Vacation Travelogue - Taking it Easy

Its been a long time since I went on a real family vacation. My mom decided that she wanted to take everyone to Hawai'i for her birthday. How could I say no? We opted to go to the island of O'ahu, since the group was just to big to island hop and there is plenty to do right there, including a visit to Pearl Harbor. Of course the one thing I forget to pack is the charger and spare battery for my camera. It was a couple of days before I could get to a shop in Honolulu that had what I needed, so it was just my phone camera for a couple of days. We elected to take the first couple of days easy to acclimate to the climate and not pack the itinerary with so much that everything was rushed. I can safely state that I never acclimated to the high humidity levels on O'ahu though!

We arrived early Saturday afternoon, spent Sunday on the beach which was just a 100 yards away or in Kailua which is the small town we were staying in. Monday was pretty much the same but we did venture to Honolulu for a luau at the Royal Hawaiin Hotel. Very touristy but a lot of fun. That will lead us into Tuesday, our visit to Pearl Harbor.

Our first bit of wildlife, an Anole on a rock heading into the house. There was a whole colony of them in the backyard around the pool.

One of the local denizens of Kailua, a real free range chicken. They are all over the place and there are signs asking people not to feed them.

Another bit of wildlife near the back patio, a day gecko

A visit to the Punchbowl to visit one of my wife's distant cousins that was killed on Guadalcanal. This national cemetery is located inside a volcanic crater.

Left wing of the main memorial in the Punchbowl, this features mosaics made of crushed class you can just make out some of them in the picture.

The center of the main memorial

And the right wing

Looking out over the cemetery grounds, the cousin's burial plot is somewhere on the left side near the entrance (which you can just make out in the distance there).

One of the mosaics from inside the memorial itself. This is the liberation of the Philippines. This is where my great uncle was wounded and would later die from those wounds.

Honolulu as seen from the lookout point on the rim of the Punchbowl. They definitely have a height limitation here!

A bit of the interior of the Punchbowl from the rim. This is a closed cemetery, no burial plots are available. 

At the luau, with a rainbow over Diamond Head, (another volcanic crater).

A study in contrasts, my tiny mother (5' nothing probably a bit shorter now) next to the lead Samoan dancer after the luau