Follow The Tourist Bus

We visited Punchbowl National Cemetery on Sunday. You'll recognize the statue of Lady Columbia from Hawaii Five-0's opening sequence. (Both the original and the new show.) She symbolizes all the grieving mothers.

Punchbowl is located in a dormant volcano crater. It's green and peaceful, even with the tourist bus driving around. The casualties from the attack on Pearl Harbor were the first people to be buried there, at least in modern times. I've been told it was a sacred place for Hawaiians in the past. I'm guessing they used it as a burial ground also. If anyone knows the story, please let me know.

It looks as if they are refurbishing/landscaping there. Wait a few weeks, then visit.

Tantalus Drive is at the entrance to Punchbowl, so we took it to where it joins up with Round Top Road. Our goal was to reach the lookout point in the park. I felt a little woozy driving up in altitude along the curvy lane. The lookout point is spectacular and worth the drive. Here are photos which show Diamond Head, University of Hawaii Manoa, Magic Island at Ala Moana and downtown office buildings.

The North Shore was our next stop, where we again saw a tourist bus. We visited our Honu (Sea Turtle) friends and learned they eat the seaweed found on this particular North Shore beach. After the Honu eat, they rest upon the sand and let the sun and water restore them.

Of course, we had to eat at some point as well. Off to Kua Aina Sandwich Shop in Haleiwa for dinner. Yum! Go there. You won't be disappointed.

Coffee Gets Us Five-0

I had to get out of the city, so we took a little road trip to Kailua. Locals say Kailua is on the "other side" of the island. In actuality, it's a 20-25 minute drive from Honolulu. It's up over the Koolau Mountain range and the Pali and down into Kailua Bay. My coffee addiction led us to the General Market there. The cashier peered at me over the register and said, "Hawaii Five-0 is filming at the beach." My eyes grew big. The coffee trembled in my hand. I turned to Mark who looked just as excited as I. The cashier continued,"The eye candy is there, too." She looked directly at me, not at Mark.

We raced to the beach to find Alex O'Laughlin and Scott Caan and their stunt doubles on the beach. In one photo Alex O'Loughlin and his stunt double are running into the ocean at the end of filming. Scott Caan is reaching into a cooler to get water....for his dog!

The background extras were all hired actors, not like when Mark's grandpa was asked at the time of filming to be an extra in the original show.

Five-0 Night Hawaiian Style

Monday night in Hawaii. Mark and I religiously watch the new Hawaii Five-0 show. We both remember the original as kids.

When my family took a trip to Hawaii in 1971, my father dressed fashionably for the day in ice blue leisure pants, a blue and white long-sleeved Hawaiian shirt with matching white shoes and belt and a big straw hat with Foster Grant sunglasses. He was twice mistaken for Jack Lord, the star of Hawaii Five-0.

Mark's grandpa was an extra in the original show. Look for Danno and Ben in Chinatown searching for the bad guy. The woman at the counter shakes her head as they show her the mug shot. The man in front chopping beef is Mark's grandpa.

We faced the TV at 8:59PM (TV shows start an hour earlier in Hawaii) and wondered if we'd see the new show filming around Waikiki. We'd keep an eye out for the crew.

Oh, if you watch the show in California, there's a Hawaiian Airlines commercial with a woman looking in the mirror and dancing the hula with a green grass skirt and her husband comes in holding two airline tickets. We waited for the commercial to air. Duh, they don't show that in Hawaii. Hawaiians are already in Hawaii. Instead we saw hamsters dressed in leather jackets, rapping a song for a new Kia.