Hawaii Day 4 — 18th Floor Heaven

It was already full day when we drove over to Diamond Head, an old volcanic crater with a Honolulu overlook, and we got there too late for the hike to the peak. That was probably a good thing. Here's Joanie standing inside the crater.

After a depressing night at The Motel Time Forgot, we checked in to the very new and wonderful Embassy Suites back in Honolulu for three nights. We were already looking forward to the two-room suite and the free giant breakfasts, but then they ran out of regular rooms and gave us a two bedroom suite instead. The second king bedroom became Joanie's TV lounge, walk-in closet, and private bath. It was bigger than our first college apartment. Not bad.

Hawaii Day 4 — Exfoliation at Waimea Beach

Down the road from Pupukea is Waimea Beach where we went swimming. Hawaii's North Shore is known for its strong current and giant waves, and you really need to be a good swimmer. Joanie and I went in and got tossed around pretty good. The waves first pound your body into the beach and then the undertow sucks you back in. I had to make sure my body wasn't parallel to the waves ... one time I almost lost my suit, it was that strong. After a while I figured out to go in a little further from the break line — I could dive under the wave or swim to the top of it and not get so pummeled. Florida is nothing like this, I had so much fun in the water.

Waimea is gorgeous, but I focused on swimming and not photos, and this is the only shot I got. With the waves dragging your backside around the beach, your suit can get a little full of sand. Even after showering extensively, here are the two pounds Joanie brought back to the car.

Hawaii Day 4 — Pupukea

We found an amazing place to get into the water at Pupukea Beach Park, it's a cove about 3 feet deep surrounded by boulders that protect you from the strong North Shore current. The waves pound the perimeter and there's a small waterfall in the center rocks that feeds the inner pool every minute or so. This was our first time getting into the ocean during the week, and it was so crystal clear you could see all the fish swimming around you even without a mask. Amazing.

There are signs posted everywhere warning people not to get on the rocks. Three girls decided to stand on the waterfall anyway and let the ocean come in and run across their ankles. Sure enough, in a few minutes a giant wave came pounding through, they all screamed, and I watched them get tossed over the edge onto the rocks below. They had some pretty good scrapes, and the EMTs got called in to patch them up. Check out the surfboard on top of the fire engine.

Hawaii Day 4 — BYU Hawaii

As graduates of BYU, it was only proper for Joanie and I to check out the BYU Hawaii campus. It's pretty small, but it's a beautiful campus just like Provo, and looks like a nice place to go to school. The temple, PCC and the University campus are all adjacent in Laie on what used to be a plantation. There are 2500 students, about half are international.

We stopped in the bookstore to pick up souvenirs (no parking problem like in Provo) and I came as close as I ever will to buying a Hawaiian shirt. I still have to come back to New York, you know.

Hawaii Day 4 — Laie Temple

As we set out from Laie we did a little sightseeing. This is the Laie Temple, which is closed for major renovations. It's the first Mormon temple built outside of Utah, dedicated in 1919.

I just found this story online.

Construction of the Laie Hawaii Temple came to a standstill when the supply of lumber ran out. Prayers were uttered, and two days later, a freighter was discovered stranded on a nearby coral reef. The captain offered his entire cargo to the saints if they would unload it for him. His cargo? Lumber — enough to complete the temple.

Hawaii Day 4 — Flora

There are flowers growing everywhere in Hawaii, very different from New York. I found these white plumeria and bird of paradise along the sidewalk in peoples' yards in Laie.

By the way, I added some pictures of the PCC Night Show in chronological order a few posts below here.

Hawaii Day 4 — One Star Motel

The one downside of the fantastic Night Show at the Polynesian Cultural Center is that it lets out late and there is only one hotel in Laie, and it's a dive. We knew that going in and debated whether the stay there long before booking, but we decided it was only for one night. Let's just say the place exceeded our expectations — in the wrong direction. Joanie says the best thing going for the Laie Inn is that it's next door to McDonald's.

Not to lose all hope; this is Hawaii and the beach is right across the street. Laie is the only place we'd be staying that faces east, so the best part for me was getting up at 5:20 and catching the sunrise.

Hawaii Day 3 — Polynesian Cultural Center

The PCC is excellent, I could have spent another day there! It's set up as several different villages, representing the islands of the Pacific. Most of the presenters here are BYU-Hawaii students from these islands, sharing their cultures while putting themselves through school. It's beautifully landscaped and set up like a theme park, but it's not overblown like Disney. Something amazing to me was seeing the PCC provide tour guides speaking Japanese and other languages to non-English tour groups.

At night we went to our second luau for dinner. On the menu at all luaus: Kalua pig roasted all day in the ground, rice, purple taro root poi, a kind of salmon salsa, beef jerky, and dessert made from pineapple or coconut. After evening we went to an arena where they put on a fantastic Night Show of dancing, singing, music and drumming against a mountain backdrop. The full package is expensive and worth it.

USS Arizona Memorial

Skipping ahead momentarily to Hawaii Day 5 in honor of Memorial Day today. We visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. My grandfather was in the Navy there on December 7, 1941 during the Japanese attack. When I was younger I asked him about it, but he never would talk to me or anyone else about it.

