Hawaii - Part II

I forgot to mention on Tuesday we went to the Dole Plantation to get some of the Pinneapple Whip. It was delicious! For those who have not been to the Dole Plantation, did you know this is how pinneapples grow? And did you know that each plant produces only 3 harvests? One at 18 months, one at 32 months, and one at 45 months. I am surprised they aren't way more expensive in the grocery store!

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday cool, overcast, and rainy. (I'll still take the warm humid air over the -30 Calgary was experiencing while I was away!) We spent those days sight seeing, which worked out nice because it wasn't TOO hot when we were not by the pool. Wednesday was my dad's 60th birthday. To celebrate we went to the PCC. I found it very interesting to learn about each of the cultures but I don't know that I would take my kids there. I think they would get bored. I was really amazed that the PCC is put on by the church, to provide scholarships, and employment for those attending BYU Hawaii. Approximately 70% of the employees are students at BYU. And it was set up so beautifully and was put on very well. I was impressed. We went to the Lu'au and had some pig and other foods. I don't mean to sound negative but the food wasn't as good as I expected it to be. And when they brought the pig out, our food was served 5 minutes later. There's no way they shredded the pig that fast!!! The evening show was AMAZING. I guess they just changed it so my mom was happy that it was something new from the time she was there before. This is the Samoan Warrior that did the fire twirling at the show. He was very entertaining. During those cloudy days we went to Pearl Harbor for a couple hours and did the tour out to the USS Arizona that you can see sunk under the water with a monument built over it. In the picture below, the monument over the USS Arizona is the little rectangular white building on the left of the anchor. After learning some of the history of Pearl Harbor and the start of WWII, my dad had to go and buy the movie that we watched that night. I forgot how good that movie is. We went to hike Diamond Head. Diamond head is a mountain with bunkers and look outs built to watch for people coming to attack. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor they did not detect any planes from on Diamond Head because of the direction Japan came in for attack. When we pulled into the parking lot there was fire rescue and EMS and a fire rescue helicopter there. We got out of the car and asked what was going on. There was a man at the top of the mountain that was having a heart attack. Because of the stairs and steep climb they could not get stretchers up the mountain so they sent a helicopter up to rescue him. (Only in Hawaii do they have a surf board attached to their fire trucks). I think coming down the mountain dangling from a helicopter in a stretcher would give me a heart attack! Here's some of the MANY stairs we climbed to get to the top. It was a good hike and well worth the view! I wish I could post all the pictures we took from up there. We bought groceries for most our meals but after our hike, we had to treat ourselves to Bubba Gumps! It was delicious!