Day 2, our first full day in Oahu!
Well that's not a bad way to wake up! Of course, Todd and I were up with the sun - or well before the sun, actually. I enjoyed watching these folks do some yoga out on the lawn below.
Todd went to the gym and I went on a hunt for coffee. There was a Starbucks on the property, but eh... if I'm in Hawaii, I want good Kona coffee! So I searched for another place and spotted this cool bird (who's blending into the rocks) on my way there.
CHEEEEEE HOO! I found delicious coffee!
On my way back to the room with my coffees in hand, I saw a hula lesson being taught.
After coffee on the balcony, everyone got ready and headed to the Super Pool.
And of course, in true Todd and Colleen fashion, we had cocktails for breakfast. Or brunch, since this was probably close to about 10:30 am and we had been awake since about 5:30 am. At least Todd chose an appropriate breakfast alcoholic beverage.
They didn't have mimosas so I went with the Bikini Blonde Lager and a breakfast sandwich. These sandwiches were SO good, we ate them almost every day of the trip! We decided it was the toasted English muffin that made these sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches so yummy.
We also went to the beach for a bit before we had some late day activities planned.
The water was cool, but not too cold for me to go in - and if you know me, you know I don't get in the water if it's below 80 degrees!
We went back upstairs after some time at the beach and someone had left this hat. Todd and Grant thought Kern might like it, so they grabbed it! (Author's note: Kern did, indeed like this hat!)
While Natalie and I were getting ready for our afternoon activities, Grant and Todd had some super spicy Awful Waffle fries down at the Tapa Bar!
Our destination for the afternoon was the Iolani Palace. The ride there was... interesting. We caught a ride from a cab driver who recited some poetry but he was really sweet but I was pretty certain if Todd or either of the kids had glanced at me, we would have erupted in a fit of laughter.
Once he dropped us off, we began a quick tour of "things to see around the Iolani Palace" - including the Keli'iponi Hale, or the Coronation Pavilion. The Coronation Pavilion was built for the coronation of King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiolani on February 12, 1883. It was originally near the King Street steps but they moved it here, and now it's used for the gubernatorial inaugurations.
We've been out of the cab for 3 minutes and Grant is already boiling.
Bailey family with the Coronation Pavilion at the Iolani Palace.
Our next stop was the King Kamehameha Statue. King Kamehameha is one of the most famous Hawaiian kings as he united the Hawaiian islands in 1810 and was the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Well, we're no royalty, that's for sure...
Interestingly, this statue of King Kamehameha I now stands in front of the Hawaiian Supreme Court and it was actually the second such statue since the first one was lost at sea on it's way over from Europe! But... surprise! The original was eventually found in 1912 and now resides near King Kamehameha's birth place on the Big Island.
The Iolani Palace is the only royal residence in all of the United States of America. This is actually the second palace on the site as the first one had to be razed due to severe termite damage. Sadly, the palace as you see it today was only in use about 15 years before the monarchy was overthrown in 1893.
And here it is with the four of us in front of it!
I found it very interesting that they still have a burial ground on the Iolani Palace grounds. The sign reads, "Site of the first Royal Mausoleum and Crypt, built in 1825 to house the remains of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu who died in England in July 1824. Used as a royal tomb until 1865." Queen Kamamalu was actually (gulp) King Kamehameha's half SISTER. They died of measles on a diplomatic visit to King George IV in England. Although both Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu were both moved to the Royal Mausoleum, many chiefs are still buried here, such as King Kamehameha I's great-grandfather, Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku (or King Keawe II as he is sometimes referred to because that name is just too difficult for me to pronounce!)
Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono which means, "the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." This was a quote from King Kamehameha III.
Making our way around the neighborhood that surrounds the Iolani Palace, we visited the Nagasaki Peace Bell which was a gift from the survivors of the Nagasaki atomic bombing to the city of Honolulu. It's topped by a crane, which is the Japanese symbol for peace.
A wreath lays on the plaque below the tower speaks to the atrocities of war and the survivors of Nagasaki dedicated this bell "as a symbol of the rebirth of Nagasaki and the desire of its citizens for peace in the future through sincere reconciliation and reflection on the folly of war."
The Hawaii State Capitol building is... not pretty. It reminds me of either Boston City Hall or the Florida State Capitol building (the ugly part in the back, not the pretty front).
But out in front of the Hawaii State Capitol building is an EXACT replica of the Liberty Bell! This was a gift from the United States government on July 4, 1950 as a symbol of democracy and freedom. Hawaii was only a territory at the time. There's one replica in each state (usually near the state house) and one in France (the country that cast all of these bells), one in San Juan, Puerto Rico, two in DC, one in Japan and one in St. Thomas, the USVI.
Between the state capitol building and the Iolani Palace is a statue of what Natalie and I dubbed our favorite Hawaiian Queen - Queen Lili'uokalani (Lee-lee-oo-oo-kah-lah-nee) which was dedicated in 1982. She was the last sovereign monarch of Hawaii, a composer and a victim and prisoner of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. More on that in a bit!
We got our audio guides before our 3:45 pm tour (get their early because you have to go to the Iolani Barracks to get the guide!) and began our tour in the grand hall with it's beautiful etched glass windows.
The staircase in the Grand Hall is made of Hawaiian koa wood which is original to the palace. The royal family's private suites were upstairs with the more public facing rooms downstairs. I LOVED the carpet in here - both on the floor and on the staircase! You have to wear shoe coverings because of it.
Also in the Grand Hall, you will find portraits of the kings and queens of the Kingdom of Hawaii, including King Kamehameha I and his wife/niece Miriam Kekauluohi. It's actually the only oil painting of any of the Great King's wives... and he had a lot (at least 16 but possibly up to 30!) After Kamehameha I passed away, she married Kamehameha II, which was her step son (so to speak? He was the son of one of Kamehameha I's other wives).
