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Hawaii
Typycal beach Hawaii
May 6th thru May 10th I was in Hawaii, this was my third trip to Hawaii, but this time it was to take a NICET (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies). I arrived in Honolulu at 10:00am on Thursday the 6th, I first went to my Hotel hoping I could get an early check in and freshen up from my long flight, but the room was not ready, so I went to where my NICET test would be, afterwards I went to Pearl Harbor and spent a couple of hours walking around and looking at all the monuments and maps, I was unable to make it to the USS Arizona monument as the tickets are free the start handing them out at 7:00am, by now it was around 3:00pm so I went back to my hotel, and again they said my room was not ready, I asked them if they had any room that was "ready" since I just flew in from South Korea and was tired, they did have a room and I took a short nap. After my nap I walked to Waikiki beach, which was about 3-4 blocks from my hotel. I walked along the
Entrance to Pearl Harber
This is a map of the Pacific beach, and went into a few stores, my favorite was a nice watch shop which had a pre-owned IWC that I really liked but did not buy, fortunately the bracelet was too small, I know, they could have sized it for me, I guess if it did not fit the first time I did not need it. Continuing my walk I saw a "Margaretville Store" and went in to see if there was any cool Hawaii stuff, but nothing caught my eye, except the fact that there was a Margaretville restaurant upstairs, and it was happy hour. I sit at the bar and order a margarita and an order of Volcano Nachos, which were huge, after my drink I ordered a Rum Runner, after halfway through my order of nachos I throw in my napkin and take the rest back to my hotel, well on the way home I'm not looking where I'm going and step off the curb, not expecting to step down, I go down, (that’s how I scraped my knees mom) nachos my camera and I go tumbling.
May 7th
This was my shopping day, trying to get things that I could not find in South
Pearl Harbor
The USS Arizona memorial in the back ground Korea, I went to the Ala Moana Shopping center, (a huge mall) this mall was like any other big mall in the states, except it had no ceiling and no walls at each of the main entrances. I went to Home Depot and a few others stores, had an early diner and went back to my hotel to get all my stuff together for my test in the morning.
May 8th
I got a 6:00am wakeup call got ready and went down to eat breakfast, arrived at the test site around 7:15, (we had to be there at 7:30am) only to find that the test room/building had changed, so a couple of minutes later I found the new building and room number. After the normal procedural talk and directions we started our test at 8:30am and around 2:30pm and 176 questions later I was done with my test and feeling pretty confident. After my test I drove out to the North Shore of Oahu to see the "Bonsai Pipe Line" and other beaches in that area. The waves that day were not that high at Bonsai, so I drove up to Sunset Beach, well it was far too early
Pearl Harbor
The anchor of the USS Arizona for a sunset, I looked in my GPS to see what the closest sights were, I saw there was an old sugar mill close buy, and so off I went. Well there was hardly any mill, just old parts, but there was a great place to eat, I ordered their famous coconut shrimp, which were the best I ever had.
May 9th
Today I decided to drive along the east cost of Oahu, and what a difference it is, rocky cost, deep blue water. My first stop was at a beach at the base of Diamond Head, next I drove through Diamond Head Park, unfortunately the lot was full and the closest parking was about 1/2 mile down the mountain. Next stop was the Blow Hole, a hole carved into the lava by a few years of waves crashing into the lava. There was a very small but extremely cool beach right next to the Blow Hole.
I continued my drive up the cost, and past a bunch of parked cars, so I pulled into the lot to see what all the cars were for, comes to find out it was a hiking trail, so I took a
Pearl Harbor
The USS Bowfin sub hike, all-in-all it was about a two hour hike up a mountain. Once at the top you were treated with a great view of the island and a light house. Once I got back to my car I saw there was a temple close by.
There was a $5 entry at the temple, it was close to closing time once I got there, I had about 30 minutes to walk around. The temple was built in the '60s for the Japanese, it is located at the base of a big mountain, and had a huge Koi pond in front of it and a small creek running close buy with Papaya trees along the creek.
May 10th - 11th
Travel back home, now I like to get to the airport kind of early so I can check in, go through security/customs and then relax, my flight was at 10:30am, so after I drop off my car and get to the terminal, the counter is closed.
I flew in and out of Hawaii on ANA, which stands for "All Nippon Airways", I thought that it was kind of funny to name your airlines that since "Nippon" stands for Japan,
Honolulu
This was close by my hotel and there is JAL "Japan Airlines", so in actuality ANA should be AANA "Almost All Nippon Airways". Anyway back to my check in story, ANA did not open 7:45am, even with the late, to me, opening time I still cleared security/customs in plenty of time. Cool thing about the airport, it's almost like the mall, it has a roof, but most areas have no side walls.
Well that was my brief trip to Hawaii, still a great place to go.
Saemangeum Seawall
On May 16th I ran a Half Marathon, I ran this for a few reasons;
1) Back in February of this year a very close friend and a co worker of mine was in a very serious motorcycle accident, and the first prognoses was not good for him, but Casey is a fighter and very determined person, and I'm happy to say that his recovery is going remarkably well, he has some short term memory problems, and some other issues, but he will be back running, I know he will.
2) In March of this year my Aunt was diagnosed with bladder cancer, she had surgery to remove her bladder, and unfortunately found
Honolulu
This was close by my hotel that the cancer had spread. I know my Aunt Janet this will not keep down, she loves to get out in her yard and garden.
So for the run I wanted to do something special for them both, so I did a couple of things, I had their pictures on my back with a brief description of their set back in English and in Korean, next I shaved my head and had a Red Mohawk. I decided on the Mohawk for a few reasons; the shaved part of my head was for my Aunt, and would symbolize what cancer patients would have to go through, the Mohawk portion was for Casey when we ran the NYC Marathon together, the red was for his Detroit Red Wings, sorry Casey was rooting for 'em.
The run was great; I got plenty of looks before the run. I was totally amazed at the number of Koreans and Westerners who came up to me during the run and talked to me about my cause, and were impressed and would have my friend and Aunt in their thoughts. I completed the run in 2:21, which was good for me; my goal was actually
Waikiki
Waikiki beach with Diamond head in the background around 2:30. After the run many people came up to me and wanted to get a picture with me, it was great.
Live strong Aunt Janet.
Live strong Casey.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you both.
Until next time "Hold 'em in the road"
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Mom & Dad
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"What'a Guy"
As usual Son, we're very proud of you for the person you are. Your heart and thoughts for Casey and Aunt Janet. Your pictures of Hawaii are very interesting and educational for me. Your Mother saw those scratched knees, right away. those curbs have a way of jumping out in front of you. TEE..HEE, Ha. Ha.