The Punchbowl Cemetery

It is impossible to not be moved by a visit to the Punchbowl National Cemetery.

They are currently about to lay sod in the middle, so this view
is not as green as is typical for the site.

It is situated in the middle of a crater formed ~100,000 years ago from volcanic activity and provides a great vantage point of Honolulu, Waikiki and the coastline.  It's Hawaiian name, 'Puowaina' means 'Hill of Sacrifice'- which explains that it was once an alter where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods and killed violators of the many 'taboos.'  After WWII, there was a huge need for a place of burial for the many soldiers who lost their lives in WWII, so the Punchbowl was then established as a new national cemetary.




At the center top of the staircase in the Court of Honor is a statue of Lady Columbia (also known as Lady Liberty or Justice) holding a laurel branch (signifying victory I suppose?).  She is supposedly representing all grieving mothers, standing on a bow of a naval ship.  Below her is an inscription from a letter written by Abraham Lincoln to a mother who lost five sons in the Civil War:

"The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom."    Very moving!

More than 45,000 men and women are interred here.  On multiple marble walls to the left and right of the memorial are over carved 28,000 names of those whose bodies were unrecoverable or unable to be found.  

This is an 'all spice tree'- they were numerous on the grounds, and I found them to be so fascinating- all of the tops have I assume been pruned to form a perfect ring of branches/leaves!  It seemed to me to echo the laurel branch crown held by Columbia.... 

There is a really interesting series of displays detailing the battles fought in the Pacific throughout WWII, as well as some beyond that time.  Spencer's grandfather fought in the Philippines, so it was interesting to personalize the war from that standpoint.  I also have an uncle who served in the Pacific years later.  It was interesting to realize how recent that war really was, as well as take in the significance of it all.  It made both of us really anxious to visit Pearl Harbor in a couple of weeks.

Beach Day

We decided to take it easy yesterday- Hanauma Bay was closed for snorkeling by the time we got there (it fills up early!), so we just spent a lazy day on the beach!

Kailua Beach- warm, beautiful water, great sand!

Unfortunately, Hawaii includes studying!

 On the way there, we stopped at some great spots to take in the views of the ocean from some cool lava rock formations.  Spence starts work tomorrow for four nights, then we are off to Kauai for 3 days!

The water was crazy below- if you happened to fall in, there's no question you would quickly lose to the power of the waves!

Low-key day

Unfortunately, Spencer had a lot to work on all morning, so I took off and explored around Waikiki. It's a nice enough area, but just as I anticipated it is very 'touristy' and lacks a true view of local culture. It's pretty easy to walk through any of the resorts and enter their beach access, so I did some beach exploration. Those areas are much more crowded than some of the other beaches we have seen so far outside of this area. It felt good to just get out and walk for a few hours.

After lunch at the apartment, Spence and I headed to Moana Falls. This is a very short hike,
only ~1 mile each way, but it takes you through a lush valley in rainforest terrain. A very gentle slope starting at 400', ending at only 800'. You follow along a small stream that is surrounded by incredibly vegetation including eucalyptus trees, banyan trees, elephant-eared ape (ah-pay), bamboo, and others I cannot identify. The trail ended at the edge of a 160' waterfall that was really beautiful. Part of this area was used in filming the show Lost. It rained about 85% of the 1.5 hours that we spent there, but in a way, it made it even more enjoyable (though very muddy)- nice and cool at least!

We spent late afternoon on Lanikai Beach for about 30 minutes until the rain caught up with us there as well. But- the beach was really nice and sandy- not as rocky as some on the North Shore. We will definitely come back on a sunny day.

This led us to an early dinner at Helena's Hawaiian Food restaurant. This is definitely not in a tourist area, but it has delicious authentic local food and has been around since 1946. Actually, Spence and I got the idea from one of Adam Richman's 'Man vs. Food' episodes where he visited Helena's. We tried 3 different dishes- Laulau (pork steamed in taro leaves), Kalua Pig with cabbage (pig cooked in an underground oven called an imu, shredded and mixed with hawaiian sea salt), and Pipi Kaula Short Ribs, which hang from the ceiling over the open oven. It was awesome! The Kalua Pig was definitely our favorite. For dessert, we were served haupia, a coconut based pudding with a gelatin texture, surprisingly pretty decent. I'd say this is a definite place to go if you want authentic Hawaiian cuisine- and our total for dinner was $18- what a steal, especially here!

