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Weekend in Waikiki

We took advantage of the lack of tourists on the island to spend a weekend at the Hale Koa in Waikiki.

We usually avoid Honolulu as much as possible because the traffic is horrible, streets are crowded, and the wait to get into any restaurant is interminable.  


But right now it's quite nice. 

We spent a nice weekend walking around, checking out places we don't normally visit, just being tourists while everything is slow.

On Saturday morning, Kerry and I got up and went for a walk, only to get caught in a sudden rainstorm.  All the normal paths back to our hotel were blocked off because they are limiting entrances to make sure only registered guests are on the grounds.  Where we normally could have scooted down a side path back to the hotel, this time we had to walk all the way around the hotel to the front entrance.

We got very wet.

Ben, Noelle, and Katie came down to have brunch with us.  
Katie stayed and spent the night with us.



We spent a lot of time just floating in the infinity pool at the hotel.  They've added a couple of water slides since the last time we were there.  We went down those a number of times.  

We would wait for the whistle for "adult swim" time.  No kids were in line for the slide then - they'd been banished to their lounge chairs, sulking about the unfairness of it all.  Then we would slide over and over with all the other adults who wanted to be kids for fifteen minutes.

We ate at Duke's Waikiki.  It's an iconic restaurant that we'd never been to.  Amazingly, we got in with only a short wait.  Check that off the bucket list.


It was July 4th and we had hoped to see some fireworks although we had already been warned that all fireworks shows had been cancelled to keep crowds from gathering and spreading the virus.

We saw two rouge fireworks set off by people on the beach.

It was really nice to see Waikiki the way it must have looked before tourism became such a huge industry here.  This is a beach we normally never visit because it is usually so packed with tourists you can't see the sand much less find a place to sit or enjoy the water without bumping into other people.  

It won't be long before it is back to being one of the most popular beaches in the world, so we are going to enjoy it while we can.

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