The Polynesian Cultural Center

A word of advice: if you ever go to Oahu, stop by the Polynesian Center. And if you ever plan to go, plan to spend a good bit of time there. They sell tickets that cover a lunch there at noon when they open and a 6:00 show in the evening, and you really could spend that whole time if you have an interest in all the various cultures that they cover here.
The Polynesian Cultural Center was the one place most mentioned by my friends here when I said I was going to Hawaii. They all assured me that even though it sounded kind of cheesy, it was well worth the time. So one day we planned a circular drive around the island to include a trip to the cultural center. It was well worth the visit.
The place is set up in a series of villages, each one representing a Polynesian culture (there were seven, I believe, but I've lost track of what they all were). Here' s a picture of a temple from the Tahiti village (I think):

The villages are all lined up around a waterway that runs through the whole center. We got Zack a wheelchair because the people who worked there told us that there was a lot of walking involved (and to provide us all with a little entertainment between villages), and then we took a ride up the waterway to the far end and walked gradually back. Each village does several presentations about the cultural background of the group the village represents at various times throughout the day. We saw a hula and musical instrument presentation in the Hawaii village, and a dance and cooking presentation in another village (I've lost track now of which was which) that included a recipe for the bread they baked. There was also an Imax where we saw a picture about coral reefs that was not supposed to be nearly as funny as it actually was. (It's kind of in need of updating, I think.)
Several times a day, they have a parade on the waterway through the center with people representing each of the cultures doing traditional dances from their regions. In this way, we learned that hula is often confused with all these other dances. It was a lot of fun to watch. Here are some pictures:



From there we went to the North Shore to check out some surfing... pictures to follow.