Last day in Hawaii - Oahu island tour

 Aloha ohana.  It's our last day in Hawaii.  We booked an Oahu island tour.  It left at 7am and got us back to our hotel around 5:30pm.  We went to/passed so many spots, that it would be very hard to tell you all the stops.  A few to name: Waimea Falls, Halona Blowhole Lookout, a Japanese temple, Turtle Beach and several other places up on the North shore.  We stopped for lunch at Tanaka Shrimp.  We both got the butter garlic shrimp.  Yummy!  More around the island and the last stop was Dole Plantation (had to get the Dole Whip and a cold, coconut water).  We had a fun day of touring the island with about 60 other folks, learning about Hawaii from Brandon our tour guide/grad student, and a big thanks to Leno (pronounced Lee-no) our amazing driver.  We went right to grab our annual ornament (this year will be one from Hawaii) for our December holiday tree and also ordered a pizza to split for dinner.  We are exhausted, overstimulated from being talked to for 10 hours, and sweaty from a day of trotting all over the island.  We packed up for tomorrow as we fly out at 8am (Hawaii time).  We should be back in our beds around 3:30am on Wednesday...Chris and LouAnna cannot wait.  Though we've had a blast in Hawaii, we are looking forward to getting back home and to our ohana.  This will be the last blog of our trip.  See you in the mainland/heartland/Indiana very soon.  Mahalo (pronounced muh-hall-oh) for reading and following our trip!  We are tired, so here is a picture dump of the day. 

Aloha a hui hou kākou! (until we meet again, everyone!) 

Sunday in Oahu - tattoos and the luau!

 Aloha ohana (hello family)!  We are picking up the Hawaiian language just a bit while we're here.  This morning, we met with Popes at Aloha Tattoo and Chris got his first tattoo [ever] today.  It's tribal, representing strength and protection with the hammerhead shark.  It looks sick AF wrapping around his left shoulder.  He sat like a statue for the tattoo.  Nice job and wicked first tattoo in Hawaii from a native Hawaiian/Samoan/Japanese artist, Popes.  Up next, LouAnna got a tribal plumeria, also from Popes.  He was definitely on island time (not in a hurry about any of it) but he was very friendly and we were both very happy with the final products.

We went back to our room and chilled until the luau.  We had to be there at 5pm though it didn't start seating until 5:30pm.  We ended up seated directly in front of the stage, back about 30 feet or so.  Great seats!!!  We got lei'd!  Nuts!  No really, it's a nut lei...they certainly last longer than flower leis.  The food buffet was good.  Salad, ube slices with coconut flakes, rolls, steamed veggies, pulled pork, sliced teriyaki chicken, lemon and capers fish, brisket, rice, fried rice, pineapple upside down cake, coconut flan-type food, etc, etc.  But the show.  You guys, the show was phenomenal.  They took us through the different dances from nearby islands.  It was so cool.  We both loved it!

We even saw a rainbow during the show and could see the Rainbow Tower (where we are staying, at the same time).  Look at these cuties (notice the nut leis) after the Luau...still adorable even though they got rained/more like sprinkled on several times.  #hawaiiweather

Thanks for following along, friends!  Tomorrow, we have an all-day tour up to the North shore!

Saturday - Conference and Pearl City

Aloha friends!  Saturday, LouAnna was at the conference all day and it was her last day.  She said she had a great session in the morning and the afternoon was fine.  So, now she's ready to enjoy Oahu a bit before we fly back on Tuesday.

Chris made his way to Pearl City and Harbor. This was #1 on his Hawaii bucket list.  The bus was pretty full after making two other stops at nearby hotels.  The tour guide's name was BK and was voted  Royal Star's 2023 #1 driver of the year.  He knew his stuff, reciting over Hawaii's importance here in the Pacific and to WW2.  We stopped by several governmental and historical sites on our way to Pearl City.  We had a drive-through tour of what would be the Pacific's version of Arlington National Cemetry.  The National Memorial Cemetry of the Pacific is located in a crater named the Punchbowl.  Unlike Arlington, the grave markers are on the ground rather than upright.  

After leaving the cemetery we headed towards Pearl Harbor Visitor's Center.  The drive was probably 15 minutes or so on Oahu's main interstate, the H1.  On the way there, BK continued to display his knowledge of the events leading up to the war.  Once we got to the visitor's center, BK went over the instructions at least 3 times with us repeating each time.  The guy didn't want anyone to be confused about what to do.  Our tour was split up into 2 groups, for the Arizona Memorial.  We had a 10:15am and a 10:30am ferry over to the memorial.  We were given strict instructions, not to take any phone calls, play on the phone, or take photos after we landed and were entering the memorial. Somehow there was a photo of the USS Missouri in Chris' camera reel... oops!  Once upon the Arizona Memorial, the mood was pretty somber.  Not many people were talking, and if they were, it was a hushed tone.   

After the ferry ride back to the vistor's center, Chris decided to go ahead and purchase the extended package of boarding the USS Missouri.  Cool fact about the layout there, the remains of the USS Arizona is facing out to sea, whereas the Missouri's bow (front of the ship) is facing the Arizona's bow.  This was done to signify the start of World War II in the Pacific for the US and the end of the War.  

The USS Missouri is freaking HUGE!!! Chris might have gotten lost a couple of times, he should have opted for the guided tour rather than going alone. The only things that were small on the ship were the doorways, and living spaces for the sailor's on board.  

The Missouri was a floating city, it had everything on there from a lawyer and post office to a kitchen just for making donuts.  In 1992 the Missouri was decomissioned.  What's not posted is a photo of the computer room for the sailors... think back to school a room full of Compaq Presario desktop computers and CRT monitors and that's what you would have seen on the ship.

Chris made it back to the bus around 2:30pm and back to the Hilton around 3:15 or so.  LouAnna returned around 4:30pm.  We had dinner at a restaurant here on the property because L is so tired from learning and networking.  Nothing exciting but the food was good.

We went to bed kinda early (9pm) because it had been a long day for both of us.

Friday - conference and fireworks

 Aloha friends!  LouAnna was at the conference all day and Chris hung out on the resort property.  She had great sessions all day and she would say that this was her favorite of the conference!

Chris scored us some free tickets to the Luau on Sunday night.  Nice!  He knows a guy.  😉  Chris met LouAnna at her conference and from there, we walked to dinner at Jade Dynasty.  L got the kung poa chicken with rice and C got the stir-fried beef with bell peppers and rice.  Both were very good, as was the complimentary, hot, green tea.

Friday nights, there are fireworks here at the Hilton Hawaiian and we could see 98% of them from the balcony of our room!  No way!  It was short and sweet but nice.

Goodnight moon over Hawaii.