Point of View

Diamond Head rises sharply from the Waikiki flatlands.

While the rest of the family was at the Waikiki Aquarium, I walked around Kapiolani Park. I have walked in and through the Park to get to the Zoo or family picnics but never took the time to stop and smell the coconuts.

Few people were around today, a few joggers and parents pushing strollers. Gone were the long see-saws and high swings made of rusty iron that creaked when I played on them. They were bigger and more dangerous than the playground apparatus in my own neighborhood, but danger is what made Kapiolani Park fun to five-year-olds who were lightly supervised back in the day.

I didn't make it around the entire circumference because the family was done at the Aquarium in 45 minutes. It was time for a late lunch at Rainbow Drive-In, less than a mile away off Kapahulu Avenue. In the contest between burning and consuming calories on this trip, I'm losing...or winning, depending on one's point of view.