Brown Sugar Beach

Sunday morning we went to the Bellows AFB beach. This beach is located on the windward side of the island. The common weather pattern brings clouds and rain to the windward side, almost daily. On this day, we arrived at 9:30 AM. There were a few clouds, but they were moving away. For the next 3 hours, we had mostly sunny skies and a beautiful green ocean to swim in.

Jennifer, Angela, and I walked out into the surf and played in the waves for almost an hour. We all had a ball.

One down side of this beautiful beach is the very fine sand. It is softer than most sands on Oahu, but it sticks to everything. Once dried to your skin, it is hard to scrub off. I was still finding sand on me this morning!

Regardless, it was our favorite beach and definitely a high point of the trip. Thanks to our hosts, Stacy and Christy Soutter, for making it so great!


Now the bad news - When I got back to Stillwater, I attempted to retrieve all our vacation pictures from the digital camera. The media card was blank. Put it back in the camera - Blank. I'll see if the computer gurus at work can fix it.

We are back in Oklahoma. Still driving home. Lots more pics to share so stay tuned.

Drive around the island

Angela and Jennifer at the Halona Blowhole

The Mighty Mo - USS Missouri BB63

The USS Utah Memorial

Angela standing at the site of the WWII surrender aboard the USS Missouri

Angela with the Crouching Lion. Wonderful Eats!



What a big day.

We saw the USS Utah, USS Oklahoma, and the USS Missouri Memorials on Ford Island. Angela wanted to go onto the Missouri so we did the tour. She had so much fun. The staff here is awesome. You can self tour (just walk around), do a self guided audio tour (with a audio player - you just punch in the numbers painted all over the boat), an iPod tour (again self guided with a provided iPod that does more multimedia stuff), and / or a guided tour with a volunteer. Yes - you can do all four for the same price of $20. What a bargain! We crawled all over the boat and saw a few things we missed last time.

Next Jennifer, Angela and I saddled up for a ride around the island. Oahu has not completed the Ka'ena Point road, so we struck out through the central valley. We stopped at the Dole plantation for pineapple ice cream then off to the North Shore. We saw some sea turtles playing in the surf. Then drive along the shore at a nice pace. We stopped at a GREAT restaurant. The Crouching Lion Inn. The food was awesome. Jennifer and I had the surf and turf. Ate outside in the cool breeze. They had some birds and rabbits in the restaurant. A talking parrot. There was a bar underneath that was attracting bikers. The service was great. Just can't saw enough. Please stop in when you are here.

Lastly, we were off to see if we could see some whales at sunset. We tried the White Sands Beach, but no luck. The south shore waves were very high. As we were leaving the beach, we saw many beach parties starting up. Looked like fun!

At the last possible minute, I tuned into the Halona Blowhole. I stopped to take a few pictures of the water shooting out of the hole, but we got so much more. WHALES!! Jennifer has been wanting to see whales for years. A local lady told us they were off shore and pointed them out. We stuck around for 30 minutes and watched 3-4 pods playing about 1/2 mile off shore. Really cool.

Finally we got back to the Soutter's house around 8pm. What a day! WHEW

Tomorrow, the brown sugar beach at Bellows Air Force Base.

Hanauma Bay and Pearl Harbor

Angela manning the 4 inch deck gun on the USS Bowfin

Angela and I on the upper deck of the USS Bowfin

Angela learning to run a WWII submarine

Panoramic View of Hanauma Bay

Great day of snorkeling. We went to Hanauma Bay to start off the day. Angela is now a two day veteran of standing in ankle deep ocean water, so we decided to raise the bar and see if she can snorkel.

She tried it and was a quick learner. She became a snorkeling champ in just minutes. We took pictures, but we used the primitive film camera so it may be a few days before the underwater pictures are available.

We sun bathed a little, then headed off to Pearl Harbor. One suggestion for Pearl Harbor - fire the lady working the information booth at 1430 on 3-19-10. She was very unfriendly and not helpful at all. Not a good ambassador for a national war memorial.

We chose to visit the USS Bowfin. It was launched on December 7th, 1942 - one year after the strike at Pearl. It was known as the Pearl Harbor Avenger.

