Hawaii Part 2

fri DAY 3 [Pearl Harbor]

We planned more for this day than just going to Pearl Harbor, but there was so much to do that we ended up spending a whole day there! It reminded me of what sacrifices people made for our country and why they should be remembered.

I also really wanted to read my grandpa's book (which is still in progress) of his experience in WWII. (My parents have a copy of one of his drafts--I am going to read it when I go visit.) He was living on Oahu when Pearl Harbor was attacked and served with the 442 infantry/regimental combat team made up of all Japanese-Americans; it became the most highly decorated infantries in all American history (I had to read this in a textbook before I realized how important it was).

aviation museum Michael was so excited to see that they had an aviation museum, so we had to go. It was really interesting to learn not just the plain basic histories, but personal stories from the war.

Now I am regreting not taking a pictures of the signs that had info on them, but this is a little tractor thing that was used on an island that only a few families lived on. They were to dig trenches all over because it was predicted that the Japanese would attack and use it for landing. Trenches, logically, would make it difficult to land. They got this tractor to speed up the process--in total 5000 miles of trenches were dug.

One Japanese plane ran out of fuel and was told the island with all the trenches was uninhabited. He found that it wasn't and that it wasn't fit for landing, but had no choice since he had no fuel. This is what was left of his plane. And supposedly, a Japanese-American was helping out the Japanese (including the man who died in this plane crash). He ended up commiting suicide.

They had planes on display that both Americans and Japanese used. They also had an outline of the waves of Japanese planes and how they planned the attack. Really interesting stuff.

Outside the museum was this tower that is always in the movies about Pearl Harbor, suchas Pearl Harbor =). However, it wasn't even built until a year after! Imagine that. The white building was there though.

uss arizona memorial The USS Arizona sank in the Harbor with about 2000 men aboard the morning of the attack. It sounds like a lot of people, but when you get to the memorial it seems like a whole lot more. Seeing the individual names carved into the wall really personalizes what happened--they were real people with families, not just a number that sank and disappeared into the ocean.

The memorial was built over the sunken ship, and you could see parts of it sticking out of the water. Over 60 years later, oil was still bubbling up. You could watch it surface and then float on down the harbor. I was wondering if it was coming from somewhere else, but Michael said it smelled really old...and it really did.

uss bowfin The Bowfin was a submarine that we got to take an audio tour of. Again, really interesting stuff. First hand account said that as they were approaching Japan (in the Bowfin) they could hear metal scraping against metal--not a good sign. They were dragging a mine! Lucky for them it never went off.

This is the last picture I got before our camera died! Michael sure was a good navigator!

I wish I would have gotten a picture of where they slept! Oh, man...talk about itty bitty living space. Plus, not everyone had a bed! So all spaces were always occupied. They called the beds (that looked more like hanging cots) "hot beds", because once one guy got off duty he would go wake someone up to use their bed and they would then go on duty. (I hope that makes sense.) I think I would pass.

We finished this day by eating in Chinatown. We figured they would have some good grub without making us sleep in the poor house, and indeed it was GOOD! Seriously, the best beef and broccoli I have ever eaten. Orange chicken tasted like it was made with real oranges. Mmmm. If you ever happen to find yourself in Chinatown in Hawaii--Mini Garden is the place to go.

satur DAY 4 [jam packed fun]

punchbowl crater cemetary If I could choose to be buried here, I would, but alas I am not a veteran. Michael and I were joking that Hawaii would be a nice place to be resurrected. Plus, from the crater there's a great view! (Below is a picture of Diamond Head, which we hiked after this stop).

This is a volcanic crater with burial plots and a monument that outlines all the attacks/battles in chronological order with the purposes and everything. We didn't have much time to read all the maps so I took pictures of them. How the maps were constructed were pretty amazing. I thought they were printed (looking at them from far away), but they were really made out of crushed glass and rock. Here's just one example.

This was the monument (the maps were up the stairs and circled behind the lady at the top). All those little white walls looked like decoration at first, but as we got closer names were inscribed top to bottom, back and front. It's quite humbling to find how many people have served our country and passed on. Below is a close up of the trees that lined the stairs. All the trees were cut to form circles if you looked up. We didn't notice these either until we were leaving.

diamond head hike When the sign says that this 0.8 mile hike is no shaded walk in the park--they mean it! I consider myself in okay shape (I'm not a couch potato, but I am not prepared to climb everest either), and this about pooped me out. With how humid it was, I was sweating a waterfall; but of course, Michael has no fat, works out as much as I do, but hardly ever breaks a sweat. I felt like a cow next to him. But nonetheless we made it to the top, which used to be an old look out. Here's a few pictures of what we had to go through to get to the top (99 stairs + the round staircase, tunnels, etc.) and what we found at the top.

