Hawaii 2026 - A Garden and Museum

This morning we needed to slow down a bit.  It was difficult to feel motivated.

Leonard’s Bakery was even busier today than on our first visit.  We had different malasada flavors this time and bought pineapple turnovers for tomorrow.  Yum.

We drove over to Koko Crater, not for the well-known and very difficult rail-tie stairs hike to the rim, but for the city-owned botanical garden inside, which is free to visit.

We spent a little under a couple of hours exploring the many rambling groves of trees and shrubs.  The plumeria grove knocked my socks off with the variety of scents and colors.  Any hibiscus that we saw looked a little bit past its prime bloom season.  There were cacti and species from Africa, the Americas, and specifically Hawaii.

Unlike the Diamond Head hike where we quickly moved above the treeline, for this one we had lots of opportunities to enjoy some shade.  This didn’t mean that it wasn’t still super hot outside!  It was a relief to be back in the air conditioned car when we were done with the garden.

Modeling an imaginary head-piece

The islands have quite a lot of mongoose, which were introduced in the 1800's to combat rats

In need of more sunscreen and other supplies, we drove to the town of Kailua for their Target store and then we had lunch at a small Hawaiian place called Kono’s.  I had their pork plate lunch and Hans got the pork bowl.  Both were nice and filling.

While driving around we stopped at this overlook near Makapu'u State Park

I am on a mission to create my own guava barbecue sauce

This day was going to be our last opportunity to visit the Bishop Museum, so up and over the mountain ridge we drove (this may have been our fourth time driving past yet another old crater, the Punchbowl).  Also along the way we passed through the high cliffs behind Honolulu where (in 1795) King Kamehameha completed his campaign to take control of O’ahu by driving 700 captured and enemy soldiers over the Nu’uanu Pali cliff, a fall of about 1,000 feet.

At the Bishop Museum we started with the Hawaiian cultural gallery, an impressive space with information and exhibits on how Polynesian people arrived to the islands, their religious beliefs and practices, ways of life, navigation skills, and eventual political rise and fall with the introduction of European and other western colonizers.

At three O’clock we went into the observatory for a presentation on celestial navigation by Polynesian people.  The film is a New Zealand production for the Te Papa Museum in Wellington.  It was really well done.  I learned that the Scorpius constellation is also known as Maui’s Fishhook (it’s turned around in the southern hemisphere) and Maui used it to catch a large manta ray.  When it was brought to the ocean surface next to the south island Te Waipounamu (“the place of greenstone”) it formed the north island of New Zealand, Te Ika-a-Maui (“the fish of Maui”).

When the 45-minute show was over I was pretty tired.  We looked briefly through their science museum before heading through the gift shop.

The original museum building, which houses the Hawaiian exhibits

Traditional hula costumes (for men and women)

This spooky statue of a shark god has a spooky history.  The man who discovered it claimed that he was guided to its buried location in a dream (the statue was buried during a time when all Hawaiian religious icons and temples were being actively destroyed).  He also claimed that the statue constantly pleaded to be brought indoors from the cold.  It was delivered to the Bishop Museum in 1906 and set permanently into the floor.  Despite subsequent attempts to relocate the statue to another place in the building, it has "refused to be moved".

The beach on the big island of Hawaii where this sand comes from is difficult to access and so I'm very glad that I took a photo at the museum.  The green sand beach is one of only two in the world (the other is in the Galapagos).

After a bit of rest at the hotel it was time to take a rideshare to Skull and Crown Trading Company, a relatively new tiki bar in Honolulu’s Chinatown with a speakeasy-looking entrance.  This place has slowly grown a great reputation despite nearly closing down during the pandemic.

We were shown to our seats at the bar and the staff took great care of us from there.  I started with a classic Navy Grog (including a traditional ice volcano) and Hans had their Dagger Mai Tai – all made with secret ingredients.

We put in an order for their grilled salmon skewers and wonton nachos and then another round of drinks.  I had their Crystal Skull, a clarified Zombie, and Hans had the Trader Noa’s Old Fashioned.  Hans’ drink was theatrically prepared with Hawaiian mesquite smoke that was produced from a ceramic skull.  I wasn’t sure that I would have a third drink but once Hans was half-finished with a Jaded Jungle I ordered their other secret-ingredient drink, the Rum Barrel (plus some roasted potatoes).  Finally, Hans had their Hanalei Moon.

At this point we were prettttty tipsy.  We paid our check and the manager came over to tell us about his artist friend that had made a bunch of the decorations for this bar and he encouraged us to check him out.  To help spread the word, he is on Instagram at @geckozsouthseaarts.  He is VERY talented.

The streets of Chinatown had already been fairly quiet when we arrived several hours ago and now they were very silent.  Finding which street we were on and what the cardinal directions were was also lost on us for a little bit.  Eventually we figured out where we were and hailed a rideshare back to the hotel.  Our driver was listening to a local radio station with all 90’s rap music.  When he dropped us off I said “Thanks for the Tupak”.  Bedtime.  Now.

Getting silly as the night went on