Travels To Hawaii, Day 7
Today I climbed Diamond Head. I am sure you know, if you have ever watched reruns of Hawaii Five-O or Magnum PI, Diamond Head is an extinct volcano serving as the towering background of the city of Honolulu. It glistens in the sunlight, and I understand early explorers mistakenly thought this to be evidence of diamonds. From the backside, one can see the bowl-shaped crater of the dead volcano. The climb itself is challenging, but not overly strenous. I make a yearly trek up Stone Mountain in Atlanta, and can attest that it is more difficult than this journey. However, I have been anxious to make this climb ever since learning of the trip to Hawaii. I even bought a shirt proclaiming on the front "I Climbed Diamond Head" before the fact. Since I bought it and I am a cheapskate, I would wear it regardless. But it is now nice not to be a vacation-shirt-hypocrite. And some of these guys definitely can be labeled as such. Yesterday I saw an elderly gentleman, actually a bit older than just elderly, wearing a shirt proclaiming "Official Bikini Inspector". Could you imagine your dad, or grandfather, walking around with that message plastered across his chest? And, thinking about being a vacation-shirt-hypocrite, I've been thinking about buying and adorning one of the popular Obama t-shirts with his patented message "I Believe". I could take a picture, and let it be my new Blog Portrait.
The view from the top was crystal clear and, of course, beautiful.
For the afternoon we hung out at the beach for several hours. I took a walk far to the end, probably a mile or so. My daughter said she could see me in the distance as a large, white dot, bobbing on the horizon. I took that as an insult. I've video of the beach I would like to post. It shows some of the surfers and their amazing tricks. The problem is that, inadvertantly, I also videoed a pair of lovers on the beach. Oblivious to my camera, they are quite busy doing their thing'. And I do not think such stuff is appropriate for my blog. My question- what do you do when you are next to two people on the beach, doing that kind of stuff? I would try to look in the other direction and pretend they were just part of the landscape. It was awfully difficult.
Late tonight we transferred to a hotel on Waikiki. It's a beautiful place. I may or may not write more tomorrow. They charge for internet access; heck, they charge for everything! That's o.k. Earlier I said that a rainy day in Hawaii is still a good day. Being broke in Hawaii isn't so bad, either
Addendum: We walked into a small, Asian restaurant, for a bite to eat. Along the wall they had these tiny little aquariums, maybe ten-gallon containers, imprisoning these huge fish. This guy, pictured, must be about a foot long. He hardly has room to turn around. When I looked at him, it seemed he had sadness in his eyes. Maybe this is a way for a knowing customer to come in and select his next meal? I would like to go back and rescue the guy, if I can find a big enough bucket.
