One day, we rented a car to drive to the town of Kailua, on the other side of the island. Much more authentic Hawaii than Waikiki, to be sure. These pics don't really do it justice. The beach in Kailua is gorgeous.
And then, the following day, I saw a headline in a local paper about how security cameras will soon be installed in the parking lot of that beach area because of all the car break-ins there. Bummer.



Another sunset shot, this one taken from one of my favorite spots in Waikiki: the Beach Bar at the Moana Surfrider hotel. Excellent mai tais, spectacular scenery, and decent entertainers... most of whom had hula dancers with them. Yay! I got to indulge my hula obsession quite a bit, actually. Notice the crowd on the beach? This is a nightly occurrence, people gathering at every possible vantage point to watch the sunset.

And one evening, I accepted a hula sister's challenge to attempt to dance on the beach. One of the songs we've learned is about Mamala Bay, the body of water off Waikiki, and she's challenged all of us who visit Oahu to do the dance along the shore there. When the song kept coming up on my iPod on my morning walks, I figured it was a sign. Now, this is one of our more difficult dances anyway, and trying to do it in the sand (after a few cocktails, natch) was impossible. And pathetic. I gave up about halfway through.

All in all, a fabulously relaxing trip. And now I'm trying to figure out how I can become independently wealthy, so that I can live there. And also in New York. Any ideas??