Back to Work and Reflections

We got up this morning to a fresh batch of snow on the ground, and as I was scraping snow and ice off of my windshield I was wondering just how long this winter is going to last.  I've had a chance to reflect about our trip during the day today, and I wanted to write down a few of my thoughts.  We had a nice vacation in Hawaii, but after having done just about everything a person can do on the island of Oahu I've decided that I probably won't ever plan a return trip.  From the expense of the trip, the traffic on the roads, the large crowds, and the almost aggressive and competitive nature of the sightseeing, I think we will try to find different destinations.  If I did return to Hawaii I would choose another island and make the trip shorter.  Still, for anyone who hasn't visited Oahu, I highly recommend it.  The Polynesian Cultural Center alone is well worth the visit. 

Pearl Harbor and The End of our Vacation

Yesterday morning we spent our time packing our bags and cleaning the condo.  We packed some snacks, but threw away most of our leftover food.  We did some souvenir shopping and visited the International Market Place where we ate pizza for lunch.  I was a little disappointed that they changed the marketplace into a mall, but it was still nice.  We drove to Pearl Harbor in time to take a tour of the Memorial at 2:00 p.m.  We almost got caught in a downpour, but the rain moved away from us and it just sprinkled for a little bit.  After visiting Pearl Harbor we stopped to get something cold to drink and then found a vacuum to clean the sand out of our rental car.  We decided there was nothing else for us to do, so we drove to the airport.  I missed the rental car exit and ended up back on the freeway in the middle of a traffic jam.  After waiting for a while we were able to exit and find a gas station.  We returned to the airport, and I missed the rental car exit again!  This time we drove through a parking lot until we got to the correct road.  After returning the vehicle we made it through security and to our gate with lots of time to relax before our flight.  My apples were confiscated at the security checkpoint.  I had forgotten about the rule prohibiting fresh fruit.  We ate dinner from Burger King and boarded our flight at 8:15 p.m.  We arrived at the Salt Lake Airport at 6:50 a.m. this morning.  We walked outside into the cold air just before a shuttle bus from The Parking Spot pulled up.  We couldn't have timed that any better.  We loaded into our car and drove home to Pocatello.  It was a good vacation, but it was nice to be home.

The Polynesian Cultural Center

We were able to sleep longer this morning, and we needed the rest.  Today was a full day at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We left the condo at 10:30 a.m. and drove to Laie on the northwest side of the island.  With all of the different activities we did this week we were able to see all sides of Oahu.  We took a little drive around the BYU Hawaii campus, and we stopped in at the Laie Temple Visitor's Center.  We parked at the Cultural Center and got in line before the Island Villages opened at 12:30 p.m.  Our ticket included a group tour guide, and we had about ten people in our group.  Our guide's name was Moses and he was from Fiji.  It was nice to have someone who knew where and when to be.  We saw performances at the villages of Tonga, Fiji, Aotearoa, Tahiti, and Samoa.  We took the canoe ride and weaved palm leaves.  We ate dinner at the Ali'i Luau Ohana, and during the program and entertainment we found out that today is a Hawaiian State Holiday called Prince Kuhio Day.  There was a youth choir there from the Trinity Lutheran Church in Bend, Oregon, and they were invited to sing.  They did a Hawaiian song, and they sounded great.  We enjoyed our meal, and then we went to the Pacific Theater to watch "Ha: The Breath of Life".  It was well done, and the fire performance was fantastic.  We had an hour drive back to the condo and we arrived after 10:30 p.m.

