Our daughter left on Friday night. Eighteen hours later Pamela was back in Jensen Beach, FL. It was the start of Memorial Day weekend. What do we do? Pamela had kick started our sense of adventure. On Saturday, we decided to walk up to the Farmer’s Market near Diamond Head. We love walking under the Monkey Pod trees.
The roots of these Monkey Pods are coming through the paved path, thus you can see where the majority of runners go on the right side.Just imagine having Diamond Head as your view? On Monsarrat Avenue up to Diamond Head Road.
There are literally hundreds of people who attend the KCC Farmers market starting at 7:30A.M. I did eat some grilled corn on the cob and waited in a long line for an Italian sausage sub. Yummy!
At 7:30 AM. there are several hundred people already at the Diamond Head’s Farmers Market.
We then went the other way walking four miles to the port. The NCL’s ship, “American Pride,” was docked. We saw her at every island of our travels.
NCL does a 7 night cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. It is a popular way to quickly see all the islands and major sights.
We stopped at the Gordon Biersch Brewery and met a nice local couple Linda and Dave. Linda is a violin teacher, and her son is quite famous for making Ukulele’s on Oahu.
Linda works as a violin teacher and Dave her husband, now retired, takes care of her.
On Sunday, we drove to the famous Bishop Museum. It is the best portrayal of Hawaiian History. The Hawaiian Hall is fabulous. Kathie was surprised to find that in the early history of Hawaii venereal disease ran rapid in the islands and was killing many of the original natives. I liked the extensive history of the famous Olympic swimmer and surfer Duke Kahanamoku. It is a very interesting story, too, about Hawaii’s fight against annexation to the United States. Some people are still fighting to make Hawaii a separate nation.
The Hawaiian Hall at the Bishop Museum is an impressive place.There was an entire room on “weaving,” and making hats. A computer program placed a hat on us. We had fun.
We went back to PF Chang’s for an early dinner. It was there I met Hamad from Kuwait. He is studying computer science in Fullerton, CA. He is a very interesting young man who came over for a week and enjoyed cage shark viewing and parachuting. Hamad has no fear. He is my first Kuwaiti friend.
Picture courtesy of Hamad’s Facebook page.On Memorial Day, Kathie came up with the idea of going to Punchbowl to the famous Pacific-Cemetery Memorial Day ceremony. We stayed for three hours. We got caught up with the fabulous ceremony which featured a two jet fly-over. The first female Four Star General spoke, Lori Robinson. She spoke about such people as Ernie Pyle and the 98 contract workers who were murdered on Midway. The ceremony did bring tears to our eyes with stories of those that died, music, gun salute and taps. It was so well done. Before the ceremony, we did make it to the top of the creator for magnificent views of Honolulu.
Unlike Arlington Cemetery, the graves plaques are in the ground. It is an impressive cemetery.There was an extensive ‘Wreath Laying” at the ceremony.These two Vietnam veterans walking back after laying their wreath to the podium.A “Three Volley Rifle Salute” was part of the ceremony.The views on top of Punchbowl Cemetery is outstanding.Luckily, there was a cool wind blowing on Memorial Day.A family honoring a fallen veteran, probably another family member.
It was later on Memorial Day that we attended Oahu’s Lantern Lighting ceremony at Ala Mona Park. Lighted lanterns are set adrift to symbolize our love for those who have past and to generate hope for the future. It was estimated that over 42 thousand people attended. We thought of lost friends and family. It is a moving experience.
In late May the sun sets on the Northside of the island. Nevertheless, there are some beautiful sunsets our way.There are thousands of lanterns. They place them into the sea right after sunset.Every lantern had writing on it from a family member or friend.The Lantern ceremony honors the dead, and generates hope for the future. It is a sad, but uplifting event.
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