Aloha!

We're back from our phenomenal vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii and experiencing the post-vacation blues. Oh well, at least we have some amazing pictures to remind us of our trip. Here's the rundown of what we did while we were (almost) stateside:

1. Pearl Harbor - probably one of the most moving experiences of our lives. The Arizona Memorial was a haunting tribute to the men who died and were buried with the ship. It was so eerie to think that a large majority of the bodies are still trapped underwater inside the ship. Also, we met one of Pearl Harbor's survivors. His name is Robert Kinzler and he was beyond nice, not to mention possessor of a super sense of humor. You can see some of the pictures below.




2. Diamond Head Crater - On our last day on O'ahu we spent the afternoon hiking up Diamond Head Crater, about 3 miles from our hotel. You can see the whole island from the summit. It wasn't anything too fancy - just about a mile up and a mile back. Andy and I booked it up there, too. Good exercise. The crater initially offered a location for the military to place artillery units and lookout points along the rim. Andy made a good point wondering whether the lookouts (which were operational during the first half of the 20th century) played any role on Dec. 7, 1941, especially since all the diagrams we looked at showed that the lookouts and artillery huts were largely there to protect Pearl Harbor.


3. Sea Life Park - On that same last day, in the morning and early afternoon, we visited Sea Life Park and saw some shows. But the best part was the dolphin swim!



4. Some miscellaneous photos: