Melanie, Justin, and Bruce are coming to visit. The hurricane in Texas delayed them a day, but they still made it.
Stopping by Cindy's Lei & Flower Shoppe.
They have many leis.
More here.
A money lei.
The three I bought.
We needed birthday candles. CVS didn't have them, although it did have these fun sandal fly swatters.
ABC had one pack left.
With their leis.
We drove up to the north shore for the Waimea Valley botanical garden and the Toa luau. They had a gift shop.
Nice photos.
Neat lamp.
Books.
The wallet I bought.
Huge tree.
The botanical garden ends in a waterfall.
Water lilies.
A building with some info.
Huge snail.
Wall of plants.
Traditional huts.
Lizard.
Coconut tree.
Coconuts.
Banana tree.
Bananas.
Another lizard. He needs to find some green to blend in to.
Pitcher plants.
A huge hibiscus.
Open area with some benches.
Flowers.
A stop with a snack bar with shave ice.
And bathrooms.
I see the waterfall.
And we arrived.
A lot of people swimming.
Many others resting.
Interesting plant on the way back.
Another lizard.
Another one just peeking over the edge of the leaf (Ogii got this picture).
A peacock on some stairs.
He didn't seem scared of people.
Long line for the luau.
Behind us, too.
Trying to stand in the shade of a palm tree.
At our seats.
Before the show began, there were some cultural demonstrations.
We made some headbands.
Stick twirling.
Cutting open bananas.
Opening a coconut with a sharp pole.
Tearing it open.
Cutting it open by striking it with a stone.
Drinking the milk.
Shaving off the meat.
Calling everyone here via a conch.
Traditional cooking.
Demonstration.
Squeezing the juice out.
Climbing a coconut tree.
A long line for drinks.
Back to the main show.
Watching.
Our meal.
We had way too many drink tickets. Ogii used the extras to grab some canned drinks for later.
Blowing conchs.
Men dancers.
Women.
Another dance.
And another.
Spear spinning.
Ball spinning.
A haka.
The band.
Another dance.
And another.
The women in the audience dancing.
And the men.
Fire knife show.
Another.
All of the men doing it.
Two at once.
A video of the luau.
Lots of traffic headed back to Honolulu.
A fish mailbox.
We stopped at Laniakea Beach to look at the turtles.
Selfie with them.
They seemed to mostly be sleeping.
Double rainbow on the drive back.
We had dinner at Red Lobster.
I had a steak.
Then back to our place for a birthday cake.