I know I know, it’s been way past due since I last wrote! Especially since I’ve taken some cool trips lately. But I’ve been keeping busy with class starting up, family coming to town, trying to get some budgeting stuff taken care of, etc. So my apologies for getting this out so late
Since I had some time off from training for a little while, I figured I’d use that time to take some leave and have some fun. So, from the 16-24 Sep., me and another Lt friend of mine caught a flight to Hawaii! Needless to say, it was an incredible vacation. We left Santa Maria Wednesday to drive up to Travis AFB near Sacramento. When we got up to base, about 30 min from when we had to check in, we found out the long term parking structure for space-a flights was almost 2 miles away, with no shuttle service. Yeah, it took awhile for Josh (the Lt I went with) to get back to the terminal before we went through security. Anyway, we managed to make it onto the plane (KC-135) finally and off we went to Hawaii! It was a 5 hour flight that was pretty cold. We did not think at the time to pack any jackets because we were leaving California (warm) going to Hawaii (also warm), so naturally the flight would be warm. It was not. The aircraft has no insulation, so we stood up pretty much the whole flight to be closer to the heaters near the ceiling. But we made it into Hickem AFB around midnight Hawaii time (3 hours ahead of California) and went to a Denny’s for dinner
Ok, this post will be a huge “War and Peace” novel if I don’t cut some things short. I’ll do my best
The hotel we would be staying the majority of the nights would be the Hale Koa hotel (a military only hotel on the Waikiki beach, pretty sweet) and it had some very nice rooms (and a great price too!). The first day we just spent hanging out in the water (which was so warm, I almost fell asleep in the water numerous occasions) and enjoying the beach. Also we went and rented 50cc mopeds to get around the island on (best idea ever actually, parking was free everywhere for them and in traffic they’re a dream!). We just hung around the Waikiki area and checked out all the shops, tried to find a burger joint that took us probably an hour to find, enjoyed the 80 degree weather riding our mopeds around, and sat in awe of the amazing sunset over the ocean that night. It was awesome. Then we ate at a very nice seafood restaurant and hit the sack.

A tough life in paradise.
Second day, Josh and I went to the beach again that morning (it’s hard not to go everyday) and climbed a few cool trees in the area (why not?). We then got on our mopeds and rode to the Diamond Head crater to hike to the top (it was a high peak that overlooked Waikiki and surrounding areas). We found out it was an old army bunker defense system and so you could see many pillboxes around the rim of the crater looking out over the ocean. The view was spectacular with the clear blue ocean beneath and the high-rise Waikiki area to the right. The hike was pretty fun (though a bit hot with the humidity) and we also met some cool people on the way back down. The rest of the day was spent hanging out again in the area and visiting the huge Ala Moana mall which had a ton of stores that I didn’t know the names of (that’s how I know they were really ritzy stores). Again, we watched the amazing sunset and enjoyed the Honolulu night life (complete with watching Sumo wrestling on the Japanese channel).

View from the top of Diamond Head.
The third day found us moving hotels because the Koa was booked over the weekend, so we called some surrounding hotels and ended up staying at the Embassy Suits the next two nights. But besides that fun escapade, me and Josh visited Pearl Harbor (apparently the biggest Japanese attraction in Hawaii). The USS Arizona memorial was pretty awesome to witness. It was a very somber and thoughtful memorial overlooking the sunken metal ship. I really didn’t think about it before, but the Arizona is actually a grave site for the men who died during the attack. That was a pretty cool place to visit just to realize that 60+ years ago, America was fighting a whole different type of war. Anyway, it was a neat experience. After that, we heard that nearby at the Aloha Stadium there was a swap meet going on, so of course we had to check it out. Spending hours there bargaining for deals and realizing that every other booth was pretty much the same thing (wood products, towels, shirts, shells, repeat), we had a good plate lunch and went back to the hotel to relax. That night, there was a huge “Aloha Festival” that only happens once a year with all sorts of good food, fun music (reggae, luau music?, just chill music), and tons of people walking around the closed down main street. Yep, it was a lot of fun

