I didn't run into any real traffic on the way to work.
I went out to a farewell lunch for some friends at work, and when the server accidentally put my meal on the manager's check (he was paying for the people who were leaving, but the rest of us were paying for ourselves) - the manager was really nice and just said to leave it there.
On the way home, I was driving across the 520 bridge from the sunny side to the shadowed side when I looked down at the dark steel gray water. There was no blue at all. It was an amazing color. And on one side of the bridge the water is all calm, while on the other side there were whitecaps from all the wind.
Enough people showed up to play volleyball, so I got to play for the first time in a month!
25 June 2009
Going Home (Awesome Vacation Day 8)
We actually packed up the Monday evening so that we could head out to the Hukilau Cafe for breakfast. I had Hawaiian sweet bread french toast, and Dan had fried rice with eggs and spam.
Then we put all our stuff in the car and drove off, stopping just a bit down the road to see Laie Point. There was an explanation of the legend of the point - something about a monster that was defeated and it fell in five pieces, making up the five islands around the point.
We drove a ways and stopped at this macadamia nut store, where we sampled various flavors. They were all really good - especially the ones covered in chocolate!
Then off to the airport. We were there in plenty of time. We were asked to take an earlier plane (by about 20 minutes) to make room for some folks who were missing their connecting flights. So we had a few minutes to look around from the Maui airport before we got on the long flight home. So, here's pictures of our very short stay in Maui. There were mountains and then some very agricultural looking land.
My brother picked us up at the airport - we got in pretty late at night - and he dropped us off at home. We set our alarms to wake up for work and prepared to return to real life the next day. With a really nice tan.
Then we put all our stuff in the car and drove off, stopping just a bit down the road to see Laie Point. There was an explanation of the legend of the point - something about a monster that was defeated and it fell in five pieces, making up the five islands around the point.
We drove a ways and stopped at this macadamia nut store, where we sampled various flavors. They were all really good - especially the ones covered in chocolate!
Then off to the airport. We were there in plenty of time. We were asked to take an earlier plane (by about 20 minutes) to make room for some folks who were missing their connecting flights. So we had a few minutes to look around from the Maui airport before we got on the long flight home. So, here's pictures of our very short stay in Maui. There were mountains and then some very agricultural looking land.
My brother picked us up at the airport - we got in pretty late at night - and he dropped us off at home. We set our alarms to wake up for work and prepared to return to real life the next day. With a really nice tan.
23 June 2009
Awesome Vacation Day 7
Monday morning we woke up super duper early so that we could get on the road and get down to the southeast part of the island before there was any traffic. And it worked too. Today it really sank in - this was our last full day in Hawaii and our last full day to spend with our friends! Our trip was 500% better because of our friends! Thank you!
We spent the rest of the day driving from one thing to the next and enjoying ourselves. First stop, Halona Blowhole:
Next up, snorkeling Hanauma Bay. Aren't we lovely? Those masks are really a fashion statement. There weren't nearly as many fish as Shark's Cove, but the bay is in a lovely caldera and we saw a sea turtle! Sometimes a little closer than we meant to - we think the sea turtle may have been trapped by the low tide and was just waiting for the water to rise enough to let him/her out.
After snorkeling for several hours, we hiked back up the hill to the parking lot.
Then we headed out for a quick lunch at Taco Bell. After lunch our friends dropped us off at the Sea Life Amusement Park. It's small and doesn't really compete with all the other water attractions on the island (hello, there are real beaches) but it did have an okay dolphin show and they let us swim with the stingrays. We also saw their dolphin show while we were waiting for our turn with the rays and we saw a sea turtle up close through the aquarium window.
First we waded in and petted the stingrays while they swam past our legs - following the food the handlers were giving them. Then we put on the snorkeling masks and swam / floated in the water with the rays for another 20-30 minutes. It was kind of eerie when a big stingray appeared right below you in the water, only about a foot away. They seemed to like swimming up underneath your feet and then appearing in your vision once they're already halfway along passing underneath you. One stingray came up to Dan and bumped into his mask!
Our friends found the next stop - I'm glad they thought of it because I hadn't heard of it. We went to the spitting cave - you had to know to follow a little path between two houses down to the rocky cliff area and then we walked out along a little point of the cliff so we could look back at the cave. Here's my favorite video I took of it:
While we were watching the spitting cave we looked out into the ocean and saw this guy!
To finish off a very busy day we went out to eat. Our friends had gotten a recommendation for an Indian restaurant - it was delicious!
We spent the rest of the day driving from one thing to the next and enjoying ourselves. First stop, Halona Blowhole:
Next up, snorkeling Hanauma Bay. Aren't we lovely? Those masks are really a fashion statement. There weren't nearly as many fish as Shark's Cove, but the bay is in a lovely caldera and we saw a sea turtle! Sometimes a little closer than we meant to - we think the sea turtle may have been trapped by the low tide and was just waiting for the water to rise enough to let him/her out.
After snorkeling for several hours, we hiked back up the hill to the parking lot.
Then we headed out for a quick lunch at Taco Bell. After lunch our friends dropped us off at the Sea Life Amusement Park. It's small and doesn't really compete with all the other water attractions on the island (hello, there are real beaches) but it did have an okay dolphin show and they let us swim with the stingrays. We also saw their dolphin show while we were waiting for our turn with the rays and we saw a sea turtle up close through the aquarium window.
