Lessons learned, love shared: Golden Princess to Hawaii 3/27/13

[terrific_surprise]

Loreni--I can answer that question since we were on this same cruise this past April.

The pier hanger is not open anymore to the public and there was no one selling anything when we were there. You walk along the outside of that building when you disembark the ship.

We found that quite disappointing since it was kind of nice to be able to browse the shops while we waited to get back onboard.

Hopefully they will reopen something in the future but it did not look like they were working on anything at the time.

:)

yseone

 

This is exactly correct. Thanks for covering for me, yseone. I really really want to get back on here to share our Oahu experience but have been too bogged down with other important matters.

 

 

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[terrific_surprise]

I remember you saying that your wife left her driver's license behind but it wasn't a problem. Did they not require a passport for this trip? I'm asking because I just realized that ours our expired. I am going to have them renewed this week but am worried that we won't get them back on time, with the possible government shut down and all. Our trip is in Dec. Worried.:(

 

I wouldn't worry, melody. Unless rules have changed since March (which I doubt), you should be fine with a current driver's license and birth certificate. (Hopefully the birth certificate won't be a problem for you, but there might be some other alternatives.)

 

By the way, I definitely wouldn't say that my wife's missing driver's license wasn't a problem -- just that we somehow survived in spite of the problems (which did have significant potential to ruin everything). But a passport was definitely not required.

 

Tim

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited September 25, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[alreadypacked]

I wouldn't worry, melody. Unless rules have changed since March (which I doubt), you should be fine with a current driver's license and birth certificate. (Hopefully the birth certificate won't be a problem for you, but there might be some other alternatives.)

 

By the way, I definitely wouldn't say that my wife's missing driver's license wasn't a problem -- just that we somehow survived in spite of the problems (which did have significant potential to ruin everything). But a passport was definitely not required.

 

Tim

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks for the review!

 

I read a lot of it, but not every single post, so maybe I missed this but I was just curious--did you ever find out what happened to your wife's driver's license? Was it stolen or simply lost or misplaced?

[MauiLvrs]

...did you ever find out what happened to your wife's driver's license? Was it stolen or simply lost or misplaced?

 

I think we have to wait till the end of the story ;)

[melody hounddog]

I wouldn't worry, melody. Unless rules have changed since March (which I doubt), you should be fine with a current driver's license and birth certificate. (Hopefully the birth certificate won't be a problem for you, but there might be some other alternatives.)

 

By the way, I definitely wouldn't say that my wife's missing driver's license wasn't a problem -- just that we somehow survived in spite of the problems (which did have significant potential to ruin everything). But a passport was definitely not required.

 

Tim

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks Tim! We have birth certificates and driver's licenses.

[terrific_surprise]

...did you ever find out what happened to your wife's driver's license? Was it stolen or simply lost or misplaced?

 

Sorry to leave this mystery hanging (especially when it is taking me so long to finish this review). Here's the (somewhat anticlimactic) short answer: the wallet was never found. We still wonder if we will ever find out what really happened.

 

I'm assuming that it was lost in a way that nobody ever found it, because if a dishonest person found it, they would have probably tried to use our cards, and if an honest person found it they would have probably contacted us. Then again, a dishonest person could have found it and discarded the cards, being pleased to settle for the cash (which I think was probably hundreds of dollars, as my wife had emptied her secret "stash").

 

The only aspect of this which really impacted the cruise was the missing driver's license. The stress of the loss of the wallet faded after the first day or two, but the lost ID added a bit of stress to our experience every time we left or returned to the ship. Thankfully the financial side of the cruise had been planned well enough that we always had sufficient money for what we wanted to buy (given the fact that we are usually frugal) -- although we would face one more stressful financial situation before the end of the cruise.

 

Tim

[catergirl]

:)hope there is more to come!!

[terrific_surprise]

:)hope there is more to come!!

