any other building.

The courtyard is open air with the offices around the edges of the building. The Senate & House chambers are located in the basement & weren't open to the public. Peeking in the windows they weren't anything special or decorative.

This is the Lieutenant Governor's conference room. The government workers were really friendly showing us what they could. I think they were glad to have a diversion from their normal work day.

From the Capitol, we drove to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific located in Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu. Over 13,000 soldiers & sailors who died in World War II are buried there.

The entrance to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Turning 180 degrees from the above photo was this view of downtown Honolulu with Diamond Head in the background.

The cemetery still flies the POW-MIA flag near the Vietnam Memorial to honor the soldiers still missing & unaccounted for - those without a proper burial.

Next we found our high rise condo near the Honolulu Airport & squeezed the rental car into the tiny parking space in the condo garage. Turns out the condo was just about as tiny as the parking space! But it was fine for what we needed. I used VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) for both condo rentals. I was happy with the service.

With property being at a premium there are a lot of high rise condo buildings. Ours was 28 floors tall & we were in a corner unit on the 27th floor. The entire apartment - living room, kitchen, bedroom & bath - was about 40 feet by 40 feet. It was fine for a few days but no way would I want to live in a tiny space that high up!

This is a queen bed which pretty much takes up the entire bedroom. Being a person who does not do heights well, sleeping a couple of feet from a 27 story drop was not conducive to a good night's rest. There will be a whole another post about that experience at a later date.

The Five Regents condo building where we stayed. Our place was on the upper right of this photo one floor below the top.

Our first stop the next day was the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum (formerly the Pacific Aviation Museum) on Ford Island. My military ID allowed us to drive our car onto the island rather than take a shuttle to the museum.

This was the control tower on Ford Island when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. However, the red & white tower was added later after the attack. Only the small tower was in service that infamous day.

This is a Stearman that George H.W. Bush trained in. It has been verified that the plane is indeed one that was flown by the former president & war hero.

This is a rare Nakajima B5N2 Kate aircraft. I believe the docent said it is one of only two that still exist in the world.

These four women were instrumental in petitioning our government to use women pilots to ferry aircraft to various military institutions. It took over a year but they were finally allowed to help out the cause during World War II with their flying skills. One of these amazing women, Cornelia Fort, died while serving her country.

Hangar 79 is one of the original hangers from the Pearl Harbor attack. Today it  is part of the museum & houses some of the historical aircraft. It also serves as the restoration area for many recovered airplanes.

Some of the remaining bullet holes from the Japanese attack in Hangar 79. The docent said, "This hangar not only houses history, it IS history."

The restoration area of Hangar 79.

With my military ID we were able to drive to the USS Utah Memorial on Ford Island which is not open to the public. The training battleship was torpedoed during the raid on Pearl Harbor & 58 men lost their lives. They are still entombed in the ruins of the ship. Some survivors have requested that their ashes join their crewmates upon their deaths.

Following lunch at the air museum, we drove back downtown to tour the Iolani Palace, the royal residence of parts of the Kamehameha Dynasty & the Kalakaua Dynasty ending with Queen Liliuokalani.

The palace is beautifully furnished & has a great audio tour that takes about an hour to complete.

Iolani Palace is located just across the street from the Hawaii State Capitol.

A smaller dining room in the palace. 

This display showed an exquisite dress for a formal occasion. Look at the portrait where the woman is wearing this same dress in the painting.

Just a few days before we left for Kauai, Lou & I celebrated our 18th anniversary. We decided to enjoy a fancy dinner in Honolulu & make our few days on Oahu our anniversary gift to each other. Darrin had recommended La Mariana, a tiki bar & restaurant that he loves. It was near our condo but when we called to make a reservation we learned it was closed for renovations. Damn!

After some discussion, we decided to head down to Waikiki Beach & eat at Duke's (named for the father of surfing, Duke Kahanamoku).

As expected the parking was terrible. We found a garage near the back of the International Marketplace. As we walked through the area to Kalakaua Avenue, the main drag along Waikiki Beach, we kept looking around saying, "Where is the International Marketplace?" Asking at an information booth we discovered that the vendor stalls & shops had all been replaced by an upscale shopping mall in 2016! Apparently, they saved a few places for vendors down the street & around the corner.

The front of the new International Marketplace. From what I could see they turned Waikiki into a mini Rodeo Drive. It is all high end stores & fancy restaurants (with the occasional ABC Store thrown in). I remembered lots of little shops & funky eateries back 25 years ago when I was last here. I liked it better back then.

It turned out that the wait at Duke's was 1-1/4 hours for dinner. We found this place in the International Marketplace called Shorefyre. If you look at the previous photo, the balcony where we are sitting is above the Tesla sign. The food was good & of course, the company was even better.

Following dinner we walked across the street to the Royal Hawaiian for a drink at the Mai Tai Beach Bar. I had a $13 Blue Hawaii & Lou had a $15 Mai Tai.

