Mom and Dad -- the return from paradise

This is Mom and Dad, taking a turn at blogging the family site. We are glad to be home because we missed everybody, but when we remember Hawaii. . . well . . . Before the memories fade into the paper-moving that is our daily fare, we thought we'd post a few photos and give out a little advice.

Here are some key points to remember about Hawaii.
1) Forget what breathing experts tell you. Learn to breathe through your mouth so you can catch on quick to snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. Then the striped and polka dotted fishes and turtles are yours! And no sputtering and scraping your knees on coral that some people (!) have to do to get the hang of it! (Also don't forget to put sunscreen on the back of your husband's legs.)

2) When you go to the Polynesian Cultural Center (and you will because there is a magnet drawing you there the moment you step out of the airplane), you don't have to go to the luau. Oh, it's OK if you want to try purple rolls made out of taro, and real kalua pig. But the very best part of the PCC is the people you meet at the pretend villages. Because they're not pretend people. They are really from the places they're pretending. . . er. . . telling you about, and their stories are the most interesting part of the place. Invite somebody from the Fijian village to take you on the homemade river raft and talk about his family back in Fiji. Do the crafts they have in the villages and find out what those kids miss most about home. That way you can use the extra hours when everybody is busy eating to have a real treat. Eat luau back in Payson when you get home. Don't miss the Horizons show, though. It's guaranteed to surprise and impress you. The 2:00 p.m. show on the water is worth watching too. That's where this clip is from.

3) If you want to climb Diamond Head crater (the tallest mountain on O'ahu), forget the bus from Waikiki that takes you there. It doesn't even start running till 7:30 a.m., and the hike is gonna be a hot ol' one. Call a shuttle and git out there early! And wear real good shoes (unlike some tourists who try to wear their sandals because they forgot to bring any good shoes and end up walking back in bare feet and their husbands have to carry them piggy back out of the sticker patches).
4) When sunning yourself on the beach at Waikiki, keep one eye open for weddings that happen with no fanfare just a few feet from your hotel towel sprawled on the sand. If it's just the couple and the preacher, they might not mind if you take a picture of them, and they might ask you to take one with their camera. Cause maybe they changed their mind about not wanting anybody there.
5) Be sure to see the Honolulu Tabernacle. You can go there on Sunday for church just about anytime cause three wards meet there. It's got classrooms and stuff just like a regular building, except that the hallways are open to the sky! And instead of the chapel being where you expect, the center of the building is an open courtyard with green stuff and flowers. You get into the chapel through a door just like a classroom off the hallways! And what a HUGE resonant chapel it is! Also take a minute to look at the mosaic of Christ on the outside (the only LDS church with a mosaic of Christ).
6) When you go to Pearl Harbor's Arizona Memorial, you may get so wrapped up in the museum exhibits inside that before you know it, it's time for your movie and ferry boat trip. Instead, be sure to rent the little audio presentation and leave plenty of time to go outside and listen. That's where the best overview is. Also, go see the U.S.S. Missouri battleship first, so you have an idea just how big the U.S.S. Arizona that was sunk in the water beneath the memorial site really is. Then take a flower to leave at the Arizona memorial.
7) Don't bother paying beaucoup bucks to swim with dolphins. Just take a bus to the Kahala resort and watch them up close for Free! There are no crowds there and the dolphin trainers love to talk about the dolphins with you.


8)Enjoy the orchids on the garden wall at the Kahala resort (and everywhere else you go on O'ahu)!





9) Play the grand piano at the Kahala resort and smile when passing folk talk to you like you belonged there or something.

10) Spend an evening on the empty Kalaha beach, just you, the sand and the surf! MUCH less crowded than Waikiki! (And the bus takes you back for $2)






11) Parasail! (But follow all safety instructions! An experienced parasailer in Hawaii made headlines April 30 for dying while trying to dive in the water from 40 feet up-- I'm sure 40 feet seemed like nothing after being up 800 feet!!!!)