 

Thanks for the prodding, and for not losing interest in this story in spite of the long delays. In my emails from CC I noticed some who were being a little less patient (including one who said with a mad face :mad: that this is like "watching paint dry") so sorry for dragging this out. I do have a few other big things on my plate right now -- but it is important to me that I finish this review. (The other night I dreamed that we were going on another cruise, and I remember being so embarrassed at not having finished this review yet that I decided not to even mention the new cruise on CC.)

 

Our Oahu day was so special (albeit with some big disappointments) that I wanted to be sure that I write something that will do it justice. I hope to get things back in gear today.

 

Hopefully the paint will dry soon, and you will be able to share some of the beauty of our Oahu experience.

 

Tim

[Cruisin' Chick]

I really recommend getting a passport, whether or not it's needed on the Hawaiian cruise. My hubby will put together a small plastic envelope (you can get these in office supply stores) to keep our passports in our safe, as well as a second one for our social security cards. Before each cruise, he'll get out the envelope (I double check this) and bring in his backpack. Hubby and I will also have our drivers' licenses that we each keep too -- his DL will be in his wallet, so it's separate from the passports. I also will scan whatever credit cards, Auto club card, the insurance cards for our daughter and me -- and have a copy with contact phone numbers that I keep in my document folder of the info for my trip that I bring in my carry on.

 

So if for some reason, my wallet disappears from my purse during the cruise, I can cancel my credit card and do whatever other contacting I need to do, but I'll still have my passport. In fact, we'll use our teen's passport as her ID as she hasn't yet learn to drive. We got her a passport when she was 3 (before her second cruise) and it's been renewed a few times since -- yes, it's money, but it's also peace of mind, and have used it to register her for school and she may use it, instead of her school ID, when she takes the SAT for the first time next month.

 

I'm just stating this just in case others who are new to cruising feel cavalier about having an ID. The OP's wife was extremely lucky. It is considered the passenger's responsibility to have a government issued ID (and in the case of some cruises that involve countries such as Brazil, having a proper visa). Things do get lost, but those handling security won't necessarily excuse not having proper ID, nor should they.

[MauiLvrs]

In fact' date=' we'll use our teen's passport as her ID as she hasn't yet learn to drive. [/quote']

We use our passport for identification and keep our DL safely tucked away...

So if the passport gets lost ... we can still drive when we get to our destination...

[melody hounddog]

Thanks for the passport info. We mailed them in to be renewed last week. Hopefully we get them back in time so we don't need to use our birth certs. I don't know how long it will take with the government shutdown. Our daughter has had a passport since she was 6mos old. She was glad to get a new photo this time around!

[terrific_surprise]

As I planned this cruise in the 18 months leading up to it, I spent more time thinking about our day on Oahu than anything else.

 

My wife had been to Oahu on a college choir tour 30 years ago, visiting most of the best known locations such as Pearl Harbor, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Dole Pineapple Plantation, Waikiki Beach and Iolani Palace. So (although I had never been there myself) I hoped to show her a different side of Oahu. In addition, I hoped to do something to make a connection with what she did 30 years ago (hoping to find some way to make this connection a surprise, if possible).

 

With 16 hours in port (from 7 am to 11 pm), the extra time available on Oahu sparked several romantic ideas (especially when I had over a year to dream about it). Thinking that this would be our only opportunity to experience a Hawaiian sunset on one of the islands, I searched for the ideal place to watch the sunset, settling upon a secluded beach north of Waianae (almost at the northern tip of the western shore).

 

 

Researching the beach online, I noticed various reports of crimes being committed against tourists in that area, but the romantic images dancing around in my mind convinced me that nothing like that would happen to us.