Waikiki Beach at night taken from the Royal Hawaiian Beach Bar.

Our last full day we decided to drive around the island & enjoy the scenery. My recollection of the rest of Oahu was that it was pretty remote & fairly uninhabited. That was wrong, too, just like my recall regarding Waikiki. Our first stop was the Dole Plantation.

We stumbled upon the Dole Plantation on our drive around the island. I was here about 45 years ago & remember taking a tour (there are no more tours, just gifts galore). I recall a drinking fountain that had pineapple juice come out of it but that is long gone, too.

Some of the scenery around the Dole Plantation. There is a train ride & a garden tour but we passed on both of those activities.

We did however indulge in the pineapple flavored soft serve ice cream. Yummy!

No, I'm not a two-fisted ice cream eater - just held Lou's while he took the picture.

While the beaches & scenery were indeed spectacular, it was far from uninhabited. We ran into huge traffic jams near Waimea & Sunset Beach. I'm assuming that since it was the Fourth of July many people were off work & heading to the beaches to enjoy the holiday.

The beach at Bellows Air Force Station - another benefit of my military ID. The recreation facilities are open to the public on the weekends but this was a midweek holiday which still restricted admission.

Makapuu Point Lighthouse. It was a 1-1/2 mile hike to reach the lighthouse so we just zoomed in for the photo.

Some of the gorgeous views of the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean.

More of the breathtaking, beautiful blue waters of Hawaii's coastline.

Diamond Head Lighthouse. Lou made the trek up to the top of Diamond Head but I didn't even try. Given the time constraint (the park was closing in less than two hours), the heat & humidity, it seemed like a much better idea to sit on a bench in the shade.

The rainy view of Waikiki Beach from the top of Diamond Head.

Our 27th floor condo allowed us some great views of various fireworks in the Honolulu area celebrating our country's birthday.

It was nice just sitting on the couch with a glass of wine enjoying the fireworks.

Looks like this was part of the grand finale. Lou took these & gets photo credit on many of the pictures in this post.

I always try to look for something unique to a place we visit. These Women & Men restroom signs caught my eye this time. There were several versions of the idea in many areas.

I loved the added touch of a lei & a flower in her hair for the women's room sign.

And, of course, the man had to be wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

MAHALO, POP!

Thanks to my dad's careful money managing & generosity I was able to treat Darrin, Charley, Lou & me to much of our recent Kauai vacation. My hope is to instill the "travel bug" in my granddaughter & make this an annual adventure to various corners of the world.

Our first lunch in Nawiliwili Harbor at Kalapaki Beach Hut after arriving on Kauai. The crowds at the airport & the traffic heading out of Lihue caused Charley to declare, "This is not what I expected." Fortunately, once we moved further from the congestion into the tropical surroundings, she was feeling much more in an island mood. The first of several shaved ice treats probably helped, too.

We rented a two bedroom condo at Poipu Sands just a block from the ocean. It was a short walk to Shipwreck Beach & about a half mile from Poipu Beach. Charley was ready to dance with her plumeria flower in her hair. We had a huge plumeria tree just outside our door.

Our girl was enjoying her first afternoon in Hawaii!

Charley wanted to go to Hawaii for the past couple of years. When we asked her what she wanted to see or do in Hawaii, she had two primary requests - drink out of a coconut & see fire dancers. Our first full day we made them both happen!

The woman at the fruit stand helped us choose a coconut with lots of water in it. The heavier it is, the more water.

After finding her machete, the woman whacked the top off & Charley was drinking away. She thoroughly loved it!

As she drank from her coconut, Charley exclaimed, "This is the true spirit of Hawaii!" 

Gaga & Louie (Charley's new name for Lou) had a sip but Charley & her dad drank the whole thing which had at least a couple cups of water in it.

Since none of us are big meat eaters we decided to forego the luau dinner & just signed up for the evening show which is supposed to be the best on the island. It didn't disappoint.

Here we are all decked out in our Hawaiian outfits heading to the luau show. You'll notice we are all sweating profusely, especially Gaga. The humidity had me sweating like an NBA player. Charley & I stuck our heads in the freezer quite often since there was no air conditioning, just fans.

Pele emerging from the on stage volcano at the Smith Family Garden Luau show.

Some of the various dancers from all over Asia & the Pacific Rim who entertained us with their native dances.

First the women twirled & waved their fire sticks or ropes all around making interesting designs for the camera.

The grand finale was the male dancer who did all kinds of tricks with his fire. Charley was afraid he would get hurt but he managed to survive okay. It was pretty impressive.

After the show Charley had her photo taken with some of the dancers. 

The weather in the tropics can change several times a day making it a little difficult to plan for things. But we did our best to work around "the liquid sunshine" as Lou called it. Our first attempt to see Waimea Canyon was met with clouds that obscured the views of the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". But we did see it later in the trip!

Charley has developed a real affinity for shrimp. She ordered it literally at every meal we ate out. And when we cooked at home, we made Bertoli shrimp scampi. That girl can put away the shrimp!

