holo holo in Waikiki

Since things in the hood have been "heavy" (along with the air~more on that later), I decided it might be good to go "holo holo". Neighbor Karen was willing to go along...so I started thinking about things that she hadn't done since moving here.

We headed to the south shore. Can't say the sky was looking promising, but we all know that Waikiki does it's own weather thing, so I had hope. Since there was an accident on the freeway, we missed my NY friend, but got to sit with her hubby and talk for awhile. Must admit, the weather was nice, but still had the haze.

Since Karen had never walked around Waikiki, I thought this might be a good opportunity. We walked around the grounds of the "Royal" for one last look. They will be closing for 7 months June 1. Hope they don't change too much! I had read in the newspaper that they had a room open for viewing, sort of a preview of sorts. We asked at the front desk if we could see the room, but were told it was only open for hotel guest.

Karen had never been in the Royal's upstairs floors, so I figured now was a good time. Well, as we were getting onto the elevator, she put her hand out to keep the door open and something fell. She said "my watch" as it was falling down the elevator shaft!

The hotel manager was called. They took down my phone number and said they'd let us know what was going on since the elevator company was working on something else there. Karen was a very good sport, not spending too much time worrying about the watch...figured it was gone.

We continued our walk along the ocean front. I told her the story of the naupaka plant (the two lovers, separated forever, the beach naupaka is missing petals on one side, the mountain naupaka is missing the other side...lovers never to be together again). We were walking up the new Lewers Street and my phone rang. They had her watch!!! I spotted a Honolulu Cookie Company store, we got a tin and got back to the Royal as fast as we could.

The manager came out with the watch, still ticking,
but with a broken band. We couldn't beleive it! You have to remember that we weren't even hotel guest! Amazing! Both of us said that this was one of those times when we realized just how much great service meant. Guess you get what you pay for. A side note, the desk clerk was telling us about what he was going to be doing during his time off. He mentioned that part of the plan for the remodeling of the hotel was taking away some of the pink! He said that people have been complaining about the thought of that. He said they weren't going to take all the pink away, just not so much. Hope they don't take away the charm.

So after the watch adventure, we continued our walk down Kalakaua, going upstairs in the Outrigger and walking through the Moana. I was explaining everything about the hotels that I had learned over the years.

We ended up at the Merriott. I was anxious to see how the music was and who was playing since the passing of Auntie Genoa Keawe. I was so happy to see her son, granddaughter and neice along with Alan Apaka still playing. The usual group of regular locals were there. We had a great dinner, beautiful sunset (that heavy air thing again), and loved listening to the music. Ran into a friend of mine and we signed a petition to rename the Moana Terrace to "Auntie Genoa's Terrace", seems fitting. Of course there was hula, this is one place where people will get up and dance if they know the song.

So all-in-all, even with the watch adventure, it was a good day to go holo holo in Waikiki.

a hui hou
Jane