Today was planned as an early day out of the condo...but it was raining and PLAN 1 was to go to an outdoor flea market. So, a bit of lounging....Then, Holy Crap, Batman! - the toilet got stopped up due to overenthusiastic use. This took some time to remedy and dampened our spirits more than the rain did. But full speed ahead after that and on the road by 11. We intended to first stop a few miles down the road from our condo at the Buddhist Byodo-In Temple to imbibe of its its peaceful and Zen-like atmosphere. However, at the obviously marked turnoff our GPS said we stilll had .2 more miles to go. We hesitated and that was all she wrote. No turning around since we were caught in a Saturday traffic jam, orange cones and all because of tree trimming taking place for several miles along the road. We did not know then, but more misfires were in store later in the day.
The flea market is a huge one held on the grounds of Aloha Stadium in Honolulu 3 times a week. Lots of clouds in Honolulu, but no more rain, which allowed us to walk through row after row of stalls selling T-shirts, bric-a-brac and assorted kitsch - right up our alley.
Cute bookmarks, magnets, keychains....
Also found some jewelry vendors. There were about 5 booths throughout the market area but they looked like they were owned by the same people.
Pam did find ukeleles galore though some in the many hundreds of dollars range. This was more like an outside store - not the flea market pricing we expected. There were two different booths. One had Kala, Luna brand, etc - along with near-store pricing. The other one (in the photo) only sold Pacific Ukulele brand ukuleles. We've never heard of this brand so would need to do some research if we was in the market.
And....parrots that we almost bought but couldn't figure out how to get home in one piece.
The two shell trivets we bought for the back patio table were more than what Norm had in mind at 3 bucks each.
By the time we left and stopped for a Taco Bell (buy one burrito supreme, get one free), it was midafternoon.
Then began a series of fits and starts. We drove nearly to the doorstep of the Bishop Museum when we realized it was less than 2 hours to closing time. It would take more than that to do justice to the place and also get our 40 bucks worth of culture. So, quick change of plans and a reset of the GPS to head to Pali Lookout for the view. Almost there when all traffic was made to take a U-turn - the tunnel was closed because of rain-caused issues beyond. Was this really happening to us?
Okay, change of plans and we would visit instead the nearby Queen Emma's Summer Palace in historic Nu'uanu Valley. This turned out to be open, but closing in 20 minutes. We visited the gift shop and then went into the foyer of the house which permitted us to see every room at a glance. Very nicely maintained, but nothing remarkable - certainly no Versailles. But then, Emma was a Queen more or less in name only, since white guys actually called the shots.
We then set the GPS for Diamond Head State Monument, but got sidetracked on the way to visit the Honolulu Memorial/National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also called Punchbowl because it is located in Pouwaina Crater on 112 acres - an impressive site, with wonderful ground stone and glass maps of various theatres of action of World War II in the Pacific.
After that, back on track to Diamond Head State Monument to climb the crater for the fabulous view. Unfortunately, at the entrance the guard told us that the last climb was at 4:30 and it was then 5:15. Aaarrrrgh! We did get a couple photos of the view before heading home.
By now we both needed a Starbuck's fix really bad, so on the way out of town we stopped for just that. A Subway was next door, so we decided to buy a couple subs to eat when we got back to the condo. The help was so slow that we decided to instead wait to buy one from a Subway right by our condo building.
As we got closer to the tunnel on H3, the rain started up again.
A traffic jam-free drive home, only to find our local Subway closed. Another Aaarrrrgh! Wine would have to do instead.
Tomorrow we swim and boogie with our new boogie boards and watch the SuperBowl.
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