Breakout Waikiki And Other Places

      After our visit to the Hawai'i Cat Cafe (see post from 5/18/2024, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/a-tale-of-two-cat-cafes),

...Tom and I walked back to Waikiki, 

​...where we joined the crowds out on Kalakaua Avenue on this balmy evening.

     In preparation for a parade the street had been closed to traffic and subsequently taken over by us pedestrians.

     It was dinner time, and so we stopped at the California Pizza Kitchen on Kalakaua Avenue and were given a nice balcony table with a great view of the parade, which started soon after we arrived.    ​

​      After dinner we walked back to the Hale Koa.

​      Around the corner from our hotel was a breakout room called Breakout Waikiki. For the uninitiated, a breakout room is a game that takes place in venue full of puzzles, each of which must be solved within a certain amount of time in order for the players to win the game and "break out." 
         On Friday, April 5 we were invited by a few other willing players to come along with them for a session at Breakout Waikiki. We decided to give it a try. (Or rather, I did. Tom waited out in the waiting area).

​      One had the option of choosing from among half-a-dozen scenarios.

        We opted for "Patient 57," the creepiest-sounding storyline of them all.

​      We were led down an eerie, blacklit hallway,

​...to the "Patient 57" room,

​...which was quite creepy.

     A voice on a screen gave us instructions and informed us that we would have an hour to solve all the clues needed for the breakout.
      Alas, by the hour's end we had managed to solve only half the clues and so we didn't pull off the breakout. But they let us leave anyway - and it was lots of fun.
        Next on the agenda was lunch. We went to a  nearby ABC store with a great deli,

... ​from where we procured some great carryout.  
      Then we walked back to Fort DeRussy Beach Park next to the Hale Koa and had a picnic.

       After lunch Tom and I walked to downtown Waikiki to the Royal Hawaiian Center,

...for our afternoon cream puff from Kulu Kulu Honolulu.

      That evening when dinner time rolled around we walked to the Ala Moana Center,

​...for dinner at Olive Garden, where we had a lovely view from our table.

​      After dinner we strolled around the mall for a bit until we came to the Oreo Cafe, an ice cream and cookie store selling all things Oreo,

​...that was part of a mega-candy store called IT'SUGAR selling all things candy,

​...and displaying the most whimsical jelly bean sculptures.

​       Then we walked back to the Hale Koa,

...another day done.