Last Day In Honolulu

    On Sunday morning, our last day in Honolulu, I found myself wide-awake at 6:30 am, so I went down to the lobby, where I found a number of other wide-awake folks, including Claire and Miguel.

     Hence I procured an iced tea from the Java Cafe and joined them.

    Maria and Theresa were also up and already on their way to Lanikai Beach for early morning snorkling,

​...where Maria caught sight of this kind of  shark (but not this actual shark, this is a picture of the shark she found online ) - a white-tip reef shark, about twice as long as she was tall - swimming along the sea bottom below her,

...after which she hauled elbow back to shore and declared the snorkeling trip officially over.

    Meanwhile back at the Hale Koa, as soon as the remainder of our group were up we met at the Koko Cafe for what would be Tom's and my last breakfast there, at least on this trip.

     After breakfast I wandered about the Hale Koa seeking out a few final shots of the place.

   For the rest of the day everyone went about their respective activities, most opting for a beach day, though Miguel walked to a nearby theater in Waikiki to catch the Avengers movie on its opening weekend. Though he went to an early matinee the theater was packed with Avengers fans, with every seat filled.

     Tom took one for the team and returned our rented Ford Explorer to the airport,   taking a bus back, while Theresa and I decided to walk to the Ala Moana Center, a shopping mall about two miles from the Hale Koa and the largest mall in the Hawaiian Islands.
      Soon after we started out the clouds rolled in then the heavens opened with a rain shower. Fortunately in Waikiki one is never far from an ABC Store,

...so before getting too wet we able to procure a couple of $1.99 rain ponchos, which kept us dry, if not stylish, for the rest of our walk to the Ala Moana Center.
​            The Ala Moana Center, we learned, is a spacious, pretty indoor/outdoor mall, 

...where, of course, there is an ABC Store.

​     Two, actually.

   A middle school choir was singing ballads on a stage in the middle of the mall.

   It was sweet watching and listening to their young voices because it brought back memories of  all the choir concerts I used to go to years ago when Theresa was a member of the Columbus Children's Choir.
     Below, Theresa, about 18 years ago, hamming it up with some Choir members before a Christmas concert.

    By the time we left the Ala Moana Center the rain had stopped and so we had a nice, sunny walk back to the Hale Koa,

...where we later met up with the rest of the group for our final family dinner at the Koko Cafe.

      The following morning. Monday April 29, Maria, Justin and the girls took an early flight back to Los Angeles, while Claire, Miguel, Tommy, Emily, and Theresa took a late-afternoon red-eye back to Chicago, which gave them time for one more Koko Cafe breakfast followed by half-a-day of beach and lounging-around time.
        Tom and I were back in the Lobby for our last time at 7:30 am,

...from where we took a Speedi Shuttle to the Honolulu Airport,

​.where we ate breakfast at the Chow Mein Express.

   It wasn't Koko Cafe fare, but it was actually a pretty good breakfast.

...with a nice view.

    Soon after we were on our way to our next destination from Hawaii, happily not yet Columbus, Ohio, but rather Los Angeles,

​...aka Hawaii Lite.