McCloud Fire & Ice Travels

One of the highly rated TripAdvisor attractions that was repeatedly recommended by local friends and acquaintances this week was the Polynesian Culture Center which proved to be an all day affair. It included cultures experiences from all over the North and South Pacific Islands. Just an introduction to more places to explore in the future! Let’s see who remembers these 80s Culture Club classics. . . Karma Chameleon: It was amazing to see how even though they have some unique characteristics, there are so many similarities across these island groups and with other cultures around the world. Especially when it comes to the music and dance - reminded me of so many of the international convention performances from Africa and Asia. Don’t know if I can make those grass skirts move like these girls did though. I’ll Tumble 4 Ya: I really enjoyed the Samoa cooking demonstration and the Taro snack we tasted when it was completed. Learned that the men take the lead in cooking and highly respec...

Today’s our final full day in Hawaii. And we have plans to make the most of it. But Jehovah had an unexpected surprise in store for us too! Got on the road with time to spare for our main event. And it’s a good thing we did. We took the scenic road up the Windward side of Oahu that is much more of what the locals call the “real Hawaii”. Honolulu and Waikiki is considered the Vegas strip. The views were spectacular and Stacy and I eye’d a few of the for sale signs. From a safe distance of course. One is on the market for a mere $8.3 Million. Needless to say we will be coming home to reality tomorrow. And then we did find our home - our forever home. We found the most amazing Kingdom Hall complex you could ever imagine. It was renovated a few years ago and currently has 4 Kingdom Hall auditoriums serving 16 congregations. We met some friends from the Chuuk language congregation and they gave us an unofficial mini tour. If Vancouver is the Hollywood of the North, Oahu is the Hollywood of ...

Diamond Head Trail . We laid low in the morning and early afternoon (except for my trip to Nordstrom Rack which is literally right across the street - and Stacy was working so I got bored and . . .) before hitting one of the world’s most famous volcanic craters: Diamond Head. The volcano has long been extinct but it was still cool to have walked to the summit. It was a 1.6 mile hike round trip with some pretty steep sections, a LOT of stairs and even a tunnel to keep things interesting. Funny how I was feeling a little claustrophobic and didn’t realize it was extra dark because I was still wearing my sunglasses (lol). Pro Tip: Don’t wear your sunglasses when walking through a volcanic tunnel. Despite its name, there are no diamonds here (sorry). Apparently, in the early 1800s, some British soldiers mistakenly thought the shiny calcite crystals in the rocks were diamonds. Even without diamonds, the view from the summit at over 750 ft above sea level was breathtaking. Are you ok? I’m ok...

Did you know that the world’s first Kingdom Hall is still in operation here today? It has undergone some renovations but it has been in continuous use for over 85 years. Today, there is 1 ASL and 3 English congregations that meet there plus one Vietnamese group. Sure would have been nice to say we went there from the midweek meeting since it was just 10 minutes away.    Can you believe this was also a branch office here in Hawaii? Instead, we enjoyed the Aina Haina Congregation meeting. It was a slim crowd but the friends were abuzz after their recent regional convention. We even had one family take us out to Zippy’s their favorite local diner afterwards. They had ramen, macaroni salad, cornbread and bacon and Stacy finally had Spam - and he said to tasted just like it did when he was a kid. The very first meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hawaii was held in 1915 with 5 people in attendance. By 1928, the first convention was held with 150 people. This showed there was amazing...

I can’t tell - this is our view of Waikiki Beach this morning from our flat. Does it look the same as yesterday? All I know is it will never get old. And yet, somehow, we left it to explore the island. Honolulu is South Shore - home to world famous Waikiki Beach Let’s explore North Shore to see if we can find some sea turtles  As Stacy was driving off and I had my face plastered to the passenger window, I see a crowd standing around a huge sea turtle that had finally emerged from the water for a little sunbathing. We JUST missed it!!! For our lunch options, we had McDonalds or local food truck. We choose. . . Giovanni’s shrimp truck. The butter and garlic scampi! So many beaches. . . So little time!