Oahu - Oct 2 thru 8

Sunday, October 2, 2011

After a long long flight, Mom and Dad Drago along with Tom and Tina check into the hotel in Honolulu Hawaii. 

By happen stance, our rooms are adjacent to the Hilton tower which carry's our newest granddaughters name. There's also a sign which explains all about the reason the tower is named after a girl named Kalia, but it seemed like mainly Hawaiian gibberish to me.

I came away thinking though that Chris and Kara really ought to officially change Kalia's name to have that funky bar over the "a" just to make it interesting for all of her future teachers.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Having gotten an early start of things, we headed towards Pearl Harbor to view the historical sites there.   Thank you Google maps for putting us on the south side of Pearl Harbor when all the historical sites are on the north side.  We were a mile away from the right place, but 15 miles of driving distance.  Nothing like going 30 miles out of your way to start the day.  Nonetheless we made it early enough to get decent time assignments for viewing the USS Arizona with enough time ahead of that to view the museum and a background video of the happenings on that tragic day of December 7, 1941.

Regardless of how many times you read the history books or hear the stories from those who went through WW II, being at Pearl Harbor and seeing the place of that portion of history brings the tragedy home to a different level.  An entire island caught by surprise, immediately thrust into the unimaginable.  They were totally caught off guard in the mistaken belief that the potential enemy would never dare to attack us on our home soil.  There was also an ignorance and/or arrogance in having the vast majority of the entire US Pacific fleet sitting there like sitting ducks.

Having seen all of the museum, we set out to the memorial of the USS Arizona.  This is the approach taken from the transport boat.

 

The remains of one of the gun mounts that's still above water and the visiting tourists.

 

The memorial wall with the names of those who died and the American flag still flying high.

After the Arizona, we did a tour of the USS Bowfin, a WWII era submarine.  I came away convinced that all WWII submariners were midgets based on the size of the hatchways and the pain I had getting through them..

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Tina and I relaxed in the morning doing some hot-tubbing at the hotel.  Late morning we all set off to the Polynesian Culture Center. We did lunch at a grill in a small town just beyond the center and had an excellent meal.  The afternoon was spent watching a canoe parade, presentations from the various Polynesian island nations (including a tree climbing demonstration), and watching Tina try to learn how to play a bamboo stick.

 

We also did dinner there and stayed around for the evening show.  It made for a late night getting back to the hotel but well worthwhile for everybody.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The morning started out at a swap meet at the Aloha Stadium (home of the Pro-bowl on most years).  With over 700 booths, this has to be one of the biggest flea markets ever.  Tina and I figured Dad must have felt like he died and went to heaven at this place.

 Then we did a quick trip up to Punchbowl Crater which is home to the Pacific Memorial Cemetery for the Military (or something like that).  Actually, it wasn't as quick as it should be since Google maps left us 10 miles away when we told it to guide us to Punchbowl Crater.  I think Google maps doesn't know much about the Hawaiian Islands.  At any rate, in addition to being an active cemetery, the site also is a memorial for a soldiers from WWII and all wars since who lost their lives in the Pacific area who's remains were never found.  It's quite a beautiful memorial.

The evening was spent at a luau at Paradise cove.  Frankly with the day before being spent at the Polynesian Culture Center, this became a bit of Hawaiian culture overload.  Regardless, the demonstrations, unveiling of the pig, meal and then show were all excellent.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

A drive up to the famous north shore of Oahu led us to Waimea Valley.  This is a beautiful park where the entire acreage is a botanical garden. The park has a mile long paved trail which leads up to Waimea falls. It worked out great because Mom and Dad were able to take a golf cart ride to the top with an experienced park worker while Tina and I walked it and took a number of side trails.

After the falls, we made what everybody told us was a must make trip to Masumoto's for shaved ice.  Definitely worth the trip.  Far better than the old average snow cone.

Mom and Dad left that night for their flight back to the continental states.  Tina and I went to Alan Wongs restaurant in Honolulu and had an excellent meal along with one of the best appetizers we've ever had called "Da Bag".  Highly recommended.

Friday, October 7, 2011

We spent the morning up at Hanauma Bay.  It was the first time either Tina or I had done any real snorkeling, and it was a GREAT place to learn. Tons and tons of coral and tropical fish.  The waves were a little bit rough but something we quickly got used to.   

After lunch, we took a leisurely drive up the coast, stopping at several scenic pull offs to take pictures.  We stopped at the famous blowhole but my camera failed to react quickly enough to take a good picture of it.  (Always blame the equipment whenever possible!)

Then it was off to Makapu'u lighthouse.  Kara told us it was an easy trail ... which seemed semi-true until we climbed about a billion feet up to get to the first turn ... only to see we still had a billion more feet to go.  Nonetheless, we made it to the top and had a great view of the lighthouse down below.

The views of the coast line and rocky islands around was also spectactular.

On the way back down we tried to take a side trail which might get us closer to the lighthouse.  Unfortunately it was blocked by a gate.  However, seeing the small opening at the bottom right of the gate, I enlisted the help of a very VERY talented rabbit who just happened to come by at the right time and took my camera a distance up the path and took another photo of the lighthouse.  I would have let the rabbit go a bit further and get a better picture, but Tina was yelling at the poor little guy and I finally called him back.

The only down side to our stay in Oahu was a fire that we spotted as we were heading up the coast line.  We stopped on the way back and took a picture.  If you look at the full version of this pic and blow up the area above the first itself, you'll see a helicopter dumping a load of water it had picked up from the ocean and carried up to help put out the fire.

And so ends our week in Oahu.  The next day we were off to Maui ... but that's a tale for another post.