The North Shore

Today we drove up to the North Shore, an area renowned for its legendary beaches. On the drive up, we passed by Dole Plantation and its 11,500 acres of pineapple fields- this can grow as many as 350 million plants! It looked very different from the rice, cotton and corn fields of southern Arkansas, but still beautiful. You can stop and take a tour, but Spence and I deferred when we saw the huge number of tour buses and cars in the parking lot.

Past residents have supplied our apartment well, so we borrowed snorkeling euipment and stopped in Waimea at Shark's Cove. This small spot is reportedly one of the best places to snorkel on the island. As you can see below- it is very rocky, but this is what attracts all of the beautiful fish to congregate in this area.

I am also including a few pics of just a few of the fish we saw from what I can identify in a book here. No, I did not take these pics- they are courtesy of the internet. I loved the snorkeling, Spence is not as big of a fan- he says it freaks him out a bit.

After getting a workout snorkeling, we were craving some beach time. We headed furthernorth to Turtle Bay Resort. Some of you may recognize this name from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"- I assure you we spent a good deal of time quoting different scenes as we chilled on the sand.

For dinner, we found the well-known Giovanni's Aloha Shrimp Wagon in Kahuku. I think that the economy of Kahuku must rely on shrimp trucks and shacks. There are 3 choices at Giovanni's. I chose Shrimp Scampi- delicious with a huge amount of freshly sauteed garlic (my fave!). Spence as always adventurously chose the Hot n' Spicy Shrimp. There were some choice words used in describing his dish, and I'm pretty sure it burned the entire way through his GI tract. You'll have to inquire with him about his exact thoughts- this is a PG blog.

Seriously- look at all of those red pepper flakes!!

And, immediately he needed a fruit smoothie in order to cool off.

We ended our night relaxing in the apartment watching another beautiful sunset. Another fun filled, yet relaxing day....

Aloha!

HAWAII

After a full day of travel, Spence and I made it safely to Honolulu. We just keep telling each other- "I can't believe we are here for a month!"

Day 1 started with Spence going to Queen's Hospital to get oriented to the Emergency Room. Then, we drove out to Pier 38 to a restaurant called Nico's. It's located on the pier next to all of the fresh fish brought in daily. The head chef walks over at 0500 every day to pick out his daily supply, and we had some delicious ahi tuna plates for lunch- freshest fish I've ever eaten!

We then walked around Ala Moana Park and watched a ton of surfers taking advantage of some great waves. The water here is just beautiful, and it's amazing to look out and realize how far away we are from the nearest land!

We took a gorgeous scenic drive along Tantalus Drive and Round Top. It's a 10 mile long trek through a stunning preserved forest that gives some spectacular views from ~1600 ft. Below are some pictures from the drive- unfortunately, they don't come close to showing what we saw in person.

Our apartment overlooks the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor on Waikiki (pic below). We spent the remainder of the day cleaning, unpacking, and going to Wal-Mart to stock up on supplies for the month. I can't think of what I enjoyed more- watching Spence grocery shop for the first time in years (he was in shock of how quickly things add up), watching him help clean the apartment (he even mopped!!), or watching him cook his specialty, spaghetti, for dinner. Way to go Spence- I'm super impressed!

Progressive Christmas Party

So- it's been way too long since I last posted- I thought no one was reading the blog. However, I have had a few requests, therefore, I am excited to bring it back!


I'll start with some pics from our "Rook Branch Progressive Dinner Christmas Party." It was an absolute blast, and only solidified that we have the most amazing neighborhood and neighbors out there!


For our party- we had ~24 people traveling through about 5 houses through the night with 2 houses of appetizers and drinks, heavy hors d'oeuvres at another, a dessert house, ending with an after dinner drinks location where we exchanged gifts with items "As Seen on TV."


Did I mention that it was a tacky Christmas attire also? Below are some pics from the night....