Whale Watching Tour

Our day started even earlier today than yesterday.  We were up at 5:00 a.m. and out of the door by 5:45 a.m.  It took about an hour to drive to the Waianae Boat Harbor on the west shore.  We met our tour guide, Conner, from Wild Side Specialty Tours, who took us to the boat.  We met the other two crew members named Matt and Caden.  We also met the other three passengers from Maryland.  There were a total of nine of us.  We followed the coastline for about an hour, and we were approaching the northwest corner of the island when we spotted humpback whales surfacing.  We followed alongside them for quite a while.  Our guides determined that they were a male, female, and newborn.  We had a great view of them, and we could hear their blowhole each time they surfaced.  We turned around to head back when we came across a large group of Melon Head Whales.  They are similar to dolphins but slightly larger.  We were able to put on snorkel gear and get in the water to watch them.  I tried counting them, but I stopped when I reached forty.  One pod came very close by us, and we could see the details of their faces and bodies.  What a great experience.  The water was pretty calm and the weather was perfect.  I loved seeing the sunshine reflect off of the whales and disappear into the deep.  The guides told us that the water depth where we were swimming was 2,300 feet deep.  They also told us that seeing Melon Head Whales was very rare.  We returned to the marina about 11:00 a.m.  We drove back to the condo and we all fell asleep for a couple of hours.  It may have been a side effect of the Dramamine we all took this morning, but we crashed.  At 5:00 p.m. we took a short drive to the Punchbowl to visit the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.  My granduncle and grandaunt are buried there.  It took a little searching, but we did find their grave marker.  We also enjoyed the view of Waikiki from the observation area.  We spent the rest of the evening at the condo.

Mother and Child Humpback Whales

Pod of Melon Head Whales

Photo by Jeffrey Gornichec

Hanauma Bay

We were able to go to Hanauma Bay today.  I didn't know how difficult it would be to get there.  We could only purchase tickets when they went on sale exactly two days prior at 7:00 a.m.  The tickets sold out within two minutes, so we had to be right on top of it.  Our first opportunity was on Wednesday when we were on board our flight to Hawaii and just before taking off.  We tried, but our phones were too slow.  The best we could do was one ticket for Friday, so we decided to try again Thursday morning.  At precisely 7:00 a.m. we all tried and Jeffrey was the quickest.  He was able to buy three tickets for 7:10 a.m. on Saturday.  We knew we had to be at the parking lot early, so we left the condo about 6:15 a.m. this morning, but we arrived at the gate just before it opened, so the parking attendant waved us to the end of the line of cars.  As soon as we were in line they opened the gate, and everyone showed up.  There must have been 60 vehicles that got in before we did.  We finally found a parking spot and checked in at the Visitor's Center.  After watching a video about the natural preserve we hauled our gear from the car to the shuttle bus that took us to the beach.  We finally set up our spot and started snorkeling.  There were some areas that were very difficult to swim through, but we did find some great observation areas, and we saw a lot of different and colorful fish.  There was a stiff breeze and the water was cold at first, but once we got started the time flew by.  We stayed about five hours.  After that we had lunch at a nearby restaurant called Teddy's Bigger Burgers.  We were pretty hungry.  We took a short drive along the coast to see the Halona Blowhole and the Makapu'u Lighthouse.  We didn't have the energy to hike the trail.  We stopped at Costco on our way back home and bought a couple of Hawaiian shirts and a stir fry dinner.  We relaxed the rest of the day. 

The North Shore

We left the condo this morning about 8:15 a.m. and drove to the Dole Plantation.  We were among the first to arrive.  It opened at 9:15 a.m. and we purchased tickets to ride the Pineapple Express train around the property.  We were on the first train and the ride took about twenty minutes.  I found it to be very interesting to hear about the history of the Plantation and how they grow and harvest pineapples.  By the time we returned to the station the grounds were crowded with people.  We bought a Dole Pineapple Whip and some Pineapple Glazed Cashews.  Jeffrey found a penny smashing machine for his souvenir.  From there we drove to Sunset Beach, but the road along the North Shore was packed with vehicles.  It was super busy, so we drove back a couple of miles to Shark's Cove, and I managed to find a parking spot just before it was taken by another car.  We packed our beach gear to a shady spot and spent a couple of hours at the beach.  Jeffrey and I went snorkeling in the cove, and I was surprised at the number and variety of fish.  It's amazing how fast the time goes by when you are snorkeling.  After packing up the car we drove to Haleiwa to eat an early dinner.  We ate at Uncle Bo's Pub and Grill.  We had Bo's Big Nachos with Ham and Kalua Pig, Crispy Crab Cakes, Uncle Bo's Kalua Pig Fried Rice, and Kalua Pig Sliders with Pineapple BBQ.  The food was great.  After dinner we decided to stay in Haleiwa to watch the sunset.  We took a swim  at the Haleiwa Beach Park and watched the sun go down.  We returned home tired, wet, and sandy, but we really enjoyed our day. 

