Hawaii, part 2: Where to begin?

With a bug at the beach, of course!



That's a view of the beach roughly a half-mile from our hotel. The Ala Moana was inland about a half-mile from Ala Moana Beach, on the other side of Ala Moana Shopping Center. It featured many fine restaurants, some of which we visited during our trip, such as:



Those fine-looking people are (from left) Ignacio and Rose Alafanso, and their daughter Carol. Ignacio and Rose knew my in-laws when the Beasleys senior were in the Peace Corps in Chuuk, Micronesia. Carol and some of their other kids came to the States to go to high school in Wisconsin and live with the Beasleys. Matt taught Carol how to drive a stick shift, sort of. ;) Carol and her husband Zeke made us feel very welcome and we had the chance to see them a couple times throughout our stay and meet their kids too.

Carol's brother, Paco, his wife Nina, and their kids were also fun to meet during our visit. Paco came to our wedding five years ago so he was the only one of the family I'd met before. Unfortunately I don't have any great pictures that include us all except for one lovely 8X10 picture we got at the luau, which I need to scan before I can put it on the web. More on the luau in a later post. First, more bug fun:



She was quite enthusiastic about the beach and we tried to go just about every day. The beach nearest us was primarily an inlet so had very small waves, which was helpful in coaxing the bug to experience water that covered her toes:




The bug and I also went to the Honolulu Zoo but the camera was sadly left behind that day. However, the next time the three of us got out into the big city, the camera was at the ready. We went to see the Queen's Palace and succeeded in seeing at least the outside (the inside required a rather pricey tour fee and we just missed the last one of the afternoon anyway):


We also stood under the nearby banyan trees which were GINORMOUS, and I include a photo here to give you a sense of their scale:



After that, we visited the Hawaii State Art Museum, where we experienced art and played in the children's room. I have the t-shirt to prove it, and Matt and the bug have this photo out front:



The museum was close to Chinatown, where we took an afternoon snack break with some yummy pineapple and coconut baked goods that tasted, I swear, just like colaches with different fruit fillings. We stopped at the local market there and bought fruit for breakfast in the hotel, and then took the bus back to near the hotel.

The Honolulu bus system deserves props for being super-easy to use, and taking us within four blocks of just about anywhere we could wish to go in Honolulu. We were there almost a week before we rented a car to see the rest of the island. More on the few non-Honolulu days in the next post.