20090214 Honolulu
Link To Pictures
Up, breakfast in, then out to the Bishop Museum. 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. She was the inheritor of the various belongings of the Hawaiian royal family. Hawaii was annexed to the US in 1893. The first building was erected in 1889, the second in 1899.
We looked around briefly until the garden tour started. Dolores took a bunch of pictures. The trees and plants were explained to us; ti leaves, breadfruit tree, monkeypod tree, noni tree (blech!! - terrible smell) and many others. Good tour.
We walked over to the cafe and had lunch.
Immediately afterward, the show in the planetarium began. Under the tour guide, we navigated to Tahiti and back using the stars for navigation. Very interesting.
Then we went to see lava melting in the science building. A large exhibit deals with all the various aspects of volcanos, including interactive exhibits and play areas for kids. A volcano has been built that has a bubbling mass of "lava" in it which erupts every few minutes. The lava melt was done by a demonstrator who brought cinder-block materials and borax to 2700*F and then rotated the furnace so the mixture would flow out. It did, into a flat area, and formed a flowing mass that looked just like lava flowing from a volcano.
Then we walked around the Hawaiiana from the royal family and looked at a few other things until we got tired of walking slowly.
We departed for the Pearl Harbor Mall's Navy Exchange. This store is the largest exchange I've ever seen. It's a large building with two floors. It was well patronized today due to sales (50% off some things). We picked up some small things for gifts and a couple of necessities.
Then we drove my old route into Honolulu (Dillingham Blvd, King Street) and through downtown out to King and University's NW corner to Rainbow Books, a great used-book store. They were running a sale also, so we picked up some paperbacks for the return trip.
Now it was getting on, so we elected to go to the club for a small dinner and a glass. Did so, and chatted with Lyle Holden for a bit.
Then back to the condo, tended the cats, read some of a book, and composed these notes. A good day.
Made in RapidWeaver