Immediately after dropping my stuff off in my hotel room, I found the travel desk and asked the receptionist to "Sign me up!" I wanted to be sure to see everything I wanted to see. With a few glitches aside, everything worked out and I had a fabulous trip!

The first full day began with a tour circling the island of Oahu.

The main entrance to the memorial is on the shore of Pearl Harbor. The entrance shown here is reached after a short ferry ride.

Inside the memorial.

Additional Sights on Tour of Oahu

A very quick visit to the Dole Plantation. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to try the world's largest maze.

The famous North Shore of Oahu.

The waves were not very impressive, but the scenery sure was beautiful.

We stopped at the "Crouching Lion Inn" for lunch. It seemed pretty silly after we finally spotted the so-called landmark.

Of course I had to buy some chocolate covered macadamia nuts here! They also had a variety of samples to try such as garlic and honey roasted. (I think I still like the chocolate ones the best.)

This is a famous (or so we were told) viewpoint that Mark Twain referred to as one of the most beautiful spots he had seen.

It was very windy in this particular spot and the rain started coming straight at us, so we only had time for a few pictures.

Another scenic shore line.

(I think this may be the back side of Diamond Head, but I don't quite remember.)

More scenery. Typical site around Oahu. I think this was the edge of some crater.

Hanauma Bay ~ Very cool snorkeling (especially at seven o'clock in the morning). We visited the view point on the tour, but I didn't get a chance to explore the reefs until Sunday morning. A little pre-football swimming adventure. It was perfect since there was no one else there that early.

I quickly learned that Waikiki is the shore front area of Honolulu. The number of stores really surprised me. I didn't spend much time on the beach, but I did walk around the main street a lot.

This is the view from my hotel room.

The picture below was taken from a window near the door to my room.

Dinner at Planet Hollywood. Good meals were certainly part  of my vacation. Lots of yummy food to choose from.

Hey! It's the "outatime" car from Back to the Future.

Yes, there really was a conference.

This became a minor adventure in audio-video technology. The smoke and lights show when the projector blew up really got the audience's attention. Fortunately, like a good teacher, I was prepared with back up transparencies.

What a fabulous coincidence to have the ProBowl in Honolulu the same weekend as the conference!

Many thanks to Santa Claus (via Mom and Dad) for the ticket.

Okay, well getting a ticket when they're handing them out to people for random reasons like "Who's here without a date?" isn't really winning anything, but it was still fun to go (especially for free) and I recognized many songs.

Aloha Stadium ~ Game Time!

A few of the famous faces at the game.

This is the view from my seat. Even though I was on the "sunny side," I'm super thankful I was in covered seating. The weather was perfect in the shade.

These shots were also taken from my seat. I discovered a whole new level of zoom on my camera during  the game. The impressive (and non-controversial) halftime is pictured below. There were at least 500 dancers on the field.

Advertised as the most popular paid attraction in Hawai‘i, the Polynesian Cultural Center was certainly an interesting stop. The theme park is split into seven different "countries" including Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa. Many tourists I met said they have visited several times and still haven't seen everything. I had fun, but I also had my fill after a full day there.

That's me trying to throw spears.

This is an Easter Island exhibit.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is run by the Mormons and Brigham Young University whose Hawai‘i campus is adjacent to the center. Nearly all of the employees are college students and the park doesn't open until after noon to accommodate their morning classes.

The tour package I bought included a full dinner luau and admission to a cultural dance performance at night. The food was great and the entertainment was fun to watch. They even roasted a full size pig in the ground behind the "royal court" pictured.

Okay, I got suckered in to buying the cheesy picture they take of each group as you enter the luau. But, hey, I'm on vacation!

Another morning adventure. I had just enough time before my flight to fit in a hike up Diamond Head. (It's good to be a morning person: you get to beat the crowds.)

Diamond Head is actually the rim of a crater of a volcano believed to have erupted just once many, many years ago.

Standing at the center of the crater, I tried the video feature on my camera. It was the only way I could capture the feeling of standing in the middle of a volcano. Watch the hillside in the background as it rotates and listen close to hear the birds.

Click here to download and watch the video clip (approx. 3 Mb).

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