Aloha Polynesian Culture Center - Friday, June 27, 2008

We began the day by heading northward towards the North Shore today. En-route we made a couple of “necessary” stops which included a stop at the Dole Pineapple Plantation and historical Hale’iwa town. At the Dole Plantation it was to reconsider purchase of fresh pineapple and a second tour through the gift shops to ensure that we had purchased all that we might want.

Hale’iwa is known for the M Matsumoto country store where the shaved ice is acclaimed to be the best in the world. Shaved ice add ice cream and Japanese beans and well in my opinion okay. I think on a second visit I’ll just stick to the shave ice.


One quick stop at BYU-Hawaii book store for a few souvenirs and then the remainder of the day was spent at the Polynesian Culture Center. We had a great tour guide, hm, excuse me a great cousin who made our visit great. He even took the time to present to mom and dad cool head wreaths in honor of their 50th anniversary. Cousin Larry, thanks for the great tour and the hospitality that made our day great!












The islands all have fascinating history, culture and traditions. My favorite because of their warriors was New Zealand of course and the Hakka war dance still moves me. New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, and Hawaii just to name a few of the islands visited today. Beautiful costumes and exhilarating dances. We learned how to weave fish out of long palm leaves, how to make fire, and how to do the fast moving hip dances of Tahiti. Now that is an exhausting day. We even joined in the traditions of the natives and received our own Hawaiian tattoos.

Concluded the day by enjoying a prime rib dinner and watching the Polynesian Culture Center Students perform. Everyone wonders how the fire dancers’ dance with knives on fire, twirling about even those dancers who would walk or sit on the fire made one cringe. One great show.

On the way out we swung by the LDS Hawaiian Temple and took some photos and then headed southward back to the resort.