I had intended to try to import a journal entry from one of my files into this blog, but with my limited knowledge, I am not sure how to do it. So, I am going to re-type my entry. Bear with me, as it is pretty long. I will try to expand on a little more detail later and also try to incorporate pictures at some point. Some days where little detail is given, I just tried to give the highlight of our day.
Journal Entry, Dated: Sunday, August 2, 2009
I had intended to try to journal events as they happened while we were in Hawaii, but we were having so much fun and were out so late every night, up early and going, that I didn't have the time to write down exactly what we did each day. Things started to meld together after a while, especially when you do so much in so little time and on so little sleep. So, with the help of receipts as reminders, and a few pictures we took, I am doing the best I can to remember our trip. Almost immediately following our trip to Hawaii, just Doug and I, we came home and left with our six children and went to San Francisco, California and then on to Wyoming. To the best of my recollection, here is a schedule of the things we did:
June 18th: Doug and I flew to Phoenix, Arizona in the evening and stayed the night in Phoenix.
June 19th: Doug and I caught an early morning flight to Oahu, Hawaii. We got our rental car and checked into our hotel. We went to Waikiki Beach, looked for shells, and enjoyed the scenery. We walked around Honolulu/Waikiki. We went back to our hotel and went for a swim and enjoyed watching the trade winds. Interesting! We spent a night out on the town walking around, window shopping and taking it all in.
June 20th: We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. There, we took a boat ride where the different Island villages were represented. We ate Puoy, did the Hula, watched a show, went to a Luau where we were publicly recognized for celebrating 19 years of marriage. We watched a show at the Luau-Hula dancers, etc ate "Kalua Pig", rice noodles, puoy, puoy dinner rolls, a pina colada smoothie served in a Pineapple, and enjoyed a special show that evening of hula dancers, fire dancers, and were treated to an evening of fun and experiencing the dancers representing all the people of the different isles. It was great!
June 21st: While driving around on the Island, we came upon a Macadamia Nut farm. We decided to stop and check it out. They had all different varieties of flavors. They were all very yummy! We had to bring some back with us. My favorite were the wasabi coated nuts, the honey roasted nuts, and the regular roasted macadamia's. Later, we found some chocolate covered macadamia's. Yum!!! We continued up the coast of Oahu and drove up North Shore and stopped and ate at a shrimp shack. These were the best shrimp I have ever eaten. They were fresh, right from the shrimp farm beds about 20 feet away. Once you got past removing the heads and tails, they were great! (K, don't get too grossed out. At least we didn't get the prawns! They were scary lookin'!) After lunch, we went up the coast a little further and watched some surfer's for a little while. After that, we went to the Laie, LDS Temple and Visitor's center. The temple was under significant renovations inside and out, but is expected to reopen in the summer of 2010. (July, I think.) When we were through, we headed further up the island and drove to the Dole Pineapple Plantation, just in time for it to be closing in another 15 minutes. But, we had a quick Ice cream, which was very good, and bought a souvenir spoon, just in case we couldn't make it back.
June 22nd: We took a boat ride out to the Atlantis submarine. We went in the sub and dove down to 106 feet on the ocean's floor. We saw numerous fish, a white tipped shark, about 3 or 4 Sea Turtles, Coral, and had a great time. I didn't want to leave. I was hoping we could drive around a while.
June 23rd: We visited the USS Bowfin site, but didn't actually board the vessel. We toured the gift shop and saw various missiles, torpedoes, etc. that were typical of the 2nd World War era. We toured the U"SS Arizona Memorial and museum. This was a very interesting experience. I will write more about this experience later. We visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation again, and had some very yummy Kalua Pork Casadillas, salad, and a yummy pineapple ice cream treat topped with fresh pineapple. We took a train ride out on the active plantation, and went on an abbreviated garden tour. Then, we headed back to Honolulu and were back on the streets of Waikiki for shopping, people watching, and walking our feet off!
June 24th: We did some last minute shopping for souvenirs and then headed to the Honolulu airport. We flew to phoenix, Arizona and stayed the night, which was a short night. Only about 4 hours of sleep.
June 25th: After our short night sleep, we had to be at the airport by 8 am. We caught our flight home to Salt Lake City. We returned home to our children who were waiting patiently for us. We handed out some gifts and in our zombie like state, I started laundry and packing for 8 since we were leaving the next day for San Francisco. I got to bed at 2am.
June 26th: We loaded up the car and headed to the SLC airport with our 6 children in tow. Amazingly enough, we were out the door a little before 9am. We checked in curbside with all our baggage, which was a lifesaver. We checked into our gate and all was smooth sailing. About 11:30am, we all boarded our plane and were headed to Oakland, California. After a 2 hour flight, we landed, got our rental car (a 15 passenger van), got lunch and headed for Fairfield, California, where we used to live. We arrived at the Jelly Belly factory just in time for an early closing, due to a Newt Gingrich event that day. I guess we were not important enough to attend! We headed to McDonald's for an ice cream and potty break and then drove around Fairfield a bit. We saw the places we lived when we were there, including our first apartment there and a home which we rented. We had our first two babies there in Fairfield, and left just after our second son Zachary was born. We drove out to Travis Air Force Base and saw the AFB hospital where Rob and Zach were born. Then, we headed to our hotel located in San Rafael.
June 27th: We visited Six Flags Discovery park, in Vallejo, California. We had a great day! The kids had a blast riding the roller coasters. We stopped at Denny's and then drove the long ride back to our hotel after being so tired. It was all good!
