more Hawaii

Sorry to disappear like that. The week seems to have whipped past me without me noticing. Here's a continuation of our Hawaii adventures...

After spending half a day stomping around Pearl Harbour (and it is a fantastic historical site. We ran out of time so we didn't get to tour the USS Missouri or the submarine. Next time, we'll allot a entire day), we waited, and waited for the shuttle (which never arrived) to take us to the Aloha Stadium swap meet. We ended up hopping in the car and driving over. It's massive. Imagine walking around an entire football stadium full of stalls selling stuff. So. Much. Stuff. And it's all so cheap. Hubby and I bought some Hawaiian hats. We got a couple of Hawaiian shirts. You could buy quilts:


I bought a small cushion cover from this vendor. We also found a bakery stall and I bought some haupia flavoured Hawaiian Pretzels (OMG - deep fried crispy goodness) and hubby picked a coffee cake.

We drove over to Aiea for a little more shopping - hubby went to a bike store and I went to Fabric Mart. Wow. That place is amazing. So many fabrics! I mostly bought Hawaiian prints (for skirts & tops). I think my jaw dropped when I walked in the door.

We headed back to the hotel for their cocktail & entertainment hour (music, shiatsu, drinkies). The drive back took forever. Traffic is a nightmare. The highway is 6 lanes across in each direction and it's jam packed. Even after we got off the H1, it was crazy busy on the side roads all the way back to the hotel. I'll never complain about traffic at home again.

We eventually wandered over to the Hilton across the street in search of some supper. Hubby had a tip about a pizza place that was half decent. We found it and hubby ordered a Hawaiian pizza (ham & pineapple). Only he would eat a Hawaiian pizza in Hawaii. We wandered around the shops after supper and imagine my surprise when I saw this:


It's mounted on the outside of a hotel. The outside. That is completely unheard of out here. In fact, the hotel lobby was completely open to the elements. Don't they worry about critters getting into the building?

That's it - our first full day in Hawaii and it was spectacular.