Honolulu 2014

It was winter again so i went to visit my father in Oahu. This year was a little different because my grandmother, who is 85 now, had moved to Oahu late last year. I don't think i had seen her since my shoulder surgery a few years ago. So this was actually a kind of family vacation. It was nice to get to see her. I remember when i was a little kind visiting my grandparents in Kentucky for the summer i would see postcards or maybe even playing cards from Hawaii in their house. I think i remember them watching Martin Denny on tv, but maybe that was just him on American Bandstand (aging my self here...). In her 70's she learned to play the Ukelele, so i'm happy she finally made it to Hawaii.

Sunset on the buildings from Magic Island.

 My dad moved into a new condo since the last time i visited. This is the view from the new place on a rainy night.

 And this is the view in the morning.

The weather was a bit off this time. The first two days it rained a lot, then it was muggy for a few days because the trade winds had disappeared. When the breeze came back it was in the wrong direction and the island was covered in VOG for a few more days. We didn't do as much driving or swimming as much this time either. Instead i did some shopping on the rainy days and got to visit downtown Honolulu.

Oahu has a major graffiti problem but this mural was pretty neat.

A statue at the state capital building. I think i could get a better picture of this in the right conditions. I may try that in the future if the opportunity is there.

The Honolulu library

It's always nice to go to Magic Island for sunset.

In the middle of downtown is the former Iolani Palace, the only palace in the United States that was ever used as a residence for an actual ruling monarch. Today is it a museum.

Behind the palace is a concourse with the State Legislature on the other side and a lot of cool Banyon trees in between.

Downtown Honolulu is a pretty nice place to walk around. There are a lot of trees and fountains, lots of places to eat, part of the University of Hawaii, a couple of concourses and monuments. I didn't see all of it but the one thing i noticed this visit is a rampant problem with spray paint vandalism that is prevalent all over the island. Even on tops of mountains, and even on some of the huge old trees they have growing around the city. It's not like New York in the 80's but it's bad enough it was a topic on the news. Apparently a big part of the problem is there is no position in the local government to take care of the problem. I should volunteer to create and fill that position.

The Hawaii State Capital building is really cool. Normally i hate 1960's architecture but this building is a remarkable exception.

On the inside i had expected a fountain or big statue in the center but it's just a plain mosaic.

So the way this thing works is there's a pool that stretches all the way around it. The far sides each have a conical cylinder the comes out of the water and supports a square segment. The upper layer rests on top of both squares and makes up the whole length of the builidng. From the perpendicular side you can walk straight through the building. There is at least an underground parking garage if not additional subsurface levels.

 Part of a big gate to an old church grounds downtown.

We mainly stayed in town but we did make a few excursions to other places on the island. I went up the crowded Diamond Head crater which offers some nice views of the eastern part of the island. We drove to some beaches and a temple on the north side.

The crater of Diamond Head. You drive into the crater to park your car.

From Diamond Head you can see how dense Honolulu can be.

A lot of people and visitors seem content to hang out on crowded beaches like this one. But if you care to do a little driving you can visit one like below.

It's always exciting to get your first glimpse of a new beach through the trees, even though you just left another beach.

We visited the Byodo-In Temple on the north side of the island. Also built in the 1960's, it's a simplified mock up of a larger 1,000 year old temple in Japan. I was a bit disappointed. The landscaping was not outstanding, the water was filthy and it had a tourist trap feel.