Over a year ago, Bill told me that he had a work conference in Hawaii and we should see if we could go together. My mom agreed to come up and watch the kids, which was the only way I would leave them. During the very cold days of last winter and long weekends when Bill was away, I would think of this trip and do some research of Hawaii just to keep my spirits up. After weeks and weeks of preparing for the trip (writing an extensive "Grandmom's Survival Guide" book) we were on our way the morning of Sept 29th. The trip did involve two 6-hour flights, but frankly, this was a vacation for me as well. Reading and watching movings UNINTERRUPTED, not cutting food for anyone - yes, traveling was a break.
Because Marriott hotels somehow think Bill is a rockstar (several stories behind that), we were upgraded to a beautiful room with a gorgeous view of Waikiki beach (above) as well as a view of Diamond Head (below).
I had no idea - Hawaii is almost always 88 degrees with wonderful trade winds that are sooo relaxing. Their winter is 75 degrees and they rarely hit 90 degrees - HEAVEN! (We were surprised by the amount of crime and homeless there, but I guess it is a metropolitan city - and if I was homeless, I'd want to be on Waikiki Beach.)
We were on Waikiki Beach, part of Honolulu on the Island of Oahu. (We had a crash course on Pacific geography...) I found the island to be just beautiful - just as nice as any postcard you would see. Above is one of my favorite beaches in Kailua, a short drive from Honolulu.
Bill had to go to the ADA conference for the first several days. I was left to spend copious amounts of time at the hotel pool, hotel spa, relaxing on our balcony, running along the shore (everyone runs there...), exploring a few towns, eating anything with macadamia nuts in it or just reading and reading. My primary goal was to relax and not do things I typically do at home. I skipped a couple sight-seeing spots since I find myself busy and racing all over at home. One morning I hiked Diamond Head, a 155,000 year old volcanic crater on the corner of the island. It was a quick 5-minute drive to the start of the hike from our hotel. Above is a picture of the mountainous interior of the island.
Here I am at the top overlooking Honolulu. I got one of the 200 Japanese tourists that I hiked up with to take the picture.
(Seriously - the island has just as many Anglo tourists as Japanese tourists - I was surprised by this, but shouldn't have been had I know how close Japan was to Hawaii.)
Picture of Diamond Head Lighthouse taken from my decent down the volcano. (I told the boys I was hiking the volcano to see if I could bring them here one day to hike it also!)
One day I drove over to Kailua, a cute town on the eastern shore. I found the beach absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. After seeing the beach, I got my bathing suit, towel and books from the car and sat myself here for an hour or so to enjoy paradise.
Bill was done with his Straumann obligations by Saturday afternoon. We woke up early on Sunday morning to get to Pearl Harbor when it opened. We were one of the first tour groups to go over to the Memorial. I have to say, I probably wouldn't have done this had I not been with Bill. But I was soooo glad that I did it. We watched a short film with actually footage of the invasion (this is always quite helpful for someone like me to gets different wars mixed up and doesn't really keep historical facts straight in my mind) then took a ferry ride to the memorial.
Here is Bill on the actual memorial. It is build over the sunken USS Arizona which is still in the water. Approximately 1,200 soldiers are still entombed in the battleship. They said there were 23 sets of brothers and 2 sets of father/sons on the ship below. So sad....
Above is a picture of the oil that is STILL seeping out of the ship. You can see the oil on the surface of the water (if you look closely). The guide said there still are 500,000 gallons of fuel in the ship. There was a strong fuel smell in the Memorial.
This is a picture from the memorial of the USS Missouri (the ship in the water) as well as the white markers that show the location of the ships that were attacked on Dec. 7th. In the distance, you can see a small white ball (middle, left). This white ball marks the end of the Arizona (which we were standing over). This was one of the highlights of the trip.
On Monday took the hour drive up the eastern coast to BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center. I was very happy to be able to see one of my young women (Monica Gardner) from Marlborough Ward who is attending BYU-Hawaii. She is doing great - graduating in December!
This is a picture of the GORGEOUS LDS Temple in Laie. It is closed for 18 months for renovations so we didn't go inside. It was built in 1919. It is just so beautiful.
We then went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for an afternoon tour, Luau and show. This center is run by our church and is the #1 tourist attraction on the island. It was FABULOUS. We had an outstanding tour guide, Cousin Pablo, who made sure we had front seats at all of the shows. Above is a picture of someone demonstrating how to climb coconut trees! All of the shows were so well done, so funny, a wonderful education about these many, many islands.
Our group was chosen to lead the ceremony for Aotearea (New Zealand) and Bill was chosen as the tribe chief who participated in the ceremony of meeting a new chief. Here he is onstage.
Well guess what - this is where the battery on my camera gave out. I took LOTS of video for the kids of the island dances and just couldn't believe I used all the battery and couldn't document the entire ceremony that Bill was the center of! He had to bonk noses with the other chief!
We absolutely loved the PCC and can't wait to take the kids there (in 10+ years or so). Everything was done so well and so entertaining. We enjoyed a luau with authentic luau food and then the new Ha: Breath of Life night show. (I was falling asleep, remember it was 9pm there, so 3am our time, so we didn't stay for the whole show, despite our AWESOME seats - second row, middle!!!)
Well the camera had died by now so we don't have a picture of me and Bill together there! It was a wonderful trip and worth all the travel. We were both VERY excited to see the kids again. Grandmom was not tied up when we returned. She did a fantastic job of keeping them on schedule, towing the line and even mentioned something about a 'next time'. (I think the pain is like childbirth - you forget about it so you do it again!) I'm not sure I can be gone that long from the kids again, but maybe there will be a 'next time' since Bill seems to attend lots of conferences in beautiful/warm locations!
Aloha!
Here the troops are in front of General Washington's reconstructed Valley Forget headquarters. The rangers here were so knowledgable. (Please notice Carter is wearing a Patriots jersey here - he, he, he)