First we waded in and petted the stingrays while they swam past our legs - following the food the handlers were giving them. Then we put on the snorkeling masks and swam / floated in the water with the rays for another 20-30 minutes. It was kind of eerie when a big stingray appeared right below you in the water, only about a foot away. They seemed to like swimming up underneath your feet and then appearing in your vision once they're already halfway along passing underneath you. One stingray came up to Dan and bumped into his mask!
Our friends found the next stop - I'm glad they thought of it because I hadn't heard of it. We went to the spitting cave - you had to know to follow a little path between two houses down to the rocky cliff area and then we walked out along a little point of the cliff so we could look back at the cave. Here's my favorite video I took of it:
While we were watching the spitting cave we looked out into the ocean and saw this guy!
To finish off a very busy day we went out to eat. Our friends had gotten a recommendation for an Indian restaurant - it was delicious!
Awesome Vacation Day 6
A relaxing Sunday. At least it was relaxing after we made it to really early morning church. We woke up, dressed up, and walked to church. It was already very warm before 8AM. In Sacrament meeting we got to sing along with Aloha 'Oe for those who were moving out of the area. Every meeting and talk started with a big Aloha, echoed by the congregation or classroom. After church we walked over to the Laie Temple.
I love the flowers on the temple grounds. The missionaries actually go out and collect flowers to give to the visitors.
One of the missionaries serving at the temple took us through the visitor's center to see the Reflections of Christ photographs. After that we explored the rest of the visitor's center - Dan liked looking at the Book of Mormons in different languages and I watched some short movies with our friends. Their daughter really liked the movie about cupcakes, so I saw that one two or three times.
We walked home, stopping to look at some houses with history markers, and then we took afternoon naps. When we woke up, it was time for some Ratatouille for dinner. Yum! After dinner I made my lei, carefully threading ribbon through the kukui nuts and then tying knots for spacers. How cool to make my own Hawaiian souvenier!
I love the flowers on the temple grounds. The missionaries actually go out and collect flowers to give to the visitors.
One of the missionaries serving at the temple took us through the visitor's center to see the Reflections of Christ photographs. After that we explored the rest of the visitor's center - Dan liked looking at the Book of Mormons in different languages and I watched some short movies with our friends. Their daughter really liked the movie about cupcakes, so I saw that one two or three times.
We walked home, stopping to look at some houses with history markers, and then we took afternoon naps. When we woke up, it was time for some Ratatouille for dinner. Yum! After dinner I made my lei, carefully threading ribbon through the kukui nuts and then tying knots for spacers. How cool to make my own Hawaiian souvenier!
22 June 2009
Awesome Vacation Day 5
We started off the day with pancakes for breakfast! After breakfast we attended BYU Hawaii graduation. You know you're starting to get used to the heat in Hawaii when the air conditioning starts to feel cold. So anyway, everybody wears a lei to graduation. Students and faculty. After the graduation ceremony we wandered around the campus a bit, stopping for some pineapple juice and cookies. The administration building (I think) had this huge mural up on the wall representing Kapi-olani, who defied the local volcano deity Pele, stating that her god (Jesus Christ) would protect her. She lived.
Here we are enjoying the beautiful campus. And we just couldn't resist the second picture. Tradition, you know.
Next we went out to lunch at Giovanni's. Shrimp. Yum. Very messy. I didn't really dare touch a camera with such dirty fingers. We signed the truck, which must be painted nearly every week to keep up with the number of people signing it all the time. But it's tradition. We stopped at a local produce stand to try some papaya, grapefruit, apple bananas, and freshly sliced up coconut. My favorite was the coconut, followed by the apple bananas - they had more flavor than regular bananas.
Then our friends dropped us off one beach up from Hukilau Beach and we walked along the beach until we found a spot where we wanted to swim. It was the perfect day at the beach. The sun was warm, the water cool, the waves were big enough to knock you over if you weren't careful. It looked just like this.
Dan thought it was funny to let the waves roll him back and forth in the shallow water - it looked like he was stuck in a spin-cycle. I liked falling into the oncoming waves only to have them drag me back upright. And we even saw a sea turtle swimming about 30 yards off-shore.
After we had been swimming a while, our friends came out with us. They headed back as it got close to dinner time, and we reluctantly packed up, showered off, and followed their tracks towards home. There we had Hawaiian haystacks with fresh pineapple for dinner, did a bit more laundry, and watched some Pride and Prejudice. Well, I did. I think Dan went for a book or something at that point.
Here we are enjoying the beautiful campus. And we just couldn't resist the second picture. Tradition, you know.
Next we went out to lunch at Giovanni's. Shrimp. Yum. Very messy. I didn't really dare touch a camera with such dirty fingers. We signed the truck, which must be painted nearly every week to keep up with the number of people signing it all the time. But it's tradition. We stopped at a local produce stand to try some papaya, grapefruit, apple bananas, and freshly sliced up coconut. My favorite was the coconut, followed by the apple bananas - they had more flavor than regular bananas.
Then our friends dropped us off one beach up from Hukilau Beach and we walked along the beach until we found a spot where we wanted to swim. It was the perfect day at the beach. The sun was warm, the water cool, the waves were big enough to knock you over if you weren't careful. It looked just like this.
Dan thought it was funny to let the waves roll him back and forth in the shallow water - it looked like he was stuck in a spin-cycle. I liked falling into the oncoming waves only to have them drag me back upright. And we even saw a sea turtle swimming about 30 yards off-shore.
