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Published: December 3rd 2010
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Hello!
Our rental car that is suited perfectly for the isles... ALOHA! (Hello!)
I don't think I'll ever have to set an alarm while I live here. Perhaps my body will never get used to the time change. I was awake by 6:30 this morning! What is this nonsense!? But do not fear, I didn't get out of bed until nearly 8:00am. Whew!
Okay, so we are staying in the Navy Lodge located on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. We're a stones throw from the USS Utah and the USS Arizona and Missouri. The majority of Ford is housing for Navy personnel but there are some other buildings at the far end of the island. I'd say the entire length of the island is about 2.5 miles; this makes for great running because there is a track-type route from our room to the other end of the isle that Joe and I have ran a couple of times. Joe says it was probably the old air field. I haven't done too much research yet about the island so I don't really know what buildings were here during the attack, but there is an air control tower that was here then that just adds to the island.
We were able to
Air control tower
This tower was built in early 1941 so it saw the attack on Pearl Harbor but will be going under changes soon. get into the Lodge because my boss pulled a couple of strings. When I looked for openings here there were none, but he found one! Before this, we stayed at the Pagoda Hotel in downtown Honolulu, which can be summed up in the one discovery Joe made. Here is the story:
Joe: Oooops, I dropped something on the floor. I need to get down on my hands and knees to get it.
Joe: Huh, there's a couple of pills, a cigarette butt, a dirty towel, and quite possibly a dead hooker under this bed. We need to get out of here.
The end.
According to another person in my unit: "The Pagoda!? That's on the news nearly every other night!"
And then my boss quickly made a room appear and we are not only paying less for this room per night, but are much closer to Schofield and my clothes don't smell like smoke from one night of being here.
Today was a rather blustery day. As the wind blew Joe and I carried out our tasks for the day. The bridge that connects Ford Island with the rest of O'ahu was going to close at
Island
This is looking north from Ford Island. 9:15am-11:30am for something so we had to get across before then so we weren't stuck on the island for the entire morning.
We made it.
We stopped at the NEX (Navy Exchange since we're on a Navy base) to purchase tickets for the Polynesian Cultural Center. Tomorrow we have tickets for the entire day there that will consist of dinner, a tour of the center, a luau, and a "Breathe of Life" play/performance about a Polynesian warrior named Mana. Joe is super excited about it. I'm excited for the "authentic Hawaiian dinner." 😊
We headed over to Schofield after to take care of some miscellaneous things that I had to do. It takes about 20-ish minutes to get there from here.
We tried to relax in the pool, but pretty much as soon as we got out there some clouds took over and a light spray of water began to fall on us, which shouldn't really matter because we're in a pool, right? Well, I'm a big baby. The water was "cold" (probably 75 degrees or so), but coupled with the wind and the rain, holy smokes! I got in and out of that pool in about 10 minutes (9
Island
Looking southeast towards the surrounding mountains. minutes of that was getting INTO the pool.....) As I acclimated my body into the frigid Hawaiian pool water, a little 6-year old was bouncing in and out of the pool like it was bath water. What a show off!
Nonetheless, my butt got out of that water and came back to "relax" by the television. Ahhh the greatness of Hawaii....
😊
However, don't think for one second that I allowed that stupid wind to slow me down. Joe and I did go for a little run before dinner. Going out wasn't so bad because we had our backs to the wind, but returning was like running in a wind tunnel. You could probably have mistaken me for an elderly lady doing her morning "fast walk" in the mall by how slow the wind was making me go. But the creeping speed was alright with me because there was a beautiful rainbow over the mountains that I stared at the entire length back. It was rather bright and I could make out all of the separate colors. There was a rainbow this morning, also. The "rain" that we've experienced thus far just feels like someone is taking a
USS Utah
The damaged USS Utah that is believed to have been damaged and sunk by an aerial torpedo. Her crew was buried with her- God bless them. misting bottle and spraying it above me, but I don't doubt that serious rain can fall here.
Hopefully this blog will appease SOME of you readers out there that have a certain, uncanny ability to fret (Mothra!).
I was rather excited for the night to get here so I could write, but now that it has, I feel like I should be writing more, but I'm empty now! Give me time and the blogs will be more entertaining, promise!
Love from O'ahu....
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Grammie
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Keep old Grammie informed, miss you so much