Hawaii Day Three – Pearl Harbor and Around the Island

Everyone told us to get an early start at Pearl Harbor. “Be there at 7:30 when they start to hand out the Arizona Memorial tickets”, they said. So, we did our best!

We loaded up the dune buggy for our first time out on the road, plugged in “Arizona Memorial” into the new Tom-Tom Navigator that Dave won as a door prize (nice prize!), and pulled out of the parking garage in Waikiki to the thrilling vvvvvroommm of the 1969 VW Beetle engine under the hood … er, in the trunk … of our bright yellow dune buggy!

Tom and Pam were in the front seat; Dave and Linda up-top in the back seat with their heads surrounded by roll-cage pipes.

The good news: didn’t stall it once on the way to Pearl Harbor!

The bad news: even though we said “no speeds over 40 MPH” on the navigator, it still took us onto the H1 highway (6 lane) and Dave and Linda got whipped around big-time even though I tried to stay at 55 MPH in the right lane.

OK, back to the good news: we got to Pearl Harbor in very good time, early enough to get tickets to the 7th boat across the harbor, at 9:15. Not bad, since if you get there in mid-morning, your tickets will be for mid-afternoon.

We walked through the museum, listening to an Ernest Borgnine-narrated audio tour, until our number was called, then watched a short film that described the events leading up to and following the attack … learned quite a bit from it.

Then, onto the boat for the trip out to the Memorial. It’s a concrete structure that spans the center part of the Arizona, which is sitting in 23 ft of mud and 40 ft of water.

The one gun turret foundation and a few other smaller bits emerge from the water, but the real sight is that you can see the deck and walls of the ship very clearly.

The top of the side walls are only a couple of feet below the surface of the water.

There’s still, after 60 years, oil drops coming up from the fuel tanks. It was a very solemn, moving place to be.




Pam and Tom were on the next boat back to the visitor’s center, with 98% of the others who came on our tour. Dave and Linda were not. So, we amused ourselves at the museum, people-watching, snacking, and talking until they mosied their way across the harbor.

Before leaving, Dave and Linda had three of the remaining six survivors of the attack sign a book about Pearl Harbor.





In memory of those who served...

Here is the story done in pictures and captions. Enjoy the slide show!



All-in-all, a very good visit and now we're ready to hop back into our yellow buggy for a ride north.

While heading for the North Shore to see how big the waves were at the beaches known for surfing, we noticed this little convertible. The only difference we actually saw between that vehicle and our dune buggy was…..doors! It had doors that made it easy to get into it. What a neat idea. I think we have pictures somewhere of us trying to get into our ‘car’….. Not a pretty sight! See web album for pictures of all the scenes of our drive throughout the day.

After being on the road a little while, we got hungry (big surprise). We spotted the Dole Plantation … a pineapple plantation we had decided NOT to visit (in favor of a less commercial stop on Maui) … and figured they’d have food! As we pulled into the parking lot, past the front of the place, we had our first experience with BEING the attraction … not sure how many pictures and videos of us in the dune buggy were taken, but we got attention. After we parked, and we were extracting ourselves from the doorless vehicle (think slipping into Beetle-level seats by sliding over the body and under the roll-cage), a woman and her four-year old came over to us. She asked if she could take a picture of her son in front of the Scooby-Do DuneBuggy! We, of course, said yes and made a little boy’s day!

So, the Dole Plantation: true to our plan, we weren’t there for the maze,

or the tour, or the train ride … just food. We had a nice lunch, browsed the pineapple varieties garden, enjoyed some pineapple ice cream and pineapple-upside-cake. Then we slid back into the buggy and headed further north.

Here is our slide show of our time at Dole Plantation.

The view of the ocean from the north was spectacular! We stopped at several of the local beaches to get pix and enjoy the view. At one of them, Pam and Linda watched sea turtles just off shore, sticking their heads out of the water and swimming around the rocks. The ride was windy and bumpy, but quite a blast. Then reality set in: it’s 3:30, it’s getting very cool for open-air riding, and we’re about as far from Waikiki as you can be with who-knows-how-long a drive to get back. Oops … better head for “home”. No more stops.

