Hawaii 2024 part 4

Stacy's was gonna pay for surfing lessons for us but then her boss ended up paying for 2 mornings of surf lessons cuz the house they rent is right next door to Ty Gurney. The first day I caught waves with them pushing me but the 2nd day I caught a bunch on my own. This is at waikiki of course so like famously the easiest place to surf.

Jen's dad planted some branches he took off the plumeria tree months ago and it seems like they took root and are living.

a neighbor gave us a bag of Haden mangos and said when its mango season he gets 30-40 per day which sound like it would be a curse. That's like an entire armfull of heavy juicy mangos every day, i don't know how you'd get rid of them all. They were delicious. 

Went to Iolani Palace (royal residence of rulers of the kingdom of Hawaii) by myself cuz they also went here before I arrived. It was the morning and I had no reservation and it was me and one other guy approaching the building. I read online that you can get lucky and get a walk in spot and I knew there was a good chance it could be me or this guy. So luckily it was confusing where to go so I just did the steps of confusion like 10 seconds faster than that guy and I got the last spot and it was a guided tour, which guided tours are the way to go now in my old age. You have an expert telling you stuff and it forces you to slow down and you learn way more than you would on your own in this phone swiping adhd world. Sorry guy. 

There was a whole room full of Kahili at the Bishop museum. Kahili represent a bunch of things including a person, a noble, ali'i chief. Their mana is imbued into each one and passed down through the generations and these Kahili feather stands are even given names. What a cool concept. Also no birds are killed in the making of these.

as Hawaii westernized they held royal dances, here's an invitation.

so Hawaii was highly regarded and recognized as a sovereign nation and then American capitalists like the Dole plantation people wanted Hawaii so they overthrew the Royals and stole Hawaii and america wanted to reinstate the Kingdom of Hawaiia but then realized the strategic military location of the islands in the Pacific and went along with the theft. And fast forward to now where native Hawaiians have the highest poverty rate and have the worst health outcomes and morbidity of anyone now and etc

we saw the room where Queen Kapiolani was held prisoner in 1895 as the American capitalists were stealing Hawaii. Here with her attendants they sewed this quilt telling the history of Hawaii.

I went toodlin' around town, there's a few locations of Harbor's vintage that have some interesting stuff. I can't wear this shirt cuz i'm not from Hawaii but it's a banger.

the famous ripstop bags from foodland with illustrations on them turned into a fanny pack (that's $175!!)

Jen's aunt in Hawaii moved into a retirement home which is really nice. This photo is cuz bob wishes he could live here now. Just doing puzzles and drinking camomile tea (which is NOT tea).

House without a Key again with stacy and emma after floating in the gentle ocean at Waikiki. That's miss Hawaii doing Hula and Kapena the band in the back which is famous. Originally they were 3 dudes I think. The woman with the electric guitar is probably badass. Why House without a Key twice? Cuz its easy to get into as far as i've seen and its right there in Waikiki and its chill and despite being a lame tourist spot it is still nice and it does the job sometimes. Also it's hawaii just chill baby (advice i need to take myself)

Koko Head speed run as morning exercise

The photo doesnt look crazy but it is and towards the top it gets really steep. I had to stop a bunch of times for a minute on the way up because its like taking two or more stairs at a time for half a mile straight up, hitting each rail road tie for over half a mile. It's 1048 steps and 1200 ft elevation gain. Its also very crowded. I did a new personal record, 19 min up and 11 min down (previously it was 20 min up 12 down). My legs muscles were messed up seriously for like 5 days afterwards.

Michele's friend is the former curator of the Honolulu Museum of Art and has been at pretty much all of the big Hawaii art initiatives so we had lunch with them and learned some stuff about the fine art scene in Hawaii which is very very very small compared to the mainland. Hawaii is so small that even illustrators like Jasper and James who's a writer know Allison. I can't see myself having lunch with the curator of the MOMA in nyc. Afterwards we walked over to Antique Alley and jen found a vintage universal monsters type art book for me and we ended up at Hana Koa brewery at the edge of Kakaako which has great branding design by Welcome Stranger

Sandy's at the end of the day, a 5 min drive from the house.