HAWAII !!!!!!!!

Fed up with the snow, cold and freezin' rain?    Say HAWAII!!!!!  Arrived in the midst of a little low pressure area rain storm but was soon changing to a light rain and by the time we reached our hotel, the rain had stopped and the sun was making an attempt to peek through those clouds. We spent most of our time that first night thinking back over the 30 or 40 times prior that we visited this state........all fond memories.........but the one that really stands out happened about 45 years ago.  We had attended a wedding and tried our hardest to find out where the bride and groom were heading to spent..................the honeymoon.......................WOW!!!!! how fortunate we were to find out that Hawaii was the destination and we had tickets to head that way also.  How awesome it would be to break in on them in the middle of this ........alone time!!!!!  Well    Margot was up to it since we had been married some 5-6 months prior and our honeymoon was interrupted by some guy by the name of MONTEZUMA!!!!!!!  Well we did give our friends a couple of days to consummate this marriage and then showed up at the hotel unannounced .   What a surprise look on their faces but they, by this time needed some company and who better than the two of us.  We sat and chattered about how the honeymoon was going and I guess in order to change the subject somewhat it was decided to take a walk to the International Market for some dinner. After dinner, I remember walking back to the hotel, our two ladies about 10 steps in front of us.  Low and behold, before we could exit the market two sailors showed up on either side of our ladies and tried to make conversation.  Wonder what the outcome would have been if our gals knew we were not 10 paces behind them.  Needless to say,  the sailors were........SUNK...........

I wanted to originally finish this entire posting while sipping Mai Tai's but.......unfortunately....one thing led to another and I found that ................beach time  certainly outweighed..........writing time. Wanted desperately to bring home a tan that would make the neighbors just  jealous as all hell.  OH....how boyish!!!!!!!  I actually carried my camera with me as much as possible. My intentions were to youtube a collection of pictures with music about the colors and shapes seen on Waikiki or around that area.  Started out as a lot of fun but midway, I found that carrying that camera was just a pain in the butt so the few times that I left it  back at the hotel, I could have probably have the best photos.  We met up with 5 guys one night on the beach playing the best dixie land jazz I have heard from my days in Oleans,   another preservation jazz band.  These guys were all members of the United States Marine Corp, Pacific group band and the jazz they played was just outstanding.  Guess we stood there for close to an hour listening to this music with about 50-75 other people.  Now, all in all I have about 90 photo;s but If I do go the youtube route it will be strictly private for my blog.

At any rate, HAWAII is the right place to be just to hang back and relax.  The only depressing scene is the amount of homeless street people there are that are beginning to show up sitting on street corners. Guess it's just the warm weather.  It was funny to see the local Honolulu police show up with backup to move some of these unfortunate people  from the corners of the big hotels on Waikiki to the lesser visited corners each morning only to have these unfortunate people back in their usual spot an hour later.  They do not hurt anyone or harass anyone or even speak to anyone unless someone speaks to them first and they will carry on a very respectful conversion...............guess it's  just the way they look with long hair, beards, no shoes, old clothes and usually an old plastic sack filled with tin cans  or other collectibles...............come to think of it they look similar to a lot of beach bums............but without a surfboard.  They actually sit for hours, some with little portable radio's talking amongst themselves.   The very next morning here come the police, once again to move them to another corner ...............outside the view of us fortunate tourist. The other thing that has popped up since our last visit some 10 years ago are the amount of street entertainers..........anything from a Don Ho want to be to mimes...........who say nothing but move with ingenious simple moves.

Anyway, everyone takes photo's of the beautiful sunset or the beautiful colored flowers but few take photo's of anything else.  Bikinis are a great subject...............who should wear one................and who should not wear one but who really cares.   It will come out in my youtube.................as soon as I can get some hula music to  insert.    Meanwhile  here is a sample.

We did find several nice drinking holes.     One  was the Banyan Tree bar  at the Moana Hotel.  Especially at sunset when the music starts.  Great Mai Tai's  @  $10.75 each  but sip them slowly,  also they can sneak up on you.  A good restaurant was LuLu's at the Park Shore Hotel just at the north end of Waikiki and across from the park. Reasonably priced and has a good choice of foods.  Of course the Cheescake factory is on top of anyones list located just south of the Moana hotel and across the street from International Market. 


Stay tuned for more!!!!! ALOHA AND MAHALO