Hawaiian History

Today was our visit to the Polynesian Cultural Center. My Uncle Allan needed to head out to Laie to pick up a car and when he heard we were driving there today, he asked if he could ride along. We readily agreed and while he felt like he got a good deal because going with us was much better than riding the bus, we felt like we got the better deal because he is Hawaiian, has lived on Oahu for the majority of his life, and was like our very own built in tour guide. He gave us all kinds of interesting tidbits as we drove, and it made for a wonderful trip. We stopped at China Man’s Hat to take some pictures and with Uncle Allan along, we didn’t even need to do selfies!

Once we dropped Uncle Allan where he needed to be, we headed to the Laie Temple. This is the temple where my parents got married and due to the tropical local, the grounds look quite different from the temples closer to home. We didn’t have time to do any temple work, but we did enjoy wandering the grounds and exploring the visitors’ center.

After we ate lunch and visited the temple, we headed to the PCC. We opted to do just the villages, skipping the night show because with the drive back to the hotel and the fact that our bodies are still functioning on Utah time, it would feel like 3:00 a.m. to us by the time we got to bed. And the migraines really, really don’t like that. So, we explored the villages, saw some traditional Polynesian performances, did some shopping at the Hukilau Marketplace, and enjoyed some ice cream in tropical flavors. We ate dinner at the buffet that is located at the PCC though. We tried a little bit of everything and enjoyed most of it. I even tried some poi in the vein of trying foods I disliked when I was younger just in case I like them now. But I still don’t like it. The stuff still reminds me of wallpaper paste. 😝

It was a rather long day, but we had a good time. We ate some good food and found some little goodies for our family members at home. The only negative about the day was the fact that we missed going to lunch with my mom’s cousins. But we purchased our PCC tickets before leaving home and the lunch was scheduled only a day or two ago, so we opted to stick with our original plan. Oh well! At least my parents had a good time!