Hawaii - Turtle Bay & Waikiki

Ok - the rest of the random Hawaii photos.

We took the bus out to Turtle Bay resort to see where the movie FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL was filmed.

Then we had to pose with Diamond Head!  It's just the most popular landmark in Oahu.

Up next - flying to Kwajalein!  And sharks!!!  ARG - no spacing again!!!

For more movie talk, visit Movie Yak!

Hawaii - Shave Ice

We watched alot of Travel Channel shows about Hawaii before our trip, and we saw Samantha Brown to go Matsumoto's Shave Ice (not "shaveD ice") shop on Oahu's North Shore.

Since I'm not one to pass up a treat, we took the bus all the way up the coast.  Let me tell you that shave ice is FANTASTIC!!!  It's creamy - but it's ice.  It's some sort of miracle!

I guess Matsumoto's store has been around since the '50's.  Notice the (ghetto) price list.  They sell this stuff with "beans"?  I think it's coffee beans or something, but still ... gross!!!

Notice the huge line to get inside.  The place was a madhouse (I guess it's like that every single day), but the line actually moved really fast.  I would recommend this place to ANY traveler!

Hawaii - Pearl Harbor

There isn't much to say about Pearl Harbor. We all know it was a horrible day in history.

I had been to Pearl Harbor before, but Jonathan never had, so this was a trip for him. I think he enjoyed it, and heck, I did too.

Notice the oil slick. 60+ years and oil is still leaking from the sunken battleship.

ARG - Blogger is being really annoying with photos. I'm trying to space out the paragraphs and insert photos, but blogger isn't playing along. I give up - the blog will just have to look messy.

Room with a view

Ok - so THANK YOU Eastern Time zone.  I was wide awake at 3am, no thanks to you.  

I forced myself back to sleep, but that only worked until 4am.  Then I had a revalation - it's not often that I'm up at 4am - I can take some photos.

I bought a new digital camera in January.  It bragged that it could take sweet photos, but it proved it here.  I'd like to pat myself on the back for snapping these.

Since we had a corner room at our hotel (free upgrade!), one corner faced the ocean (palm tree photo) and the other corner faced downtown Honolulu (obviously the skyscraper photo).

And now for the photos ...

After flying about 10 or 11 hours (then waiting 2 hours for the airport shuttle!!!) we landed in Hawaii.

I booked the cheapest place around (duh!), but it was super nice!  I mean, not super duper nice, but very Hawaiian and clean.  And it was close to Waikiki.  We were even upgraded to a corner room with a view of the ocean.  Bonus!

I was suprised that I wasn't completely exhausted.  It was 5pm Hawaii time, which calculated to about 10pm Eastern Time, but I was wide awake - and hungry!!!  In Houston we all got Oahu coupon books (something to do while flying for 7 hours), so we found a coupon for $10 'early bird' special at a Surf 'n Turf place on Waikiki.  That early bird special suited us just fine with the time change and all.  We got a sweet table on their patio and a waiter all to ourselves.

After some fish, steak and shrimp, we walked around for about 1/2 hour before we felt the time zone crashing upon us.  We walked back to the hotel and went to bed around 7:30pm.  Sounds pathetic, I know - but that was really like 2:30am (I think).  If you know anything about me, that was really impressive!

Friday, May 30th

Today is Friday, May 30. We fly out of Kwajalein at 6pm and land in Hawaii at around 2pm.

I've only flown 1 red eye before in my life (the last time I left here) and it was sooooooooooooo cold on the plane! I remember not sleeping much at all b/c I was shivering. This time I'm prepared. I packed gloves, a scarf and a stocking hat! Nothing can stop me from sleeping!

Happy Sunday!

If you're reading this, "hello from Hawaii!"

Today we're planning to check out Pearl Harbor early in the morning (since we'll be on Eastern time zone, we'll be able to wake up really early and get there before the crowds).

Hopefully I can convince Jonathan that hiking up Diamond Head will be fun.

Then (I saw this on Travel Channel) that you can take a bus trip around the entire island for only a couple bucks! It sounds like a fun way to see the entire island on one day.

Bon Voyage!

Jonathan and I are on our way to the tropical island of ... Houston, TX!

Ok, not really, we have a layover for an hour in Houston.

We're on our way to Oahu, HI (but just for a 1 day layover)!

We arrive around 3pm, but with the crazy time change, it will probably feel like 8pm to us.

Plus, since sitting still on an airplane for 10+ hours not moving makes everybody super tired (why is that?!?), I'll probably fall asleep when we get to the hotel. We have a full day of exploring the following day!