 

As I wrote about my cruise planning experience here on CC, I encountered Renee (CC's "displaced local girl" from Oahu) who shared many great ideas with me about what we could do during our Oahu day, even providing the detailed itinerary of a tour she had put together for a friend. In addition, Renee offered some important warnings such as "You are wise not to try to do too much while on Oahu." I didn't take all of her warnings quite as seriously as I should have, but when she cautioned me to stay away from the western end of the island (past Ko O'lina, where the H1 freeway ends), I reluctantly changed my plans. I considered the possibility of watching the sunset from Ko O'lina, possibly at a luau, but when Renee explained how bad the traffic on H-1 can be at the end of the day, I decided that it was wiser to try to do something closer to the ship, even though I expected the crowded south-facing Honolulu beaches to be much less picturesque. (But wasting an hour in a traffic jam, even in Hawaii, would not be my idea of a vacation.)

 

Eventually I decided that we would catch the sunset somewhere near Waikiki, possibly at the free sunset hula show I had read about at Kuhio Beach near the Duke Kahanamoku statue. Renee suggested that Ala Moana Beach Park (Magic Island) or Kakaako Park would also be good places to watch the sunset. But for the most romantic experience, she recommended we consider relaxing at a Waikiki hotel which hosts a "graceful hula performance" at sunset.

 

While I decided that we could live without a luau (having surprised my wife with a luau in Las Vegas several years ago that I foolishly thought would satisfy her yearning for Hawaii), the experience of a real Hawaiian hula performance seemed to be something we should be sure not to miss. But reading on CC about the keiki (children's) hula which is held on the ship when it is docked in Honolulu, and hearing Hawaiians like Leialoha speak of it with such deep affection, it wasn't easy to decide which hula show to see.

 

Having planned so many Oahu activities (and not being sure how long they would all take) I decided to keep the various hula options open for the end of the day. But the need to reserve a rental car required me to make a tough decision weeks before the cruise. Alamo has two agencies in Honolulu, one at the airport and the other near Waikiki. The airport location (5 miles from the Aloha Tower, where the ship docks) is open until 11 pm, but the Waikiki location (3 miles from the ship) closes at 7 pm. After I finally relinquished my dreams of the West Oahu sunset, the Waikiki location seemed to be preferable, due to its proximity to the hula shows and some possible shopping opportunities. Reserving the car at this location provided me with an emergency contingency plan: if I couldn't get back by 7 pm, I could bring the car to the airport location -- for a small courtesy fee of $100!

 

Here are a few short excerpts from my final itinerary for our Oahu day:

 

7 am: Golden Princess arrives at Aloha Tower; take TheBus to Alamo rental agency

8:15 am: Drive by Iolani Palace and Kamehameha statue on our way to the Punchbowl (quick photo opportunity)

9 am: Leave Punchbowl headed toward Pali Highway

9:30 am: Hike Judd Trail to Nu'uanu Falls

11 am: Quick visit to Pali Lookout

12 noon: Go to Lanikai Beach to hike and kayak out to Mokulua Islands

 

 

I never attempted to set times for the remainder of the Oahu day, not knowing how much time we would have left over after kayaking. For over a year my euphoric dreams of our Oahu day had often focused on this kayak adventure, especially after our first experience kayaking in Morro Bay was successful. So somehow I just knew that this would be the highlight of our cruise (then again, I have been known to be wrong).

 

If we had enough extra time after Lanikai Beach, I considered visiting the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse and the nearby tide pools, the Halona Blowhole and nearby Eternity Beach, along with some shopping and eating along the way.

 

Finally, of course, we would bask in the golden glow of the sunset as we embraced during our final moments on Oahu day (perhaps enhancing the moment with a hula show).

 

Would our time on Oahu day fall short of my ideals? Or could it be that by the end of the day, the sunset wouldn't even matter anymore?

Edited October 7, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[terrific_surprise]

For a few hours after we sailed away from the Big Island, all thoughts of my plans for Oahu had vanished from my mind, eclipsed by passion. But in the middle of the night (at about 2 am), I realized that I needed to get some things ready for our next big day together. So I snuck away from my wife, using my laptop to send myself an email containing my notes on our Oahu itinerary. Then I headed down to the Internet Cafe to print it out. Of course I couldn't resist stopping at the nearby International Cafe, where I was surprised to see one of my favorite crew members, whom I had encountered working there at all hours of the day and night, always wearing a big smile. "Do you ever sleep?" I asked. "No" he replied, as we laughed together.

