Pearl Harbor and Fire Dancing

Today was wonderful. We started off at Pearl Harbor.  We first went to the Battleship USS Missouri. It is a huge ship:

Isaac sat in a command chair to get a feel for things:

We then went to the USS Arizona Memorial. It was profoundly moving:

Leslie gave a beautiful smile and I caught it on camera there - you can see how her new hairdo flatters her:

We then picked up Ruth and she gave us a tour of downtown, including the aparment building she first lived in when she moved to Honolulu (she lived on the 7th floor):

Ruth had to work, so we crashed for a bit and then went in search of a luau.  We could not find one, but we found a buffet with a floor show that did a fair imitation of a luau.  They had Samoan fire dancers:

Leslie and Rob got to have some pictures with the dancers:

After dinner, I went to Ruth's work and dropped off a few things we forgot to give her earlier in the day.  Here she is at work:

We have to get up at 3 AM to get ready to head to the airport to go home. Good night!

Waikiki shopping

Today we spent most of the day just around Waikiki shopping. We first went to the Ala Moana mall:

The ladies went to the salon while Isaac and I checked out the MakerBot demonstration at the Microsoft store:

Leslie spent some time at the salon getting a new hairdo:

On our way out to dinner at "Da Big Kahuna", we saw a beautiful sunset:

After dinner, we spent some time at an open-air bazaar called Duke's Marketplace:

Trinkets were found and purchased along with a garish and gaudy aloha shirt. On to bed for now.

Polynesian Cultural Center

Today we drove up to the north side of the island to see the Polynesian Cultural Center.  While we were waiting for the place to open, we ate some fruit we bought at Big Momma's roadside stand.  We had some great bananas and coconut while looking at this sight:

When we got the PCC, the first show we went to was for Tahiti.  The drummers let Isaac sit in on the first part of the gig:

The folks doing the show first made the women get up to dance. Leslie was a good sport:

Isaac and Rob were much less coordinated when the men got up to dance:

Isaac and Leslie met a fierce warrior from Fiji:

There was a canoe parade with all the various cultural peoples going by in the lagoon. The Hawaiian king was very impressive:

The Maori canoe had the dancers doing a Haka:

Isaac ended up with a temporary tattoo:

After we left the PCC, we drove by the Hawaii temple and then met with Jim and Keri Lee - our friends from Tucson who have been living in Laie Hawaii for the past 7 years.  It was great!

Good night

Waikiki and Tantalus

After church today, we mainly hung around Wiakiki while Leslie finished some studying. Isaac and Rob walked around and saw a few sights. There are tons of different trolleys and shuttle buses about:

We saw the statue of King David Kalakau:

Isaac found his dream car:

We went to the koi ponds at the Royal Hawaiian Mall. The pigeons look like they are just waiting for a meal:

After dinner, Ruth took us up to a scenic overlook called the Tantalus. We just missed the sunset:

We were up in the clouds and it was very windy:

More adventures tomorrow - good night!

North Shore Excursion

Ruth gave us a guided tour of the North Shore of Oahu today with lots of interesting stops.  We first went to a Hawaiian shaved ice place called Matsumoto's:

We then went to the beach to look at some pretty violent surf.  We could only walk on the beach because they had red flags out to keep people from swimming. The waves were sort of like this:

While we were there, Ruth sent a message to the ALIENS!!!

We then hiked up to a very beautiful spot called Waimeia Falls where we got pictures of everyone.

Then Ruth took us to a place called Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.It was very good shrimp and there was grilled corn and ice-cold coconuts as well. They have a bunch of trinket shops there and Isaac got a shark tooth to wear:

Very tiring day with lots of walking.  Good night!

Well, we made it safely to Honolulu today. The airplane ride was a long one. Leslie spent a part of it snoozing:

Isaac watched some iPad videos:

About 30 minutes prior to landing, we started to see islands out the airplane window!

About 15 minutes prior to landing, we finally saw a good view of Honolulu:

After picking up the luggage and rental car, we hightailed it (figuratively speaking only - the traffic was quite congested) over to Ruth's apartment to see her:

She took us out on the town for dinner and shopping - some of it in her Forever 21 store. Then she introduced us to some street show performers that taught her to breakdance:

That's all for tonight!

Prepping for Oahu in the morning

Well, tomorrow morning we are off to Hawaii to see Ruth.  Lucky us!


We will be posting nightly as per usual for those following us.

Cheers!