Just have to share....

[cjpoppin]

For Christmas this year and our Anniversary #36 on Feb 14th we are going to Hawaii....For 10 fun filled days!  Back in 1967 My husband was in Hawaii for R&R and I was there at the same time with a group of girlfriends.....We did not meet now after all these years we'll go together!!!!!!! carol

[AustinBoston]

A couple that PJay and I were friends with back in Massachusetts identified nine separate occasions when the were both in the same building at the same time before they met.  It was nine different buildings, and spanned a period of almost 20 years going back to their early childhood.

Merry Christmas and Happy Anniversary!

Austin

[wavery]

For Christmas this year and our Anniversary #36 on Feb 14th we are going to Hawaii....For 10 fun filled days!  Back in 1967 My husband was in Hawaii for R&R and I was there at the same time with a group of girlfriends.....We did not meet now after all these years we'll go together!!!!!!! carol

Carol & Jim,

Congratulations. That is truly a GREAT accomplishment in this day & age.

I lived in Hawaii for 6 years ('88-'94). If you'd like some tips on things to see/places to go, let me know. No matter what, you can't go wrong.

Just one recommendation, if you are going to spend some time on the Island of Oahu, make sure that you make your way up to the North Shore. Head for Dillingham Air Field and take a ride in a glider. You can ride tandem and it is a beautiful experience. It doesn't cost much and is very safe. I never heard of a glider accident there but they had helicopter accidents fairly regularly, go figure.

[cjpoppin]

Wavery, any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.....We are going to be in Ohau for five days and five nights and Maui for the same amout of time.....While in Ohau, we are going on a tour to Pearl Harbor and an Island Adventure Safari which includes the North Shore,rainforests,extinct Volcano,pineapple fields,Waimea Valley and falls......Or we could substitute a convertible to explore on on own......Then we have a Honolulu Trolley Pass to explore things on the trolley line and that night a Sunset Dinner Cruise. Then we have a polynesian Revue Dinner show or we could go see Don Ho Dinner show.....We will have two days of free time so any suggestions would surely be most helpful. While on Maui we will have a car and can sight see on our own. The only thing I know for sure we will be doing on Maui is a Luau on the 14th.for our Anniv. I have our travel agent looking for the very best one......Any suggestions would be very helpful....Thanks,Carol

[GemmySan]

Well, I don't really know if it will be of much help but I have a few pictures posted of our trip from the east coast.  Spent 2 weeks, Ohau, Maui, & Hawaii.  All was done with our own private family guide so I do not have captions on the photos.

Hope you enjoy them and I certainly hope you have a wonderful time on the islands.

http://www.modelngineer.com/hawaii03/page_01.htm

[cjpoppin]

GemmySan, thank you for the pictures.....Wow,am I counting the days now......I know what ever we end up doing it'll be fun! It's Hawaii after all.....carol

[wavery]

The "Guided tours" will stick you in all the tourist spots and places where they want you to spend $. Most of it will be Waikiki. I wouldn't waist my time or $.

Rent a car for sure. Get a map http://www.getnet.com/~shoguns/hawaii_map/oahu.htm.
There is only one main highway that goes around the island (almost) and 2 that cut across (I guess they have a tunnel through the mountain now). You can take a leisurely drive around the island in about 2 hours.

The Pearl Harbor tour is a no brainer. The Arizona is on the map, in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Lots of signs. All the tour will do is drive you there on a bus and drop you off. You can do that. While they have you on the tour bus, they make several stops that will waste an entire day (mostly shopping) where they get a cut). The Memorial is about a 30 min drive from Waikiki and the tour takes about an hour. Easily accomplished in a half a morning.

If you would enjoy snorkeling, don't miss Hanama Bay (even if you don't enjoy snorkeling). It's just East of Diamond Head. You can even catch a bus to it. You can buy snorkeling gear at Sam's Club in Pearl City (on your way to the Arizona Memorial) so you don't have to drag it along. Sometimes, you can rent the stuff there. It is REALLY worth a half day to spend there. DON'T FORGET SUN SCREEN. More people have their trip to Hawaii ruined by sun burn and sun poisoning than you could ever imagine. There are more species of fish and colorful Coral in that bay than you ever imagined existed on earth. Just be careful what you touch. Also, try to go about one or two hours before high tide. You can find high tide times in the local paper.

Just past Hanama Bay is the blow hole. That's good for a look see. Then you turn the corner at Sandy Beach (just follow the highway) and you will be heading NW. Lots of nice scenery. You might want to call it a day after snorkeling & stuff, so you could go back to Honolulu via the Pali Hwy. That hwy takes you over the top of the mountains and through some beautiful rain forests. Stop at the top and enjoy the most incredible view of the windward side of the island. If the trade-winds are blowing 20 at sea level, the wind will be blowing 50 at the view point. It's about 20 minutes back to Honolulu from there.

Pick up a hiking guide to Oahu before you leave. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0899972454/103-9514572-0661421?v=glance&n=283155
There are some awesome hikes and most of them are not strenuous at all. One of them is right above Honolulu and there is a "Jap Zero" in the trees up there. It was shot down during the raid on Pearl Harbor. I wouldn't waste my time at the pineapple plantation (tourist trap). Kinda like visiting a corn field in Iowa. The Hawaiian pineapples are terrible anyway. If you go to the market in Hawaii, they don't even carry them. They get good pineapples from the Philippines.

I've got a lot more suggestions but we're leaving in a few minutes. I'll get back to you on Monday. If you haven't made hotel reservation, I know of a magnificent bread & breakfast. It's an old Mansion right near the University of Hawaii. http://www.aloha.net/~wery/ It will absolutely make your stay. Especially if you like antiques. There are about 7 or 8 rooms on 3 different floors. They are reasonably priced and absolutely beautiful and the food is magnificent. I have booked friends there and they just raved about it (that was in the early 90's though).