We ordered the 10 shrimp plate for Charley. Darrin said, "She won't eat 10 of them. I'll share with her." Those shrimp were gone in minutes! Darrin ate rice, cole slaw & half of my fish & chips. 

Shrimp! This time Darrin wisely ordered his own plate of shrimp.

We did pick a great beach day at Poipu Beach - the best swimming beach on Kauai. Our condo provided beach toys, chairs & boogie boards so off we went.

Beach Day! We set up camp here first but soon moved since the ocean floor was really rocky & Darrin found us a patch of shade. Notice the Monster High ghouls lined up enjoying the sun (click on the photo to enlarge it). Charley brought 6 of them & their luggage in my clear backpack. They had just as much fun as we did!

Our shady spot on Poipu Beach.

Darrin & Charley playing in the ocean. She loved it & had a great time swimming in the warm ocean water. She has been used to barely putting her feet in the San Francisco ocean & having them be freezing cold.

Louie & Charley playing in the ocean. Darrin was trying some further out boogie boarding so I sent Lou out with her since I figured Gaga would be lucky to save herself let alone Charley, too.

A view of the beautiful Poipu Beach in southern Kauai.

Lou trying the boogie board. He got pretty good at it after awhile.

Darrin would get Charley laying on the board then give her a shove when the wave was about to break. She really enjoyed it.

Darrin was the expert having tried it before a few times. He was briefed by someone on a past trip as to how to "catch the wave'" at the right time.

That afternoon Darrin, Charley & I strolled around the grounds of our Poipu Sands condo to check out the foliage & beautiful surroundings.

Shipwreck Beach was to the left of our condo & much smaller than Poipu Beach. 

There were the biggest snails I've ever seen slowly meandering around the grounds. The shell on the left was about 3" long! The other one was over 2" - crazy! On an overcast day like this one, the snails were everywhere. Fortunately we didn't see any cane spiders that can be around 2" across!

This looks like some type of Bird of Paradise flower but it had regular petals, too. 

The hibiscus were all over in lots of colors. They are such beautiful blossoms! When Charley first heard the name she thought they were called "hi-biscuits". Too cute!

But the most amazing thing I saw on our walk was my gorgeous granddaughter standing in front of our condo!

The next morning we began our day with the Wailua River cruise to the Fern Grotto. It had been 45 years since I was there for this excursion & almost that long since Lou had done it.

The river cruise is operated by the same family that produces the luau & show. Just about ready to head down the river. They play live music, sing & have a couple of hula dancers who get everyone up to teach them some simple moves of the traditional Hawaiian dance on the way to the Fern Grotto. Both Lou & Darrin get some photo credit on this post.

Our boat at the dock where we disembarked & took the short walk to Fern Grotto.

Charley & Darrin enjoying the mellow cruise.

Fern Grotto. Hurricane Iniki in 1992 damaged the ferns & destroyed the walkway to the cave. Prior to that visitors could walk into the grotto.

On the walk back to our boat, I took a few photos of flowers I hadn't seen before.These purple ones were really tiny - about 1/4 inch each.

Another totally different flower.

At first I thought this bloom had not yet opened but after looking at some others, this may be all there was to it.

Not sure if this is a gecko or some other lizard but it certainly matched the leaves behind it's head.

We continued up the east side of the island to Princeville & Hanalei for some beautiful views. Since it isn't too far to get anywhere on Kauai, we decided to head up the western side one more time in the hopes of seeing Waimea Canyon.

Kilauea Lighthouse is located on the north shore of Kauai within the Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately the refuge wasn't open the day we were there so we were only able to get this shot from a distance. Spectacular setting!

We ate our picnic lunch at Anini Beach near Princeville where we saw a few kite surfers.

Of course, we took a detour off the main road to view Wailua Falls. Apparently, it was featured in the opening credits of the old TV show "Fantasy Island".

And finally, we decided to once again head to Waimea Canyon on the other side of the island. This time we were rewarded with the brilliant colors of the scenic canyon. Just the very tops of the canyon walls were in the clouds.

At the end of the road, the final lookout gave us a glimpse of the Napali Coast (on the right). The entire coast can only be viewed by boat or helicopter. There is a somewhat treacherous 11 mile hike that can reach parts of the Napali coast, too.

On our final evening Darrin treated us to a delicious farewell dinner at Keoki's Paradise, a beautiful setting with Hawaiian singers, a lagoon, tropical foliage, tiki torches & of course, excellent company! Thank you, Darrin!

Our table at Keoki's Paradise. Charley's drink came in a pineapple. She drank from a coconut & a pineapple on this trip! And, yep, she ordered shrimp! 

The view of the lagoon from our table.

The next morning after a wonderful trip together, Darrin & Charley headed back home to the East Bay while Lou & I continued on to Oahu for a few days. The photos & descriptions of Oahu will follow in my next post. A fantastic time was had by all! Aloha!