Seventh Day - Wednesday, November 7th
The last day in Hawai‘i was probably a bit more relaxed than we might have expected. Most of
the packing was done last night. Check out time was 11:00 a.m., the car had to be returned before
9:00 p.m. and our flight was at 11:55, just before midnight. We even slept in about an hour later
than usual. First thing was breakfast at the Wailana Coffee Shop again where we both had the
pancake, eggs and bacon special. After that, we just wandered around the Hilton Village for a
while as walking was really pretty easy this morning as long as I avoided stairs. Here is about
the largest of several stocked ponds. The other, that looks like a large pile of rocks, is actually
the stage used for the King's Jubilee last Friday. The other photos are just plants, flowers and
trees found in and around the Village. I don't know what any of them are. There is also a shot of
a pretty happy camper from time-to-time. About 10:30 we stopped by the fancy little ice cream shop
in the shopping area. I just discovered or remembered, I'm not sure which, it was named the Rainbow
Bazaar, presumably since it was sort of near the Rainbow Tower.
At 11:00 I checked us out while Judy arranged for a hospitality room at 2:00. The Hilton
provides these for folks like us who need to check out by 11:00 but don't actually leave the
island until several hours later. We would have the room for 40 minutes to freshen up before
leaving. Also, the room keycard would still be good at the parking garage until at least 6:00 or
7:00 so we could still come and go however we wanted until then. In fact, the desk clerk told me
to just show my receipt to the garage attendant if the card didn't work. We wandered around the
beach for a while then lay by the pool, just absolutely relaxing, until 2:00 when we headed for
the hospitality room. On the way back to the pool, we stopped at the wedding chapel on the
grounds and the lady in charge gave us a quick tour. It is a really beautiful facility. I don't
remember how many weddings she said they host each year but it is a quite large number and
they handle everything from the invitations to the honeymoon.
While at the pool, there was a couple on the other side watching their kids and eating lunch. A couple of those same little gray striped birds we saw in many places were actually taking food right out of his hand. If he failed to offer enough and often enough they would become obviously perturbed and make a bit of a fuss for more. At one point, I observed one of them almost steal some of his sandwich as he was taking a bite.
While I just relaxed in the hospitality room, Judy actually did freshen up, even took a shower. I was not dirty so did not and continued to relax and rest my knee instead. When our time was up, we turned in the key, retrieved the car, gave the keycard to the attendant and left the Hilton Hawaiian Village for the last time. It felt just a little bad knowing we would not be back.
With several hours left before leaving the island, we decided to make use of the time. We felt like we missed way too much of the Nu‘uanu Pali Drive yesterday so wanted to visit it again. Also, since we didn't get the pictures we had hoped for on H-3, that seemed like another reasonable trip. Finally, we were a little uneasy about turning in the rental cat anywhere near the deadline so thought we would try to get back there not long after dark. We didn't know much of anything to do after dark anyway.
We started with the Nu‘uanu. A short trip up the Pali Highway from the center of Honolulu got
us to the turnoff that I did not miss this time. The lower part of the drive is pretty heavily
residential although it quickly becomes a near jungle. Not far into it though, it does become a
true rain forest. These are two of the relatively few spots where the sun can actually peek through
to light the road. On the left ahead, that is not a tunnel. It's almost like dusk in there even at
midday. In many places, you can't see more than a few feet into the vegetation from the road.
Surprisingly, there are quite a few houses hiding in there. Here are two examples that Judy was
able to shoot from the car. Most are so well hidden that you really can't get much with the camera.
Most of them also reside on tall stilts and some are quite large. I imagine that the heavy rains
and subsequent runoff from the mountains swell the creeks well beyond their usual banks and would
likely flood anything built anywhere close to the ground.
We came across a wide spot where I could park the car and get out to explore the jungle a little.
We spent a lot more time there than either of us expected. There was a small clearing at ground
level with a deep creek nearby and a small waterfall. I used up several sets of camera batteries
trying to capture the essence of the place. There was little sunlight so flash was required for
pretty much any photo. Judy hiked quite a way down into the ravine but I was afraid I could not
get back up if I followed. It felt almost like you were in a strange world or at least displaced
back a couple of centuries in time. These were the only two photos that were of much use, the rest
being generally too dark to show up on the screen. By the way, that vegetation behind Judy that
appears to be a mass of vines or something roughly ten to twelve feet wide, is actually a single
tree. Those things are everywhere but this seems to be the only good picture I got of one.
After reluctantly leaving that almost eerie place, we drove on through, taking a few pictures here
and there, and made it back to the Pali Highway, just short of the Pali Tunnels. There are two of
them almost back-to-back passing through the mountain just below the Pali Lookout. This last picture
was taken shortly after the tunnels, looking back at the mountain range. Through the tunnels, we
took the Kamehameha Highway over a couple of miles to H-3 and then back to Honolulu. Much like the
first trip up H-3, there were still no places to stop for pictures. Besides that, it was almost
raining and the cloud, or fog, cover was getting pretty dense. Judy tried to get a few shots through
the windshield but without much luck. Anyway, here is the promised look at the entrance to the H-3
Tunnel. That also gives an idea of the weather and photography conditions we faced on the drive back
down H-3 to the city. It was still a beautiful drive even though we didn't get any worthwhile photos.
