Step Two!

Aloha,

 We have finally arrived in Oahu, our second stop on the way to Australia, after waiting for a flight out of Travis for a week.  After our arrival on Wednesday the prospects for getting a flight out soon seemed good.  But several flights were canceled due to mechanical problems, and those flights that did go out either did not take passengers, or were full of active duty families trying to get to Hawaii either for vacation, or after visiting the mainland for a weeklong school break.  Since flights are always changing, we spent most of our time in the terminal, or walking around the base.  Thankfully, we did not have to lug around our luggage each time we went to the terminal in the hope of a flight because Travis has the one and only Stan's Shuttle service owned and operated by Stan the Man. 

Stan and his van.

Stan was wonderful because he always had a smile and loved to talk with us.  We even got to take a ride into Concord with him while he dropped off another passenger.  While we were in Concord Stan stopped at a local pastry shop and we got delicious apple fritters.  

Enjoying San Francisco, rain and all.

On Monday, we decided to rent a car and go see San Francisco.  We were accompanied by Karen and her four year old son Trevor.  Trevor, like many young kids was very excited and ran everywhere.  We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, watch the sea lions, and ate some wonderful clam chowder in bread bowls.  Our rental car was a Prius and Mom really enjoyed driving it, especially because for our whole trip to and from San Francisco she only had to put two gallons in the car. 

Mom and her Prius

It rained for most of the day, but our trip was still fun and a relief from waiting on base.  But good things come to those who wait, and we got on a flight to Oahu late Tuesday night.   



  Wednesday Mom bought a guide book about places to hike, snorkel, and surf.  We are mainly interested in the hiking places, but the snorkeling and surfing beaches are also excellent spots for just hang out and beach walk.  So we spent part of the day at Barber’s Point Beach and I took a lot of pictures of the waves and the small lighthouse that is there.  Then Mom and I got take-out from a local place and ate our dinner on the watching the sunset on the beach until we had to hurry back to the car because of the rain.   

Barber's Point Beach and Lighthouse

Today we went to Wa’ahila Ridge State Recreation Area.  It is park with a small parking lot tucked up behind the houses on one of the mountains surrounding Honolulu.  There is a trail that goes across the ridge line of the mountain that divides two valleys, and hikers can hike along this trail all the way up to one of the highest tops on Mt. Olympus.  This whole trail is six and a half miles.  Mom and I walked about half way up to a nice observation spot on one of the taller ridges.  Once we had hiked back to the car, we had lunch.  Then we drove to the Lyon Arboretum and had a wonderful time walking around and looking at all of the different tropical plants.  But next time I am going to bring bug spray, the mosquitoes were plentiful and voracious. 

View from top of the ridge

Tomorrow we plan to do some more hiking.  There is a flight leaving for Australia this weekend and hopefully we will be on it.

Hana