June 28th: We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. What a sight! We drove through Sausalito and drove to the Muir Redwoods, but decided since everyone on the planet had the same idea and there was not any parking, we would just drive up the coast. Apparently all the people on the planet that couldn't find a parking spot had that same idea too. So, we drove back towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We ended up taking a wrong turn, but it ended up to be a good thing. We were headed up a hill that took us to an amazing overlook of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. So, it was a good turn after all. We came down the hill and found parking and walked under the Golden Gate Bridge and then onto the bridge a ways. It was VERY windy and a little chilly. I must say I was a bit surprised by that. I didn't expect it to be so windy up there. The kids mostly enjoyed being on the bridge. They were a little cold and bored. But, when we looked down into the water, they saw a sea lion swimming around and they thought that was pretty neat. They also liked seeing their spit fly over the bridge and hit the water. What can I say, kids will be kids. After the bridge, we went to Fisherman's wharf, bought some coats for the kids since we left ours at the hotel, went to dinner and then decided to call it a day because everyone was pooped out and grumpy. So, we drove to the hotel and went to bed.
June 29th: We went back to Fisherman's Wharf and did a little shopping and then took a boat ride out to Alcatraz. It was very insightful! Interesting! & Fun! We came back to the wharf and tried a sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder. It was good, but not as good as expected. We did quite a bit of walking around, some shopping, and walked our feet off. Robbie went to the aquarium by himself, Doug, Zach, & Josh went to Rippley's Believe It or Not, and me and the little one's went shopping and to the Boudin Sourdough Bakery. They made cute little animals out of the dough. From little crabs and teddy bears and sea turtles, to alligators and larger crabs. It was really something. Their work was quite intricate. I just wished they wouldn't bake the bread quite so long. I like my bread soft. Theirs was hard. It was still yummy though!
June 30th: We visited the Jelly Belly factory again, and this time it was open. It was good fun and interesting to see the changes they have made since we last visited in about 1993. It was Robbie's 17th Birthday this day. We went to Six Flags again and Robbie got o go off on his own. He had a wonderful time and was able to catch all of the shows, ride some rides, and do what he wanted to do without everyone bugging him. Doug went with the older kids and I had Jake and Marissa. We got to see the shark exhibit, pet sting rays, and see dolphins. The kids rode several kiddie rides and had a wonderful time. After a long day, we went to Red Lobster to celebrate Rob's birthday. It was very good food and we were glad to sit down to a good dinner after such a long few days on our feet. We drove all the way back to our hotel. The kids and Doug were crashed out in the van all the way back.
July 1st: I dropped off the kids and Doug at the airport and returned the rental car and caught back up with them again. We got through security and waited to board our flight back to SLC. We arrived home in the evening, just in time to wash and repack our bags to head out to Wyoming the next day.
July 2nd: We got up and loaded the van and drove to Riverton, Wyoming. We let the kids go for a swim in the hotel pool and then stayed the night in Riverton.
July 3rd: Doug took all the kids but Rob, to Thermopolis Natural Hot Springs. Rob and I went shopping while Doug and the kids and our niece, Amanda went swimming. Rob wasn't interested and I was feeling under the weather, so we shopped and went and saw buffalo at a ranch/range behind Thermop, and then prepared lunch for everyone else. We then picked up the kids and Doug and then headed up to Sheridan, to see Grandma Wells. On the way, I got a speeding ticket! Yuck! I had forgotten what the speed limit was after passing a vehicle and had to reset my cruise control. I made a booboo and thought the speed limit was 75. I set it about 76. The speed limit was 65! Oops! I got a $15 discount since everyone was wearing seat belts. I still had to pay $63 and have that glorious thing on my now less than perfect driving record. Not to mention the embarrassment I felt and the wonderful mood I was now in. Fun! We finally reached Granny's apartment and she took us out to eat at a Chinese Buffet, which our kids love! We did a little shopping at Walmart and then checked into our hotel.
July 4th: We got up a little late, went to breakfast and then it was off to Gran's for a visit. We had a nice visit with Gran...it was short, but it was nice to be with her. I only wished we could have stayed longer. We drove to Buffalo and met Doug's half sister for the first time. Her name is Tracy Spratt. She met us at a park in Buffalo, and was there with her mom, Leona. We were supposed to meet up with Doug's Sister-in-law too, but we were too late and she had little ones she needed to put down for a nap. So, we missed her. Before leaving Buffalo, we stopped by the liquor store where Doug's half brother works and Doug got to run in and say a quick hello. I stayed in the car with the kids. I wished we could have spent time with them, but perhaps another time. We then headed back to Riverton in hopes of seeing some fireworks, but we were a bit too late and didn't know where the action was. So, we got checked into our hotel and bedded down for the night.
July 5th: We went to the "Trailhead" for breakfast and then headed back to Pleasant Grove. We brought our niece Amanda back with us. She was going to go to girls camp with our Young Women's group from church. We did some laundry, packed Joshua for Scout camp, and took Amanda's things over to the YW leader's home to get her ready for girls camp on the 6th.
July 6th: We dropped Joshua off at Terry Hunter's house at 5am for Scout Camp. Then, we dropped Amanda off at the YW leader's house at 8am. Then it was laundry, laundry, laundry time. And, I had yet to clean up our house from coming home and packing up and leaving again. With all our trips back to back, our house looked like a bomb went off! But, it was all worth it. We had a great time!!!
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