2003 Oahu with Dad

While my nephew, Sean, was stationed in Oahu, he was up for another reenlistment--- his 3rd (I believe).  Since his Grandpa (my Dad) had been a lifer in the Air Force, he asked my Dad to be his reenlisting officer.  Dad eagerly accepted, then asked me to go along with him and make a vacation out of it. I also eagerly accepted and flew to PDX on Aug. 8, 2003, to meet up with him so we could fly to Oahu together the next day.

As it turned out, the Navy didn’t have enough money to give Sean his reenlistment bonus if he did it at the originally scheduled time, so Dad didn’t end up being the reenlistment officer, but we did spend a few days visiting with Sean and playing tourist on Oahu. Sean did later reenlist, but Dad wasn’t able to make it back at that time.

Imperial Waikiki Resort---1 bedroom/2 bathroom unit:
8-9-2003---riding around Oahu with Sean and Waimea Park:

8-10-2003---Hanauma Bay snorkeling:

8-11-2003---walking around Waikiki:

8-12-2003---Diamond Head hike

8-13-2003---Dad's birthday celebration with a limo tour:

8-14-2003---submarine ride:

8-15-2003---the Arizona Memorial and Army Museum in Ft DeRussey:


It was another great father/daughter trip. Again we got to play tourist as well as visit family. It was a fun week in Oahu.

2003-8-15---The Arizona Memorial:

Another must-do activity on Oahu!!!!  Even if you've done it before, it's worth going to again.  I've been here 3 times and it's still moving and humbling!

 Admission is free, although you do need to get a ticket---either in advance or arrive early and wait.  The ticket will have a time to show up for the ferry that goes to the memorial.  Until then, there's plenty to see in the museum and even the nearby battleship, Missouri.

 the memorial over the sunken ship

 part of the Arizona, still leaking oil.

 the names of the sailors killed Dec. 7, 1941

 a solemn couple of military men.

 representing the Air Force and the Navy.

 Navy man Sean

 while we were in the military mood, we went to the Army museum in Fort DeRussey.  Here at the U.S. Army Museum Hawaii the biggest artifact is the building itself. The museum is housed in Battery Randolph a massive reinforced concrete emplacement with roofs as much as 12 feet thick. The battery was built around 1911 for two 14 inch guns that could fire projectiles as far as 14 miles. It was part of a coastal defense system that was to protect Honolulu Harbor from invasion

 This is another free museum and another worth while visit.

 two guys with lots of valor!

 Our condo rental was really close to the park, so Sean came up to check out the view.

 view from our patio.

 down at street level, there was a protest going on.  Little did I know protests would become a big part of our lives in a few short years!  Starting with Ferguson.

Another fun and educational day.  Too bad it's our last day this trip!

2003-8-14---Submarine ride:

I had done this when Ken and I were on Oahu a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, so I suggested to Dad that we do it, too.  He agreed, so we did.
 So we walked over to the pier by the Hilton where the shuttle picked us up.

 rode the shuttle out to the submarine. 

 enjoyed the views along the way

 almost to the sub

  took our place in the sub.

 inside the sub

 descended the 100' to the bottom.

 a couple large jacks

 little reef fish at the man made reefs---or junk planes and boats that were sunk to be "reefs".

 it looked a whole lot clearer then these pictures show.

 back on the shuttle and heading back to the beach.

 great view of Waikiki beach from the shuttle.

 back on the pier.

maybe it wasn't as cool as the first time I went on one, but it was still interesting.

2003-8-13---celebrating Dad's 72nd birthday with a Limo tour:

Since we live so far away from each other, it's always nice when we're able to celebrate a special event with each other.  Today happened to be Dad's birthday.  We decided to celebrate in style and signed up for a limo tour.

 Sounded like a good idea, but turned out that limos aren't all that comfortable!

 But it was nice seeing more of the island.  This is another place on my list of places to see---the aquarium.  But it won't be this trip.

 The driver took us up into the ritzie area of town.  He named off a bunch of celebrities that lived in the area.  Don't remember who any of them are, but I did love the houses.

 We had a short stop at the overlook of one of the beaches where part of the South Pacific was filmed.

 Another stop was at another place---Kualoa Ranch.  Here we were treated to a bus ride through some of the property.

 Kualoa is a 4000-acre private nature reserve and working cattle ranch, as well as a popular tourist attraction and filming location on the windward coast.

 We were also treated to some Hawaiian music

 and dancing.

 and fruit that was grown on the property.

 More than 50 movies and TV shows have been filmed at Kualoa over the years

 sampling star fruit.

 from the ranch, we continued on to the infamous shrimp food trucks.  Unfortunately I'm allergic to shrimp.

 At least there was another restaurant near the food truck so I could get some lunch, too.

 Back at the condo, Dad opened the few little gifts I got him.

I hope he had fun on his birthday.  What better place to spend it then Hawaii!?