Before your shuttle over the water to the Memorial they show a film about events leading up to the attack, plus footage of the devastation, including the Arizona's magazines exploding after being hit. 1177 men died on the Arizona alone and there's a wall inside the Memorial inscribed with their names.

I was impressed there were a couple of Pearl Harbor vets there inside the visitor center; there can't be many left. It was moving to be there.

Hawaii Day 3 — Polynesian Cultural Center Night Show

The costumes are fantastic, the choreography amazing, and they have several fire guys. It must take a couple hundred people to put this show on, and they do it nightly.

Hawaii Day 3 — Halona Cove

Here's one of those scenic roadside stops that made our drive to Laie take a lot longer. Halona Cove is on the southeastern side of Oahu Island. The waves crash into this cove, churn around and blow over the tops of the rocks. The power of the ocean is pretty evident here.

Behind Joanie on the far left is the outer edge of Koko Crater, which you can see overhead here. In front of her in the distance is Sandy Beach, which is a place I just learned a young Barry Obama used to spend time bodysurfing.

This panorama comes from 10 photos stitched together, using a polarizing filter so you can see through the water to the rocks on the bottom. Click the small version above to see it larger.

Hawaii Day 3 — Amazing Coastline

For Day 3 we checked out of the beautiful Hilton and headed counterclockwise around Oahu island bound for Laie, to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center. Only problem was, the view of the rocky coastline bordering the deep blue and turquoise waters was amazing, like nothing I'd ever seen, and I couldn't quit pulling over at every scenic outlook to take pictures. It took us a few hours to get there with all the extra stops.

If you visit Hawaii, do what I did: buy some good polarized sunglasses — they cut out glare, let you see through water, reveal detail in clouds, and turn the skies the deepest blue. For this trip I also ordered a polarizing filter for my new camera lens and it performs the same magic on the photos.

Hawaii Day 2 — Luau A

We went to two luaus our first two nights in Hawaii. The first night started with a small band with a couple of drummers off to the side. The dancers covered traditional dances from several islands, including a fire guy at the end. It was fun to watch. Joanie wishes she had a permanent tan.

In between some of these dances the hula girls pulled people out of the audience for dancing lessons. This is where Joanie and I avoided eye contact with them and started moving food around our plates to look occupied.

After the traditional numbers were over, the dancers moved to a larger raised stage to be backed with an electric band playing 80s Kool & The Gang standards, and that's when we escaped.

Hawaii Day 2 — The View

I had been working on my Hawaii presentation for days and even weeks, and with the travel mess-ups I felt rushed. But I made it to the conference in time, everything went off well and I was happy with the response. By 6:00 Sunday evening it was over and time to relax and look around.

Our first night we stayed in the Hilton Hawaiian Village, a really nice hotel with great views of Waikiki and a "partial ocean view" — if you lean over your 24th floor balcony railing and twist your neck it's right there, framed between a couple other hotel towers.

For dinner Joanie and I went to a luau with some people from work. I'll put together some pictures of Luau A when it's not 2:00 a.m.; we're home now and my time zones are all messed up.

Hawaii Days 1 & 1.5 — Not Hawaii

Joanie and I are in Hawaii this week!

Saturday morning, with 2 hours of sleep, we got up at 3:00 a.m. to catch a 6:00 a.m. United flight. The plane had hydraulics problems and after 2+ hours of delay they called off the flight. I missed all my connections and at this point I’m wondering if I can make in time for my work presentation. If we fly to Chicago then L.A. on Saturday night, then leave for Honolulu first thing Sunday, I can make it to the hotel a couple hours before I present. Rats, we will miss our first night in Hawaii.

We went back home for 5 hours; Joanie slept, I worked on my PowerPoint, and we went back to catch a 4:00 p.m. flight.

After landing late and missing our Chicago connection the second time, and wondering if we would sit together, or even be on the same Chicago to L.A. flight, by 7:00 p.m. everything works out. It was a long day and a lot of confusion to go through, and it’s like this every blinkin’ time I fly United.

People say they don’t like flying Southwest like me because 1.) they don’t have assigned seats and 2.) there is no class system or upgrades. To me these things are the root of all airline evil, and there are more headaches, hassles, emotional panic, and delayed or missed flights because of them. Open the plane up and let the people work it out. If you don’t want to sit next to the fat guy, or sit together, check in early. Personal responsibility is involved.

Now there’s the checking bags charge of $15. Any beginning student of operations management can tell you the added administrative overhead and customer interaction time will counteract any profit to be made here. It just adds confusion, saps staff productivity, and delays flights even further. When bags get lost, the customer is even more dissatisfied, because they paid extra. Southwest doesn't mess with this.

I digress. As you can see in the picture above, we did make it Sunday afternoon, with one hour to spare before I had to be there. We’re not looking forward to the flight home.

Sunset Supper

This was a nice restaurant we hit in San Diego called JRDN, or maybe it was in La Jolla. There was a lot of attention to lights and lighting in the restaurant, from the windows all around the perimeter, to the creative lighting installations inside. My favorite part was the lights along the wavy wall, which would change color every minute or so.

It was a little cool to sit outside in February but the torches helped, and watching day turn into evening on the Pacific Ocean was excellent.