Iolani Palace

This unused older postcard describes on the back- Iolani Palace.... in Honolulu is the only Royal Palace in the United States.  The Palace was erected during the reign of King Kalakaua (1874-1891).  The smaller building on the left is historic Iolani Barracks.

Byodo-In Temple on Oahu in Hawaii

It was raining very hard on the day we visited the Byodo-In Temple on Oahu.  Still, we had a very enjoyable time.

This is a non-practicing Buddhist Temple which is open and welcoming to all faiths.  It was established in 1968 to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.  The Temple is a 1/2 scale replica of one in Japan.

On your way to the Temple, you are first drawn to a 3 ton peace bell.  There is a stick attached to the rope, inviting you to ring it.  It produces a pleasant, soft droning sound.

You then make your way to the actual temple, where there is an 18 foot tall Buddha statue.  You can see it pretty well from outside of the doors.  You do need to remove your shoes before walking in if you choose to.  There was someone there constantly mopping the floor.

The entire area is attractive.  There are gardens and koi ponds.

There was a very pleasant lady selling necklaces made of volcano rock/ash.  She did let us know that she made them from pieces from Oregon and Washington, as many in the area are superstitious about Hawaiian volcano rocks off of the island.  They were nice and we ended up buying a couple.

The temple was a very pleasant stop on our trip.

Sun Valley Horse Farm in Versailles Kentucky

When I was VERY YOUNG (like, 5) we owned a horse for a couple of years.  I loved it.  Her name was Speedy.  My dad has always had a farm, and he's always had an interesting mix of animals.  I remember goats, pigs, chickens, and at one time even emus.  AND for a while, we had a horse.

I like horses but, in Lexington, there are people who REALLY like them.  Horses are a way of life.

An old friend/co-worker grew up in a horse breeding family.  They tried to explain a lot of the lifestyle to me once, but I didn't get it.

AND, we have visited a couple of farms in the past....  and the experience was... well, OK at best.

Anyway, we recently heard about the horse farm Sun Valley in Versailles that is now offering tours and we thought we would check it out.

Man, did this end up being a great visit!  We had fun actually getting to see and interact with some horses, and we learned a lot!

First off, Sun Valley is a very hands on kind of place!  The horses were social and seemed to enjoy the interaction.  We were able to interact with most of the horses, including some very young ones!

We arrived a little early for our 1:00 tour and Jan Butzer (who owns and operates the farm with her husband Barry) came out to introduce herself.  She told us a bit about the family and their farm.

After a few minutes, her son Brett showed up who does the tours.  Jan actually accompanied us on most of the tour too, and Barry even came out at one point to talk about the farm.

Barry told us about his love of horses from a young age.  He explained how, early on, he might buy a horse because of a gut feeling.  Doing research on horses could get pretty complicated.  Now anyone can get online and find out all they need to know about a horse.

All three Butzers talked about the success of Sun Valley, mentioning some of their successes (a video was shown of an auction involving one of their horses).  They obviously take a lot of pride in what they have done, but they still came off as very humble.  This is a family that loves horses, and loves being involved in raising them.  They also love telling others about them.

As Brett formally started our tour, he explained (in very easy to understand language) specifically how Sun Valley operates.  In a nutshell, they have female horses that they breed.  The ponies are then sold.  They also do boarding.

Brett talked about how things happen when the babies are born.  He showed us a kit that they have with all of the needed items to help in the process.  Though Brett is in his early 20s, you could tell he has been involved in all of the aspects of the family business!

The tour involves driving to several different barns to see the many horses at Sun Valley.  Obviously, each one had its own personality.  Brett would go into the stall and guide the horses to our tour group to allow visitors to pet and interact with them.

The family lives on the property and visitors get a very nice outside tour of their old home!  History fans will love this, as there is a small cemetery.  As a fan of the Civil War I was very impressed to see the preserved original slave quarters.  Those doing the Bourbon Trail will also enjoy hearing about the Sun Valley connection to bourbon!

Near the end of the tour, we were invited into a room to watch a few videos about the farm and their horses.  Coffee, tea and hot chocolate were available (and appreciated!) on this day.

As the tour wound down, we realized our hour and a half tour was going over.  Brett and Jan told our group that they would understand if anyone needed to leave.  No one did, as you could tell everyone was having a great time!  I know we ended up spending about two and a half hours here on our visit.

This is one of those places that I am glad I found.  I can't wait to bring some out of town friends here, especially ones with kids. 

For $20 a person we thought this was a great value, and a rare opportunity to get really hands on at a horse farm.

Matsumoto's Shaved Ice in Oahu Hawaii

In our travels, we have gotten pretty good (and lucky) at timing our travels out.  We try to beat rush hour, and to make it to crowded places when the crowds aren't around.

