Nina’s sister Pamela Mills arrived at the Honolulu Airport late Saturday morning, September 3rd. She’s been saving up for this trip for quite a while, consequently we tried to make this trip as memorable as possible for her. She rented a bedroom across the street from the Polynesian Cultural Center for the eight nights she was going to be in Hawaii.

We did some sightseeing in Honolulu, including the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, locally called the Punchbowl cemetery, as well as taking the Pali Highway across to the windward side of the island. During the week Nina and I still had most of our assignments at the Visitors’ Center to take care of, although the other senior couples freed up as much of our time as they could. Some of the other adventures during the week included:

The Makapu’u Lighthouse. This was intended to be one of several stops along the southeast side of Oahu that day. The hike is about three miles round trip with close to a thousand feet of elevation gain. It was hot and humid, but we all made it to the top and back down again. After that we just made our way back home with a stop for lunch/dinner along the way. The path to the top of the hill above the lighthouse is paved and the last half of the path has a number of places to sit and collect one’s breath. From the top of the hill the islands of Maui and Molokai were barely visible on the horizon.

The Dole Plantation. Pineapples grow in bushes near the ground. A bush produces a pineapple and, after that one is picked, produces one more about six months later. After that, the bush is finished. The Dole Plantation not only has a huge number of acres under cultivation, but has a nice souvenir shop with all things pineapple. A further attraction is the twenty-minute train ride around a part of the plantation. All of the Chinese buses that stop at the Visitors’ Center have the Dole Plantation on their agenda, meaning the last Chinese bus that stops at the Center arrives before 4pm.

Aloha Luau Show. Nina and I were assigned to guard the exit at the Aloha Luau. We spent the afternoon that day at the Polynesian Cultural Center and Pam came with us to our assignment. After the roasted pig is taken out of the imu (underground oven), it is paraded around for the audience to take pictures, and then is taken right past where we sit when we have the assignment. Pam was not particularly thrilled by the pig, as evidenced by the expression on her face!

Byodo-In Buddhist Temple This temple is up against the mountains in a very large cemetery. It’s a beautiful building in a beautiful setting. We enjoy going there and walking through the grounds, the temple, and the gift shop. Pam came to visit us when we were living in Japan back in the late 1990’s, so this was a nice reminiscent taste of Japan for her. The two of them noticed that I was quite enamored with a dragon souvenir and bought it as a gift for me. I’ll post a picture sometime in the future.

A Helicopter Ride. Heather and Ty had given Nina and me a paid-for forty-minute helicopter sightseeing flight around the island. We hadn’t used that gift, primarily because of Nina’s fear of heights as well as just not making it a priority. Pam decided that this was the perfect opportunity and she’d take the helicopter ride with us. The short version is that we all had a superlative time. I don’t have the vocabulary to describe how much fun and how exciting the trip was … and there was no sensation of height, or at least the fear of heights did not manifest itself. We flew all along the windward side of the Island, dropped down into Pearl Harbor, and then came back up through the middle of the island, landing back at Turtle Bay 41 minutes after we left. I want to do it again….

And, eight days after arriving Pam was back at the airport headed to the mainland. She planned to spend five or so days with her daughter Ashlyn and son-in-law Eric in Salt Lake City before flying back home to Kirtland, Ohio. The once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii was over seemingly before it even got started! We had a great time and I’ve plenty of photos from every one of those activities. Maybe I’ll put up a blog entry with many of these pictures.

Meanwhile, ta ta for now!