25th Wedding Anniversary

We decided to do something special for our 25th wedding anniversary (Oct. 31, 2011), so we went to Hawaii. That's something we've both wanted to do for a long time--we finally made it and had a wonderful trip!  Be glad I'm so long posting these pictures.  If I'd done it when I originally planned, there would be a lot more!

Gene and me on Oahu, on the way to the temple in Laie

LDS Temple in Laie, HI

Our guide, Alex, holding a coconut tree!  He was our excellent
guide to Pearl Harbor, the Dole Pineapple Plantation,
and the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC).  We learned a lot
about the history of the island from him (not that we
remember much of it now--a year later).

Battleship USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

Battleship USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor

Dole Pineapple Plantation--I thought pineapples grew on trees--not so!
This is how they grow.

At the PCC.  Nephew Shoma Harger works here now--wish he'd been there when we were there.
He's probably doing some things like this Polynesian is doing--lighting a fire without a match!

Maoris doing the stick dance--takes good coordination to pass the sticks back and forth to each other.
I did this when I belonged to the Kia Ora Club at BYU my Freshman year.

This is purported to be the "bridge" Elvis Presley sat on in his movie "Blue Hawaii."

Gene and me with Diamondhead in the background.

Have you ever seen the inside of a stretch limo?  This is the inside of the one we took back to our hotel one day.
Fun, and it cost the same as a regular taxi!

We took a Navatek Sunset Dinner Cruise one night, and this was the beginning of a beautiful sunset.
The Aloha Tower can be seen as we leave the harbor.  The dinner was delicious--buffet-style--but it sure was noisy!
It was nice to get out on deck where we could hear the ocean breezes and better see the sunset.

Navatek Dinner  Cruise--sunset

Navatek Dinner Cruise--sunset

Navatek Dinner Cruise--Honolulu skyline

An Oahu beach--we were too early in the season to see any real surfing, on any shore.

Oahu cliffs

Monkey Pod trees--a beautiful wood for carving

Just enough wind for someone to do a little windsurfing!

Nephew Chad Thurgood and his wife, Samantha (Sam), with us, at their little apartment.
They now live in SLC, up near the University of Utah, but were going to BYU-Hawaii when we met them.

A fitting end to our trip to Hawaii, another beautiful sunset!