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Couchsurfing at Don Ho’s

“I could not take my eyes off that image.” The drawing of a young boy and his dog staring up at a taboo tiki on a remote island in the South Pacific was one of many beautiful illustrations from Armstrong Sperry’s 1940 book, Call it Courage. Michael was around the same age as that young …

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The feeling is mutualism.

Mike is a gardener who loves Bosko’s carvings. Bosko is an artist who loves Mike’s tropical palms. Over the past years, the two men have formed a lasting friendship, one that a biologist might fondly classify as symbiotic mutualism. In biology, symbiotic mutualism refers to the beneficial relationship between two different organisms in a given …

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Meet the masters of groove.

Crazy Al asked, “Will you dance with me on the main stage?” The Fisherman were churning out their vibraphonic jungle exotica when Crazy Al scanned the crowd for someone brave enough to join him on stage. It would take someone uninhibited to match his renowned level of energy. Roxanne was the obvious choice, and she …

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Add a pinch of salt to that story.

Mysterious tales and legends haunt the multitude of islands in the South Pacific. Uncharted destinations rarely sought by travelers. No island has been more shrouded in foreboding intrigue than Makoako Island. Come gather round and heed my warning. That’s how the backstory for the Lava Flow Inn begins. It’s a detailed yarn that begins with …

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Kali Ma! Kali Ma!

When you hear the “Kali Ma!“ at The Headhunter, be prepared. You may feel compelled to go shirtless and drink from a skull bowl. Kali will urge you on. You’ll hear her voice telling you to give in. Shed your shirt. Drink from the cup. Everyone can join in if they wish. The goddess of …

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Joey’s way cooler.

“Nothing says class like a monkey with a fez.” This axiom is Stephen’s creed. The quip has even been written on his birthday cake. But, the original utterance was a retort to Heidi’s question “Why the hell are you buying all this monkey with fez stuff?” To Stephen, the answer was quite obvious. The fezzed …

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In between the geoduck and geocaching, you’ll find the smudge.

Mark looked directly at Debbie and said, “It’s ninety percent her fault.” Mark places responsibility for their extensive collection on Debbie’s shoulders. I assumed the other ten percent had to be attributed to that time when Mark brought a Tiki carving back from Tonga in 1978. Mark is the proprietor of the Fuzzy Smudge, their …

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