In order to meet Brooks Takenaka at 5am, I fall out of bed at 430, groggy, dizzy, and luckily, jet lagged enough so that it’s not too much of a shock. I’m happy not to be driving, it’s hard enough to navigate Honolulu by day, all those street names made up of Ks and Ls …
Here is the thing a taking a tour: You are able to see a lot of places that you might not otherwise get to — especially if you do not have a car. Here is another thing about taking a tour: You will be pelted with facts, maybe relentlessly, all of them somewhat filtered through …
I suppose there’s a reason I’ve not spent any time in West Oahu before. No one tells you to go there, no one says, oh, you’ve got to go check out the beaches around Nanakuli or Waianae, no one says anything, really about West Oahu to mainland visitors like me. And as the suburbs dwindle, …
On my third visit to Oahu, I was finally able to visit Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, a beautiful cove south of Waikiki. I was thwarted on previous visits by not getting an early enough start — the popular park fills up quickly and once it’s full, that’s that, you’re not getting in. I had all …
There isn’t much by way of furnishing in the Queen’s imprisonment room. There’s a little white bed, a rather ornate loveseat, and a dresser. There’s a large crazy quilt displayed under Plexiglas, it’s beautiful and sad, but not as sad as the little Chinese birdcage that stands empty on top of the dresser. Queen Liliuokalani …
Disclaimer: We were comped for our Waikiki stays. On Kauai, we received 2 nights free and 3 at a very deep discount. It’s occurred to me that as much as I came back from Hawaii full of stories about new places, I never did write about where we stayed. And I should have, because they …