After we had been swimming a while, our friends came out with us. They headed back as it got close to dinner time, and we reluctantly packed up, showered off, and followed their tracks towards home. There we had Hawaiian haystacks with fresh pineapple for dinner, did a bit more laundry, and watched some Pride and Prejudice. Well, I did. I think Dan went for a book or something at that point.
19 June 2009
Awesome Vacation Day 4
Friday morning. Hawaiian sweet bread for breakfast. Strawberry-guava jam. Mmmmm. Friday we spent with our friends. First we drove north on Kamehameha Highway up to the Turtle Bay resort, where we stopped for the 10 minute tour. The resort is beautiful - the grounds, the building, the beach, and the wedding chapel. At least, the wedding chapel is beautiful as long as it has some serious air-conditioning. Otherwise it's just a fancy greenhouse. A fancy greenhouse with a beautiful view out over the water. No, we didn't see any turtles.
Then we hopped back in the car and drove to Sunset Beach, where we got all ready for some swimming and snorkeling. Which we did - at Shark's Cove.
My one half-regret is that we didn't bring a waterproof camera. But, on the other hand, I didn't spend my time worrying about taking pictures. Instead we just swam with tons of incredible bright, dark, pale, pink, striped, dotted, skinny, fat, slow, fast fish. We went out into the cove and back in twice - the second time the waves picked up a bit, so it made the path back through the rocks a little more adventurous.
We had lunch at Hale'iwa Beach Park, and then we went into Hale'iwa, which is a fairly touristy town. Lots of shops and some restaurants and stuff like that. The girls went shopping while the men waited in line for shave ice. Dan and I shared a raspberry rootbeer chocolate shave ice. Tastes fantastic. Then we headed out to the Dole Pineapple plantation to see how pineapples grow and to go through the incredibly huge maze. Even with a map of the maze, it still took us an hour to make it through!
Then we were off to Costco in Mililani for a pizza dinner. After that we did a bit of souvenir shopping, including picking up the supplies for me to make my own kukui nut lei. Back at home we did some laundry and hung it out to dry before collapsing, I mean ... before resting up for the next day.
Then we hopped back in the car and drove to Sunset Beach, where we got all ready for some swimming and snorkeling. Which we did - at Shark's Cove.
My one half-regret is that we didn't bring a waterproof camera. But, on the other hand, I didn't spend my time worrying about taking pictures. Instead we just swam with tons of incredible bright, dark, pale, pink, striped, dotted, skinny, fat, slow, fast fish. We went out into the cove and back in twice - the second time the waves picked up a bit, so it made the path back through the rocks a little more adventurous.
We had lunch at Hale'iwa Beach Park, and then we went into Hale'iwa, which is a fairly touristy town. Lots of shops and some restaurants and stuff like that. The girls went shopping while the men waited in line for shave ice. Dan and I shared a raspberry rootbeer chocolate shave ice. Tastes fantastic. Then we headed out to the Dole Pineapple plantation to see how pineapples grow and to go through the incredibly huge maze. Even with a map of the maze, it still took us an hour to make it through!
Then we were off to Costco in Mililani for a pizza dinner. After that we did a bit of souvenir shopping, including picking up the supplies for me to make my own kukui nut lei. Back at home we did some laundry and hung it out to dry before collapsing, I mean ... before resting up for the next day.
16 June 2009
Waikiki (Awesome Vacation Day 3)
Thursday morning Dan figured out that it was much quieter if we shut the window facing the roosters. So we slept a lot better. We had crepes for breakfast with our friends and then we took off for a day on our own. Bus 55 took us along the windward side of the island with lots of great views of the mountains and water until it went into downtown Honolulu, where we got off a block early (my fault). But we found the B Bus anyway (after a quick stop in Macy's) and we rode off to the beach. Waikiki.
We got off the bus right by the police station on the beach. Immediately we were approached by someone offering surfing lessons, but we weren't ready to try that. Instead we just went swimming. The water wasn't exactly warm like a heated pool, but it was definitely not cold. Nothing like swimming in the waters of the Pacific Northwest beaches. The bottom dropped off really quickly, which surprised me, but it made for some great waves crashing into the beach. We went out about 5 yards and the water was up to my waist. Ten yards and I could barely touch. Fifteen yards and we were swimming. It was gorgeous. Big swells would pick us up, or white foaming water would crash over and into us. We could swim out and back in or just float in place.
I know, I know - you're wondering at this point where the pictures are. Well, we didn't bring a camera, but have no fear, there are pictures coming up.
After maybe an hour we came in from the water and went wandering further down the beach. There are just bunches of beaches all connected together along in front of all the hotels or along Kalakaua Ave. We walked west along the beach, passing the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, the Outrigger Waikiki, the Sheraton Waikiki ... down almost to the Fort de Russy beach. About two hotels before that beach we turned and walked between the hotels to the street. We wandered our way back through the streets, looking at the various shops everywhere. Tons of shops. Why would you go shopping if you're next to that beautiful beach? Well, anyways, we ended up finding lunch in the international district back along Kalakaua. Gyros and a coconut smoothie. Coconuts don't "smooth" very well, but it left a nice residue in the bottom of the cup to munch on. Dan got a little worried as I enjoyed looking at the different stalls and shops we passed, but we made it safely back to the beach where we started.
