Polynesian Cultural Center

On another day in Hawaii, all six of us decided to take an excursion to the North Shore of O'ahu and enjoy the Polynesian Cultural Center. The drive there was an experience in and of itself. We were planning on stopping at all kinds of places that we had learned about through our Hawaii books or other people. One of the places someone told us to go was a place where they have the best shaved ice. Apparently we found the place in one of the books and we decided to try to stop there on the way up. Well, we must have turned the wrong way or something, because we never found it.

Next on the agenda was a burger place for "The Big Kahuna." Again, we never found that place and so we let it slide. Our lunch would have to be eaten elsewhere. The navigator, David, told us the map was terrible. Third on the list was to stop at "Giovanni's Shrimp Shack"... well, I'm not sure if what I saw was what it was supposed to be, but I had seen a truck on the side of the road with Giovanni's name on it, and it was in the area where there were all kinds of little roadside stands for shrimp, but we didn't even try it because the truck didn't look like it had a side open to sell shrimp. Additionally, we figured the little ponds all along the sides of road were where they "farm-raised" the shrimp and it just didn't look too good. We ended up getting a burger at the snack stand at the Cultural Center. No one's going hungry here. :)

At the cultural center, we were part of a group with a tour guide, who led us around and got us into the different shows for the different islands. We saw a guy climb a coconut tree and another guy break open a coconut in under 30 seconds, I think. That was the place where they were telling us the men do all the cooking! The guy speaking said that's why he moved to Hawaii. :) The tour guide had us see the boat dances, a drum show, and we even made music ourselves in the land of Fiji. It was all very interesting and fun, but my favorite part of the whole day was the show in the evening. We had great seats - we were about 8 rows back from the front! I have some pictures from the show, but they didn't turn out very well.

Before the show we had dinner - a traditional Luau. I had never been to a Luau. It was fun, the food was good and the entertainment during the show was fun. We even watched them uncover the poor pig we were going to eat. I have a picture, but I'll spare you. :)