The ladies are headed to the Ala Moana Center for shopping this morning. Gary and I are headed to the beach. We’ve got a couple chairs and an umbrella reserved for us today, and we’re making use of the luxury. Tropical smoothies on the way!

The front page of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser today is about enforcement of the recent law passed banning short-term rentals without permits. Residents are not happy about Airbnb popping up in residential neighborhoods. These rentals also help drive up housing costs in a market that is already ridiculous.

There is a growing sense that Hawaii is better off managing tourism rather than promoting it. There is even a new program done in partnership with the Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau, Hawaii Tourism Authority and county governments. The campaign is called, “Kuleana,” which means responsibility. It’s a series of videos encouraging visitors to have cultural and environmental awareness among other things, such as avoiding illegal vacation rentals. Come here, spend money, don’t be a jerk is another way to put it.

Imagine living with wall-to-wall tourists who invade your small living space of an island. It never ends. To an extent I get it. I used to live in a tourist town. The chamber of commerce had to send letters to businesses reminding us to be nice to the tourists because they ensured we’d survive the lean winter months. We dealt with the irritation for three months or so in the summer. But when it’s like this 12 months a year and millions of people come during that time, yeah, it’s easy to get fed up with clueless tourists.

We do the best we can when visiting here. Frankly, I prefer to be called a frequent visitor as opposed to a tourist. We use glassware when possible as opposed to plastic or paper. We use reef safe sunscreen. We don’t run the air conditioner 24 hours a day. We respect other people, especially those who call this place home. We respect the culture, which has suffered a great deal of disrespect over the years — and not just from visitors. It’s basic human decency for the most part. A showing of aloha.

Finally getting to visit Iolani Palace. Speaking of behaving with kuleana, they are not fooling around here. A certain decorum is expected of those visiting the only royal palace in the United States. Photography is limited — no flash, no tripods and no video. Children are expected to be quiet and behaved. There are signs asking visitors to not touch anything. The palace is considered sacred ground. It was built in 1882 by King Kalakaua and was registered as a national historical landmark in 1962. It has been restored over decades to the way it once looked. There are some original furnishings and artifacts that have been restored and many replications. The search for more original material is ongoing. The koa staircase, though, is original and impressive.

The whole experience of visiting is quite moving. It is the site of both happy and dark times in Hawaiian history. Gowns for Queens Kapi’olani and Lili’uokalani are on display as is the quilt the latter worked on while imprisoned in the palace after her dethroning. The illegal overthrowing of the monarchy is mentioned in the self-led audio tour as is the Apology Resolution, made jointly by the United States Congress in 1993, and signed by President Bill Clinton. The resolution acknowledges that:

The overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum.

If you have any interest in Hawaiian history, Iolani Palace is not to be missed. Overthrowing a sovereign nation led to tragic consequences that are still felt today. Sound familiar?

I’ve included a bunch of cool pictures from the palace tour below.

Gary and Sara are taking Aria for the evening while Lisa and I head to dinner and hula at the Halekulani’s House Without a Key. This is always a highlight of trips to Waikiki for us. Tonight we’re watching Kanoe Miller (nee Kanoelehua Kaumeheiwa), Miss Hawaii 1973, who has been doing this for more than 40 years.

Lisa and I always enjoy watching more authentic hula, and it’s on display all over Waikiki more than it used to be. King Kalakaua is known for reinstating hula after Queen Ka’ahumanu, the favorite wife of King Kamehameha, banned it in 1830 following her conversion to Christianity. The Protestant missionaries at the time were more than happy to see it go. We’re glad it’s back and celebrated as a way of telling stories!

Off to bed. It’s still very humid tonight. Miss those trade winds! Aloha po.

Get caught up on the adventure.

While everyone else heads to the Honolulu Zoo, I’m visiting The Ukulele Site’s new Honolulu location in the Kaka’ako neighborhood. So far this hasn’t gone as planned. Got here on the bus just fine. The website says the store opens at 10 a.m. It does not. It opens at 11 o’clock, and I’m 45 minutes early. There’s not much around other than coffee, food and car lots. So, I’m hanging out waiting for someone to show.

