More Belated Photos & Stories

Because I am really falling behind on my stories here, I'm going to try to skip over some of the more boring bits of our vacation. Actually, they aren't boring at all to me, because we went to different sites to pick out our wedding spot, but they might be boring to you, because you're not the one planning the wedding. However, I will let you know that although we have decided to get married at Waimea Falls Park, we have nixed getting married at the actual waterfall, because when we got there, it was so loud I had to yell for anyone to hear me. Can you imagine? "I do!" "Whaaat??" "I said, I DO!!!!!!!" "Sorry, I can't hear you. What did you say?"

We finally decided on a more serene area of the park called the Upper Meadow. It's got a lovely little stone stage with a backdrop of bright red ginger flowers. There are benches all set up, and our wedding consultant said most of the weddings are done in that area, so it's obviously tried and true. And hey, we can always get our pictures taken at the falls, even if we don't get married there.

And for those of you who remember Hawaii's Noah's flood of March 2006, yes, we do have a backup plan just in case it rains. There is a cute little enclosure closer to the entrance to the park called the Butterfly House that can be quickly set up as a contingency.

We also went to a luau on the Windward side of the island. Very touristy, but I'm glad we went, because I don't think my mom would ever have gone otherwise. Ray called it the "Hawaiian Renaissance Faire," because that's really what it was. You pay an exorbitant amount of money to wander around, buy folk crafts and souvenirs (in this case, Hawaiian folk crafts), participate in some activities like lei-making or learning the hula or watching a guy climb a coconut tree, and then you sit down to a buffet dinner and watch a hula show. I sort of think of it as a cross between the Renaissance Faire and a theme park, because the slick hula show, with the microphones and the lights, made me think of my time at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Mom had a good time, as you can see. I think she was a little sad at the beginning because K. begged off at the last minute, and there were no ticket refunds. But once we decided to say screw it and started acting like tourists, it was a lot more fun.