We were a bit tired, so we hung out at the beach out of the sun for a half hour before we started our surfing lesson. That's right, we tried to surf. We got ourselves a couple of lessons at a group rate, and then we were the entire group! So the two of us headed out into the water with Junior after a brief land demonstration of "how to stand up on a surfboard".
We lay on our boards and paddled out into the water. Then we took turns riding the waves in towards the shore. Here come the pictures.
Dan, on his second or maybe third try. He claims he had to jump off at the end because he was going to run into someone.
On my fifth or sixth try:
While Dan was busy surfing:
I was busy falling. And feeling kind of foolish. Well, a lot foolish. But then, after lots of practice falling, on the seventh or eighth try, Tada! I surf!
But never fear, I managed to find other ways to feel foolish. Like this:
That's right - I took out a kid. A cute little kid. Not that I could see her at all because I was mostly facing the other way, but that's no excuse really. The only thing I can say for myself is that I'm glad she jumped before our boards collided. She was safely off in the water before I even knew there was a problem.
And how does it feel to surf? Our faces say it all:
Concentration, Fear, and Exhilaration!
For those who only read this blog for the pictures, well, the pictures are over for this post. Sorry. But just in case I lost the piece of paper where I wrote everything down, I'm going to keep typing here.
After surfing we were ... not hungry. We'd probably tasted a little too much saltwater. So we headed the other direction down the beach and passed some girls playing two-on-two volleyball, a stage that was evidently for later that night, a really calm beach due to the big old breakwater wall build out in the water, a pier where kids were jumping off into the waves and one guy was snorkeling, down to Kapiolani Park and the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial. Where were changed back into street clothes and turned around. We checked out a quilt shop, but it was more of a "quilted knick knack" shop. We stopped at Haagen Dazs and had some cookie dough and cheesecake (two flavors) ice cream. By 7:30 it was clearly getting darker and time to head home. We wandered around to find a bus stop, since Kalakaua was a one way street down by the beach. We found a B Bus heading back into town and took it. However, the bus went back on a parallel street a few blocks over, so we were lost. The bus driver told us to get off at Punchbowl, and we did. Then we walked a couple blocks and found a bus stop where I asked one lady if she knew how to find the 55 going circle island. She was really nice and told us to go back to the previous corner and turn right, walk down the hill, and stop where there's a bus stop with a bunch of people at it. She was right! We caught the bus and headed back north. We rode home through the dark, proud of our day's adventuring.
We got off the bus right by the police station on the beach. Immediately we were approached by someone offering surfing lessons, but we weren't ready to try that. Instead we just went swimming. The water wasn't exactly warm like a heated pool, but it was definitely not cold. Nothing like swimming in the waters of the Pacific Northwest beaches. The bottom dropped off really quickly, which surprised me, but it made for some great waves crashing into the beach. We went out about 5 yards and the water was up to my waist. Ten yards and I could barely touch. Fifteen yards and we were swimming. It was gorgeous. Big swells would pick us up, or white foaming water would crash over and into us. We could swim out and back in or just float in place.
I know, I know - you're wondering at this point where the pictures are. Well, we didn't bring a camera, but have no fear, there are pictures coming up.
After maybe an hour we came in from the water and went wandering further down the beach. There are just bunches of beaches all connected together along in front of all the hotels or along Kalakaua Ave. We walked west along the beach, passing the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, the Outrigger Waikiki, the Sheraton Waikiki ... down almost to the Fort de Russy beach. About two hotels before that beach we turned and walked between the hotels to the street. We wandered our way back through the streets, looking at the various shops everywhere. Tons of shops. Why would you go shopping if you're next to that beautiful beach? Well, anyways, we ended up finding lunch in the international district back along Kalakaua. Gyros and a coconut smoothie. Coconuts don't "smooth" very well, but it left a nice residue in the bottom of the cup to munch on. Dan got a little worried as I enjoyed looking at the different stalls and shops we passed, but we made it safely back to the beach where we started.
We were a bit tired, so we hung out at the beach out of the sun for a half hour before we started our surfing lesson. That's right, we tried to surf. We got ourselves a couple of lessons at a group rate, and then we were the entire group! So the two of us headed out into the water with Junior after a brief land demonstration of "how to stand up on a surfboard".
We lay on our boards and paddled out into the water. Then we took turns riding the waves in towards the shore. Here come the pictures.
Dan, on his second or maybe third try. He claims he had to jump off at the end because he was going to run into someone.
On my fifth or sixth try:
While Dan was busy surfing:
I was busy falling. And feeling kind of foolish. Well, a lot foolish. But then, after lots of practice falling, on the seventh or eighth try, Tada! I surf!
But never fear, I managed to find other ways to feel foolish. Like this:
That's right - I took out a kid. A cute little kid. Not that I could see her at all because I was mostly facing the other way, but that's no excuse really. The only thing I can say for myself is that I'm glad she jumped before our boards collided. She was safely off in the water before I even knew there was a problem.
And how does it feel to surf? Our faces say it all:
Concentration, Fear, and Exhilaration!For those who only read this blog for the pictures, well, the pictures are over for this post. Sorry. But just in case I lost the piece of paper where I wrote everything down, I'm going to keep typing here.