 

Soon I was back on our balcony, relishing my wife's warmth as we waited for the sunrise. While it seems like we would have both needed more rest, somehow we were too excited to just go back to sleep.

 

 

With the bright lights of Honolulu approaching on the horizon, we discussed the possibility of cancelling the rest of the car rentals for the cruise. I had planned to rent these cars as an extra treat for Terri, knowing that she would enjoy driving in Hawaii. But now that her missing driver's license prevented her from driving, I wondered if it was worth the cost. Perhaps we could get where we wanted to go by using public transportation? But with our reservations already made, we decided not to try to cancel the cars, even though I knew that it wouldn't be quite the exciting memory I had hoped for Terri to have.

 

Approaching the harbor, we soon watched as the pilot boat zipped by.

 

The Wake Show was on early that morning, so we tuned in to see if we had the right answer for the question of the day (it related to the meaning of the yellow flag the ship flies on its way into port, but our answer was way off). Then I headed up two floors to the buffet, bringing a large plate back to our balcony for us to share while the Golden Princess finished docking.

 

 

As the hues of pink blended into blue in the clouds over Honolulu, Terri captured a short video to document the beauty we were anticipating (and the afterglow of the beauty we had already experienced).

 

Believe it or not, even though I knew by now that towels would not be provided at the gangway... and even though my plans for the day definitely involved us getting wet... and even though I had packed everything I could think of in my duffle bag for the day... I still somehow forgot to bring towels off the ship!

 

With our "hang loose" attitude at the helm, we left the ship a little later than I had intended. By the time we headed for the gangway, I think it was about 7:30. But it seems like we breezed right through: I don't recall any significant lines to get off the ship or any crowds in the port building. We were cleared to get off the ship with a simple scan of our cruise cards, without any ID check.

 

Once we were off the ship, we had one small task before we could begin my planned exploration of Oahu: we just needed to find our own way to the Alamo office. (This Alamo agency offers no shuttle to pick passengers up from the ship.) It's only a three mile, ten minute drive away, straight down Ala Moana Blvd.

 

"Easy peasy lemon squeezy" (as we had often heard Deputy CD Marahscalh quip).

 

Then again, I may have underestimated the journey ahead.

Edited October 8, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[HRPro]

Beautiful sunset photo. If this is what you saw on Oahu, you had a spectacular sunset ending to your day.

[terrific_surprise]

After leaving the ship, I looked to see if any Walmart or Hilo Hattie shuttles were nearby, hoping for the possibility of a free ride which would bring us closer to the Alamo office at the Waikiki Discovery Bay Center. Not noticing any such shuttles, we began walking south on Aloha Tower Dr. toward Ala Moana Blvd., knowing that we would need to catch a bus.

 

Honestly, the thought of taking a taxi never even crossed my mind: as far as I was concerned, taxis were just too expensive. Besides, we had colorful memories of experiencing some rough rides on the bullet-ridden buses in Puerto Vallarta during our 2010 cruise (while never losing our smiles), so being a passenger on Honolulu's efficient bus system would be a pleasure.

 

In retrospect, maybe we were "hanging" a little too "loose" at this point. It seemed like we just weren't in a big hurry to get to our rental car, enjoying the opportunity to stroll beside the Honolulu waterfront. Along the way, we saw some interesting catamarans and other boats.

 

 

Having carefully researched the routes and timetables for Honolulu's TheBus system before the cruise, I led Terri to the closest bus stop which could take us to our rental car. The bus stop was just five blocks or so away, on Ala Moana Blvd. at Punchbowl St., but at our leisurely pace it took us some 15 minutes to get there from the ship. By the time we reached the bus stop, we had left the interesting waterfront behind. With the busy traffic and tall buildings nearby, it almost felt like we were back in Los Angeles.