An hour later, continuing around the loop, now on the east side of the island (in the shade), the temperature is dropping and the wind is whipping. We’re starting to worry about everyone being able to handle the temperatures and wind to get back. The Tom-Tom says just 12 miles to go, but over the hills … joy. Then, we go through a tunnel in the mountain and as we emerge on the other side, SUNLIGHT!! And warmth!! Yay! But then, it’s “ugh!” as we realize we’re in Friday rush-hour Honolulu traffic into the city. An hour later, we’d landed at our parking garage, shut down our lunar lander, had dinner at the Hula Grille, on a lanai at our hotel, and then crashed in bed, exhausted.

More from AZ (about Hawaii)

Now that the actual travelers are posting, I figure I needn't keep any kind of coherent narrative (as if my narrative were all that coherent to begin with!! Ha!)

Most importantly for *me* is what came in the mail today (arriving in AZ from HI):

Chocolate! Chocolate for me!! You cannot have any! It is all mine! Mine mine mine!! Chocolate for me!! Note the cute note (heh), very much in my Daddoo's handwriting.

Under the note was this cute little logo guy.


Mmmmm, chocolate. MINE.

In non-chocolately news, I've also received some interesting pictures via my camera phone. While the dune-buggy in the previous from-AZ post looks orange, now it looks yellow, and is, apparently, being called the Scooby Mobile:










Perhaps that's so it matches all the pineapple ice cream:



Yummm. I cannot tell you how much I now want pineapple. Oh well, I shall console myself with my CHOCOLATE. MINE MINE MINE. :D

And lastly, a picture of the beach, because if I'm jealous, you should be too:

Posted by: stuck in AZ

Hawaii Day Two! Ukuleles and more!

Day Two – Ukuleles and More!

It was a cold and drizzling morning. We got into a stretch limo cab and said “take us to the KoAloha Ukulele Factory (we saw it on a trolley brochure and the Travel Channel). The driver said “where”? We showed him the address … he said OK. We drove for 15 minutes … out of the tourist part of town and deeper and deeper into an industrial section of the city of Honolulu. Hmmmm ….

Soon, he turned into a parking lot … then drove through it and into another … uh-oh, he’s lost. We’re giggling and starting to wonder what we were getting ourselves into…. Finally the ‘cab’ turned around and pulled up in front of a tiny little KoAloha sign (that we had to point out to him so he’d stop going from parking lot to parking lot), but the sign was in front of a Credit Union building and no Ukulele shop/factory was in sight. So we called their number (yay cell phones!) and they said they were BEHIND the Credit Union we were staring at. Uh-oh.

The driver gave us his number so he could come back and get us (if we survived). We walked in, beyond the chain link fence, and were greeted by the friendliest of people … seemingly just thrilled to have someone show up! They said we’d begin by making our own souvenir wooden keychains. Dave says “Oh, boy … arts and crafts!”. We’re all laughing at the silliness of this whole situation.

But then, it all turned wonderful! Just the four of us … walked through the 10 person factory that makes what is apparently considered one of the top 3 ukuleles in the world, by one of the folks who is an apprentice to the master ukulele maker (Poppa). We met Momma (the sales manager), and sons Paul (the master woodworker) and Alan (the GM). We met everyone else, too, and spent 2 hours learning everything you’d ever want to know about a ukulele. It was fantastic! Check out the video at the end of this post to hear a small snippet of music from our tour guide. For now, here is a slide show of our tour...

At the end, they helped us with maps and helped us realize the obvious next stop! … a chocolate and macadamia nut candy factory!

Four blocks walk through the industrial zone found us at Menehune Mac. Behind a very factory-like entrance door was a showroom of candy and cookies, a window into the candy-making room, and about 30 rugrats, all hyped up on candy. The manager immediately greeted us, told us to go to the back of the showroom, and eat all the sample candy we would like. (really?) So, we did, tasting perhaps 10 of the 30 or so kinds of candy and cookies. We bought some for the rest of the trip (Strawberry Cream and Macadamia, Coconut Cream and Macadamia, and Dark Chocolate Kona Coffee … yum), picked out one to ship to Jenna (alias: “stuck in AZ”), and discussed with the staff what else we could see in that part of town (it worked pretty well so far!). [Click here to view our web album of the Menehune Mac Candy Factory. ] They gave us walking directions to the Bishop Museum, specializing in Hawaiian history and science … seemed an interesting combination. [It is also part of the Bishop school where only those students with Hawaiian ancestry and pass the vigorous entry exams may attend.]

