Under the Trees and Off to the North Shore

 On a tip from Sahara, we went to dinner at the Hau-Tree-Lanai at the New Otani.  Seating maybe 40 guests under three intertwined hau trees, the restaurant is located right on the water, ideally located to see the sunset.  While Goldfish and I missed the sunset, we had a wonderful meal - first class food, yet a casual atmosphere.

 This is the view looking back at the restaurant while standing in the Pacific Ocean, just before kissing Goldfish, or maybe just after . . . . hard to think straight at times like those  . . .

 The next morning we went to Mac 24/7, as shown on the Food Channel's Man vs. Food.  I did not attempt the Mac Daddy Pancake Challenge, I settled on an excellent omelet, wheat toast, pineapple juice, and a few very large mugs of kona coffee.

 Then it was back under the trees again, where we checked out the International Market Place.

 There was a little bit of everything in there - Goldfish and I found some sun hats and a personalized Christmas ornament, just in case we ever end up spending Christmas at home.

 There is a funny story behind the Santa guy - you should see him from the front, he has the white beard (real, not costume), the whole thing - he looks exactly like Santa on vacation in Hawaii.  Well, we had just boarded a shuttle, heading to the car rental place to pick up our car.  The shuttle driver was this young guy that started backing out from in front of our hotel without a backward glance, and I happened to look back and see he was about a second away from running over Santa.  I yelled, the driver screeched to a halt, and Santa looked really pissed.  I quietly said "Dude, you almost killed Santa".  So, you heard it here first, I saved Christmas.  I bet that driver is not going to get anything good in his stocking for many a year, if ever!

 After we picked up our rental, we headed towards the North Shore, passing the Chinaman's Hat.

Goldfish waiting in the car while I snap a few shots - hey, rental cars are dirt cheap our here, so you might as well go with the Mustang convertible, right?  Okay, off to bed, we're getting up early for Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona, and the USS Missouri.  Love falling asleep to the surf pounding the beach outside . . . . .