Last full day in Hawaii

For our last full day in Hawaii, after Margot visited the spa, we went on a hike to the Manoa Falls.  Saw a few birds on the way (including a Pekin Robin).

Then we went to the Lyon Arboretum.  Beautiful "wild" style garden / arboretum run by the University of Hawaii.  There are wild ockatoos there too.

Finally, went to Kailua Beach.  Really nice swimming, great sand and a good beach.  Would come back to this one (lots of people kayaking and stand up paddle boarding ... too calm for surfing).

And then dinner and a last stroll around Waikiki

Shangri La

Took the Honolulu Museum of Art tour of Doris Duke's Shangri La.  This was the home of billionaire Doris Duke who collected Islamic art.  After her death, the house was restored and opened to small tours.  It is quite interesting.  Many amazing pieces including the ceilings, doors, windows and furniture.  Unfortunately, you can only take pictures outside.

From the contemporary collection of the Honolulu Art Museum

After lunch, we went to Waikiki beach.

Up early

Got up early to head out to Diamond Head before the sun heated things up too much.  We were at the trail head by 8AM.  Nice hike.  The 2nd last staircase is long and steep, but the view from the top is great.  That and military part of the area is also interesting.

After that we drove to Pearl Harbour.  We went on the Bowfin submarine, checked out the Bowfin museum and went to the Pacific Aviation Museum.  Also, the USS Nimitz air craft carrier was in the harbour and we were able to get a reasonably good (if somewhat distant) look at (especially using the sighting binoculars on the deck of the Bowfin).

Ended the day going to the hotel pool.

Slept In

Checked out some of the "mountain" neighbourhoods in Honolulu.  Then we drove over to the leeward part of Oahu only to find out the weather isn't necessarily the same everywhere on the island.  As we reached the mountains, we encountered rain.  Drove along the coast (south) until we reached Sandy Beach where it was no longer raining.  Nice beach, but it has a steep drop-off and big waves and the Lifeguards had the red (do not swim) flags out.  It was pretty cool watching the surfers.

Finished the day with dinner at the BLT steakhouse (which is in the hotel).  Food was good.  They make their own sauces and desserts.

Winter arrives

OK, no snow, but it rained most of the day (varied from drizzle to real rain).  So we did the museum thing (Bishop Museum).  It has lots of hawaiian and pacifica artifacts.  It is really well laid out and in some cases informative (like the giant feather dusters), but not so much in some other areas.  We also went to the giant flea market / swap meet at the Aloha Stadium.  We were late and with the rain, some of the vendors were packing up early.

The valet gave us a great tip and we went to Leonard's Bakery and bought Malasadas -- like a Portuguese donut made fresh when you order it.  Delicious.

Played a game of Lost Cities.  Don't think Margot is planning to play again for a while.