A Long Weekend in Hawaii

Recently, Josh and I decided to take advantage of the Columbus Day holiday and plan a long weekend getaway trip – to Hawaii! We chose Hawaii because we wanted to explore it, of course, but we also wanted to test out space available military flights, and there were supposedly flights headed to Hawaii. So, we got up at the crack of dawn (actually, well before the crack of dawn) and we headed to the base to see if we could make it on to a plane. Fortunately for us, we did make it on to a plane (you don’t buy tickets for these flights since they’re not commercial – if they have space, you get on, if they don’t, you don’t), and we were off to Hawaii! The time difference was crazy – we left Guam early Saturday morning, but arrived in Hawaii (after 7 hours of flying), fairly early on Friday evening. It was trippy!

We flew in to Oahu and stayed there the whole time. In the future, it would be nice to explore the other islands, but this time we were just happy to be in Hawaii at all! When we arrived on Friday night, we decided to go for a walk on Waikiki Beach. It was beautiful and certainly interesting to watch all the nighttime activity.

On Saturday, we got up early to check out the beach in the daylight, and then we went to the memorial at Pearl Harbor. That was a somber outing, to say the least. The memorial was beautiful, and the weather was picture perfect. The experience really tugged at our heartstrings, especially now that we’re involved with the military ourselves. From there, we went to downtown Honolulu to see the state capital and the palace of the last queen (Queen Liliuokalani). Hawaii’s state capital is rather unique – it doesn’t look anything like the other state capitals I’ve seen. (And I’ve seen quite a few – after all, I am married to Josh!) It has a much more modern design, even incorporating volcanoes into the architecture. In contrast, the palace has a Victorian design. It was beautiful from the outside, though we weren’t able to go inside. We settled for gaping at the banyan trees surrounding it, instead. Banyan trees have absolutely enormous roots that grow above the ground – it’s quite a sight to see. After we left the downtown area, we decided to head up to North Shore to check out the super-surf. Apparently, the big waves that Hawaii is know for come in the winter, and winter was just beginning when we arrived. It was pretty fantastic to watch the power of the water. I would love to see the waves when they are at their full winter strength. After we watched the waves for a while, we were primed to get in the water ourselves, so we went to Hanauma Bay, a well-known snorkeling spot. This was the only beach I’ve ever been to where you have to watch a safety video to swim. It was quite a surprise. Nonetheless, we survived the video (10 minutes – they had a lot to say!) and made our way to the beach. Josh saw a great big sea turtle when he was snorkeling, which was quite fun for him. My favorite animals were the little family of mongooses that played around near our towels. They were highly entertaining (and surprisingly loud!).

The next day, we wanted to spend most of our time at the beach. So, we rented a surfboard and drove around the island to different beaches. I did not surf, but Josh thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the surf wasn’t wonderful, but he was happy enough to know that he was surfing in Hawaii, especially since there is very little surf in Guam! Driving from beach to beach was also an effective method of driving around the island, and that was very interesting. Oahu truly is beautiful, although I have to say, Josh and I are spoiled from Guam. We found ourselves whining about the number of people everywhere and the amount of traffic. How quickly we adjusted to small island life!

On our last full day in Hawaii, we spent the morning at the beach, and the afternoon at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Josh and I are both great fans of pineapple, so a trip to the plantation just seemed appropriate. Our favorite activity there (aside from sampling fresh pineapple!) was the huge walk-through maze. In 2001, it was named the world’s largest maze. I believe there are several miles of paths throughout the whole maze, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we walked most of them (and some more than once!). There is a sort of scavenger hunt set up in the maze, and Josh and I decided to attempt it without a map. I’m sure it took us twice as long, but it was fun to wander around.

The next morning (Tuesday), Josh and I woke up early and headed to the base airport with the hope of catching a flight back to Guam. Fortunately, we were successful again, and we were on our way home within a few hours. We arrived in Guam on Wednesday afternoon (there’s that crazy time difference again!) and immediately started getting back into the routine of daily life. I’m so thankful that we tried out space available flights – hopefully there will be more spontaneous travels in our future!