Well, we lucked out majorly when we visited Matsumoto's Shaved Ice in Hawaii.  By all accounts, this place ALWAYS has a line.  They even had a roped off area for people getting shaved ice, and for people just getting something in their store.  We went early on a very rainy day and we did not have to wait in line at all!  As we left though, we did notice others starting to swarm the place.

I had some pineapple flavored ice (for some reason it was colored blue) and man was it great!  AND, for $3 I thought it was an absolute bargain for what I got.  This is tasty.  Our friend Renee, who made her third trip to the island with us said that this is the place to get shaved ice.  Others are good, but this is the best.

For a small local place, Matsumoto's has really done well with their logo and branding.  In their gift shop, I saw tons of Matsumoto's items.  I was most impressed with a basketball jersey.  Prices were good in the gift shop too.  For about $11, I walked out with a cool patch and several stickers.

Waialua Estate Coffee in Hawaii

We had so much fun at Waialua Coffee, I kinda forgot to take pictures....

This was probably our favorite place to stop for local stuff to take home.  There was a very friendly lady working there who helped us sample their coffees, chocolates, and coconut peanut butter.  Oh, she also gave us a cocoa bean to sample, which was interesting.

After sampling some of these items, we had to take some home with us.  We also found some Spam flavored macadamia nuts for a gift, some great postcards, and other items.

Green World Coffee Farm Oahu Hawaii

We stopped by Green World Coffee Farm for a bit on our trip.  This place was worth a stop just to check out their cool collection of coffee posters.

They had coffee too, and they had a nice, calm area to actually sit down and drink too, away from the more touristy part of their shop.  If I were a local, I would be hanging out here all the time.

They also had coffee samples, and they let us sample some of their chocolate covered pineapple pieces and coffee beans.

The chocolate pineapple were the perfect gift items to take home with us.

This is a nice place to stop on a road trip through Oahu, and it is very close to the Dole Plantation!

Ala Moana Center at Sunset

Printed on the back of this postcard-

Ala Moana Center at Sunset...  In a beautiful setting between Waikiki and Honolulu's old downtown business district Ala Moana presents 155 exciting shops and restaurants.  Famous "La Ronde" restaurant rotates hourly atop the 25 story Ala Moana Building.  Ala Moana is one of the world's largest shopping centers.

This particular postcard is postmarked 1968- a person tells her friend in Buffalo that she got lost in this shopping center.

Ala Moana Center, Honolulu Hawaii

According to Wikipedia, the Ala Moana Center is the largest shopping mall in Hawaii, it is the 7th largest shopping mall in the US, and it is the largest open air shopping center in the world.

When it opened in 1959, it was the largest mall in the United States.

So, I wanted to make sure we swung by here as we travelled. 

AND, I saw that there was a post office here.  I had prepared a few postcards to send out.  I figured I would go here and have them mailed with a nice, Honolulu postmark on them.

We went to the post office first thing.  This was a great post office, and the friendly lady I dealt with was very helpful, and hand cancelled all of my cards for me.

We walked around a bit, and visited a few stores here and there.  Our friends who live in Hawaii now told us we had to visit the ABC Store for some souvenirs.  This was a great store, and we found some of the basic knickknacks, and my wife found some nice jewelry items for gifts to take home.

AND, I will say it again, EVERYONE in Hawaii is friendly.  The young lady who checked us out at ABC was extremely pleasant, and we ended up chatting some about payment methods and technology.

We did find the Lego store here.  I have done some resin casting in the past, and Lego blocks are perfect for making boxes when pouring latex molds.  I had another very nice conversation with the two guys working here about using Legos for this purpose.  You could tell these guys love their job, and they enjoy talking to customers about their Lego related projects.

We ended up spending several hours here and found it to be a very pleasant shopping mall!

North Shore Tacos in Hawaii

So, we were driving around Oahu exploring.  We had a picnic lunch packed, but I had been wanting a shrimp taco while in Hawaii.  We saw North Shore Tacos and decided to stop for a pre lunch snack.

I wanted to get something quick and basic, as I was looking forward to the picnic lunch.  I settled on ordering a simple shrimp taco.  It was a little under $6.  It was actually a pretty big taco and filling.  I wish I had ordered a couple after we hit the road and I ate it.

We were unable to get back here on our trip, but this was one of the best tacos I have ever had in my life.

Duke's Waikiki in Hawaii

We walked from our Atlantis Submarine ride to Duke's in Waikiki.

It seemed that Duke was everywhere.  There is a statue of him nearby, and this restaurant is named after him.

Three of us had lunch here, including one friend who had been here before, and who said that we had to have the Hula Pie for dessert.

We had a really nice meal.  They had a buffet going, so we sampled several items.  We had a great, friendly waiter too, but again, everyone is friendly here.

I did have a seafood soup that I REALLY enjoyed.

THREE of us shared the Hula Pie.  According to their menu, it is chocolate cookie crust, macadamia nut ice cream, hot fudge, toasted mac nuts, and whipped cream.  The pie was plenty for the three of us and it was as good as it sounds.