After surfing we were ... not hungry. We'd probably tasted a little too much saltwater. So we headed the other direction down the beach and passed some girls playing two-on-two volleyball, a stage that was evidently for later that night, a really calm beach due to the big old breakwater wall build out in the water, a pier where kids were jumping off into the waves and one guy was snorkeling, down to Kapiolani Park and the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial. Where were changed back into street clothes and turned around. We checked out a quilt shop, but it was more of a "quilted knick knack" shop. We stopped at Haagen Dazs and had some cookie dough and cheesecake (two flavors) ice cream. By 7:30 it was clearly getting darker and time to head home. We wandered around to find a bus stop, since Kalakaua was a one way street down by the beach. We found a B Bus heading back into town and took it. However, the bus went back on a parallel street a few blocks over, so we were lost. The bus driver told us to get off at Punchbowl, and we did. Then we walked a couple blocks and found a bus stop where I asked one lady if she knew how to find the 55 going circle island. She was really nice and told us to go back to the previous corner and turn right, walk down the hill, and stop where there's a bus stop with a bunch of people at it. She was right! We caught the bus and headed back north. We rode home through the dark, proud of our day's adventuring.
15 June 2009
Awesome Vacation Day 2
Our alarm went off at about 4:30 Wednesday morning. No, we didn't forget to turn it off after getting up for Tuesday's early flight.
The culprit was a little camera shy - or maybe he was just fond of camouflage. But we found him anyway. We spotted another of his friends acting all sweet and innocent.
Our leisurely morning included a walk to the Laie Temple and then down to the beach. The Temple property extends all the way down to the beach, where they used to do baptisms. We really enjoyed seeing the beach by daylight and wading in the surf as we walked along.
And this was all before the main event of the day - visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center. The PCC has 8 villages representing different Polynesian cultures. Although one of our friends (daddy) had to work that day, the other (mommy) brought their daughter and the four of us headed off to the PCC. We started out at the Samoan village, where we saw someone make fire and then demonstrate how to prepare a coconut (step one: use sharp stick, step two: use hard rock, step three: scrape out insides of coconut, step four: squeeze out coconut milk). This was followed by some monkeys (I mean boys) climbing up a coconut tree. The two little boys at the end were adorable.
Next we hopped onto one of the canoes that takes you for a tour of the PCC. Our tour guides were pretty new at their jobs - we bumped into the walls and even another canoe as we made our way through the center. By the time we left the water, we could feel the sun even through the sunscreen.
We had figured out which shows we were going to attend using the PCC's website, but the schedule had changed. Just a heads up to anyone who goes there - if you look at the schedule they hand you when you buy your tickets, you can figure out how to make it to most of the villages' shows. We did a little recalculating for our own schedule and went to the village of Hawaii just in time to watch a hula demonstration.
Next we stopped by Tonga to practice our spear throwing and to weave ourselves some fish. The guy teaching the weaving put our fish together on a stick so they looked like they were kissing. Can you tell which one he called a chicken fish?
The Rainbows of Paradise canoe parade was next. We sat along the riverbank and watched the show. The parade started with the girl in the middle tossing flowers into the water. The other six pictures (left to right, top row and then bottom row) are the canoes for Fiji, Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Samoa. Each canoe performed a dance or activity as they circled in front of use before they moved on to make way for the next group.
Our friends took off for the afternoon, leaving us to finish exploring the PCC on our own. They were picking up daddy later on to come back with them to the big evening show. Dan and went back to the village of Tonga for their show. They started with conch shells and then they called up audience members to do some drumming. The guy in the black shirt got really into it, much to the delight of his kids and wife sitting right behind us.
After Tonga we visited Aotearoa (New Zealand). This village was a little different because they started by having us wait outside to see a greeting ceremony - involving a leaf on the ground. Then we went inside and watched them demonstrate singing, poi ball twirling, and stick tossing.
Then we visited the two villages that don't have a show, the Marquesas and Rapa Nui.
We stopped by the Tahitian show on our way to our luau, sticking around just long enough to attempt some dancing. Let's just say there was a lot more laughing than dancing. Unfortunately we couldn't stick around long enough to try their coconut bread, but we still had plenty of food coming up at the luau.
Since it was a very full day we were in the secondary luau location. We were greeted with leies and shown to our seats. We were sitting by a couple on their honeymoon and a group of high school seniors celebrating their graduation. There was entertainment before and during dinner. Before we ate we watched them dig up our dinner from the pit where it was roasting. Mmmmm... Kalua pork.
And here is our dinner. Starting with the purple roll and going clockwise we ate:
Taro rolls
Chicken long rice (just a little bit is showing under the roll)
Baked taro (I'm guessing by the purple color)
Salad
Spinach salad
Lomilomi salmon
Poke (yes this is marinated raw fish)
Pineapple
Poi (boiled and pounded taro root)
Kalua pork
Fish
And teriyaki chicken in the middle
All with rice.
And for dessert (unpictured) there was huapia (a coconut custard), coconut cake and chocolate cake too.
A great day, right? But it's not over yet. We tried to go visit the IMAX theater but they were closed by the time we left the luau, so we wandered around through all the shops (I love the little frog noisemakers they had) until it was time for the Horizons show. We were entertained by dancing and singing and drumming and finally folks playing with fire. At one point three young men put out their fires by sitting on them in a comedic routine with lots of shoving, pushing, tricks and burning grass skirts. The lady in the upper right picture was one of my favorites. And the drummer.
It was fun to see how many of the performers our friends actually knew. After we met a few of them on the way out of the center, we climbed into the car and headed home to collapse, digest, and take the nightly shower. By this point I was really appreciating the value of feeling cold!