As a little more oomf for my statement that this was no easy hike...some guy passed out at the top while we were there (at the top). We beat him down to the parking lot that is in the crater of Diamond Head, but he rode a helicopter down...
hanauma bay This was by far the best snorkeling we found. We didn't see any nemo clown fish or squid like we did in Pupukea, but we saw FOUR turtles! They were so dang cute. You could swim near them and they would just chill and eat.

The first one Michael found I didn't even know what he was looking at! I was feeling a little sea sick and wanted to go back, but he just floated there in the water. He pointed at some fish and I thought he was just enamored with being able to swim with them or something. I didn't know he was pointed at a turtle! So I go under once I know what's down there and I turn around into another sea turtle! We almost bumped like 2 people walking towards each other looking opposite ways. So neat. I wish we had a waterproof case for our camera. The ones we saw were similar to this guy...

Here's just some pictures of the beach...

It was quite a hike down to the beach...you can see my nice battle wound from our camping trip on my right calf. We went up Logan Canyon with the Humpherys side of the family the Saturday before we left (so a week prior to this picture). Going up to a plane crash site was on the agenda so Michael and I planned to take Brandon's dirtbike (sorry I still can't get myself to say "motorbike"). I don't really know what happened, but I was sitting on the back when it started tipping over...on top of me. The peg went right into my calf and immediately swelled up like a goose egg (I knew it wasn't broken but it sure looked like it). The bruising has gone down, but the middle is still numb and feels like it's going to give birth to a rock. Anyway...

smorgy's This was a buffet down the street from our hotel and where we finished our night. The food was good...I was surprised to find that the even had kimchee! I don't like kimchee, I just thought it was odd. Michael loved the fruit...and the coconut jello stuff (we even took some home, shh! Then, Michael ate it for breakfast the next morning while I was still sleeping and craved it the rest of the week.)
After writing about all we did this day, no wonder we were so tired! Just writing all of it is exhausting. Still more to come...4 more days worth. Hope you don't get sick of this. =)

ps Hope everyone had a great Independence Day!

Hawaii Part 1

Our trip has left us with mixed feelings...the good times were amazing, but the not so good times were...not so good. I might have to post the trip in more than one post (it might take some time...and plus not seem so overwhelming to read).

wednes DAY 1 [no more planes!]

We were full of excitement getting on the plane for Hawaii.

But after the flight all we wanted to do was sleep. Fortunately we had to wait to get our rental car, a nightmare to come. It was all prepaid, or so we thought...we had to pay airport fees, taxes, etc. plus it was going to cost $18 a night to park it at our hotel, which was out of parking spaces. We found somewhere cheaper about a 7 minute walk down the road.

thurs DAY 2 [things are looking up]

dole plantation This is a must do if you ever go to Hawaii! I had so much fun here! I got to open a fresh water clam and get a pearl! It was a trick to get you to buy the jewelry to mount the pearl in...but we wouldn't give in to buying a $120 necklace to put our $8 pearl in. The sales lady was a little bitter.

The best part though was seeing how the pineapples grow and all the different kinds of pineapple.

pupukea beach & snorkeling Our first snorkeling stop turned out to be awesome. The sand was pretty much the best sand I have ever sat in. Usually you want to avoid the sand and try your hardest to keep it out of your bathing suit, but the sand at Pupukea was like sesame seed sized crushed up sea shells--no dirt! It was comfortable to lay out in and then you could just brush it off, no problem!

We saw tons of butterfly fish, parrot fish, and other fish that I have no idea what they are called. None were the least bit scared of people! I was surprised with that considering it was a pretty small beach.

We lost our keys at Pupukea, and we had left our wallets and cell phones in the car. Crap. We searched for the keys all over, dumping our stuff out of our bags over and over again and retracing our steps. No luck.

Our car was still there--with a note on the dashboard to call Michael's cell phone for the key location. -Is someone holding our keys ransom? They found our keys stole our wallets and cell phones and want us to call for our "key location"?- We flag down a cop, he calls Michael's phone -no answer- and the car place, and the rental company sends out a key from Waikiki to the North Shore (opposite end of the island). As we wait for the taxi with our key,we are freaking out...we have to cancel credit cards, how do we get back on the plane without ID?, we have nothing! After 45-60 minutes of a racing heartbeat and waiting to know what the real damage we had incured (our wallets and such were in the trunk...) a man walks up to us that had found our key! He had left a message on Michael's cell phone (why didn't he say so!) where he had left the key (on top of the rear right wheel--the only one Michael didn't check). He found the number on our rental agreement papers.

