Oahu Trip (Day 4)

Day 4: Sunday, September 3
Spalding House, Ukelele Lessons, Top of Waikiki
We learned from Reef Pirates that a dive today wouldn't be any better, so no scuba at all for us this time around since you're not supposed to dive within 18 hours of flying (meaning that trying on Monday wouldn't be feasible given our departure time on Tuesday). I started off the day with a 30-minute workout in the Fitness Center and then joined the 8am yoga class, which was thankfully much smaller than yesterday's group. We spread out on the artificial turf of the park area between the Sheraton and the Royal Hawai'ian, and I'm very glad that I had my own mat since other folks only were provided with pool towels, which were a bit tricky on the springy and moist surface! The instructor led the class in both English and Japanese to accommodate all of the participants, and we spent a lovely hour outside in the dappled sunlight, only occasionally needing to adjust our positions to stay in the shade.

Mr. E was already up and ready by the time I got back to the room, and we headed off to Jamba and Starbucks for breakfast. Then we strolled by the Hyatt Regency to check out the Hertz rental place in anticipation of our road trip tomorrow and noticed the extremely long and slow-moving line. Yikes! Good to know for planning and timing purposes for the next day! We browsed a bit on our way back to the hotel, where we flagged a cab to take us to the other location of the Honolulu Museum of Art, which is called the Spalding House and is located in Waikiki Heights.

Since we are now members of the Museum, entry to the Spalding House was free. We enjoyed the small collection of eclectic and mostly contemporary art in the galleries and then roamed around the gardens to admire the sculptures and the views of Waikiki and Diamond Head.

We paused for lunch at the cafe, where Mr. E had a chicken reuben flatbread and I had a fabulous panzanella salad with green lentils. Thanks to the Charley Taxi app, Mr. E was able to summon a cab for our return trip to the hotel, although we had to wait about 20 minutes. Apparently, this Museum location isn't a common destination for taxis, as we had had to educate our driver from the hotel about the address earlier in the day!

Back at the hotel, we lined up for the 4pm ukulele lesson, and within 30 minutes, we learned three chords -- C, G6, D7 -- and could play quite a few simple children's songs. The young female instructor was amazing, providing very clear and concise directions with lots of enthusiasm and encouragement.

We browsed through a few of the hotel stores for a bit and then headed across the street to the Top of Waikiki revolving restaurant for the 5pm opening and Happy Hour specials. This is one of the best deals around (no pun intended!), since you can get Happy Hour pricing at the bar all night on certain snacks and cocktails. Mr. E ordered a gin basil gimlet, and I had the Beyond Paradise, which I'd first tried and enjoyed during our visit back in March.

We also shared the ahi lettuce wraps (no onion), which were extremely tasty and included jicama for crunch and mushrooms for umami. Mr. E's second cocktail was a classic negroni, made by Maximus, once of the friendly bar staff. We learned about his recent trip to New Orleans when we asked about some antique sterling silver filigreed glasses that we'd noticed on the top shelf of the column that the bar surrounds. Mr. E also noticed a huge can of Luxardo cherries, which are his preferred garnish for a Manhattan. Wonder how much that cost??!!

After we finished our drinks and food, we went our separate ways to take care of some individual errands. Mr. E's final stop was at the food truck enclave to pick up some loco moco for his dinner.

We met up back in the room to win(e)d down and finalize plans for our road trip the next day.