Aloha, Honolulu

      Wednesday morning we checked out of the Hale Koa,

…but not before one last fond farewell breakfast at the Koko Café.

     This time I tried the spinach and crab Benedict, vegetable fritters and hash browns,

...macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup and strawberry compote,

...the halo halo, a mix of shredded honeydew, coconut, and cantaloupe, purple sweet potato cubes,  jello cubes and milk.  The taste was  different, but  quite interesting and good.

      Tom tried, among other things, the the breakfast Portuguese sausage quesadillas.

     I also tried the strawberry haupia, which was good as well, though it couldn't hold a candle to the haupia pie I had at that Honolulu McDonald's (see post from 4/24/2017).

     But then, nothing could hold a candle to that haupia pie. I'd give a hundred bucks for one of those bad boys right now.

     Though we had to check out by 11 am our plane didn't leave until 4 pm so after we checked out of the Hale Koa,

..we left our luggage at the front desk,  walked around the grounds for a bit,

...then along Waikiki Beach for a while,

...then we walked around downtown Waikiki.

     We came across the Royal Hawaiian Center, a mall with a pretty courtyard,

...in which is located a  Hawaiian cultural center called Helumoa Hale that offers public performances in the courtyard as well as  educational programs on Hawaiian culture, including classes in music, hula, and lei-making.

     This day there was a group of women in the courtyard playing ukulele and singing Hawaiian songs.

     As I've fallen in love with the Hawaiian language, music, and the ukulele, we stopped to listen for a while.  They sounded lovely.
      When they took a break I went over to talk to them and told them that how much I was enjoying their singing and playing.  It turned out that three of them were music students studying  with Wainani Yim,

...who, I learned from the students and some subsequent research, is a well-known and beloved Hawaiian recording artist and master of the ukulele. Apparently People come from all over the world to hear and take lessons from Wainani Yim.

     I told Ms. Yim that I was a piano teacher but that I was planning on taking up the ukulele when I returned home from our vacation.  She told me that she, too is a pianist and that I should look her up next time I'm in Honolulu and that she'd give me some free lessons.
     I hope to be able to take her up on her offer and that I'll be able to play a little bit of ukulele by that point.  Ah, vacation dreams! 

  After the ukulele concert we sought out some lunch and found something good at a nearby ABC store.

     In Honolulu one cannot travel far without coming to an ABC store,

...a sort of  Hawaiian-style Dollar General where one can find inexpensive souvenirs.

     We were told by a local that ABC stands for All Blocks Covered.

  Anyway, we found an ABC store with a deli,

...that sold Poke Bowls, a Hawaiian dish that consists of one's  choice of raw fish and vegetables  over rice.

     We chose the garlic shrimp with seaweed - très yummy! -

...which we ate at a picnic bench in a nearby park.

     Then we headed back to the Hale Koa,

...stopping to smell - and snap - the flowers along the way.

    We were picked up at the Hale Koa in an airport shuttle  driven by a friendly lady who was happy to answer any questions we had about Hawaii.  I asked her about where Obama lived and went to school and she offered to drive us by his school and the apartment building where he lived with his mother.

   The campus of Punahou School where Obama went.

      This is across the street from where Obama lived.  I misunderstood the shuttle driver and thought she meant that he lived in this green apartment building.  She actually meant that he lived in the brown brick apartment building on the other  the street.  Anyway, Obama lived on this street. 

      Then we arrived at the airport and it was time to say "Aloha" to Honolulu.

     But in truth we weren't too sad because we knew we'd soon be saying "Aloha"

to Hilo Airport,

...on the Big Island of Hawaii.