Sunday, January 6, 2013

HAWAII - OAHU

HAWAII – Oahu, Coming Full Circle, December 11-15


Tuesday morning we all flew from Kona to Honolulu.  Honolulu has special significance for Venita since it is the city where she was born.  We were greeted at the airport by PSP Wayne and Colleen Howard, PDDGER John and Colette Brown, DDGER Chuck Minnick and Exalted Ruler of Pearl City Elks Lodge, Richard Williams.  After gathering the luggage, we headed out for lunch at Sam Choy’s at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickham.  DDGER Chuck is a retired submariner and still works as a contractor for the Navy.  Since most of his time was spent at Pearl Harbor, he was a great tour guide and shared his considerable knowledge of the Base.
 
After lunch, we took some time to drive over to Kaneohe Bay and the Marine Corp Station there.  We made a stop to see the church building where the Kailua Lodge #2230 holds their meetings and had a quick tour of the facility.  We then headed for the Sheraton Waikiki to get checked in and unpacked.  Dinner that evening was at the Mariposa Restaurant which is part of the Neiman Marcus store in the Ala Moana Center.  It was a lovely restaurant and the excellent dinner was made even more enjoyable since it was shared with Jim, Lucia, Chuck, Wayne, Richard and his wife, Rachel.

Wednesday morning Chuck took us to the Swap Meet at the Aloha Stadium.  More an artisans’ market than an actual flea market, it was amazing to see the things we brought back even though we didn’t think we needed anything!  Of course, after walking the market we needed lunch.  Chuck obliged by taking us to the Seven Palms Navy-Marine Golf Course followed by a stop at the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Shop for the required souvenir t-shirts.  That evening, we were treated to a reception by the members of Honolulu Elks Lodge #616.  Located at the foot of Diamond Head on Waikiki Beach, the Honolulu Lodge is a beautiful facility and we enjoyed their hospitality very much.  Of special note were the “ER Sliders” named in honor of their Exalted Ruler Robert Kekuna, Jr.  Thanks, Bob!

Thursday started with a tour of the Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu.  The official residence of Hawaii’s monarchy, this National Historic Landmark was started in 1879 and was occupied in 1882 by King Kalākaua and his family as well as his sister and successor, Queen Lili‘uokalani.  It is a beautiful building and is the only Palace in the United States.  After our tour, we went to the Honolulu Memorial and Punchbowl National Cemetery where we placed a wreath at the Elks commemorative plaque.  Thursday evening, we had a formal reception and dinner for the Hawaii Elks at the Pearl City Elks Lodge #2669. They presented Venita with a beautiful koa wood box engraved with honu (turtles) and Tom a koa wood clock of the Hawaiian Islands.  They also presented Venita with a necklace and earrings representing the plumeria flower.

Friday morning we went to Ford Island for a tour of the Pacific Air Museum.  We had a wonderful docent and spent several hours wandering through the displays and the hangars that were part of the history of the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor.
 
After lunch at the Museum, we went to the Submarine Memorial.  This memorial is dedicated to the 52 submarines and 3,700 submariners who were lost during WWII.  We placed a lei on the plaque commemorating the loss of the U.S.S. Seawolf and then took a tour of the Bowfin, one of the surviving submarines of WWII.  After our tour, we met the officers of the Kailua Elks Lodge #2230 for appetizers and drinks at Schooner's Restaurant at the Marina.  We enjoyed our time with these folks very much and complimented them on all of the hard work they are doing to promote Elkdom in their area.  After leaving our hosts, we boarded a launch and took a night tour of Pearl Harbor. This is a special tour done during the holiday season to show off the lights on the various ships in the harbor.  As the holiday music rang out over Pearl Harbor, we had an up close look at these beautiful light displays.

Our visit to Hawaii ended with lunch at a wonderful sushi restaurant, Ynagi’s courtesy of DDGER Chuck.  We could not have had a more perfect ending to our time in this beautiful state.  Thank you, Hawaii Elks, and aloha!

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