Josh and I at Pearl Harbor
Fourth day began our epic moped journey across the island to the north shore! Yes, it did take a miracle for us to fit our luggage and ourselves onto the mopeds in order for the tour de O’ahu, but we managed it and was quite the experience. Unfortunately, with only 50cc’s (not very big engine at all, think mower engine), the mopeds didn’t get us up the hills as fast as originally thought, so the time it took to make it up to the North Shore took a little bit longer than expected. After driving along some of the most beautiful coastal road I’ve ever driven, we made it to Turtle Bay resort (ok, I know that we didn’t stay two nights at the Embassy, and it’s 3 in the morning now when I’m writing this, so I don’t care to try to think back and fix it, yep, that’s it). Anyway, again we hung out in the crystal clear water of the bay and relaxed. We did eat at Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck for dinner, which is an amazing place that serves shrimp out of a truck (ironic?) so that was pretty cool.

Amazing travel vehicles
Day Five found us sleeping in, traveling back down to Waikiki and along the way stopping by Matsumoto’s Shave Ice (best shave ice in the world, especially with a little vanilla ice in the bottom of it, so good!!!), we stopped by Turtle Beach to try and see some sea turtles come onto shore (barely missed it, saw them in the water), drove by the Dole Plantation (at a blistering 25mph going uphill on a 45mph road) and made it back to Honolulu before nightfall. It was a fun ride back down south and just an awesome time enjoying the sites and sounds of inland O’ahu. We made it back to the streets of Waikiki (like Vegas, but smaller and no casinos) and tired from the days adventures.

Best shave ice ever. Num num num num num....
Day number six we got up early and got a ride up to the Kualoa Ranch for a tour of the place. The ranch has been the background for many famous movies and TV shows like Mighty Joe Young (never saw it), 50 First Dates, Godzilla, and most importantly (at least for the big fans out there), Lost. So we spent half the day seeing the sights, eating the native fruits, and checking out the jungle scene in the amazing mountains there. Then we caught a bus ride up (mopeds would take too long we decided) to the Polynesian Cultural Center for a luau dinner and an awesome theater performance that highlighted all the different Polynesian cultures complete with a fire spinning guy! It was pretty cool and a fun day. We were able to catch a ride back down late and caught a few hours of sleep before waking up very early to catch a bus ride back to Hickam AFB for an early flight out.

Awesome interior island mountains!
We were able to get out to Hickam early and since there were three flights leaving to Travis AFB that morning, we figured we would get on no problem. Well, due to a certain mishap and paper screw-up on my part, we were ready to board when the call came out that the flight we were scheduled on was not going to land at Travis any longer, but would take a direct flight to Nebraska. So miraculously enough, we missed all three flight out that day (all flights were within 10 min of each other, and we were supposed to be on the second one. Long story). Anyway, we were bummed, but decided to rent a car from base and head up to the North Shore again (took about 45 min instead of almost 3 hours). We were able to stop at the Dole Plantation and eat some very sweet pineapple ice cream, we got to go eat some more Matsumoto’s Shave Ice (num num num), and best part, we got to see the sea turtles come onto shore! It was absolutely incredible and those turtles are just some of the coolest creatures ever. We played around some more in the north and headed back down south and ate at a Ruth’s Chris steak house. Best steak I have ever had in my entire life bar none. Yes, it’s pricey, but soooo worth it. That’s all I have to say about that.

Awesome sea turtle catching some rays.
Well, after sleeping in the terminal that night (terminal seats aren’t very comfortable and you don’t get much sleep, especially with cockroaches and weird things crawling around), we finally caught a C-17 flight out that early morning back to Travis and got home late after a 5 hour drive. Got up for work early the next morning and happy that it was a Friday!
So, that was my amazing trip in 2,000 words or less (close though). I am heading out to San Francisco in a few hours over the 3 day weekend (Columbus Day!) and I’m sure I’ll have some fun tales when I get back
But right now, it’s 4 in the morning and I’m going to go to bed. Please direct any questions to my email address, facebook page, cell phone, base email, or any other way of communication. Thank you for your patience. Goodmorning!
ACE