Tilapia as i am told, in the Ala Wai Canal
Diamond Head Crater
Creepy tunnel in Diamond Head
Views from top of Diamond Head
Day two started early, we are two hours behind PST here.
We started out about 7:30 am, for breakfast at the Outrigger. I must admit, the Waikiki portion of this trip is really a trip down memory lane for me. When my mother took us to Hawaii in our youth, we ate brunch at the Outrigger many mornings.
On the way to brunch, we walked along Ala Wai canal. It was very peaceful, I remember this too from earlier visits. It too, had changed. In my youth, many locals lined the shores to fish, now no one fishes there. It is terribly polluted. However, there were many fish swimming around. We walked upon a local who was feeding the fish Wendys french fries. We asked them what the fish were, he said they were Tilapia. Wow, I have eaten Tilapia, however, most of the local Tilapia is fresh water raised, farm fish from China. He says they love the french fries!
The host station at the entrance to the Outrigger restaurant, now called Dukes Canoe Club, seemed familiar. The host took us to our table right away. He asked us if it was our first time to the restaurant. I answered that it was my first time in 20 years.. well, it was my first time, as with most everything in Waikiki, it had been remodeled. Remodeled for the good though. Open air, right off the beach, it was beautiful. The food was average and the price was decent, just as I remember!
After breakfast, we walked back and packed up. Then we went out to rent a car. I had read that the best way to rent a car was to do it in town, as the competition was high and we could get a better deal. Let me say now, that almost every tip I read was wrong. Heck, even the travel information in the main newspaper, the Honolulu Advertiser, where inaccurate...
I had spotted one rental car place the night before down the street. They advertised 12.95 a day for a Geo Tracker Convertible. Seemed good at the time. When we got there though, we realized these cars were thrashed. There was a sweet Mustang Convertible on the lot, so we started there. The man who spoke with a soft accent, possibly local, not sure, on a loud busy street, quoted us $ 79 a day. When we balked, he dropped it to $69, cash price... Too much, so we asked about the Geo. $12.95 first day, 3 day minimum, 24 a day after the first day. .We got him down a bit with cash and then found the one vehicle on the lot that actually had a working am-fm radio. Most of the Geos had no stereos, clearly they had been stolen. All the Geos where convertibles, or used to be. Now they were just open air vehicles as all the canvas retractable roofs had been cut out.. Car break ins are extremely common...
We headed out in our beat up Geo and went to Diamond Head. We left our bags at the hotel...
Hiking to the top of Diamond Head was the plan. We paid our 5 bucks and parked. It was .8 miles to the top. No biggy, I did this long time ago and my 70something Grandmother even did it.
It was steep and hard, but over before cardiac arrest set in. The heat does make a difference. The trail starts in the crater and gradually climbs. Then you hit the stairs.. The final part is stairs... Well worth it, and going down is easy..
Hungry now, we decided to head to Ala Moana Mall to again go to a memory from the past.. Patties Chinese Kitchen. We parked at the first place we could find, since I had no idea where this place was anymore. We went to the directory and it said 1b. We were close and hungry.
Patties Kitchen is no more. The best I could tell is that they redesigned the mall. moved them into a smaller location, and they didn't make it.. There was a recently vacant place, which looked like the last none location of Patties.
B ended up getting Panda Express.. I wandered for a while and ended up at some Japanese place. My meal was definitely Japanese.. duh, I am not a big Japanese food fan. It was ok. I took a long time to get my food, and while B was eating hers, she heard a local complaining about Patties closing.. I didn't miss it by much, but it wasn't the same.
It took me a while to find my way out of the damn mall, signage is not big in Hawaii...
Headed back to Hotel, grabbed the bags and off to Makaha.
I should almost start a new post here.. Because our trip changed when we got to the Wai' anae coast...
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