Post #63350 by hawaiiawannabe on Thu, Dec 4, 2003 5:31 PM

Hey, Gecko and fellow tiki nuts...

I just returned home (Portland, OR) last night from a two-week vacation on Oahu. (Yes, I got to experience all those lovely storms.)

However, early in the trip--before the storms--was my favorite experience of the trip. The friends I stayed with took us to La Mariana on a Friday night.

Wow! It just doesn't get any better than this. Too bad I just discovered this forum today, or I would have looked you up, Gecko.

The food SUCKED, but of course that's not what La Mariana is about. It was a beautiful evening. We were just about the only non-locals in the place, and--even at 42--by far the youngest.

It was so wonderful seeing all the people get up and belt their favorite songs. It was quite obvious many of the older folks had been professional entertainers at some point in their lives. Everyone was so decked out too. The women had such beautiful dresses and flowers in their hair. The men wore their finest aloha shirts and there were leis everywhere. I was in Polynesian heaven!

My friends even convinced me to take my turn at the piano where I proceeded to croon my own version of "Moon River".

All in all...one of the great nights in my life. I'm dying to go back to that little wood shack!

Greg