The Missouri was not available due to our late arrival. Tomorrow we'll go to Ford Island by private vehicle (with Stacy's military permit) and see the USS Oklahoma Memorial, the USS Missouri (anchored at Pearl), and the USS Utah Memorial.

Tomorrow we're gonna head to the windward side for beach, sea turtles, whale watching, and possibly ocean kayaking.

No Blog Today

All we did was go shopping and eat lunch. Jennifer had a real bad night. She's getting better, slowly. All the adults are headed to Waikiki Beach to St. Patty's and then staying the night at the Sheraton on the beach. Tomorrow morning we are headed to Hanauma Bay. Should have some pictures tomorrow.

North Shore

We started the day nursing Jennifer back to health. She had a rough night and looked like death this morning. She's a trooper though. Some Sprite, tums, and time made her feel better.

We headed to the North Shore and stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation (AKA tourist trap #1). We looked around for about 5 minutes and left. We stopped and got some pizza. Nice hour and 45 minute lunch. We were going to stiff them on a tip, but they included it in the ticket (9 people). Worst service I have seen in a while.

We stopped along the shore and watch the big waves roll in. I took a few pictures. The girls moved up on the rocks just as a huge wave crashed in and would have soaked them if they had not moved.

We went to a second beach, but it started raining. We aborted the beach segment and headed back to Ewa Beach.

I told Angela we would stop for ice cream on the way back. She decided she wanted to "be in charge" and she told me I was not allowed to talk. so as we passed the ice cream stop, she asked if we were going to stop. But I had not been given permission to talk. We learned a lesson today about setting rules and then being able to live with the consequences. BTW Skylar hates me now for skipping ice cream. I'm headed out shortly to get stuff for sundaes. They'll love me again before the night's over.

Also on the way back I heard a commercial for the St. Patty's celebration at Waikiki that we plan to attend tomorrow. I swear they said "Dugan Rapes An Elephant" was playing. If that is really their name, I'm buying the T-shirt!

Enjoy the pics and video. Aloha!

North Shore

We are headed to the North Shore, Dole Plantation, and a place to view sea turtles today. We'll post pictures later. Remember, we're 5 hours behind OK, so look tomorrow!

Monday

OK - First let me set the stage for those of you who do not know the Soutters. They have four daughters ages 6,4,2,15 months. Wonderful girls all with their own personalities.

Sydney - the 4 year old - really likes to wake me up in the morning. This morning she welcomed me to Hawaii Soutter style. I heard her approaching, and grumbled, "go away Sidney". Moments later - WHAM. Smacked in the head with a pillow. Gotta love her!

We stopped in at Target and gathered a few necessities, then went to White Plains Beach for the afternoon.

White Plains is near the old Barber Point Naval Air Station.

Below you will find a short video from the beach. To the left you are seeing a picture of Angela and Skylar in the back seat of our Mustang convertible (they really love this car), Angela displaying a Shaka (sort of), Angela at the beach (not only her first time to see the Pacific, but first time at an ocean beach), and us at the airport after Angela and Jennifer got a lei at the gate.

We are in Hawaii. Look for a post later Monday.

Made it to LA. What a dump!

Made it to San Fransisco. Still on time.

We made it to DFW with not problems. Now we just wait on the plane. United 837 to San Fransisco. United 858 to LA. Then Continental 173 to Honolulu. For those of you who like to track flights.

Medieval Times

Before our trip to Hawaii, we stopped in Dallas at Medieval Times. This is a dinner theater featuring 11th century actors competing in an arena. Food was pretty good. Entertainment was unique and very entertaining. I'd suggest it for anyone with kids! Angela loved it!

Off To Hawaii Again!

We never expected to go back so soon. Jennifer and I are friends with Stacy and Christy Soutter. Stacy is currently stationed in Hawaii, so we are going to see them and their four daughters. Stacy is taking leave and their oldest daughter will be on spring break so we will be able to get out and really have fun.

We hope to see some new and exciting things this time. We will try to find some hard to reach waterfalls, hike to the northwest tip of the island, 4 wheel in the "Jurassic Park" valley, revisit our hidden beach, snorkel in the ocean, and re-visit Pearl Harbor.

Best of all, we are taking Angela! She is so excited. We are too.

We hope all of our friends and family will follow us on this new adventure. We will arrive on Oahu on Sunday evening. Look for the first posts on Monday morning!

Home

We are back home. Hope you all enjoyed following us on this trip.

Fire and Water

Well we tried to go see the lava pour into the ocean. In 1987 when I visited with my family, we drove to the end of the road (lava had recently covered it) and then walked out to see the lava hitting the water. 22 years later, it is still entering the ocean in about the same place. The property owners have returned and many have built new houses (or assembled shacks) right on top of the lava. One place had an orchard planted right in the rock. The county has put in a one lane road over the lava. This is all outside the National Park. The property owners do not allow visitors except between 5pm and 8pm. We got there at 4pm and had to leave before 5pm to catch our flight (which subsequently was 2 hours late). We did not get to walk out to the lava, but we met a very colorful local who told great stories and sold us pictures. I will scan a few and post them soon.

Jennifer took the video below. This is over a mile away. You can really see the power of the steam rising from the ocean.

Volcano Day Part 2

From the Volcano House, this is a view of the steaming bluffs to the west. We walked over to them, but the wind was so strong the view was better from here.


This is a field of A'a lava. It was deposited in 1973, still looks like a moonscape in black. There are just little trees growing in it. The wind up here was 40 mph+.

Jennifer taking in the view from our room.

We drove down to the west side of the active lava flow. We walked out to the shore and looked at the waves crashing into the cliffs. As you can see, the cliffs get under-cut. Eventually all this will fall into the sea. In the vistor's center, they showed us a 25 acre section that fell off in one night. Several people every year disappear into the sea. One of the locals told me that the rangers find rental cars that are overdue on a regular basis. They never find the people. It is kept very quiet so it doesn't scare off visitors.

Volcano Day

This is the Kilauea Volcano caldera as seen from the Volcano House. As you can see, the Halema`uma`u crater is active. At night, you can see the lave dome heaving up and down. The crater is really an impressive sight.


Posing in front of the crater.

This is the Devastation Trail. We started walking down this trail in a rain forest. I kept wondering why it was named the Devestation Trail. Then we came out of the forest and saw the lava flow. You can see the lava in the background above. It was stunning.


Just 100 yards from the lava flow, we were back in the rain forest.

We walked through the Thurston Lava Tube. It was not terribly long, but it was interesting. At the end, if you have a flashlight, you can walk another 335 yards through an unlighted section. We didn't have flashlights and we were the only ones in the tube.

We really got lucky. We were ahead of all the day tourists. We had just about every place to ourselves. If you like hiking and plan a visit here, you need at least two days. There are tons of trails.

1st Day on Hawai'i

We flew from Honolulu to Hilo. What a difference. Hilo is much smaller, more laid back, and definitely more economically depressed. This is more a port city than a vacation destination. But, it was quaint and the people were nice. The airport is about the size of my barn. The biggest difference is I have wireless internet access in my barn. Above is a large Banyan tree that we found near Rainbow Falls in Hilo.


Rainbow Falls claim to fame is that it was featured in Fantasy Island. Hawai'i had received a ton of rain the week before we arrived so the falls were flooding and were much larger than in the TV series.

For the rest of the day we drove around parts of the island. We visited Punaluu Beach. This is a black sand beach along a 30 year old lava flow. This is a favorite spot for Green Sea Turtles. We saw some playing in the surf. None of them came up on the beach, so no pictures. They were hard to picture in the water since they only came up for a few second.

We drove up to Kona and looked for Donkey Balls. Check out their site.

The seas were just too rough for snorkeling, so we went back to the Volcano House. We ate a wonderful dinner at the Kilauea Lodge. It was the only place we could find in the very thick fog. It was probably the best meal we had the entire trip.

Off the air

It is unknown if we will have internet access on Hawaii. If not, we will update in Maui on the way home.