Hawaiian Vacation - Part I

This is a repost of a blog from 5/7/2007.

Well I finally left Korea after being there for a year (the second time that I've had to live there for a year since joining the Army back in 2000).  It was great to get on that plane and know that I was on my way to Hawaii to meet up with Malisa and have a wonderful vacation together. 

I screwed up the timeline a little bit b/c of the International Date Line being between South Korea and Hawaii, so I ended up arriving here a day before Malisa.  It worked out though, I picked up our rental Jeep and got the room all set up and even learned my way around a bit so I wouldn't get terribly lost while driving.  I bought her a Lei and gave it to her when she got off the airplane...I was very happy to be driving her to the hotel :)

 

We stopped at our room at the Hale Koa to get her all settled in.  Here's the Hotel and the view from our balcony.  You could see some of Honolulu's cityscape as well as the ocean over the palms...it was nice.  Hale Koa is the military's Hotel in Waikiki and was built with donations from American Military members.  Hale Koa is Hawaiian and translates to "Soldier's Home".

The lobby of the hotel was all open, allowing a nice breeze to come through.  The weather is always perfect.  We New Englanders always stick by our guns and talk about how much we love the seasons, but damn....I could get used to permanent Eighties. 

Inside the lobby is a big tree they call the Hale Koa tree.  It has some white lights on it that add to it's effect at night.

 After getting all unpacked and "settled in", we went for a walk along Waikiki Beach.  You can see Malisa pointing out Hawaii's State Monument, Diamond Head. 

We swam a little bit, the water was very nice, and then just hung around until the sun set.  There was a large party going on right next to us, apparently it was a week-long bash held for some Wells Fargo employees.  They had a band that was really good and it looked like they were having a lot of fun.

After our stroll on the beach, we stopped by the little PX in the hotel to stock up on some food and water, sunscreen and all the kind of stuff we thought we might need in the days to come. 

Then we grabbed a bite to eat at Biba's, one of the Hotel Restaurants, before heading up to the room for the night to uhhhh, get refamiliarization training.  :)