O'AHU NOVEMBER 10TH & 11TH

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10th

Our trip to Hawaii started out with a little problem. John's back went out on him the morning of our flight his muscles tightened up on him and he could hardly walk. Jay had to help him across the street at the airport and from there an employee wheeled him in a wheel chair to our gate. I got to carry all the luggage, what a sight that was. In the process of getting to the gate we had to go through security. Of course John set off the alarms. They patted him and the employee down, that took about 5 minutes. They found out it was the wheel chair that set the alarm off. Then the supervisor made me get patted down too, and I went through without any alarms going off! The security officer who had to pat me down was more embarrassed than I was, she kept apologizing to me, she kept saying "unbelievable!" I think she was a little upset with her supervisor, I don't blame her, patting me down was not necessary. John and I have decided that this will be a fun story to tell our grand kids. Not every ones grandparents get to be frisked. When we got to the gate the Delta employees were very kind, they changed our seats to make John more comfortable, NO we didn't get to be in first class, but we got the bulk head (more leg room). When we arrived in Honolulu John actually was able to walk off the plane, he was bent over 90 degrees and leaning to the right, also in pain, but he could walk. We found out during our trip that the more walking and less sitting helped him a lot, and he took a lot of Motrin. As the week went on he was walking and feeling better. We also found that snorkeling helped limber his back. We left Salt Lake at 11:30 am SLC time and arrived in Hawaii at 3:30pm Honolulu time. We rented a car for the five days we were on O'ahu and enjoyed visiting the Island.

Pearl Harbor from our plane
Our hotel was right on Wiki Beach

We stayed at the Hale Koa Hotel (Army hotel)
The lobby was all open to the outdoors


We were on the 14th floorJohn did a lot of reading laying on his back.Looking out our balcony window (Waikiki Beach) Looking down on the street below us Night life in Honolulu Night picture of Waikiki beachTHURSDAY, NOVMBER 11th - VETERANS DAY
WE WERE SO PRIVILEGED TO VISIT THE PUNCH BOWL (NATIONAL MEMORIAL OF THE PACIFIC) AND PEARL HARBOR ON THE 11th.

At the gate of the Punch bowlThe Punch Bowl We had to park several blocks away to get to the cemetary. It was a long walk to the gates, but worth the effort. We stayed for the Veterans celebration Color GuardMarine Corp BandPavilion covering some of the audienceOrganizations presenting the wreaths to the fallen veterans.There were so many beautiful wreathsWalking back to the car we took this picture, the trees are so uniqueStill walking back to the car we stopped to enjoy the view of the city

WE THEN WENT OVER TO VISIT PEARL HARBOR

Visitors Center at the sight

We rode out to the USS Arizona to visit the memorial. I ran out of film so I was unable to get pictures of the sunken ship. One of the names on the wall of the fallen soldiers was an AB Putnam.

We had fun going through the huge NEX (Navy Exchange) building. We did a little shopping there. We then went back to the room to rest before taking a walk on the beach and having dinner.

A PERFECT WAY TO SPEND VETERANS DAY!