Aloha from Hawaii - Day 3

Day 3 on our Hawaiian adventure had us going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was nice because it doesn't open til later in the day (around noon), so we got to sleep in despite the fact that we had to travel a ways to get to it. Traveling over there was beautiful as the road we went on was RIGHT on the coast for a large part of the way. So pretty!

We ordered the "Ambassador" package for the Polynesian Cultural Center (hereafter known as PCC) which included a tour, a luau and the evening show - Ha Breath of Life. Our group consisted of about 15-20 people led by the wonderful "Cousin" Cathy. She started us out with the Samoan village where we learned how to shuck, open and shave a coconut as well as climb a palm tree. Also I was given a palm leaf woven headband, which was very nice. They said that the palm leaves may turn brown but the shape will stay the same.



After that we went over to the Aotearoa (New Zealand) village where we got ink "tattoos" and my mom and I learned a game to play with sticks and directions. Harder than it sounds. We then learned about how they welcomed in others as friends and other interesting cultural dances and music. Very cool also. Interesting dancing with lots of yelling and tongues and hitting yourself and stuff.

After that we went to watch the different "villages" show off their dancing skills on canoes. They did well. It's not super impressive to me because I'm pretty familiar with all that kind of dancing but one funny thing is that the guy who was steering the Fiji boat fell off because their dancing was shaking it so much (apparently that happens a lot though).

We left early from the canoe show to get seats for the next show in "Tonga" where they did a really fun drum show where they pulled up 3 people from the audience to copy what the leader did one by one. The guys they pulled up for it were perfect for the show and new just how to ham it up. It was Cousin Cathy's favorite show and I can see why. After that one we went to Tahiti and we all learned about the may sets of islands that Tahiti is comprised of and we all learned how to dance. Funny though how some of the women did well at dancing but absolutely none of the men (even the younger ones) looked at all like they were dancing. They were very stiff and it was very funny to watch them.



After that one we had no more time for villages and headed down the river in a canoe over to the luau that we had. That was where Cathy left us for the day. The luau was good. We had one of the front-most tables, which was wonderful. I thought the dancing was very good here as well and I learned that I actually like taro in many different forms. Yum. And the Kalua pork and Chicken and long rice were good too.



After a small trip over to see the Hawaii Laie temple and BYU campus (both of which are very pretty) we didn't have too much time before the night show so we did a little bit of poking around in a shop and then headed in before finding out that we were in the 3rd row!! How cool is that? And to top it off, nobody sat in the second row in front of us! Clear views made for a wonderful time. And the show was amazing. Wonderful dancing, super awesome fire dancers who absolutely floored me with some of the stuff they did. I highly recommend the show. After that we all went home following a caravan of cars to Waikiki.

Aloha from Hawaii - Day 2

Day 2 started out bright and early for us. We went to Pearl Harbor and had heard that it was best if we went as early as possible. It opened at 7:30 and we got there early and stood in line for a bit to get it and it started raining on us. It is a very weird feeling to be warm while being rained on. Made me feel like I was sweating - very odd. But standing in the rain was worth it because right after it stopped a beautiful rainbow appeared very brightly. It kept sprinkling on and off throughout the day and every time it stopped you could see rainbows. Here's mom with one of the rainbows.



We went on the Bowfin first and man, it was small. I would hate to have to go through those doors in a hurry. I would totally create a traffic jam. It was very interesting. The audio tour was good too. Gave a deeper understanding of what it was like on the submarine. I would have liked to be able to shoot these big guns though...



After that it was interesting to go over to the Arizona memorial and see the diagrams of what it looked like before it's destruction and what it looks like now. I was very interested to learn that it's actually leaking oil and there was so much and it's such a slow leak that it will be leaking oil for a very long time to come. After that, we headed over to the Missouri and it was BIG. From across the harbor, it doesn't look as big as it is - especially when some even bigger ships had entered the harbor earlier that day. It was nice to be able to compare the size of the Missouri and Bowfin...huge difference. My feet were very sore after we were done going through the whole place. The audio tour on the Missouri was also quite well done.



Also of interest that I learned was the Missouri was used not only in WW2 but also 2 other wars afterwords and so there was an interesting mix of technology on that one ship. I also learned that the Tomahawk missiles cost a TON of money EACH (So all in all, Millions and Millions of dollars worth!!!)! It's crazy!

After Pearl Harbor we did a bit of shopping where I found a kimono just for Christy! If only it were in her size!



After resting for a while we went and had OKONOMIYAKI!! I was so excited. It was super good and SUPER filling though I was kinda disappointed that I didn't realize that there were differences in their selections and that I didn't get the type I had had previously in Japan. Oh well. And I had a super good potato side dish before my meal that was to die for. With potato slices, onions, cheese and a tomato sauce that made my mouth so happy. Here's my yummy okonomiyaki that I only managed to finish half of...



And after a bit more shopping at the mall the okonomiyaki place our day was done.

Aloha from Hawaii - Day 1

Day one from my trip to Hawaii was so much fun! We got a ride from Vicki to the airport where we then managed to not get strip searched by security on the way to heaven. One funny thing that happened was that one of the security guys who checked my ID and ticket to see if they are real said "It's nice to see someone from California." I find it odd that most of the people he sees through there are NOT from CA.

We then got on the plane and they played a couple of TV shows which I didn't watch, the movie Bounty Hunter and an episode of The Simpsons and Big Bang Theory - which I did watch. Bounty Hunter wasn't very thrilling, I don't recommend it.

We landed in Hawaii, got our rental car and proceeded to the hotel - The Hilton Hawaiian Village - which is very, very pretty. Nicely kept, nice service. It has several little shops right here and places to eat. We ate at the Noodle House - we all had Yakisoba - soo good, almost as good as mom makes! - it was a tiny little place with a long bar and stools. Fun stuff. We didn't do anything else of note on this day.



Note: Now you can't say I didn't blog. ^_^

Google maps + Hawaii (Edited)

So I was watching this show on food network called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and they featured in one part a good restaurant in Honolulu. Since I'll be going there in a few weeks with my parents I decided to look up on my phone a map of where exactly on the island it is. Because I did it on my phone it asked me if I wanted directions from my location. Being curious as to what it would say, I said yes. This is what it showed me...





That's right. To get to Hawaii from LA you need to travel up the 5 freeway almost to Canada and then KAYAK - yes kayak - to Hawaii!!!!! That is the funniest thing I have seen on Google Maps ever! I think it's even better than some store that had a MapQuest map on it's website that had them out in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.

How long do you think it would take you to kayak 2,756 miles to Hawaii? You'd have to tow a LOT of food and water behind you to last as long as you'd need. Plus plenty of sunscreen so you don't burn up.

Edit: My dad found an interesting new kayak that you pedal like a bike instead of rowing. This kayak goes to about 5.75 mph. This means it'll only take you 19-20 days to reach hawaii if you pedal constantly!!