The day started with a rainy drive to Diamond Head State Monument. “Diamond Head is a volcanic tuff cone on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu and known to Hawaiians as Lēʻahi. The Hawaiian name is most likely derived from lae plus ʻahi because the shape of the ridgeline resembles the shape of a tuna's dorsal fin.” Diamond Head State Monument is a large 475 acre park known for its large crater and steep trail that climbs 560 ft up to the summit.  Along this trail there is a long tunnel and 99 steps to transcend to reach the top. The Summit looks over the ocean and the surrounding area. This area was used as bunkers during World War II so part of the climb is inside one of these bunkers. As Mary Ellen, Kathleen, Linda H, and I headed up the trail the sky cleared. Three of us made it to the top. Kathleen decided after while she had enough and went back down to wait with the others. I will have to say that the trailer was quite crowded. But most people were quite polite; it was easy to scoot by somebody if you needed to. At the top, plenty of people were very willing to help us take pictures. We reciprocated and took theirs as well. The views were spectacular, and it was such a clear day you could see for miles! We met back up with everyone at the bottom and headed back to the hotel for lunch.

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After lunch, we searched the Iolani Palace . We found it easily enough but parking was another story. In trying to find  the front of the building we passed by several parking spots not realizing that they were good ones. We became so turned around trying to go around the block to get back to the front because of all the one-way streets in the area that we almost didn’t make our tour time. But we did, and it was wonderful to see the palace.

“Iolani Palace is a living restoration of a proud Hawaiian national identity and is recognized as the spiritual and physical multicultural epicenter of Hawaii. Built in 1882 by King Kalakaua, Iolani Palace was the home of Hawaii’s last reigning monarchs and served as the official royal residence and the residence of the Kingdom’s political and social life until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893.” (Iolanipalace.org)
The Docent  was excellent. She described aspects of the palace down to the restoration.  A couple of the interesting items she pointed out were:
1, The double front doors were commissioned  to be etched by a gentleman in San Francisco who had never been to Hawaii before or seen any Hawaiian vegetation.  
2. “After a failed attempted by Hawaiian royalists' to restore Queen Liliuokalani to power in 1895, the queen was arrested and forced to abdicate her throne. She then endured a public trial in which she was convicted and later sentenced to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of the Palace for nearly eight months.”https://tinyurl.com/prisionroom
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We headed back to the hotel my travel buddies stopped me to take a picture of King Kamehameha which was across the street at the government building.

Not sure what to do for dinner, we asked at the front desk for suggestions. We were told about a street festival that was happening just down the street from our hotel; there would be many food trucks. We thought that was a great idea and set out.  Eventually, we split up so everyone found what they wanted. We met back at the hotel and sat at the outdoor tables in front of a closed restaurant. ​

Mary Ellen and I decided that we wanted to find these flan cookies we saw during the street festival. So we set out in search of the tent that was serving them. We then checked out the International Marketplace which was just one block down from where we were.   What an unusual mall this is, at least to us. It is outside but appears to have a roof due to the old  Banyan trees in the middle of the mall that stand over 60 feet tall. There is even an area that is a replica of the treehouse first used by Donn Beach while creating the mall and has  the history of how the mall came to be created. 
We headed back and settled in for the night. ​