This show was on the back porch at our hotel.
The week has gone too fast. Tomorrow we catch our plane for the trip home - 5 hours to LA - 3 hours of layover - 5 hours to Atlanta - then 1 hour home to Tallahassee.
We had great weather and lots of fun. We mostly just enjoyed the tropical atmosphere in January. The Christmas tourists had all gone home. It has been 80 air / 80 water here. It is a little cooler than summer - but not much. I have not used my light jacket or sweater once.
Transportation is always interesting to me. Most of the way over we were on an Airbus 330. We had 10 hours straight in the air. We each had one carry-on bag - so there was not need to wait for luggage. At the airport we caught an Uber Car straight to the hotel. Uber is a new service where you use you iPhone to summons a cab - you see the cab coming on a map. No money is exchanged - it all comes off your account.
The next day we were so excited we walked over 8 miles. We did a lot of shopping but bought very little.
The next day we rented a car by our hotel and drove a circle around the island - visiting the Aloha Bowl Swap Meet - then Dole plantation - then supper at Haleiwa along the North Shore. We paid a visit to Kailua where President Obama was staying - then took the tunnel thru the mountain back to Waikiki.
The next day we decided to try the bus. You can go anywhere on the island for $2.50. To our surprise when boarding the bus - if you showed your medicare card - a ride was $1.00.
Lulu had conference duties - so most of that time - I just walked around and enjoyed the scenery - the people - and the science. I visited our old condo - The Waikiki Banyan - that we rent from Doris. I think back to the first time when she rented it to us for $35 a night. That is a 4 room suite - 22nd floor - facing the ocean - including a covered parking spot. I was surprises to see that you could still take the open air elevator right up to the 22nd floor - no security key required.
Yesterday - we went to the Honolulu Art Museum - then walked down to Honolulu Harbor - and took an Uber Car home. To our surprise it was the same driver as we got the time before. Small world Hawaii.
This morning - we visited the Father Damien Museum. It is in the only Catholic Church on Waikiki. It is very extensive. If you do not know the story - Hawaii had a leper colony in an isolated area of the island of Molokai. 8000 people were taken there when they came down with leprosy. Father Damien and Mother Marianne went there and lived among the patients. They helped set up a civilization for the patients. Father Damien died of the disease in 1889. We have visited the colony. It still exists - the patients still live there although they are no long contagious. They choose to live there. What a sad period of Hawaiian history.
Our hotel - the Moana Surfrider - was everything we imagined. The atmosphere was very friendly - top drawer service - and like a step into the past. The hotel was build in 1901. It was already 40 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. It was turned into a liberty retreat for the soldiers and sailors during the World War II.
It is time to go home now - the only thing that could make it better is if we get bumped from our plane going home. That has happened to us before. They fly you on the next flight and give you a credit slip good for another flight. We always volunteer.
As you get old - you often have the feeling that you are seeing things and places for the last time. That is how I have felt the last 8 times we were here. We could never afford so many trips - if Lulu was not here on business. Also - Lulu has been offered a professor job here many times - I have to be careful. One of these times - she may accept.
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