My Hawaii Trip Part 2

The day before the wedding (my birthday) we went to Iao Valley for the rehearsal dinner. We had a picnic there with all kinds of delicious food including sushi, Teriyaki beef, pineapple and ribs. The scenery was beautiful. In the picture below is the Iao Needle. There were several locals jumping into the pool below the bridge. There were a few young girls who stood on the outside of the fence on the bridge for at least 20 minutes as if they were going to jump. I got sick of waiting, but when I came back later some guy jumped onto the top of the rail and then over the edge without hesitation.


The wedding took place on Thursday the 8th of June. It was at Jon's friend Kerith's parents' house up in the hills. The view was great because you could see both the ocean and mountains. Jon's brother Chris performed the wedding. As you can see by the attire it was a somewhat casual wedding. The wedding party was all barefoot. Jon's uncles hiked into the hills to get the plants used to make the traditional leis the men wore.


The wedding party from left to right (Chris, Carrie's brother Andy, Me, Jon, Carrie, Jon's sister Kimmy, Jon's cousin Melissa)


Here is the whole group. We were worried that it was going to rain, but luckily it didn't. The clouds did provide for a dramatic backdrop.


My last night there we went to a traditional dancing celebration. I was kind of like line dancing, but using Hawaiian dance moves. The trick was to find an old lady who knew the moves and mimic her.


After the ceremony we went back to Jon's house and had a few shots.


My last day we went to the beach again. A few of us went snorkeling by the rocks you can see in the background. It was cool to see so many species of fish in their natural habitat. It's interesting to think that anyone can go snorkeling at the beach for free.


In a few days I'm going to write one more blog about Hawaii from a survival perspective. Stay tuned.