Return to Hawaii

When our son told us that he would be leaving Hawaii soon for a military deployment, we decided to take one more trip there.  We brought along our godson from Montana to celebrate his 21st birthday.

We spent a couple of days in Oahu. Here are some shots:

the big banyan trip on Waikiki:

One of the many tourist trolleys:

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2 great guys:

A patron-powered bar-on-wheels:

The famous statue of Duke, the man who made surfing famous:

After a day of snorkeling on the North Shore, we went to Mass at the the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.  The building is quite old and not ornate (as cathedrals go) - but has the special distinction of being the place where Father Damien was ordained.  He is the priest who went to Moloki to work with the lepers - and he has since become a saint.

We flew to Kauai for 4 days:

The first day we took a sunset cruise to the iconic Na Poli coast.  You can only see them by boat or helicopter - I took lots of photos, so here are the best ones:

Spot the turtle!!

One day John and Johnny  went diving, so Alex and I drove up to the north shore for shopping and snorkeling:

We found an organic market to get snacks and gifts:

An taro fields (taro, from which they make poi)

Late in the day, I drove to pick up the scuba divers.  Here is a beautiful tree-lined lane:

Some friendly goats who greeted me along the road:

and St. Raymond's Catholic church, "the oldest church on the island:"

The "Yellow Submarine" dive shop:

And the happy divers:

A bit of what they saw that day (in addition to sharks, monk seals, and a big pod of dolphins)

Early in the morning I got up to see the Hawaiian greeting of the dawn.  Enjoy!

We drove up the switchback road to the top of the Waimea Canyon.  Beautiful views!

And visited the art colony of Hanapepe...gallery after gallery of amazing art:

On our last night there we went to a luau (the Smith Family) - great food and great fun!

Mrs. Smith serving Mai Tais:

We had to hurry out of Hawaii in advance of the two hurricanes bearing down on us (which turned out to be pretty tame, but we had left already...)

so we had to say "Aloha" for the foreseeable future...

Ah, Hawaii!