Pearl Harbor

Both Brad and I have grandparents who are veterans.  Grandpa Packer fought in WWII as a bomber pilot and Grandpa Palmer served as a chaplain in the Air Force.  We are both very proud that they served our country and fought for our freedoms.  Going to see Pearl Harbor was very special for me because it reminded me of the many years these men served our country.

We were able to visit the USS Missouri.  We skipped the tour guide because of time, but met a few volunteers (mostly veterans) along the way who told us about the ship.  We were told by one veteran that this seat was one of the most important seats on the ship because whoever sat there made the decisions.

He also told us to look out for R2D2.

We  also had Doug to show us around.  Doug had been on the ship before and so he acted like our tour guide.  He told us things like why the walls for this room were two feet thick and. . .

. . . that this seal was the spot over which the peace treaty with Japan was signed.

But the neatest person we met on board was a veteran who actual served on the USS Missouri.  After the war, he had become a minister.  He recently retired and his congregation collected enough money to send him and his wife to Hawaii all expenses paid.  He had brought his "yearbook" of the ship and told us stories about the pictures.  Stories about how he passed the time on ship, his duties, and life aboard the ship.  And we got to thank him for his service.

Pearl Harbor was a beautiful memorial to our soldiers.  I hope to remember not only the sacrifices that our family has made for our country, but of the many veterans who have fought for freedom.

Island Hopping

On Thursday we switched islands.  We were a little sad to go.  The place we stayed on the Big Island had amazing gardens and the hotel itself used to be a Ritz.  So, we walked around and took lots of pictures of the grounds. . .

. . . and of the orchids (the hotel was "themed" around them and they were everywhere) . . .

. . . and of the flowers . . .

. . . and of the famous people walking around (poor Doug and Janet had to put up with us playing paparazzi) . . .

. . . and of the view we were greeted by walking into the hotel everyday.  See why we were sad to leave?

Honu

I was really excited about seeing honu.  There were signs around the resort saying to not approach the honu and there were beaches roped off for them.  We kept an eye out for them whenever we walked by the beach.  So, one day we were waiting for our lunch on the beach (I know we had it rough in Hawaii.  Don't worry. I had a passionfruit and guava smoothie to tide me over till lunch came.)  We were watching the waves come in and there were people who were stopping and looking at something in the sand.  We went over to investigate and saw our first honu.

While we where watching him, I looked over and saw two more green sea turtles.

It was really hard to stop watching them and go back to lunch.  After we were done, we decided to walk around a little more.  As we were walking, this family out on some rock called to us saying they had found a sea turtle.  We walked over and we were surprised to see this guy so close we could have reached out and touched him!

The rest of our walk was pretty cool too.

And the sunset wasn't too bad either.

Lava Meets Waterfalls

If it wasn't for the helicopter ride, we would have had a really hard time picking a favorite part of the trip.  This could be counted as one of the coolest things we've EVER done.

Can you tell I'm really excited to be front and center?

Brad and Doug didn't have too bad of a seats either.

We went bright and early in the morning.  It was beautiful to see the shoreline at sunrise.

Coming to Hawaii we really wanted to see lava.  If we tried to drive to Volcano National Park we would have spent so much time and not seen near as much lava.  Because we went by helicopter we were able to get way closer to the lava.

We got to fly around Kilauea's crater and look inside.  I expected to see lava shooting up, but it was pretty docile and almost completely black inside.  But how often do you get to look inside an active volcano crater?

We saw lots of rainbows in complete circles and they can only be seen from the air.

After seeing the lava, we flew north to see the waterfalls.  On our way there we flew over the ocean and saw a mom and baby humpback whales.

We got to fly through lush valleys to waterfalls only seen by helicopter.  It rained the day before so all of the waterfalls were flowing.  Absolutely breathtaking.

When we told our tour guide we went to see waterfalls on the east side of the island the day before he said, "Oh, you saw the little ones."  He took us to see ones thousands of feet tall.

We got to see so much of the Big Island this way.  Lava, humpback whales, ocean, rainforest, waterfalls.  Couldn't ask for anything more.