Last one, I promise
Day 4 of vacation

So, we ate our last fancy meal and packed up to check out. We loaded ourselves in the car and were off to Tahoe.

Drove for a while. I mention this because I read Harry Potter the entire time and was about 200 pages into it by the time we arrived in Tahoe. Of course, once we got into windy territory I had to stop for fear of throwing up. I also didn’t read as fast as I normally do because every time I gasped or squealed or said omigosh! I had to tell Joel what was going on. I ended up re-reading entire chapters out loud to him. (He doesn’t read the books, but enjoys the movies. Don’t worry, he wanted to know…I wasn’t spoiling anything for him.)

Arrived in Tahoe. Met all the Neves family for the big luau. There were Hawaiian family members there that Joel hadn’t seen for 20 years or more, and a few that he had never even met before. So you can imagine I was feeling a bit lost.

Ate our yummy kalua pig and rice and lau lau and poi (not so yummy) and whatever else you eat at a luau. Joel was forced to eat a mussel. I wouldn’t touch that stuff, even though one of our nephews was running around with crabs trying to scare me into eating it.

Walked down to the beach. Joel played football in the freezing cold hypothermia inducing water with his uncles and brothers and cousins and nephews while I sat in the blessed sun reading Harry Potter. (Funny sidenote: I saw at least 4 other people reading it on the beach. Must have been a national phenomenon.)

After a couple hours we went back up to the campground and had the rest of the luau: The show. Joel’s uncles have a band and they played Hawaiian music while several family members took turns doing the hula. (Photo of 3 of the Uncles and a cousin playing in the band)
Sometime near the end of the show, Joel’s Uncle Paul asked everyone with Hawaiian blood (not me!) to come up and he taught them all a hula. He even used Joel as his special helper. So. Dang. Hilarious. Hawaiian or not, Joel was not blessed with the hula gene.
Stiff as a board, he was. If you ever come visit us, make sure to ask Joel to demonstrate the hula dance he learned, and I guarantee you will laugh harder than you have ever laughed in your life. And if you don’t, there’s something wrong with you.

After the show, we finished the luau: More food. After our bellies were nice and full we went to the lodge where we were crashing for the night with Joel’s brothers and their families. Talked till way too late. Well, Joel talked. I read.

Finished Harry Potter by the time I arrived in Elko, Nevada the next day.

I told you I was insane.