Thursday, February 12, 2009

Hawaiian Odessey (Day Two)


Day Two: Got some croissants and muffins from our hotel's continental breakfast. We went out on our sixth floor balcony and discovered the birds would gladly fly up and take the crumbs off our rails. We were visited mostly visited by finches, some garden variety sparrows, and a cardinal or two. This would become a daily ritual.

We set out to visit the graves of my grandparents and to drive the perimeter of the island. We didn't make it. We got to Kahala Mall and had lunch. Our next stop was Koko Marina, one of the places Bryan and I could recall where you could get genuine shave ice. At the shave ice place there was a picture of the owner and her daughter with President Obama holding a one of her icy creations.

Next stop was Hanauma Bay, a marine preserve and a great place to snorkel. Nothing much to report about it other than seeing a wild mongoose (!) in the parking lot.


My grandfather used to weld together th
e signposts of King Kamehameha that can be found at state historical landmarks. We passed one, the first on our trip. We pulled aside to take a picture when I realized we were at the Dole plantation. After taking the picture we had a fun time touring the gift shop, checking out the various types of pineapples in the garden, eating some pinapple flavored soft serve, and feeding the koi in their pond. It was a lot cooler than it sounds. Did you know that pineapples are not pulled out of the ground like potatoes? They're actually the fruit of the flower. They grow on top of the plant. It's perhaps a little more analogous to melons. Anyway, it was nice to have paid a visit to Dole as I also feel a slight connection to the place. Mom used to work at the Dole cannery as a teen.

We ended our day at the Pearlridge Shopping Center. I saw that at the Sanrio store there were special t-shirts, some with Hello Kitty, others with Chocobo that had the Hawaiian Humane Society logo on it. Proceeds of shirt sales benefit the Hawaiian Humane Society. I was torn as I couldn't find a shirt that would fit me until Bryan pointed out that we were in a Hello Kitty store. They don't carry shirts made to fit adult men. Oh. So I bought their calendar instead.


Another great treat was Arby's! There's probably not an Arby's within 30 miles of my house, so Arby's is a real treat. I rushed in and bought five Arby Melts.

It was getting pretty late and we decided Grandma and Grandpa would have to wait for later in the trip.

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