It was proof to me that there are still some good people out there. Our wallets and cell phones were safe and sound in our trunk. We tried to cancel the taxi that was coming to us, but we had to pay for that. $115 and 45 minutes later we had a second pair of keys and were on our way.

birth stone We didn't have time for much after the tiny escapade of losing our keys, so we just made a little stop off the side of the road on our way back to Waikiki. People would leave bananas and things...I have no idea why...

whew. That's a lot for one post...more to come of our 8 day vacation!

Leavin' on a jet plane...

We're off to Hawaii tomorrow! Woohoo! I haven't had much time to post anything, so when we get back (next Wednesday) I'll tell you all about our camping excursion, the huge bruise on my leg (seriously ginormous), and, of course, HAWAII.

The Count Down

1 final down. 2 to go.

By tonight I will be one happy camper (actually on Friday I literally will be!). My last real test is tonight for my Northern Baroque Art History class (the only class I really need to graduate). And when I say real test, I mean really hard. 1-10 page blue book. 2 hours. 1 question. Sounds exhilirating, eh? It's a good hand work out.

Tomorrow is the stress-free stained glass final--show up and turn in all the junk I've made. And if you happen to be in Provo, two windows I did this semester are up in the HFAC on the 4th floor. Go look, you'll notice mine...they're the good ones. Ha. Anyhoo, I have got to go get super pumped for my final at 7pm! I am just too excited...

Bachelor's in Procrastination

I have completed my last day ever for my undergrad at BYU! All I have left is finals (dun dun dun...), which I am really not looking forward to. After thursday, I will be officially done. If college has taught me anything, it is that I am really good at waiting until the last minute to do something. For example, right now I am needlessly updating you all when I really need to be reading. It's gotten worse since Michael finished--we used to sit at our computers and stress out over exams, but now he just has so much time to do nothing! (Not really nothing...but after school I still have to do more work!) I am jealous. Come Thursday night...=)

Michael and I just moved this past weekend. I don't know why we keep doing this to ourselves, but we have this habit of packing everything into boxes and moving all in one day. We started Saturday morning at 9am and unloaded the last box from the trailor at midnight. The day will come when we just have too much crap to do this. Plus, my arms felt like bricks yesterday--they were so sore! Our apartment is full of boxes and I am connected to someone else's internet since ours won't be up until next week. Don't tell. We are still in Provo, just a few blocks south of campus. Too bad I only have to go to campus a few more times now that we are within walking distance!

Well, I better get studying so I don't fail my last finals!

Buried at Sea

Michael won't let me get a guinea pig, so we've always had fish. Wendell was the first; this was during our single days at the Glenhood. The window got left open in my apartment by a roommate (left unnamed...) and poor Wendell froze up like a popsicle. We went all out for a funeral--reading scriptures, I prepared short eulogy, and we sang "Each life that touches ours for good". =)


It was quite a night to remember. As I plucked Wendell out of his bowl with a plastic fork (we didn't have anything else to get him out with) Rachelle shouts, "AHHH! DON'T DROP HIM!" Of course, it scares me and the dead little fish body flops on the floor. By this point, everyone is rolling on the floor laughing, but at the same time trying not to gag because of how much Wendell stunk! And Rachelle had to capture the moment on camera.

Before the burial...

Dropping Wendell mid burial.

Anyway. That was a long introduction to our beta, Ernie. We got Ernie in September when we moved back to Provo. Being all stressed during these last finals in April and new classes starting, I forgot to change his water. When I finally did change it, I swear Ernie had gone blind. I would drop the food in, it would pass right by his face, but he wouldn't go for it. I decided to put him by the window since it has gotten warm. I figured that would cheer him up. Michael thought it was a good place for him too. Well, I guess windows aren't the best places for fish. Ernie is in a better place now(...not by a window) and was laid to rest today.

June 10, 2008

RIP Ernie

Rain Rain Go Away

AGH! It's freezing here! So muggy and wet outside that it's hard to believe that it's June. It has been raining on and off for the past 2 days. Just when I was looking forward to summer too.

Plans have changed, and it looks like we'll be in Provo for the summer (yay!). Michael got a job with a guy (Gary) that owns the waterpark 7 peaks, the mini golf place Trafalga, some apartments, and other odd companies doing maintainence and odd and end stuff. Gary wants him to stay, we negotiated and worked out some stuff, so we are staying! I might be getting a job with 7 Peaks as their head graphic designer, but we'll see if I actually get hired. I really want the job, because it would be awesome experience and I am excited to work for a real business instead of doing just random "commissions". I have always done whatever I have wanted; a structured job would give me practice in designing for certain audiences.

Nonetheless, I will be done with school in 2 weeks and our vacation is in 20 days! Woohoo! I am overdue for a sunburn and spending a week with absolutely nothing to do.