Part 2 - Pearl Harbor

Here is Hawaii Part 2!  I have been having a miserable time uploading pictures, which has been a partial reason for not blogging!  

Here is Waikiki Beach , with Diamond Head in the background.  

We also went to Pearl Harbor.  It was amazing.  It is definitely a MUST if you ever visit Oahu.  I didn't realize the effect it would have on me to see the sunken ship, museum, and memorials.  I didn't even know that the USS Arizona Memorial was built on top of the actual ship that was bombed.  

Here is a picture of a part of the boat sticking out of the water, and oil still leaking out daily from the ship. 

This is the USS Missouri - We were able to take a tour - it is HUMONGOUS!  The great part about it was that this was the ship that Colin's grandfather served on.  It was very special.

This is the tourret (I don't know how to spell that...) that Papa shot.  Look how big that is.  

Beautiful pictures ahead!!!!

Aloha Cousins! Part 1 - Diamond Head

Aloha cousins!  I am sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately!  Things have been pretty busy getting ready for a trip to Hawaii!  We went the first week of February, and I have to say, this is my new FAVORITE place that I have ever been.  I am pretty confident that Colin and I will make it back there (hopefully within the next couple of years!).  I never had a strong desire to go to Hawaii, and now that I have been, I can't wait to get back.  I have NEVER seen any place so beautiful, serene, astonishing!  I will try to create several blog posts to show you the different things that we did while on the island.  We went to Oahu, and stayed near the famous Waikiki beach.  

The first two days that we were there, we went shopping in some of the fancy shmancy malls (well, WINDOW shopping!) , we went to the Chinese New Year celebration in China Town, and we hiked a crater near Waikiki called Diamond Head.  This was a beautiful hike, and what is interesting about this crater is that the military built lookout stations on this volcano in the early 1900's before there was radar, to look for any military attack.  There were bunkers and stairs going up to the top, and you could tell with the material that they used that they were trying to disguise the spot.  

Here are some pics from our first weekend:

A view of Waikiki Beach from Diamond Head - the clouds and water look like a painting, don't they?!

A view of the other side of Diamond Head (you can see the valley of the crater from this picture.  It was too big to get the whole crater in one pic!)

Another view of Waikiki

A view of the bunkers (is that what you call them?) that were built into the volcano.

The door from the stairs to the lookout points

Real Hawaiian Snow Ice - It was so yummy after we got done hiking! ( I don't know why this looks like a link, I must have hit something.... sorry!

A view of a Hawaiian sunset from our room.  We were on the Waikiki Harbor.  Beautiful!!!  We opened up our windows every afternoon - the weather was amazing, as was the breeze that was a constant on the island.  

The Dragon Dance in China Town - it was SO crowded!  We ate at a TRULY Chinese restaurant, too.  We acutally weren't sure what we were going to get after we ordered, but it was good :)