The culprit was a little camera shy - or maybe he was just fond of camouflage. But we found him anyway. We spotted another of his friends acting all sweet and innocent.
Our leisurely morning included a walk to the Laie Temple and then down to the beach. The Temple property extends all the way down to the beach, where they used to do baptisms. We really enjoyed seeing the beach by daylight and wading in the surf as we walked along.
And this was all before the main event of the day - visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center. The PCC has 8 villages representing different Polynesian cultures. Although one of our friends (daddy) had to work that day, the other (mommy) brought their daughter and the four of us headed off to the PCC. We started out at the Samoan village, where we saw someone make fire and then demonstrate how to prepare a coconut (step one: use sharp stick, step two: use hard rock, step three: scrape out insides of coconut, step four: squeeze out coconut milk). This was followed by some monkeys (I mean boys) climbing up a coconut tree. The two little boys at the end were adorable.
Next we hopped onto one of the canoes that takes you for a tour of the PCC. Our tour guides were pretty new at their jobs - we bumped into the walls and even another canoe as we made our way through the center. By the time we left the water, we could feel the sun even through the sunscreen.
We had figured out which shows we were going to attend using the PCC's website, but the schedule had changed. Just a heads up to anyone who goes there - if you look at the schedule they hand you when you buy your tickets, you can figure out how to make it to most of the villages' shows. We did a little recalculating for our own schedule and went to the village of Hawaii just in time to watch a hula demonstration.
Next we stopped by Tonga to practice our spear throwing and to weave ourselves some fish. The guy teaching the weaving put our fish together on a stick so they looked like they were kissing. Can you tell which one he called a chicken fish?
The Rainbows of Paradise canoe parade was next. We sat along the riverbank and watched the show. The parade started with the girl in the middle tossing flowers into the water. The other six pictures (left to right, top row and then bottom row) are the canoes for Fiji, Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Samoa. Each canoe performed a dance or activity as they circled in front of use before they moved on to make way for the next group.
Our friends took off for the afternoon, leaving us to finish exploring the PCC on our own. They were picking up daddy later on to come back with them to the big evening show. Dan and went back to the village of Tonga for their show. They started with conch shells and then they called up audience members to do some drumming. The guy in the black shirt got really into it, much to the delight of his kids and wife sitting right behind us.
After Tonga we visited Aotearoa (New Zealand). This village was a little different because they started by having us wait outside to see a greeting ceremony - involving a leaf on the ground. Then we went inside and watched them demonstrate singing, poi ball twirling, and stick tossing.
Then we visited the two villages that don't have a show, the Marquesas and Rapa Nui.
We stopped by the Tahitian show on our way to our luau, sticking around just long enough to attempt some dancing. Let's just say there was a lot more laughing than dancing. Unfortunately we couldn't stick around long enough to try their coconut bread, but we still had plenty of food coming up at the luau.
Since it was a very full day we were in the secondary luau location. We were greeted with leies and shown to our seats. We were sitting by a couple on their honeymoon and a group of high school seniors celebrating their graduation. There was entertainment before and during dinner. Before we ate we watched them dig up our dinner from the pit where it was roasting. Mmmmm... Kalua pork.
And here is our dinner. Starting with the purple roll and going clockwise we ate:
Taro rolls
Chicken long rice (just a little bit is showing under the roll)
Baked taro (I'm guessing by the purple color)
Salad
Spinach salad
Lomilomi salmon
Poke (yes this is marinated raw fish)
Pineapple
Poi (boiled and pounded taro root)
Kalua pork
Fish
And teriyaki chicken in the middle
All with rice.
And for dessert (unpictured) there was huapia (a coconut custard), coconut cake and chocolate cake too.
A great day, right? But it's not over yet. We tried to go visit the IMAX theater but they were closed by the time we left the luau, so we wandered around through all the shops (I love the little frog noisemakers they had) until it was time for the Horizons show. We were entertained by dancing and singing and drumming and finally folks playing with fire. At one point three young men put out their fires by sitting on them in a comedic routine with lots of shoving, pushing, tricks and burning grass skirts. The lady in the upper right picture was one of my favorites. And the drummer.
It was fun to see how many of the performers our friends actually knew. After we met a few of them on the way out of the center, we climbed into the car and headed home to collapse, digest, and take the nightly shower. By this point I was really appreciating the value of feeling cold!
11 June 2009
Awesome Vacation, Day 1
When our friends moved to Oahu, I think everyone they know probably said, "Hey, maybe we should come visit." I know we did. It was more like a wish than a plan. But after a few months we started to think about it more seriously. Then we got the plane tickets. It still didn't seem completely real until the airport shuttle picked us up last Tuesday morning at 5:10AM. By 7:45 we were sitting on a plane. The flight took about 5.5 hours, but it seemed like much less because I slept most of the way.
As a side note, I was impressed with the tasty breakfast burrito and chocolate cupcake we were served for our meal on the plane. Best airplane food I've ever had. I mean, I kind of want the recipe for that burrito.
Since I currently am lacking originality, I'm going to call our friends "daddy, mommy, and daughter". Mommy and daughter picked us up and greeted us with leies; then we went out to lunch at Big Kahuna Pizza. They had lots of cool pizzas on the menu; we settled on the Pake pizza (stirfry chicken with a sweet and sour sauce) with an order of garlic cheese balls.