Oh wait, there he is. Miriam's second husband. King Kamehameha II was next on the wall, alongside one of his other bride's, Queen Kamāmalu.
This is the State Dining room as it was laid out for the monarchy, but after the monarchy was overthrown this room was actually used as Senate Chambers for the territory/state of Hawaii.
King Kamehameha IV had the first flushing toilets installed at the Iolani Palace in 1856 (of course, that was when the old palace was here).
I really liked the throne room which was used for formal audiences and balls.
The official website says, "The Throne Room is near the Grand Hall and is lavishly decorated in crimson and gold. As the largest room in the Palace, King Kalākaua held formal audiences, diplomatic receptions and state balls here. The two thrones were for King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani, however they disliked sitting on them and preferred to stand while receiving guests. The trial of Queen Liliʻuokalani occurred in this room, where she was found guilty and imprisoned in an upstairs room in the Palace"
He's the REAL prince in this photo, folks.
When we entered the King's Room upstairs, all I could think of was the scene from Dinner For One where the butler James gets drunk and repeatedly trips over the tiger skin rug. The same procedure as every year, James!!
King Kalākaua’s suite has not only his blue bedroom in the photo above this one, but also an adjoining library with some of his possessions.
He also had one of the first telephones in Honolulu installed in his library! (Who exactly do you call if no one else has a telephone?)
The music room was where the royal family gathered to listen to and compose music. Our girl Liliʻuokalani composed one of Hawaii's most famous songs here called Aloha Oe.
There was a small room upstairs with a couple of royal gowns that were so beautiful - including this reproduction made in 2016 of a gown made of peacock feathers that Queen Kapi'olani wore to Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 in London.
The last and most important room in the palace is the Imprisonment Room. Queen Liliʻuokalani took over as monarch after her brother died in 1891. She was a popular ruler among native Hawaiians but had sought to limit some of the power and rights of the Europeans and Americans on the islands which was unpopular and likely led to her demise. Because of this, a coup took place in January 1893 against Queen Liliʻuokalani and insurgents ultimately established the Republic of Hawaii. Even though she yielded authority to the new provisional government, she protested. According to the Iolani Palace website, after a failed attempted by Hawaiian royalists’ to restore Queen Liliʻuokalani to power in 1895, the queen was arrested and forced to abdicate her throne. She then endured a public trial in which she was convicted and later sentenced to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of the Palace for nearly eight months.
The Imprisonment Room is where the queen was held and denied visitors except for one lady companion. During her imprisonment, the queen’s day consisted of her daily prayers, reading, music composition, crochet-work and quilting.
You can probably visit the entire palace in about an hour or so, and it's a great way to get some culture into an otherwise beachy vacation. The banyan tree park area next to the Iolani Palace is really cool so that's where we went next. These trees were planted by Queen Kapiʻolani in the 1880s. Grant for scale, because they are really tall!
It was originally just two trees that has since grown to look like this! The banyan tree is actually a fig tree with roots that grow out from the branches (known as aerial prop roots) and then grow down to the ground, becoming a sort of secondary trunk.
After our visit to the Iolani Palace, we walked to the Aloha Beer Company where we were going to get some dinner,. We passed the Kawaiahaʻo Church, which is made of coral. It was built between 1836 and 1842 with 14,000 pounds of coral!
You know I love a good superlative. We also walked by the Hawaiian Mission Houses, which includes Ka Hale La’au - the OLDEST wooden house in Hawaii dating back to 1821! It was a pre-cut kit house that was shipped from Boston (!!) all the way around Cape Horn (because the Panama Canal didn't exist yet).
Strangely, there is a large number of chickens in Honolulu. And they're very vocal.
We finally made it to the Aloha Beer Company and we sat outside and enjoyed the warm, end of summer air.
After dinner, Todd had to go to the bathroom and he opened what he thought was the bathroom door but... nope! It was the actual brewery! Oops!
Aloha to the Aloha Beer Company! Natalie later said this was one of the most fun meals we had!
We got picked up in an Uber by a girl named Alexandria, who, when we mentioned the sunset, said that she could drop us off at a different spot at our hotel so we could have the best views of the sunset. While we waited, our kids danced for us.
And the waves splashed over the rocks which made for a cool picture.
We could see Diamond Head from where we were sitting, too.
Alas, there were too many clouds to see the sun actually dip behind the horizon. But it was still beautiful anyway!
While we were all hanging around after the sunset, we watched this guy battle a big fish!
He caught a papio, which is a type of jack fish known as Ulua. The papio is the juvenile Ulua. Natalie felt very bad for the fish as he fought very hard 😭
Grant's fluffy hair profile while he walks along the rocks after sunset.
Good night, Diamond Head. See you tomorrow.
I liked this picture I took of our hotel resort while we walked back to our room. In 1968, the resort's Rainbow Tower was opened, with the world's LARGEST AND TALLEST ceramic tile mosaic on the front and back of the building. It is an image of a rainbow measuring 26 feet wide and 286 feet tall, which required over 16,000 individual tiles. There was a big restoration project of this mural and it's sister mural which is on the other side of the building - that was completed in 2014 and there are now about 31,000 individual tiles!
The AKALĀ Chapel and Gazebo is used for weddings - maybe I'll consider this for my next wedding! (wink wink... I'm becoming a nun if anything ever happens to Todd!)
Cause come on... no one has as much fun as we do together!
The kids wanted to go swimming in the Tapa Pool after sunset so they did... and I went upstairs to our room on the 15th floor that overlooked the pool and took a picture of them. See if you can spot them! They're all out of the pool sitting at the end of the middle row of chairs. They're actually waving at me although I don't know where Grant is in this picture!
Next up, day 3!
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