What a Day This Has been!

This morning Ann and I went to a small farmers' market where we bought pineapple, bananas, kiwi, veggies for stir fry and saw chopped octopus meat (but we left that for someone else to buy). Adjacent was a thrift store that we perused.
After that Dabney, Tyler, Ann,and I went on a long hike up Makoup'u to whale watch. Because the wind was calmer than usual, it was easier to tell the whale spouts from white caps. We were rewarded by seeing many whales in action. It was also unusually clear today.
From there we went to a deli and got lunch food, and then we proceeded to Kailua Beach and ate our lunch on the beach. What was especially wonderful about this spot is I believe it to be the site of Camp Kailani, where I worked the summer of 1964. It is now a lovely park, It was great fun to walk on the same beach where I spent spare moments that summer.
Then we hustled on back to dabney and Tyler's to get ready for the big event of the evening...a luau at Paradise Cove, about 27 miles from Honolulu. We pased the school Obama attended, an ice skating rink. Aloha Stadium, Pearl Harbor, among other things. We were on a tour bus and were right in the midst of going-home-from-work traffic.
Once we were at Paradise Cove, we could stroll and watch various traditoonal crafts being made or shop. Finally, it was time for the meal, and we served ourselves buffet-style. Among the offerings were pork, chciken, a salmon salad, white fish, poi, rice, various other salads, a coconut-spice cake, coconut puddding, chocolate cake, and pineapple.
We watched many hula dances, listened to singers, and gasped to a fire dancer's feats. There were dancers representing Hawaii, Samoa and Bali. Ann and I joined a group to learn the hula (on stage...) and received certifcates of schievement "for advanced performance in Polynesian dancing." (Sure!)
The bus ride home was much faster than the ride to the luau. Everyone was pretty weary by then, but it was a fun night.
Aloha!