Then we headed out to go see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. There was no line, so we got tickets right away. We looked around the USS Bowfin park right by the ticket office for a few minutes before heading over to the theater where they show you a movie before you ride a boat over to the memorial. The movie told the story of December 7, 1941, which I evidently didn't know very well. Then, while we were all still in a bit of shock from viewing the footage of the attack, we got on the boat and went over to the memorial. The white building stands over the sunk USS Arizona. Parts of the battleship rise above the waters, and the oil leaking drop by drop to the surface is sometimes called the tears of the Arizona. At the near end of the memorial is a room of flags, the middle is open to either side so we could view the USS Arizona in the water, and the far end is a room with the names of those who died on the sunken ship. They have added the names of those who made it off of the ship and have died since.
Next we went to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl Cemetery. The cemetery is the entire caldera of a volcano. It felt peaceful and separate. We walked along the path lined by gigantic Chinese Banyan trees, visited the memorial pathway, and walked on up to the lookout point on one edge of the caldera where we could see out over Honolulu. I love the statue at the top of the stairs, where it says:
THE SOLEMN PRIDE
THAT MUST BE YOURS
TO HAVE LAID
SO COSTLY A SACRIFICE
UPON THE ALTAR
OF FREEDOM
And if you look very carefully at the left side of the base of the tree, you can find me. Those trees are so enormous that they kind of mask the great size of the cemetery.
Mommy friend drove us home along the Pali and Kamehameha highways, where we stopped twice: once to look at the Pali Lookout and once for some groceries. Dan was carrying our friends' daughter for the walk to the Pali Lookout. They were practically instant friends (some of you may know how amazing this is for Dan). From the lookout you could see the mountains and the ocean to the east. The mountain pictures below weren't actually taken from the Pali Lookout, but they are some of the mountains we saw on Oahu. Gorgeous, steep and clothed in green. We arrived at their house, dropped off our stuff, had some dinner, and went for an evening walk along the beach. In the dark - but we had to get a picture anyway.
As a side note, I was impressed with the tasty breakfast burrito and chocolate cupcake we were served for our meal on the plane. Best airplane food I've ever had. I mean, I kind of want the recipe for that burrito.
Since I currently am lacking originality, I'm going to call our friends "daddy, mommy, and daughter". Mommy and daughter picked us up and greeted us with leies; then we went out to lunch at Big Kahuna Pizza. They had lots of cool pizzas on the menu; we settled on the Pake pizza (stirfry chicken with a sweet and sour sauce) with an order of garlic cheese balls.
Then we headed out to go see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. There was no line, so we got tickets right away. We looked around the USS Bowfin park right by the ticket office for a few minutes before heading over to the theater where they show you a movie before you ride a boat over to the memorial. The movie told the story of December 7, 1941, which I evidently didn't know very well. Then, while we were all still in a bit of shock from viewing the footage of the attack, we got on the boat and went over to the memorial. The white building stands over the sunk USS Arizona. Parts of the battleship rise above the waters, and the oil leaking drop by drop to the surface is sometimes called the tears of the Arizona. At the near end of the memorial is a room of flags, the middle is open to either side so we could view the USS Arizona in the water, and the far end is a room with the names of those who died on the sunken ship. They have added the names of those who made it off of the ship and have died since.
Next we went to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl Cemetery. The cemetery is the entire caldera of a volcano. It felt peaceful and separate. We walked along the path lined by gigantic Chinese Banyan trees, visited the memorial pathway, and walked on up to the lookout point on one edge of the caldera where we could see out over Honolulu. I love the statue at the top of the stairs, where it says:
THE SOLEMN PRIDE
THAT MUST BE YOURS
TO HAVE LAID
SO COSTLY A SACRIFICE
UPON THE ALTAR
OF FREEDOM
And if you look very carefully at the left side of the base of the tree, you can find me. Those trees are so enormous that they kind of mask the great size of the cemetery.
Mommy friend drove us home along the Pali and Kamehameha highways, where we stopped twice: once to look at the Pali Lookout and once for some groceries. Dan was carrying our friends' daughter for the walk to the Pali Lookout. They were practically instant friends (some of you may know how amazing this is for Dan). From the lookout you could see the mountains and the ocean to the east. The mountain pictures below weren't actually taken from the Pali Lookout, but they are some of the mountains we saw on Oahu. Gorgeous, steep and clothed in green. We arrived at their house, dropped off our stuff, had some dinner, and went for an evening walk along the beach. In the dark - but we had to get a picture anyway.
01 June 2009
Amy's Wedding Day!
I knew it would be a whirlwind visit to Las Vegas, and it was! I flew down there Friday night, rented a car, and arrived at Amy's place around midnight. Jenn stayed up after everyone else went to sleep just to let me in. Thank you Jenn!
Saturday morning started sometime before 6AM. The details are a bit blurry for the first 10 minutes or so, but the excitement was catching. How many friends does it take to get one bride ready for an 8AM wedding? One, plus three to sit around chatting and giggling and taking pictures! Emily did a fabulous job curling Amy's hair, and Jenn, Anna and I were the other three.
Then the groom arrived, dug in the closet for his shoes (good thing he found them), and chivalrously carried the dress while escorting his bride to the car.
It was a beautiful day at the temple, inside and out. A quote that stuck with me was the last two lines of:
Boys flying kites haul in their white winged birds;
You can't do that way when you're flying words.
