Sunday, December 22^nd

Honolulu Zoo

Our hotel was only a couple blocks from the zoo but I never noticed. I ran by it twice and never saw it. Maybe the animals were quiet, or I was too enchanted with the scenery, or the waves were particularly noisy. I mentioned to Terri that my friend Tom Cheevers must have stayed near our hotel because he complained about the monkeys keeping him up at night but I never found the zoo. But Terri remembered the zoo from her trip 25 years earlier. Since it was within walking distance and we were still getting to know Waikiki we ambled on over after breakfast. And sure enough there it was, behind all that green vegetation stuff!

It wasn’t a great zoo or a large zoo, but it wasn’t a disappointing zoo either. Since the climate was tropical the emphasis was on warm climate creatures. So nix to the polar bears. The zoo is nicely landscaped and is surrounded by ten feet tall hedges … perhaps that was why I never noticed it.

The highlight for the ladies was probably the gigantic python, named aptly “Monty Python” (see picture). Monty apparently had been on a six month fast and only recently started eating again. But something, or someone was missing. It took me a while to figure it out. I kept seeing Rosie’s spirited friend April in my brain. This was the sort of place she would appreciate. I could see her running from cage to cage saying “Rosie look at this!” and “Rosie look at that!” and making silly noises and strange associations and the two of them laughing together, pulling on each others arms and being silly. But alas she wasn’t included in our vacation plans. With her unique perspective to things I am sure the zoo would have been much more memorable than it was. Maybe next time we’ll take April.

Back to the Beach

We ate lunch at the zoo and paid the usual inflated prices, then wandered down Waikiki Beach. Terri wanted to find the International Marketplace that she remembered was somewhere down the strip. Waikiki is jammed full of classy looking retail, and at least half the stores sell T-shirts and bathing suits, so I couldn’t figure out why this place would be all that memorable. But we eventually found the place, but it wasn’t so much of a building of shops as a large collection of small shops built into open air buildings.

There were hundreds of vendors in the place. The emphasis seemed to be on jewelry (all saying 80% off, although most things jewelry cost more than I would spend) and T-shirts. T-shirt stores came in two varieties: the Hawaiian shirt store with every possible variation of tropical flower shirt (usually with a collection of straw hats) and the naughty T-shirt stores. The naughty T-shirt stores didn’t appeal much to me, but looked just right for the dirt bike or college fraternity crowd. Nonetheless it was a pretty place to shop. Its long established overhanging trees, including a couple Banyan trees, kept it in the shade and comfortable. Terri and Rosie could not help themselves and both ended up buying jewelry. I’m glad we have high credit limits!

Tiki’s (Take One)

This was already our third night in Honolulu and we hadn’t had a proper dinner yet. We resolved to change that situation but where to eat? Somehow Denny’s didn’t seem quite right and we resolved to find some place with less plebian tastes. Near the Denny’s on the second floor of a hotel was Tiki’s Bar and Grill. The menu did not look exorbitant (emphasis on fish, naturally) and the band playing on the open terrace sounded rather nice, playing mostly Hawaiian and contemporary music. The interior was nice too and we were quickly seated next to a table that overlooked the ocean and had a clear view of the soon to be setting sun (see picture).

It was a very beautiful, relaxing and really enchanting place to have dinner. We applauded the band at the end of every song. Our waiter was the nicest and friendliest guy I had met so far and was constantly around fussing over us. The entrees were delicious too. Terri raved about her chicken and I was impressed with my Shrimp Parmesan. The sky was blue and nearly cloudless, the weather perfect, the fronds of the palm tree waved gently in the breeze and we were eating terrific food all while watching the sun go down. “Are you waiting for the green flash?” a waitress asked. Apparently as the sun sneaks below the horizon you can see a green flash. Terri had never seen it and neither had I … how many times in one’s life does one actually take the time to watch a sunset anyhow? But we would this time and as the sun set behind the gentle blue Pacific Ocean I did see a tiny green flash (see picture). Unfortunately Terri didn’t see it. But her disappointment was temporary because we could resist dessert and all had very naughty desserts that were equally as excellent as our entrees. 

Wow, we thought, Hawaii can’t get much better than this. But we were wrong.

There was another movie on the beach that night but we decided to give “Home Alone” a pass and retired to our condominium home to spend the rest of our evening digesting and doing nothing in particular. And this is the way it should be in Hawaii. We were here to relax, not to beat speed records getting to every beach and attraction in the area.

Anyhow we were going to the Big Island early in the morning and we needed our sleep!