[cjpoppin]

Wavery, Wow lots of very good ideas......I'll have fun thinking all this over and planning with my husband.  I have already booked our hotels...Not the Luxury hotels  but who plans on spending very much time in a room.  I know the one on Ohau is right on the beach with ocean view and the one in Maui is a garden cottege...The one thing I'm worried about is neither hotel has A/C  when I was there in 67 didn't have air and it was in July....I know there isn't much change in temps month to month in Hawaii....I've already paid so lets hope all this turns out......We will not be hiking around( I will be bringing my electric scooter) we both have back problems but we do want to do and see as much as we possibly and physically can do.....We are not locked into any tours our package does come with tours however if we do not want to go on them they'll back out the price so as you can see we have lots to think about and it is good to have input from anyone who  has done this before or better yet lived there.......We have until the end of Jan. to make up our minds.  We bought the trip insurance just in case something happens we'll get our money back or be able to re-book the trip. That bread and breakfast hotel looked very nice......We found out booking a place in Feb. with Super Bowl, Snow Birds, and Valentines Day it was pretty hard to get a room......But we really want to be there for our Anniversary.......carol

[wavery]

I would still strongly suggest the hikers guide that is mentioned in the above post. Most of the "hikes" are really just leisurely walks on Oahu.

You will find that Oahu is very conscientious about people's disabilities. Most walks are laid out quite well and are very safe.

IMHO Oahu is the most beautiful of all of the islands. The problem is, most people that visit that island get stuck in those tours and never get a chance to really see the island. Those tours only make $ if you spend $. They take you ONLY to places where they get a piece of the action and they make sure that you spend plenty of time there.

Oahu is easy to see. There is so much written about it and I have found that the best source of information comes from hikers handbooks. My wife and I spent 14 years sailing around the world and explored 57 countries. We ALWAYS picked up a hikers handbook to every country that we visited. They have a lot more information about getting yourself to real points of interest than any other publications that I have found.

Here is the glider planes that I told you about:
http://www.hawaiiactive.com/oahu/htmls/activities/oahu-glider-soaring.html?Ix=6

As I think of things, I will post them for you. Re-read the post above, I have edited it a few times.

BTW, you probably won't need A/C in Feb. You may even want to bring a light coat because it can be cool in the evenings. When the sun goes down in Hawaii, it tends to cool off quite quickly. It's not unusual to have lows in the upper 50's in Feb. The highs are usually in the upper 70's. The humidity, that time of the year, is about the same as Los Angeles (a little higher than Apple Valley).

[cjpoppin]

Wavery.......Yes, we are going to get a hikers guide and find the out of the way short easy hikes.....Thanks again for taking the time to inform us about all the great things to do on Ohau.....I'm sure this will end up being the trip of a life time.......We are counting the days......Not sure about the glider plane my husband is 6'5" when I checked into him taking a flight out here in the desert they said he was to tall.......He was so disappointed......Oh,well there'll be plenty to other things to do......carol

[wavery]

Wavery.......Yes, we are going to get a hikers guide and find the out of the way short easy hikes.....Thanks again for taking the time to inform us about all the great things to do on Ohau.....I'm sure this will end up being the trip of a life time.......We are counting the days......Not sure about the glider plane my husband is 6'5" when I checked into him taking a flight out here in the desert they said he was to tall.......He was so disappointed......Oh,well there'll be plenty to other things to do......carol

I'm 6'4" and 225# I took the glider flight, tandem with my wife, at least 10 times.     PLEASE don't miss it. You have my, "No money back" guaranty that it will be the highlight of your trip.

[beacher]

Yeah, what wavery said!  And, CONGRADULATIONS!!

My DW and I spent our honeymoon on Oahu and Maui eight years ago.  It was great!

Two suggestions:

1. Stay away from the "free" tourist tour, especially the Jewelry tour.  A total waste of time!

2.  Stay away from Germain's Luau on Oahu.  Too many people!  Tacky "entertainment".

[wavery]

Oh ya, The Polynesian Cultural Center is worth while. It will give you a good insite on the cultures of "Old Hawaii" (certainly not modern Hawaii), Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand etc.

The young people that perform there are from those island nations and learned all of the traditional dances etc in their home country. They perform in the cultural center to pay for their education at the Bringham Young University. I have my own feelings about that but I'll keep it to myself.

The show is worthwhile. I spent many years living on my yacht in almost all of the island countries that are represented at PCC. I can tell you first hand that it is very well done and they pay a lot of attention to the cultural diversity of these nations.
http://www.polynesia.com/

Another good stop on the North Shore is Turtle Bay Hilton. It's a great lunch stop.
http://www.turtlebayresort.com/Home_Flash.asp

[cjpoppin]

I went to the The Polynesian Cultural Center in '67 looks like it has changed just a little along with the price......Hahaaaa I paid $3.00 some G I's bought our tickets they got a big discount....to get in.......As you say it is fun we'll be going my husband has never seen it.....Back then on his R & R he was not doing the same things.......Mostly spent his time on the beach surfing and clubing at night.......carol

[wavery]

I went to the The Polynesian Cultural Center in '67 looks like it has changed just a little along with the price......Hahaaaa I paid $3.00 some G I's bought our tickets they got a big discount....to get in.......As you say it is fun we'll be going my husband has never seen it.....Back then on his R & R he was not doing the same things.......Mostly spent his time on the beach surfing and clubing at night.......carol

Ah..Yes......"Clubing".............I remember it well. :-()

Chase dinosaur out of cave........"club" woman over head..........drag woman out of cave. :!

Ah, yes.........those were the days.