Alo----ha!

Greetings to you all from the beautiful island of Oahu. John and I are finishing up our wonderful vacation. You can officially call us Island Hoppers. We have been to 3 different islands during our vacation and it has been amazing.

I am sorry that I cannot post any pictures this round. John's computer isn't working with the internet here at the hotel so I have to use one in the lobby (and pay for it too).

We first arrived on Tuesday (after being up for more than 36 hours with the plane ride and the time changes). We got here at about 9:30 in the morning and had the whole ahead of us. We picked up our beautiful car, Ford Mustang convertible, and headed to the hotel. We thought we were just going to leave our bags and go, but a room was open for us. We had planned on a standard hotel room with no real view or anything special, but upon arrival we were offered an oceanview room with a king bed. Needless to say, we took the upgrade and we are glad we did, minus the screaming child that cries most of the day. The room is great and the view is amazing. That day we decided to get settled and get some lunch, take a nap and then go out for dinner. We had lunch at the infamous, Cheeseburger in Paradise and dinner was at Duke's at the Outrigger Hotel. Good times.

Wednesday, yesterday, we headed out early in the morning for our day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is on the other side of the island so we left around 9:30 a.m. and took a nice leisurely drive around the island. It was great to have the top down and the wind blowing in my hair. We stopped along the way to take pictures at different view points and just took our time. The speed limits here are ridiculously slow. The fastest one I have seen is 50 mph. The center was great. You walk around through the different villages (Tonga, Tahiti, Aoteroa, Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa) and see the presentations about their culture. Most of the presenters are actually from the islands or their families are from them. We also got to see a canoe pageant where they dress up and get on canoes and go down the little river. It was pretty cool to see some of the more formal outfits of the different islands.

John has been looking for a ukeleile (I don't remember how to spell it) since we have arrived and yesterday we found a small shop inside the PCC. It was really cute. An old man, that works there, was trying to give John some information about them. He was so helpful, but there was a gentleman that knew more. His name was Uncle Benny. He has been at the PCC for over 30 years and the kids all call him Uncle Benny or "Ukeleile Man." He taught himself how to play and doesn't even read music. He is so amazing. He sat and talked with John and gave him a little lesson and of course then John had to buy one. Unlce Benny was the Master of Ceremonies at our Luau and told us to find him when we came to dinner, so we did, and thank God we did, it was amazing. Uncle Benny gave us front and center seats at the dinner. We got to see the show from up close and personal. They have dancers and singers and they even bring the pig out of the ground right in front of you. It was a great day made even better by Uncle Benny. He even bought us a picture that we took with him and signed it and gave us his email address so John can email him with questions on how to play this new instrument.

Today we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was tons of fun but the company was a rip off. More to come on that later. My time and money are running out.

Just a few more days to our vacation. I might not post again until we get home, but keep checking back.

Aloha and mahalo!!