H-3 got us back to H-1 and the city fairly close to the airport so we took advantage of that
opportunity to locate the Alamo rental car center and a nearby gas station to refill the car. I knew
Alamo was close to the Nimitz Highway and should be visible from it. Sure enough, it was.
Being confident that we could get back without too much trouble, we drove on back into the city.
We stopped at a park near the Hawai‘i Maritime Center and the Aloha Tower, a tourist oriented
shopping mall near the center of the city. We got a few pictures of the Coast Guard Station and a
pretty large Coast Guard Cutter, a pretty large tour boat and a multi-hull shuttle craft as well as
the Falls of Clyde, a 280 foot, four masted, full rigged sailing ship. She was built in Glasgow,
Scotland in 1878 and is the only iron hulled, four masted ship and the only sail-driven oil tanker
surviving in the world today. There was a big political battle going on at the time over whether
the multi-hull should be licensed to transport passengers between islands. I didn't understand it.
Well, it was getting late and having run out of things to do and places to see, we reluctantly
headed back for the Alamo lot. We filled the tank at the place we had found just a couple of
blocks away then turned the car in just shortly after sunset, long before our deadline. Half
expecting some of the long delays we had experienced in getting the car, we were pleasantly
surprised to find a shuttle bus at the door waiting for us. After about a minute or less while the
agent accepted the car, we boarded the bus and were immediately whisked off to the airport. That
was to be the last pleasant experience for at least the next couple of hours.
We disembarked the bus reasonably close to our check-in area and headed for it, expecting to check our baggage and find a restaurant or bar where we would spend the next few hours eating, drinking and relaxing while we waited for our plane. Such was not to be the case. At the U.S. Airways counter there was not a single soul. Instead there was a sign stating that we could check in after 8:30. As luck would have it, the check in area is under the roof but is an outdoor area. It was hotter than hell and we had two hours to wait before we could even check in. Naturally, you can't get into the air conditioned building without going through security first and you can't do that without having a boarding pass. We were stuck with no option but to wait outside in the heat and humidity, along with all our luggage, for the next two hours. We should have kept the car and just run its air conditioning for an additional two hours instead.
Also, we had to go through the Agriculture Inspection station before checking in. That was just outside the check in area and it finally opened up about 8:00. All they did was run our checked luggage through a machine, probably X-ray, and put a "Baggage Inspected" band on the handles. It had nothing to do with agriculture although there was a prominent sign in the area stating that "Undeclared and found agricultural products are subject to a fine of up to $1000." Nobody asked any of us whether we had any agricultural products.
After standing in line another 30 minutes, the check in kiosks finally opened and we were able to get our boarding passes. We still had to take our checked luggage to another area where it was again run through another X-ray machine. They did pull Judy's pink bag off and go through it by hand, item-by-item. It was really packed as full as possible so there was some gratification in seeing the TSA agent trying to deal with it. It looked like they were hand checking about every third or fourth item. From there, we went to security. They pulled my shoes for a closer inspection by wiping them with a swab of some sort then testing it under a machine. It looked like they were checking shoes on about every third passenger too.
After security, we still had a long walk ahead of us. Honolulu must be a pretty large airport. The building was still not air conditioned. Where you would normally expect windows, there were just large openings to the outside air. After what seemed like miles to my knee, Judy spotted a place to sit and have a drink and something to eat not too far away down the hall. When I looked, I saw glass windows and naturally assumed it would be cooler inside. We took an immediate detour there and found, sure enough, that it was air conditioned. We ordered a drink and shared a fish-and-chips appetizer which we nursed as long as we could not knowing how much farther it might be to our departure gate. An interesting thing happened. I had to show my driver's license to buy that mai tai.
We left Ray's and got back to where we had diverted, walked another few hundred yards and passed through a set of doors. Finally, we were in the gate area and it was air conditioned. On the way to our gate, we passed a little eatery that advertised beer. I planned to come back in a bit and have another Kona Ale or two. We still had well over an hour to wait. By the time we found the gate and got settled in it was time for another Aleve. We headed back to get our drinks and take a pill only to find that they had just closed and were cleaning up for the night. Fine then. I would just take the Aleve with water and not have another Kona.
About 11:30 they finally did start letting us board the plane, another Boeing 757, for our 11:55 departure. Well, about midnight, the walkway pulled back and the crew began readying the plane for takeoff. Shortly, however, the captain announced over the intercom that there was a problem with one of the emergency doors. They called a mechanic who appeared soon, but without any tools, and went to the back of the plane, presumably to diagnose the problem. Several minutes later, he went to the cabin for a few minutes then left the plane. As we continued to set there, I assumed he went to get parts. Many minutes later, he finally came back with nothing in hand and went straight to the cabin again. A few minutes later, he again left the plane. They closed the doors and we left. I can only guess that they didn't have the necessary parts and decided to fly anyway. Well, by this time we are again 40 minutes late so we are into the next day.