Refreshed, rejuvenated and I have pictures!

I love the ocean. Even I wonder why since I'm not exactly a water baby - I'm not a strong swimmer or participate in any water activities like surfing. But I love, love the ocean. I like to go to the beach when I'm upset, sad or happy. Something about the way the water stretches all the way to the horizon, that I can't even see where the ocean touches land again, the sunlight dancing on the water, the waves crashing or just lapping against the sand. All of this makes me feel better. It's like free therapy. For real.

Anyway, about my trip. It was great. Of course, there was the main reason why we went to Hawaii. Look at my friend's beautiful wedding!

Absolutely gorgeous, right? They really had the most amazing backdrop. You can't tell but it was hotter than all-get-out. For whatever reason, there is very little breeze where The Kahala is located. No ocean breeze=sweating in uncomfortable places. But it was beautiful!

Since it was The Man's first time on Oahu, I wanted to take him to all the places I enjoyed on previous visits. Unfortunately, he could only take two days off of work. Well, one day for arrival, one day for departure, and one day for the wedding left only one day for him to explore (I took five days off and arrived on a Sunday so, um, I was good to go. I make no apologies!!) So we tried to fit in as much as possible.

(Day of wedding) What's a trip to Oahu without squeezing in a hike up Diamond Head first thing in the morning?

Day after the wedding: On our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center, we went to Kualoa Beach Park. (I think Lost tapes around this area.)
Helpful tip: Don't assume places open the standard 9:00am or 10:00am. The freakin' PCC doesn't open until 12:00pm! (Oh, and a very helpful tip: Don't try to visit the PCC on a Sunday. The Mormons are diligent about getting their church on so the PCC is closed on Sunday. Did you know that Brigham Young University runs the Polynesian Cultural Center? That explains the "no alcohol" at their luau. That's OK. It's a damn good luau. I digress.)
So we killed some time and explored La'ie:

La'ie Point

It was finally noon and time to go to the PCC! We took a tour with a bunch of other peeps (but I think we were the only brown ones. I'm just sayin'.) I like the PCC. It's not cheap but part of our admittance fees went towards student scholarships to BYU. I'm a sucker for poor college students, being a former one myself. Anyway, our tour guide was "Cousin Lety." (FYI: The tour guides are all called "Cousins" and each tour group is a "family.") Cousin Lety sounds like a she would be a cute tiny, maybe even Filipino, woman. Well, our Cousin Lety was a six foot plus, solid Samoan dude. Very nice but bubbly, he wasn't. The Man and I dug him. He toured us around the PCC and took us to the seven islands. At the end, Cousin Lety said he saved the best for last. Our tour ended in Samoa. Like most of the tour, I had to pee. Again. When I came back from the bathroom, The Man told me to sit in front instead of finding our normal relief in the shade. WTF? It was hot! Well, Cousin Lety had asked The Man point blank to volunteer for the show. The Man didn't know what to say. Except yes.
If you know The Man at all, you know he is a very shy feller! Damn straight I was going to sit in the front and take pictures!

"Hey there, sexy!"

The Man later told me that he had a couple of minutes to learn how to start a fire before they were called up onto the stage. Right before they went on, they told him he had to go authentic and take of his shirt. Sweeeeeeet.

Once our tour was done, it was nearly sunset and The Man and I agreed to skip the luau. Instead, we went to an awesome, and I mean awesome, shrimp shack in Kahuku. Unfortunately, no pics. Sure, it looked like a Roach Coach but the town is known for their mobile shrimp shacks. And The Man and I dined on TO-DIE-FOR garlic butter shrimp. Bomb ass shellfish. What a great way to end the day.

The next morning and our last day, we walked to the Royal Hawaiian ...

... and ate breakfast. Then we took one last dip in the ocean. A few hours later, we were on a plane going home. And that concludes Lulu's trip to Hawaii! OK, there was a lot more but (1) I'm a little drunk now and (2) I'm lucky if I've kept you captivated this far. Just know that I had a great time and I'm glad that The Man had a nice first trip to Oahu.Where there's smoke, there's fire, right? Um, no. But The Man was the closest! If you look closely, the dude next to him used a lighter. Cheater! Like his shirt? Courtesy of the Lulu:)No judging, it was humid. The Kahala