We walked just under a mile, mostly uphill … didn’t have a huge amount of time there, but focused on the history (feathered ceremonial plumes (called Kahlil), some 15 feet high, and masks, pottery, all the stuff you’d expect) and the planetarium show about the telescopes at the observatory on Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the Pacific. This is where the mirrors came in … during the presentation, everyone in the audience was to aim a reflected beam of light, from a single source, on a single point on the ceiling to demonstrate how much brighter the 50 reflected beams appeared than one single beam … the principle of the reflecting telescope. Of course, some of us had other principles to demonstrate before the presentation … like how to make multiple bunny and puppy shadows on the ceiling with a mirror and fingers. A stop in the gift shop … a call for a taxi … a un-rushed, rush-hour ride back through downtown Honolulu to Waikiki and we were back at the hotel!

Enjoy the slide show of our visit to the Bishop Museum.

We met with Byron, our Dune Buggy Adventures rental agent (and owner and cleaner and mechanic of his 3 car “fleet”). After deciding to not care about the embarrassment of hopping in a bright orange dune buggy with no doors and a roll cage in front of our ocean-front hotel in ritzy Waikiki, Dave and I rode with Byron to a private garage where we could keep the car without paying a parking fee (and not have to be seen driving it out of the valet parking garage of the hotel). We locked it up (not easy with no doors) and headed back to the hotel, picked a place to have dinner on top of a 30 story hotel farther west in Honolulu made famous by Jack Lord from Hawaii Five-O standing on the balcony looking out into the ocean (for you youngins’ Hawaii Five-O was a television show back in the ….um, you get the idea), had a a very nice dinner, and once again crashed in our hotel room.

Up next ... Pearl Harbor. Enjoy the short video..... :)

More Updates by the Girl NOT in Hawaii

(This blog wasn't supposed to be about Jenna's experiences of her parents' trip to Hawaii, but... they're not updating, so I guess I will...)

I woke this morning to pictures of a "spam breakfast." "Ew," says the vegetarian. "When in Hawaii..." says her mom.



Evidently, yesterday the group went on a "Food tour"-- I know nothing about it except what a cursory glance at the website tells me. They went on a Hawaiian Food Tour, specifically what the site claims to be the most popular tour, the Hole in the Wall Tour.

Today they went to a Ukulele Factory, which was apparently far more interesting than anyone anticipated (with the exception of my mom-- one day we'll learn that she's always right.) Then they went to the a Bishop Museum, which prompted me to ask why they were going to a museum full of bishops, given that they're not Catholic. It's actually a museum of Hawaiian cultural artifacts and looks very interesting.

Linda sent me a picture labeled "The children are playing with mirrors" but I have no idea whatsoever as to what that means.

Then, just now, I received a few pictures of DUNE BUGGIES. How cool is that?!?!

I chatted briefly with my mom, and they were also at a candy-nut factory today. They are bringing me dark-chocolate-and-macadamia-nut candy! Woot! Evidently they got to taste test everything at the factory before buying. As per usual, I am jealous.

Posted by: Jenna, who is now going to bed

Hawaii: Flight Day (Tuesday, 1 April 08)

We’re happy to report our flight day was uneventful, just as one would hope it would be. It began with a 3:30 AM pickup for Dave and Linda, then a 5:00 AM drop off at Philadelphia airport for breakfast and a 7:00 AM flight. We stopped in Phoenix for gas, directions, and a new plane (as the first one seemed to have a lot of warn-out parts). Unfortunately, the second one wasn’t much better but it got us across the Pacific to Honolulu just 30 minutes late (about 10:00 PM at home). Just as we were trying to figure out how to get our “transfer” to the airport, there she was! Someone was holding an Apple Vacations sign with our name on it!

