Hawaii (Hale Koa
Hotel)
Tuesday: 10 April 2012: We arrived at Honolulu 1.5 hours
late (airlines fault) and picked up our rental car from Hertz. Now, I am in no
way promoting this car rental company, on the contrary. It was dark when we
arrived and if Nori had not noticed the two large dents on the trunk, we may
have gotten charged. These should have already been noted by Hertz personnel before
we rented it. We were staying at the Hale Koa Hotel (Fort DeRussy). I had
requested joining rooms when I made the reservation back in May 2011. They put
us up on the 14th floor and there was no other floor above us. The view
both day and night was fabulous!
You decide as to which view is more "Fabulous"
Picture 1
OR
Picture 2
We had dinner in one of the restaurants, unpacked a little and then we called it a night.
You decide as to which view is more "Fabulous"
Picture 1
OR
Picture 2
We had dinner in one of the restaurants, unpacked a little and then we called it a night.
Wednesday: After brunch and a walk on the beach, I made an
appointment for the ladies to have their nails done. While the girls were
getting pretty, us guys did a little computer work so we could get the Canucks
hockey score from the night before and post the blog from Canada. We checked
out the rest of the premises and got ready for dinner at KoKo Café. My
folks went to their room and we went to the Ala Mona Mall for a look see. Wow….
prices were too high so we did very well as window shoppers.
Thursday: Up for breakfast and we tried the senior buffet
which was the same as the regular…but cheaper because old folks usually eat
less. We decided to make a dry run out to Bellows AFS to see what we may need
to purchase to bring to the beach cottages that had been reserved for us on
Saturday. Nori and I had stayed there back in 1991 and 21 years later it sure
has changed for the better. We had plenty time to make it back to Waikiki Beach
to get cleaned and dressed up for the Luau. Nori and I had ordered two flower
lei’s for the ladies to wear to the Big Luau and I picked them up just before
the event.
We sat at table #80 which seated 10 people. Everyone that stays at the Hale Koa Hotel or goes to their Luau has some tie to the military or DOD. At our table was a disabled army vet, Carl, his wife Judy, daughter Janet and niece Robin. Is this a small world or what…it turns out that Carl was born and raised in Alamogordo…shut-up! At the end of the table sat the son of a deceased Vietnamese DOD civilian who taught at the military language school in Vietnam. The son’s name eludes me at the moment but anyway he was with his elderly mother who worked as a secretary at the same school as his dad. The show was super as usual and the Mi Tie’s were flowing.
We sat at table #80 which seated 10 people. Everyone that stays at the Hale Koa Hotel or goes to their Luau has some tie to the military or DOD. At our table was a disabled army vet, Carl, his wife Judy, daughter Janet and niece Robin. Is this a small world or what…it turns out that Carl was born and raised in Alamogordo…shut-up! At the end of the table sat the son of a deceased Vietnamese DOD civilian who taught at the military language school in Vietnam. The son’s name eludes me at the moment but anyway he was with his elderly mother who worked as a secretary at the same school as his dad. The show was super as usual and the Mi Tie’s were flowing.
Friday: We got up early to eat breakfast and be ready to
catch our tour bus at 7:20 AM. We loaded up with 19 other old farts from other
hotels of which, half were Canadian and a newlywed couple to go to the USS
Arizona, Chinatown, Punchbowl Cemetery, Capital building and business district.
To
sum up the highlight of the sightseeing tour was a visit to the Pacific
National Monument at the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. It gave everyone including
myself an opportunity to reflect upon an event to use President Roosevelt’s own
words “a date which will live in infamy” (Sunday December 7th
1941).
Since there was no lunch break on that tour we went straight to lunch at KoKo’s upon our return. We rested up … well … ….ok, I rested up while Nori watched TV and fed the local pigeons on our balcony. While my mother rested, Tom (my father) and I checked e-mails and FB and Nori bought gifts to bring back to Canada/USA. Later that evening, Nori and I took a walk on the beach sidewalk and grabbed a hot dog at Happy Sandals. We could not figure out why there were so many folks out and just sitting on the beach like they were waiting for something and then something came “Fireworks”. That was an unexpected pleasant surprise. The next day we found out that my folks had the best view from their balcony 14 stories high.
This was taken under a banyan tree.
Since there was no lunch break on that tour we went straight to lunch at KoKo’s upon our return. We rested up … well … ….ok, I rested up while Nori watched TV and fed the local pigeons on our balcony. While my mother rested, Tom (my father) and I checked e-mails and FB and Nori bought gifts to bring back to Canada/USA. Later that evening, Nori and I took a walk on the beach sidewalk and grabbed a hot dog at Happy Sandals. We could not figure out why there were so many folks out and just sitting on the beach like they were waiting for something and then something came “Fireworks”. That was an unexpected pleasant surprise. The next day we found out that my folks had the best view from their balcony 14 stories high.
This was taken under a banyan tree.
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