Hawaii

December 24th, 2010 Friday Nawiliwilli, Kaua'i. This morning we got up at 6:45 a.m. to go on a tour called The Directors Cut Tour. We were on a tour bus with a t.v. screen at the front. The bus driver would drive to different locations and then show us clips from different movies and show the exact pier or mountain or rock or place that the movie was shot. We also had a sing-a-long of different songs from the movie "South Pacific". Among the songs we sang were Bali Ha'i, I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair, and There Ain't Nothing Like a Dane, Happy Talk, A Wonderful Guy, Rocka Hula Baby, Moonlight Swim.

The movies that we saw clips while seeing the location in the movie and stop to take pictures. We saw so many movie locations, it was hard to keep track of. Among the movies we saw locations for were: Donavan's Reef, Dragonfly Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 6 Days and 7 Nights, South Pacific, The Wackiest Ship in the Navy, Beach Head-Tony Curtis, Uncommon Valor-rice fields.

We also saw really cool landmarks like: Mt. Waliwali-the wettest mountain on earth, Puff the Magic Dragon Mountain in Hanalei, and Lydale State Park where Blue Hawaii with Elvis Presley was filmed. We stopped at a Pier where several movies were filmed and there was a man selling hats and bowls he had weaved from coconut leaves. I asked him how much the hat was. He said $7 so I went back to the bus to get money and when I came back to buy the hat, he was weaving a bird. He gave it to me for my hat. It made it so cute! It is on a long stick. It made us laugh and laugh. I was so happy all day wearing that silly hat.

We stopped at a Marriott Hotel for lunch. They fed us Mahi Mahi fish, Teryiaki beef, macaroni salad, white rice and coconut cream pie for dessert. After lunch we walked down to a beautiful beach and played a while. We got back to our cruise ship with just enough time for the last boarding at 1:15 p. m.

Barbara and I ran to the Mardi Gras Theatre to get in on the last Hula Lesson. Then we went to our room to change for our Hula performance at 3:00 p.m. We put on Sarongs and kukui nut necklaces. Then we went to the craft class and learned how to weave four strand lei's with four strands of grosgrain ribbon. At the performance we danced four hulas. They were: This is how you do the hula, Going to a Hukelau, The Little Grass Hut, and the Tahitian Roll. We got certificates of graduation after the performance.

At 5:15 p.m. we went out on deck as we passed the D'Nali coastline. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We saw lots of whale spouts and tails in the distance. We ate dinner at the Aloha Cafe and then we went to our room to pack. Mom went to a Christmas program.

One Hawaiian word I learned was:

opala-trash