Hidden Hawaii Tour, part 1

My sister Penny and her husband Brian came to Hawaii for their 25th wedding anniversary. Penny had been here 25 years ago, and Brian had never been here. The first part of their trip, they stayed here on the north shore with us, then spent the latter part in Waikiki.


While they were out here, I wanted to show them a "good time". There were only 3 things they wanted to do...1. Pearl Harbor 2. luau 3. the swap meet (yikes!). So weeks before their visit I got tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center for their luau show and dinner. We'd done it before and it's really good. I found out about Pearl Harbor. I planned on doing a "circle island tour" on their first day here, to hit all the points of interest most people want to see.




Well since we live here and know some out of the way places and some "long cuts", Penny started calling my little tour the "Hidden Hawaii Tours". The following pics will show some of the "not on the tour books" things we did.



Wedding on Lanikai Beach in Kailua. This is said to be one of the "BEST" beaches in the world. Crystal clear water, the reef is far out, so no waves, white soft sand and lots of room. So these are just a few of the reasons this beach is very popular with the Japanese wedding couples. Every time I've been there, I've seen a wedding.






Punchbowl, National Cemetery of the Pacific. I had been up there before, but only to drive around. Never actually got out to walk around. At the visitors center, they give you a map showing where some of the famous grave sites are located. It was a very peaceful place and place to reflect on how lucky we are to have these people to give their lives protecting our freedoms.

Something that was very interesting was seeing all of the graves that had the date "Dec. 7, 1941" on them. This was the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor.






Penny and Brian (and Becci) are HUGE fans of the bounty hunter, Dog Chapman. So I knew where his office was and took them by it. We even had to go around to the back of the building. In case your wondering, No, we didn't see him or really anyone else for that matter. Just part of the "Hidden Hawaii Tour".















The next day it was raining, so I decided to take them to the West side. We went over Kunia Road and through Scholfield Army Base. Drove through all the small west side towns to the end of the road...Yokahama Bay. Turned around, and just was Makaha Beach, the traffic stopped. Penny said "there's a fight", sure enough the boys were dukin' it out in the street. In case your wondering-the girl probably got the best of everyone. At the beginning of the snake road leading into Waialua, I commented that I bet the hunters would be out, because the rain brings the pigs down from the hills. Sure enough, on the side of the road (to the right of the blue sign) was a huge pig!!! Don't see that often in Minnesota.

That night we went to PCC for the luau. Now look at this picture! Who stands out the most? Geeezzz. But you will notice I was leaning into the other cute guy! They put on a really good show during dinner. For luau food, it's actually pretty good. They have enough local food to satisfy the rest of us. The show later in the evening is excellent! It goes to all the different island groups in the South Pacific and shows the differences in dance and song. Reminds me sort of like a show at Disneyland, but in the tropics. Not sure that makes sense, but it really is good.



Well that was the end of the first day...more later on the completion of the "Hidden Hawaii Tour".



a hui hou, aloha

Jane