The shop has opened, and there’s a new wrinkle. I talked to the manager last week and he was going to print out the list of ukuleles I want to test drive, bring a few down from the North Shore shop if necessary, and let Eli know I’m coming. There is no list, and Eli has no idea who I am. Ha! I’m a little surprised because the customer service is always great. That said, most of their sales come from online, and they are probably busy. So, whatever. I did bring in my own list, and the ukes I most want to try are here.

After an impressive bout of indecisiveness, I’ve picked a really nice Kala solid wood instrument. It’s an exclusive Kala built for The Ukulele Site, and the concept was born in a Mexican restaurant in Wahiawa. (That makes me laugh.) The idea was to create an affordable all wood instrument. No fancy appointments or binding, but it’s a solid spruce top with a solid mahogany body and an ebony fretboard. The contrasts are striking. The sustain is long and the volume loud. With spruce being a soft wood the ukulele will sound better with age, and it sounds great now. This is a step up from my Islander, which is acacia laminate. Both will be used quite a bit back on the mainland. I’m having the Kala set up with a low G string.

Eli not only sells in the Kaka’ako store but is also the tech for sales made here. Because of that, he expects the uke to ship sooner than if I had purchased online or at the main North Shore location. The Ukulele Site is the gold standard for setup. Cosmetic issues are fixed, sharp edges of frets are shaved down and the action is set to preference. Good ukes are made to sound better. I’m just thrilled to have a high-quality instrument that came in under my budget — and with a case.

After returning to Waikiki I join Lisa and Aria in the water. Aria has embraced the ocean after a little trepidation. We’re heading to Duke’s for an early dinner late this afternoon. Lisa and I always look forward to visiting this place for a meal…or three. Love that hula pie!

After a long walk from central Waikiki to the Honolulu Zoo in the far east end and an afternoon in the water, Aria is toasted. The trade winds have eased up quite a bit since we’ve been here so the sticky heat has helped with fatigue. Aria is passed out at the table in Duke’s while the happy hour band plays on the deck below us at volume 11.

Aria will leave Hawaii with a couple of pearls. It’s my idea and it’s a gimmick, but she’s doing the routine where a customer picks an oyster from a bowl, the attendant opens it, and the customer gets to keep the pearl. The jewelry shops do this and then want the person to set it in a $300 gold necklace. We’ll just take the pearl, thanks. It’s a pink one. It was only $15 and they’ve let Aria choose another oyster for free. This one has a white pearl. I’ll keep them for now, and when she gets older she can decide how she’d like to add them to jewelry.

Lisa, Gary and I are headed toward the Hilton Hawaiian Village for their Friday night fireworks display. They do this 10 to 15 minute show all year, and it brings out quite a crowd. The walk is long for us, but that burns off dinner, which sadly did not include taro rolls. Duke’s used to serve them in their salad bar. I asked about that, and apparently they weren’t popular enough, so they switched to regular sourdough bread. Humph!

Tomorrow gets off to a mellow start and then Gary, Sara and I are going to Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu. I’m really looking forward to that. Aloha po.

Get caught up on the adventure.

Our travel agent called. The pool privileges we were supposed to have at the Sheraton Waikiki have been reinstated. It’s much more family-friendly than the pool at the Moana Surfrider. This makes the girls very happy, and it’s only a couple blocks away.

The day starts with a breakfast buffet at the Moana Surfrider’s Beach Club. It’s a welcome addition to the package. They have beer, wine and snacks in the afternoon, so we’ll be back later. Great views of the beach from the restaurant.

We’ve never been here in the summer before, but the beach seems more crowded than I ever remember. There are boats everywhere, surfers, stand-up paddle boarders, way too many helicopters, and of course swimmers. There is still room to carve out a niche in the sand for the day, but mileage may vary depending on where a person wants to settle down.

An interesting fact: Waikiki is a manufactured beach. The name itself means “spouting waters,” and there used to be springs here that fed into wetlands. In the late 1800s the area was turned into a beach. The sand had to come from elsewhere, and it still does today. Erosion is always a problem in Waikiki with the building of hotels too close to the shoreline, as well as the construction of seawalls. Climate change affecting sea level rise is now taking a foot of beach away every year. It’s an economic race to keep ahead of erosion with more than 40% of Hawaii’s tourist industry revenue coming from this small part of Oahu.

