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Hawaiian Royalty

by Shannon on September 20, 2013 in Hawaii, Travel, United States

It’s good to be the king.

When David Kalakaua ordered a new palace built in 1879 in Honolulu, the Hawaiian kingdom’s capital and an increasingly important hub for international trading, the monarch mandated that no expense be spared. The building was intended to impress, lest overseas VIPs think his realm in the middle of the Pacific was a backwater.

Iolani Palace was decked out with cutting-edge amenities like indoor plumbing, a telephone, and electric lighting, which it had before the White House or Buckingham Palace. Constructed in a unique architectural style, the building melds European-inspired features with traditional Hawaiian elements such as wide, wrap-around lanais.

The only official state residence in the U.S. once occupied by royalty, Iolani Palce looks like the domain of an Italian duke rather than a dwelling in the tropics. While admiring the architecture and décor is reason to visit the residence, it’s more than just a pretty façade. Roaming its gilded rooms with a self-guided audio tour reveals intriguing stories about what played out within them, well before Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state.

Diamond Head Lighthouse

by Brian on September 18, 2013 in Hawaii, Photo of the Day, Travel, United States

Diamond Head Lighthouse, Oahu, HI

Date of Infamy: Touring Pearl Harbor

by Shannon on September 16, 2013 in Hawaii, Travel, United States

We nearly missed the boat.

So wrapped up were we in booking the big stuff for our six-week trip to Hawaii and Alaska—flights, hotels, and car rentals—that we overlooked a few details. Like the fact that we would be visiting Pearl Harbor during a highly-trafficked holiday weekend.

There is an excellent, comprehensive museum, as well as other exhibits and even a submarine, but visiting Pearl Harbor’s main site, the USS Arizona Memorial, means catching a ride out into the harbor. When we looked into the logistics after landing in Honolulu, all of the free, timed tickets for the shuttle boat were booked the entire time we were in town.

Artful Honolulu Highlights

by Shannon on September 13, 2013 in Hawaii, Travel, United States

A labor of Hercules, mid-2nd century A.D. sarcophagus relief

At the Denver Art Museum, it was a vibrant Hayagriva sand medallion crafted by Tibetan monks. At the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts, it was the artist’s quietly dramatic Civil Rights-era painting “The Problems We All Share.”

The beauty of art museums is that no two are exactly alike; and yet a consistency is that at each one we visit, there is usually a piece or two that really stands out—for its beauty or unusualness, or because it’s an unexpected find or it inspires nostalgia.

What surprised us most about the Honolulu Museum of Art‘s 50,000-item collection is how many struck our fancy. Here are just a few of our favorites.