February 20 - Honolulu first look

     We've got three weeks on the Island of Oahu, home to Honolulu, Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor and the Battleship Arizona Memorial, and the big surfing at Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore.  But there are plenty of lesser known attractions that we hope to explore.  The island is home to nearly a million people.  Compared to the Big Island's 190,000, Maui's 144,000, and Kauai's 66,000, it's obviously much more crowded.  Yet in our four days here so far, we've hiked on a great pali (cliff) trail with way fewer people than along the Na Pali coast, explored free botanical gardens with a huge variety of tropical trees, kayaked over a massive off-shore sand bar following green sea turtles that we shared with very few tourists, and driven through Honolulu twice during rush hour at speeds that, while somewhat traffic jammed, seemed like driving the Monte Carlo Rally compared to the snailcreep through east Kauai.
     We've only scratched the surface.  I'll do some quick catching up now that we're at an Airbnb for five days in a small town north of Honolulu.

 We spent the first night at Nancy's place overlooking the city and Waikiki.  This is a view of Diamond Head from the front porch.  I fixed hamburger/asparagus stroganoff on potatoes with the same view from the kitchen window.

     Nancy is about five years older, and way more traveled, than we.  When we walked into her living room I was impressed by her collection of Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic art.  And she has a fairly large library on her shelves.  A fellow booklover, I thought to myself.  It helps to know what people are interested in you if wish to engage them in conversation.  As I scanned the titles I realized that nearly all of them pertained to Astrology.  Hmm, I guess we'll keep to travel topics.  

     She was a very gracious host, and except for having a major street  right outside our bedroom window heading up the hill towards other neighborhoods, with the attendant loud trucks, souped up Japanese coupes, and motorcycles, it was a nice place to stay.  When we finally figured out to close the windows in our room at around 6 am it wasn't too bad.  

      Before heading over the hump of the island to our next Airbnb, and since it was a rare rainy day, we decided to visit the Bishop Museum, a huge complex dedicated to Hawaiian history, culture, and natural science.