We have joined a mass of humanity at a central location to wait for an excursion pickup. Apparently half of Waikiki is going somewhere else today. We’ll be leaving with Oahu Nature Tours, which is an ecotour company that goes all over the island. Today we’re headed into the Manoa Valley to hike up to Manoa Falls, an area that Jurassic Park and LOST  filmed in. Lisa and I hiked this trail in 2006 on our honeymoon.

Joining us on the hike today is a middle-aged couple from Australia and a younger German woman. Aria is talking non-stop to our guide, Steve, who is dealing with her really well. He’s earning his tip!

We’ve talked on the drive to the trailhead about the major controversy brewing at Mauna Kea on the Big Island. After a decade of permit processing and court battles the Thirty Meter Telescope was to begin construction on the mountain six weeks ago. Native Hawaiian protectors have staged a large protest demanding the TMT be built elsewhere, as they view Mauna Kea as sacred land. (The only other construction option is the Canary Islands of Spain.) As measured from the ocean floor to the peak, Mauna Kea is more than 33,000 feet, making it the largest mountain in the world and far from light pollution — perfect for astronomy. But, it’s also a huge telescope to be built with many others already on the summit.

There have been as many as 2,000 people on the mountain blocking construction access and the highway in general. Law enforcement has backed off after initially coming on strong. No one really knows how this is going to end, though Steve mentions that when it snows up there, people may dissipate.

This isn’t really science vs. cultural. It’s more about anger over broken promises, mismanagement of land, and disregard for native wishes. There is a long history of that in the islands. White Americans overthrowing your monarchy will do that. Protests have spilled over to Oahu, and I’ve seen someone wearing a T-shirt promoting it.

The hike to the falls is not as wet as the spring Lisa and I traveled here. I’ve been a little worried about Gary. The trail is rated as moderate, but that is relative. He’s working pretty hard. Meanwhile, Aria is leading our guide. Kid’s got moxie!

The view of Manoa Falls is nice, but the journey there is most interesting to me. Everyone lives and Aria gets Gary and Sara down the trail while the rest of us hang back. On the return to Waikiki we pass the Baskin-Robbins where Barack Obama got his first job.

Following an afternoon in the pool where Aria seems happiest — she is a Pisces after all — I’m taking her shopping. First up, the Honolulu Cookie Company. Aria likes her cookies. She tries out quite a few free samples. I buy a couple things and they throw in bonus cookies, presumably for her. She doesn’t like the pineapple cookie, saying, “I don’t want to waste it,” as she eats the whole thing. Quickly.

I take her to the International Market Place, which used to be trinket central. Several years ago it was completely reimagined and the Miramar Hotel right behind it, where Lisa and I first stayed in 2004, was demolished to make room for high end shops: Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Rolex and Tesla, among others. Because a tourist is going to buy a car and ship it home?

I get Aria to pose with a bronze statue of Don Ho in the open courtyard, but she keeps grabbing him…there. And the more I tell her to knock it off, the more she does it, which is straight from the Kid Operation Manual. She finally relents and I snap a picture.

I’m getting Aria a hibiscus hair clip that she really likes and some dried mango at one of the 37 ABC Stores in Waikiki. All Blocks Covered indeed.

Tonight’s activity is a luau. Lisa and I have been to Germaine’s and Paradise Cove on Oahu. This evening it’s the Royal Hawaiian Luau, and it looks to be a different experience. For starters, food is served on china rather than paper plates. And they do poi much better, mixing it with other food rather than serving alone. We’ve gone classy!

The show has been great. The emphasis is on Waikiki history and the ali’i, which makes sense as the luau is at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Having read Hawaiian history I appreciate the different approach. Various actors are brought out representing some of Hawaii’s nobility: King Kamehameha, King Kalakaua, Queen Kapi’olani, Queen Lili’uokalani, and Princess Ka’iulani.

They do a nice job with the hula, but like all the luau shows, there is Samoan fire knife dancing and the wild hip swinging of Tahitian dance. Neither is authentic Hawaiian culture but it gets lumped into these shows and people think of it as Hawaiian.

As an aside, the hostess of the luau has subtly and with aloha mentioned the struggle at Mauna Kea. If guests don’t know what she is talking about it flew right over their heads.

Off to bed now. The ohana is heading to the zoo tomorrow. I’m taking a bus into downtown Honolulu to find a new ukulele. Aloha po.

Get caught up on the adventure.