A Hiking Day

This morning we took a walking tour of the shops on the east end of Waikiki.  We went to an ABC Store to buy Jeffrey a pair of sunglasses and we needed more sunscreen.  At 9:30 am we drove to Diamond Head State Park.  We took the trail to the top of the crater.  There were a lot of people on the trail.  We did have a wonderful view from the top, and the weather was perfect for a hike.  It was cloudy and breezy which made it much cooler.  Even so I was sweating like I was in a sauna by the time we made it back down.  Wendy bought a spoon and ornament souvenirs at the little gift shop.  We drove from Diamond Head to the Royal Hawaiian Center, and we spent some time looking through the shopping center and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.  We ate lunch at the food court, and we capped that off with some Malasadas.  Wendy had a coconut cream, I had a maple cream, and Jeffrey had a cinnamon and sugar.  We drove up to the Nu'uanu Pali Lookout to check out the view, and then we tried to hike to the Likeke Waterfall.  Wendy and I made it about halfway before the muddy trail, the jungle, and the mosquitoes forced us to stop and turn around.  We struggled to get back down the trail without slipping and falling down in the mud.  Jeffrey made it all the way to the falls and brought us some photographs.  We spent our evening swimming in the pool and enjoying the hot tub.

Trip to Hawaii

Our trip to Hawaii began with an overnight in Clearfield at Caz and Ashley's house.  We were able to have dinner at the Timbermine Restaurant with my mom and her husband, David, as well as my family, Russell and Kim, Robert and Tina, and Ashley, Caz, and Camden.  It was nice to see them again.  This morning we left Clearfield about 8:15 am, stopped at McDonald's and then drove to The Parking Spot at the SLC Airport.  We passed a rollover accident on I-15 along the way.  We shuttled to the airport and went straight through the security checkpoint without any trouble.  We found out that our flight only served snacks even though it was about seven hours long, so we bought some food to eat along the way.  The flight was a bit bumpy all the way to California, but it smoothed out when we got over the ocean.  We landed at the Honolulu Airport around 1:30 pm.  We collected our gate checked bags and then rented our car from Alamo.  We got a Mercedes Benz GLA, and then drove to Safeway to purchase groceries.  The traffic on the freeway through Honolulu was heavy and slow.  We had a challenge with our shopping cart at Safeway.  We were parked outside the Geo fence of the cart, and all of the wheels locked up.  We didn't know what was happening at first, so we tried lifting the front and then the back of the cart.  Finally someone told us what was going on.  We had a good laugh about that.  After that we checked into our condo at the Waikiki Banyon and met the owner, Steve, who was just finishing up the prep and inspection.  After settling in we changed into swimsuits and walked to the beach with a couple of Boogie Boards.  The beach was busy with people, but we found a good spot to sit.  We swam in the ocean until it started getting dark, and then returned to our condo.  It felt so good to be in the ocean, and the water was perfect.  I enjoyed seeing the setting sun shining through the crest of the waves farther out from shore.

42nd Street

Starting Thursday night we had family come stay with us.  Tyler, Jaylen, Baylor, and Caz, Ashley, and Camden made the trip up from Utah for the weekend.  Friday turned out to be a cold and very windy day.  The ladies all went to get pedicures.  The wind was gusting up to 70 mph at the airport.  I worked during the day, and I thought the wind was going to knock me over.  It eventually did cause a power outage and some damage to the roof of the airport.  Friday night we had a Lasagna dinner, and we played some Dutch Blitz.  Saturday afternoon we had a family Zoom meeting with Ryan and Megan to discuss our plans to visit Disney World next year.  I hope it goes well.  I think we should do these Zoom meetings more often just to keep in touch.  Saturday night we went to watch Jeffrey perform in the musical, 42nd Street, by the Century High School Drama students.  The whole cast gave a wonderful performance.  It was very memorable with a lot of excellent singing and dancing.  Jeffrey has been practicing almost every day for the past two months, and the practice paid off.  Click to watch video clip of "We're in the Money"

Piano Recital

Natalie Beebe had her students perform their Festival pieces at a recital this evening.  Jeffrey was the last one scheduled on the program because he was going to be running late due to his play practice.  I drove from work, Wendy drove from work, and Jeffrey rode from the high school.  We met at the Tyhee Stake Center in time.  Jeffrey played his pieces, although he didn't want me to use the video recording of it.  He said he made too many mistakes, but it is the only video I have.  This will probably be the last time he participates in Piano Festival.  It was almost too much for him this year with the after school drama practices he has had to attend.