Nestled into a valley just north of Kaneohe on Oahu is the Valley of the Temples. This Buddhist temple is modeled after similar temples in Japan.

The Valley of the Temples is surrounded by oriental gardens and koi ponds. There’s also a Japanese Tea House (no August Moon to be found; not one statue of Marlon Brando).

The Temple is a replica of Japan’s 900-year-old Byodo-in Temple near Kyoto. The Temple in Kaneohe was recreated to honor Japan’s immigrants to Hawaii.

Where do local folks in Hawaii go for vacations?

Las Vegas, Neighbor Islands, California, and the NCL cruise. We finally took a cruise a couple of years ago.

This cruise took us to the Big Island, then 1,000 miles south to Fanning Island, back to Maui, then west to Kauai, and back to Honolulu. All in a week.

Fanning Island is stunning. All the islands together are about 12 inches above sea level so it doesn’t take much of a storm to wash to mud off the front door step.

Vacations in Las Vegas have plenty of attractions. The lights. The shows. The stars.

There’s also a great wax museum near the Venetian Resort and Casino. That’s where we met Larry King.

Many of the characters looked like wax. Larry looked real. So did Whoopi Goldberg. In fact, Whoopi looked so real I had to touch her hand and sneeze in her face (just to be sure).

Perhaps it’s easy to duplicate some stars in wax, others not. Regardless, Larry King Live sure looked like he was living.

Hawaii is home to some of the most stunning sunsets you may ever see.

This sunset is on the west side of Kauai. There’s not much between the beach and Australia.

Layers of clouds provide an excellent foreground for Hawaii sunsets. Having lived in Hawaii various times since the mid-1970s, I’ve seen the famed ‘Green Flash’ only have a dozen times.

The flash occurs just as the sun sets over the ocean horizon and is due to the last ‘flash’ of light skimming across the ocean’s waters creating a burst of blue green color.

Sorry. No photos of the ‘Green Flash.’ Yet.