first day in Hawaii continued

After the temple, we turned our attention to getting to the PCC. It is right by the BYU-Hawaii campus. I applied there after high school, but was afraid of the plane tickets and getting home again. So I didn't go. But both Craig and I were interested in looking at the campus.

I love the way BYU keeps its grounds. It was beautiful.

This is the main building. I think it was the McKay building. The mural was a flag ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance bordering it.

Closer up. I thought it was really cool.

Some of the flowers on the main quad. There are flags that surround the main drive. A bit like the United Nations.

I love Birds of Paradise.

Bottle brush flower. I don't know if that is it's real name, but I still love it.

Then we headed to the PCC.

We only had time for two of the villages. We got there part way into the Tongan show. The drummer had people from the audience. The last guy was from China. The Tongan referred to his volunteers by their place of origin. So this guy's name was China. He was one of the biggest hams I have ever seen. He had no idea what he was doing, but he did it big. It was very funny.

Then we went to the Samoan village. This guy was amazing funny. It was all about coconuts and cooking. He came onto the stage and posed with a coconut like the Heisman Trophy. I'm not going to go over the whole thing, but he said some funny things that I will have to note. He told us all not to play on the trees, because this is America. The only place where if you climb a tree and fall it is not your fault. Funny as it was, it is also very sad. We are such a sue - happy people. He said in Samoa everything is your fault. Much better philosophy, if you ask me. He also said that in Samoa the men cook. They hunt, they clean, they do everything. The women make lists. They make lists with both hands. Now there are no more men in Samoa. Only women and lists. Craig thought that was hilarious. Whatever. But pretty funny too.

I didn't get any pictures of the PCC. I'll have to ask Craig to send me his from his phone.

The original plan was to meet Sandy and Alan and go to the temple and the PCC - spend the whole day together. We called them and they knew we were going to be late.

The luau was sold out, so I wandered a few shops while the dinners were going on. We had purchased the show. I heard it was amazing and wanted to see it. We wandered over to the stage area and waited for them to start admitting people. There was a huge crowd. Craig had been looking to see if he could spot his sister. I found some shell Christmas ornaments. I was very excited. I need new Christmas ornaments.

We were in the middle of a mass of people and I looked over and saw Alan. So crazy. And when we went in to sit, we found out that we were one row behind them on the aisle. They were on the aisle too. So we had close seats.

So fun.

The show was amazing. All different kinds of dancing. The performers were engaging. They ran up and down the aisles. I loved it. I was also very tired. It was a big, huge, long day.

We were happy to head back to Waikiki and find our hotel. At the hotel, I realized how spoiled I had become. I told Craig it was silly to spend $200 a night and we went for a "budget" hotel. I could tell by the bathroom and the bed. But still, we were in Hawaii, and the hotel was only for one night. It was really cool in the lobby. It was open. No doors. Just a desk and the elevators to the rooms marked the building. I should have gotten a picture.

I was amazed by the absence of bugs. There were no screens on the windows. The birds were the only thing flying around.

Pretty cool.

Some other pictures of flowers that I loved.

The yellow hibiscus. I fell in love with these. They were everywhere.

I'm not sure what this is. It was so red coming out of the ground. I thought it was beautiful.