Life After Our First Mission: Kirsten's First Trip to Hawaii

Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head

Wish We Could Drive to Hawaii

We tried to stay out of the hot sun while in Hawaii but that is difficult. It rains every day but the sun shines every day also and you can’t slip a day without seeing a rainbow. It was never chilly enough for a sweater or jacket. Sunscreen was our daily protection; however, we still have a darker tan than when we started the vacation.

We tried, two months ago, to schedule a mini vacation with Kirsten but she needed at least four weeks to arrange the time off from her job. She asked if we could take her to Hawaii. We said we thought the expenses of such a vacation would exceed our budget and could she think of another possibility. Out of curiosity, we did a search of flights and hotels to see if, by any chance, we could find a “good deal”. We did!

Gary, Karen, Norma and Kirsten

We combined Kirsten and Karen’s vacation together and traveled to Hawaii on Monday, September 24^th, and returned home on Friday morning, September 28^th.

We arrived late Monday evening and settled into our hotel.

On Tuesday morning we drove to Pearl Harbor to view the films and exhibits dealing with the Japanese attack and for a tour of the USS Arizona. There was a large crowd with long waiting times. We received tickets for the late afternoon tour; however, with some assertiveness by Karen, we were able to begin the tour at eleven o’clock. It was a very moving experience and I feel it is a “must” for any visitor to Hawaii.

USS Arizona Memorial

After Pearl Harbor, we drove up the inner highway to the Dole Pineapple plantation. We learned about the growing of pineapples and treated ourselves to a dish of pineapple ice cream topped with pieces of freshly cut pineapple. Yummy! We continued our trip up the island to the North Shore.

We played on the beaches of the North Shore where we found a group of large turtles. Some were resting on the beach, and many of them were sticking their heads up for air while swimming a few yards off the beach. After exhausting our time in the sun and sampling “shaved ice” and health food smoothies, we drove back to Honolulu. Overnight parking costs twelve dollars so we were interested in finding parking space on the street, which is free until seven am. On-street parking is a premium because everyone was doing the same thing we were doing. The first night we paid the price for parking off-street because we couldn’t find on-street parking. This evening we prayed to find something. While we were trying to share a space with a motorcycle, a man came up to us and asked if we would like to have the parking spot he and his family were about to leave. Prayer answered. We ended the day with a Thai dinner and then settled down for the night, three hours later than Portland time.

Haleiwa Beach Park, North Shore

Kirsten was feeling a little under-the-weather on Wednesday morning and wanted to rest on a beach instead of driving up the East coast to snorkel and beach hop. The rest of us decided to hike to the top of Diamond Head peak. We got our monthly exercise concentrated in a few hours. We picked Kirsten up and went to Waikiki beach to relax for a few hours. We had tickets for the Polynesian Cultural Center later in the afternoon. We drove up the beautiful East coast to the BYU Hawaii campus where we purchase a sweatshirt for Bo and Teresa to give to Quentin on his birthday. Next door we visited the Temple grounds and photographed the Temple in its beautiful seating. We were impressed by the Polynesian Cultural Center. We took the canoe trip around the park and learned about the various island groups. After visiting the Tahitian Village, and the Samoan Village we were served a wonderful Prime Rib Buffet. The evening performances by the various Polynesian island groups were very impressive. We drove back to Honolulu and settled in for the night.

View from Diamond Head

On Thursday morning Kirsten was feeling well enough to go to Hanauma Bay for our snorkeling activity. The weather forecast was for strong winds. We didn’t know what that meant; however, it proved to be a problem for snorkeling. Swimming was more strenuous and the sand was stirred up to make the visibility cloudy. We worked hard for about an hour or so and then dropped Karen and Kirsten off at Waikiki Beach to rest for the remainder of the day. Norma and Gary drove up to the White Sand’s Beach on the East coast where we found a beach that was very much like the white sand of Cancun. The beach, with its palm trees and beautiful mountains, was much more beautiful than Cancun. After a few hours we drove north to photograph the foliage and the mountains.

Polynesian Cultural Center

We picked Kirsten and Karen up from the beach and grabbed something to eat at Taco Bell. We dropped the car off and hopped on the plane at nine pm for our long trip home.

We arrived in Portland at eight-thirty am and went home to sleep for a few hours.

We had a beautiful trip to Hawaii, thanks to Kirsten and Karen.