"Careful with fire," is good advice we know
"Careful with words," is ten times doubly so.
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;
But God Himself can't kill them when they're said.
As far as I can tell, the quote is from Will Carleton, The First Settler’s Story. There are various versions of it on the Internet, so some of the words may not be exactly correct.
We all headed outside to wait for the newly married couple. Here's people waiting and getting ready for all the picture-taking:
Then the newlyweds appeared and the picture taking began! They obligingly posed for all the cameras.
After the first flurry of photos, the wedding party moved on to another location on the temple grounds for more pictures. I didn't try to duplicate all of the shots the wedding photographer was doing - but here's some of the pictures I did take:
Isn't she a lovely bride in a lovely dress? And the bridesmaids dresses are really sparkly fabric, just like princesses. Here's a closeup of the three bouquets the sisters are holding all together:
Amy was smart - she planned for a snack break. She tried to hide from pictures while eating, but we couldn't let that happen, could we? She shared with Jared too.
Then they went off to get more pictures taken by themselves. Next we went to the luncheon (we were hungry and it was really good - hit the spot! Thank you to Jared's family!), and then we headed for the Strip. It was a lot of walking, and a big contrast to the beautiful, clean temple. But we had fun watching the Bellagio fountains, walking through the Bellagio gardens, and visiting the four-story M&M World store. We bought Icee's to cool ourselves off - the day was bright and sunny at this point and we were boiling!
I didn't take many pictures the the reception - we (the four girls) kept pretty busy helping out. Amy credits her sister Bonnie with most of the actual hard work of planning and figuring things out for the reception - she did a fabulous job! There was the cutest ice cream bar with tons of toppings - chocolate, caramel, and jolly rancher sauces, crushed snickers, butterfingers, oreos, and heath bars, mixed berries and strawberries, gummy bears, sprinkles, and whipped cream at least. And then the bride and groom cut the cake. The outer layer of frosting was pretty thick, so they had to try twice to find the actual cake. :) Then the call went out for volunteers to serve the cake. The four of us stepped up, although we were a bit nervous. Lots of cake got eaten up. Here's the remains when we were through serving cake (note the really thick custard filling layers which made it difficult to cut!):
There were the traditional first dances, and then a last chance for everyone to wish Amy and Jared congratulations as they got ready to head out to door, only to find this:
And then they were gone.
HAPPY WEDDING AMY AND JARED!
Saturday morning started sometime before 6AM. The details are a bit blurry for the first 10 minutes or so, but the excitement was catching. How many friends does it take to get one bride ready for an 8AM wedding? One, plus three to sit around chatting and giggling and taking pictures! Emily did a fabulous job curling Amy's hair, and Jenn, Anna and I were the other three.
Then the groom arrived, dug in the closet for his shoes (good thing he found them), and chivalrously carried the dress while escorting his bride to the car.
It was a beautiful day at the temple, inside and out. A quote that stuck with me was the last two lines of:
Boys flying kites haul in their white winged birds;
You can't do that way when you're flying words.
"Careful with fire," is good advice we know
"Careful with words," is ten times doubly so.
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;
But God Himself can't kill them when they're said.
As far as I can tell, the quote is from Will Carleton, The First Settler’s Story. There are various versions of it on the Internet, so some of the words may not be exactly correct.
We all headed outside to wait for the newly married couple. Here's people waiting and getting ready for all the picture-taking:
Then the newlyweds appeared and the picture taking began! They obligingly posed for all the cameras.
After the first flurry of photos, the wedding party moved on to another location on the temple grounds for more pictures. I didn't try to duplicate all of the shots the wedding photographer was doing - but here's some of the pictures I did take:
Isn't she a lovely bride in a lovely dress? And the bridesmaids dresses are really sparkly fabric, just like princesses. Here's a closeup of the three bouquets the sisters are holding all together:
Amy was smart - she planned for a snack break. She tried to hide from pictures while eating, but we couldn't let that happen, could we? She shared with Jared too.
Then they went off to get more pictures taken by themselves. Next we went to the luncheon (we were hungry and it was really good - hit the spot! Thank you to Jared's family!), and then we headed for the Strip. It was a lot of walking, and a big contrast to the beautiful, clean temple. But we had fun watching the Bellagio fountains, walking through the Bellagio gardens, and visiting the four-story M&M World store. We bought Icee's to cool ourselves off - the day was bright and sunny at this point and we were boiling!
I didn't take many pictures the the reception - we (the four girls) kept pretty busy helping out. Amy credits her sister Bonnie with most of the actual hard work of planning and figuring things out for the reception - she did a fabulous job! There was the cutest ice cream bar with tons of toppings - chocolate, caramel, and jolly rancher sauces, crushed snickers, butterfingers, oreos, and heath bars, mixed berries and strawberries, gummy bears, sprinkles, and whipped cream at least. And then the bride and groom cut the cake. The outer layer of frosting was pretty thick, so they had to try twice to find the actual cake. :) Then the call went out for volunteers to serve the cake. The four of us stepped up, although we were a bit nervous. Lots of cake got eaten up. Here's the remains when we were through serving cake (note the really thick custard filling layers which made it difficult to cut!):
There were the traditional first dances, and then a last chance for everyone to wish Amy and Jared congratulations as they got ready to head out to door, only to find this:
And then they were gone.
HAPPY WEDDING AMY AND JARED!
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