Spring has arrived!

Our friends David and Denise arrived this afternoon, flew in from DFW via Sea-Tac.  It was a long flight for them but they were excited to see our little island of Paradise.  It will probably be less intensive for the reader if I just list where they went and post some photos.  Many of the places they visited were repeats for us so we skipped some.  Interestingly enough there were a few places we had not intended to go but did and were pleasantly surprised with.  We were so happy that the rain stopped for their arrival (even though it returned the day they departed haha).

A visit to O’ahu is never complete without a stop at Pearl Harbor, including the Aviation museum.  David and Denise spent the day exploring PH. The next day we all went to Magic Island (Waikiki) for the Friday Night fireworks show.  Aloha Stadium for local swap meet/shopping spree (no, not Les). Monday found us at Diamond Head where Les and David ventured to the top while Denise and I explored the garden area and eventually made our way up the trail to a shady bench where we people watched until the “boys” returned.  



Another adventure was to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. This is a majestic place and informally known as “The Punchbowl”.  It’s located inside a crater of an extinct volcano and is the burial site of over 34,000 veterans and families.  Every time we have visited here there has been a service.  The chapel is lovely and I’ll post a photo.  We did walk to the overlook area and the view is stunning.





Spent quite a bit of time at the Bishop Museum on Tuesday followed by a cocktail at the Kona Brewery Happy Hour and dinner at the local Greek restaurant at Koko Head Marina.


Wednesday we went to Iolani Palace for a docent led tour at 9:00 am.  Very good tour (we had not been here before) followed by a walk over to the King Kamehameha statute (the famously photographed statute) and the local graveyard where King Lunalilo is entombed.  He is the only royal there since he requested to be amongst the people versus in the royal burial area.









We meandered down to the water where the “surfer dudes” are…the real deal not the tourist area.  Enjoyed watching them for a bit and of course since the Dairy Queen is right there who could pass it by?  The photos below are from the North Shore and while it doesn’t look like the waves are dangerous they truly are.




Thursday we spent the day at the Ko’Olina Lagoons and although we didn’t swim we put our feet in.  It was particularly windy that day and not really hot enough to want to swim.  We finally got to sample the menu at the Monkey Pod in Ko’Olina.  When we lived in that area we talked about going all the time but didn’t.  It was very good and we all enjoyed it.


Denise and David went exploring themselves and took in KoKo Head Botanical Gardens in the interior of the KoKo Head volcano.  It’s only a few minutes drive from us and free so who could refuse?


They spent the day on Saturday at Polynesian Cultural Center.  Since we have been there several times we passed on that activity but they thoroughly enjoyed it.  It’s a bit of a drive from us but well worth the trip.


Easter we hung around and ate, played cards and generally relaxed.


Monday we all went to the Byodo Temple inside the Valley of the Gods area.  Basically the VofG area is a compilation of many denominational cemeteries.  While the Byodo Temple is not an active temple it’s a lovely recreation of a Japanese temple, bell and local vendors.  There are hundreds of Koi in the pond that you can feed and during a visit to the actual temple area (no shoes allowed) you can light incense and if you are lucky as we were…we were treated to a back area tour of the glass niche’s where all types of people’s ashes are kept.  No photos of any private niche but we were allowed to take a few of the back area.  It was very interesting.








The final day of their 2 week visit was spent packing, repacking and just hanging out.  Great visit with the newlyweds!




And now…. We need to get back to our walks… today was the Lighthouse. Posting a couple of photos of us and a view of our car in the parking lot. Round trip is 2.5 miles and a little over 500 ft in elevation.  Aloha








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