Tour Guides for a Day

After meeting with our termite inspector (I'll have more to post on that lovely topic) we ventured into Honolulu again to pick up our nephew's wife and her sister, Mizuho who is visiting from Japan.



Our first stop was the Bishop Museum. "The Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. The Museum was established to house the extensive collection of Hawaiian artifacts and royal family heirlooms of the Princess, and has expanded to include millions of artifacts, documents and photographs about Hawai‘i and other Pacific island cultures."



We saw some beautiful kahilis which were feather standards for many of Hawaii's elite.



We also took the garden tour and learned a lot about the flora of Hawaii. This is a kukui (candlenut) tree. Oil from the kukui nut was used for light by ancient Hawaiians. We now use the nut to make kukui nut leis.



The hala tree (Pandanus)leaves were used to weave mats, toys, hats and other things. We also learned about breadfruit, sweet potato, naupaka and other wonderful plants.



After seeing many other beautiful things, we got to watch a lovely hula demonstration. The male dancer's name was Keola which I loved since we gave that name to our son. It means life in Hawaiian.



It was getting pretty late so we went to Kenny's Restaurant close by to grab a quick lunch. We'd never been there before. It was OK with generous servings and the service was friendly and efficient. Mom and I had a bowl of saimin which is a noodle dish. And no, it wasn't good for my glucose level but I only have it once a month.

Art had the chicken salad.



Miho and Mizuho had the kahlua pork, lomi lomi salmon, chicken long rice and sweet potato. They were adventurous to try the Hawaiian meal but they enjoyed it.



Mizuho was interested in seeing Pearl Harbor so we headed there. We'd heard that the crowds made it very difficult to go out to the Arizona Memorial. However, once we got there, Art was able to secure the last set of 3:00 PM tickets for the movie and boat ride to the memorial.



The Arizona Memorial is a somber beautiful place of remembrance for the sailors who perished there on December 7, 1941. The memorial sits right above where the Arizona sank.



The park ranger told us that there were many sets of brothers or fathers and sons aboard ship because at that time they used to put family members together on ships. Therefore, quite a number of families ended up losing more loved ones on that terrible day.



Art was photographing the aircraft carrier when he noticed that lone sailor.



He loved it when that sailor suddenly waved at him... a friendly farewell as we headed back to shore.

We then went home where my nephew, Barry joined us for some homemade chili (which I served over greens with taco chips) and Zippy's broasted chicken. It was a most wonderful, full day of learning and discovery.