Blogs from Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, United States, North America - page 25

Have I mentioned that I'm penurious, . . . frugal, . . . TIGHT? Ann really wanted to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. All she had read about it in anticipation of this trip led her to say it was something we should not miss. But it cost . . . a lot. Almost as much for each of us as it was for my helicopter ride. And our savings were shrinking back home. I was just awful uneasy. "When will we be back here?" Ann asked reasonably. My mental calculator quickly showed that to be an unlikely event given our age and the depression we were entering. It was now or . . . not now. When I called in our reservations, the clerk spoke with a bit of an accent and confused me ... read more

This morning our first stop was the Pali Lookout. This is the site where King Kamehameha and his warriors forced the people who would not accept Kamehameha's rule, over the cliff. This was part of Kamehameha's invasion of Oahu "uniting" all the Hawai'ians. It is awesome to think about. Next, our bus driver dropped us off in downtown Honolulu. Susan gave us a tour of the Honolulu City Hall. We saw right out in front of the building a statue of Father Damion with the seal of the state of Hawai'i above him. Exploring the building, we found the State Senate chambers and the State House of Representative chambers. We also found the required "bathroom break". Next, we saw a statue of Queen Lili'uokaiani. Later we saw a statue of King Kamehameha - the Great. Even ... read more

Our bus was to picked us up at 7:45 so we were all up to eat at 6:45. We headed for Pearl Harbor. As Marty states in her memorable T-blog on our experiences of the day at http://www.travelblog.org/fred.php?id=375922 Susan warned us that we had to leave behind any bags. Free at last! The Kona nightgale sings! Many of our group are veterans. Some served in the U S Navy and they seemed particularly moved to be taking this tour. It seemed like the focus of their whole three weeks. I hoped it would help them. Vets carry a lot more pain inside than the rest of us realize. We took our turn watching the video at the center. Since the Arizona Memorial is not very big, the center manages the numbers by having a theater with ... read more

We got off the ship in Honolulu, Hawaii at about 10 am and immediately went to the most American place we could find…Wal Mart. It was really weird being in an American store where you don’t haggle over prices for the first time in three months, and it almost made me feel like I was at home because every Wal Mart in the world is exactly the same. The funny thing about going there was the fact that there were probably over 100 SAS kids that were also there buying all sorts of random things (I had to get a pair of dress shoes for the “Ambassadors Ball”). Anyway, after our Wal Mart stop we went to Waikiki Beach and enjoyed the beautiful Thanksgiving day sun. It was about 85 or 90 degrees, and the water ... read more

Hi! I know its been awhile! Just gettin' in the groove. Workin' and getting adjusted. Here's some pics from over the last month. Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween!! Enjoy! Miss yous! Allison ... read more