Hawaii 11: Days 1 & 2

As we sat in our hotel room and watched the horror in Japan, we wondered why on Earth we were still planning on getting up at the break of dawn and heading straight into what was likely to be a catastrophe in the 50th state. Lucky for us, it was far from catastrophic here (thank heavens). Even on our flight to the Islands from Seattle our Pilot was reassuring the passengers that the state of Hawaii somehow averted a disaster once again.

It seems that it's become a theme for Downing family vacations to always coincide with a tsunami...last year when an earthquake devastated the coast of South America, we were in Costa Rica awaiting the wave that they promised would hit, lucky for us it didn't happen then either.

Natural disasters aside, Oahu has been...it's been. Somehow in my mind I have this picture of tropical alongside a picture of culture. Thus far, Hawaii lacks the culture. I have never seen so many Coach, Cartier, Gucci, and Tiffany stores packed into such a tiny little place--this beats Las Vegas as far as high end "yuppy" goes. There are high rises virtually everywhere. Everyone speaks english. The locals avoid the tourists like the plague, and when we (tourists) go to local spots, they look at us like they're going to maul us. I understand their disgust completely...with 1.5 million residents on this tiny island, plus tourists, I'd hate anyone outside my tight knit community as well.

We visited Pearl Harbor upon arrival, but because of the tsunami warnings, the boat to the Arizona was not running...and because it didn't run on Friday, Saturday there were twice as many people. It was absolutely incredible to be there where we lost so many soldiers. Such a monumental event in US History that gave me the chills, and made me even more thankful for the men and women who serve us in the US Military.

My top destination in Oahu was one that won't surprise those of you who know me well: I wanted to see the apartment building that President Obama grew up in. In my short lifetime, he is definitely the most "ordinary" President that we have had, and I wanted to see how "ordinary" he actually was. I put my stamp of approval on his "ordinary-ness" as this apartment building was just like any other middle class American home....maybe I can be President after all....

We also visited Manoa yesterday, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful flowers, plants, and trees. It was absolutely breathtaking. I did get eaten alive my these tiny teaser misquitos and swell up balloon style, but I survived it and came out alive. It was a pretty awesome hike.

We also hit up the North Shore yesterday, and watched some wind surfing (not many guys surfing the traditional way, we assumed because the water is really unpredictable still) and saw some whales...pretty stellar. It was crazy traffic back to Kailua though, but saw some awesome water, and beautiful valleys....