We got lei’d and then escorted to baggage claim … and on to our hotel … on Waikiki beach!
About all we had the energy to do tonight was to have a nice meal in the hotel (first one all day) at Duke’s Canoe Club and hastily plan for the next morning. Then we crashed for the first real sleep Pam and Tom had had in about 48 hours.
Of course, that was AFTER we ejected our lei (string of orchids) to live on the lanai of our hotel, on the other side of the glass, so we could breath.

Day One – Hawaii Food Tours’ “The Hole in the Wall Tour” (Wednesday)

We’re alive! (sort of). After a breakfast at the Hula Grille, on a lanai overlooking Waikiki Beach, we eagerly awaited our introductory event to Hawaii: a tour, led by the chef and food critic for the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, Matthew Gray, that would take us to all kinds of places for local food that we would probably never find or consider visiting if we weren’t with someone local. We were in front of our hotel at the appointed time … no tour van. Five minutes later … no tour van. I called them: “Oh, THAT Outrigger Hotel!! We’ll be right there!”.

With that little “oops” out of the way, we were off and running, sampling breakfast sandwiches at the Royal Kitchen, Coco Puffs pastries at Liliha Bakery, everything from exotic fruits to dried fruits to rice noodles to several kinds of pork dishes as we were led around Honolulu’s Chinatown. Our last stop in Chinatown was a Northern Indian restaurant called Zaffron … then on to our final dessert stop at Leanord’s Bakery for Malasadas (Portuguese donuts). They even have a Malasadas Day! It’s the same as our Pennsylvania Dutch Fasnacht Day … same idea … still donuts … still the day before Ash Wednesday!

It was time to bid farewell to our new friends, Matthew and Keira, and return to our hotel … very tired.

Here is a slide show of hopefully the best of the groups' pictures of the "Hole in the Wall" tour with Matthew and Keira. Enjoy!




We had drinks at Dukes, then started to share some pictures from our four cameras to our 2 laptops, then had every good intention of walking on the beach for sunset. But, alas, Pam and Tom were again exhausted and excused themselves from evening activities and slept for 10 straight hours. Hopefully, that will begin to reinvigorate us for the coming days. We’ll have to see what adventures Dave and Linda may have had while we slept … dinner? Jazz club? Shopping?

Thursday morning will be all about a ukulele factory!

More Camera Phone Updates

So, as far as I can tell, all that's been done thus far in Hawaii is hang out at the airport, and eat (not necessarily at the airport for that last.) Here are the pictures I've been sent.

First, another airport picture, which I felt I should include because my Dad is not, in this one, in the middle of a sentences. (I assume that my mom took this picture, hence there being only three people in it.) Did my Dad and Deeb intentionally wear similar color outfits? Creepy.





Evidently this next picture is a chandelier that my Mum found intriguing-- still at the airport.











And then there was "hula cake." If the people actually in Hawaii were updating this blog, they could probably tell you why it's "hula cake" and what's in it and stuff. But alas, all I have is a camera phone picture and a subject line that assures me that this is, indeed, hula cake. All I can tell is that there seems to be chocolate involved. A lot of chocolate. And now I really want chocolate. Curses!!


And lastly, finally a picture that looks "Hawaiian"-- breakfast on the beach. Man, I'm in AZ, and the weather is lovely here, too, and all that, but I am *jealous* of that view!!

Mom informed me, when she texted me earlier, that they were waiting for the "Food Tour van." I have no idea what that is, but it sounds both yummy and fun.



Posted by: Jenna (still stuck in AZ)

(Hawaii) They have landed!

So... evidently my parents either weren't prepared to, or refused to pose for a picture, (I suspect Linda caught them unprepared) but all four have arrived safely in Hawaii, have been lei'd, and their vacation has begun. :D (Nothing makes a great picture like being caught mid-sentence, eh?)

Also, I can't figure out how to make the text start beneath the photos... Oh well.

Photos from a camera phone. (That'll teach you guys to send me pictures, eh?)

Posted by: Jenna (who is, to remind everyone reading this, NOT in HI, but stuck in AZ.)