 

About five minutes later, a bus arrived; although it wasn't the right bus to take us all the way to Discovery Bay, I decided that we should get on it anyway, knowing that all of the buses in this area seem to end up at the Ala Moana Center mall, just a few blocks from Discovery Bay. It seemed to me that it was better to take the first available bus than to take extra time to wait for a bus that would bring us all the way there.

 

During our ten minutes or so on the bus, Terri enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with her friends a little on Facebook.

 

When the bus route ended on Kona St., behind the mall, I didn't realize that we were still about a mile away from Discovery Bay, so I suggested that we just walk the rest of the way there instead of waiting for the right bus. ("It seemed so close on the map" is something I have often regretted saying over the years.)

 

It took another ten minutes of walking to find our way back to Ala Moana Blvd., where we were stopped by a police officer standing on the corner, who told us that the sidewalk ahead was closed due to a construction project.

When I explained that we just needed to go a couple more blocks down the street, he advised us to just get back on the bus, assuring me that the fare we had already paid would cover the additional bus trip.

 

It took us almost ten more minutes to get to the bus stop on the other side of the street, because we had to wait for the signals to cross the three other crosswalks at that busy intersection. Waiting several more minutes for a bus to arrive, our "hang loose" attitude started to slip just a bit, with Terri jesting that we might want to consider hitchhiking the rest of the way.

 

It was after 9 am by the time we finally arrived at Discovery Bay. Noticing some bargains at a little store across the hall from Alamo, Terri decided to shop while I dealt with the car rental details. The Alamo agent tried to insist that I should buy their insurance, tried to get me to pay extra for a navigational device, and even said that I should pre-pay for a half tank of gas, but I stubbornly refused his sales pitches. I wasn't interested in paying any more than I knew I had to pay. At well over $100, this was already the most expensive car rental of our cruise, and I wouldn't consider adding any additional charges. (In contrast, our Hilo car rental experience had not involved any such high-pressure sales tactics.)

 

When I was done at the Alamo office, I went across the hall to take a look at the great deals Terri had found, including some $15 aloha shirts she bought for me, which I would enjoy wearing on the remaining days of the cruise.

Then we went up the elevator to the parking garage to locate our car.

 

I had planned for this particular rental car to be a big surprise for Terri, so I was eager to see her reaction. Knowing that she has always wanted to drive a Mustang convertible, I had hoped to rent one in each port (but no convertibles had been available in Hilo). On her 49th birthday, at the beginning of the year of surprises leading to the cruise, I had given her a golden key, thinking that I might eventually figure out a way for her to symbolically use the key for the first convertible. But when I realized that she wouldn't be allowed to drive, I decided to save the key surprise for something later.

 

Terri was definitely surprised when she saw the convertible, but I really can't represent her response appropriately here. She described her feelings in a way that she knew I would immediately relate to, referring to a highly-anticipated romantic encounter which resulted in frustration because it somehow failed to reach its potential. (But she said it with a wink and a smile.)

 

We were slightly disappointed that the convertible turned out not to be a Mustang, but a Chrysler 200 (our experiences with Chryslers over the years have soured us on this brand, but we found enjoyment in this particular Chrysler). The Alamo employee provided no instructions for how to make the top go down, but eventually we figured it out (having no past experience with convertibles).

 

With the clock approaching 10 am, almost three hours after the Golden Princess had docked, I finally drove down through the levels of the parking garage onto the streets of Honolulu -- with the top down, of course!

 

This car was costing us over $50 more than we would have paid for a similar car at the airport Alamo location; I had intentionally chosen to pay the higher price, believing that with our limited hours in port, the added convenience and time would be worth the extra money. But somehow I had lost such common sense when considering how to get from the ship to Alamo. It actually didn't occur to me until writing this review that a taxi would have cost us just ten or so dollars more than we paid for our rides on TheBus, and that this relatively small additional expense would not only have saved us some frustration, but would have given us an additional hour or so to explore Oahu. If you pay thousands of dollars to go on a cruise, what's so bad about paying a few bucks more for a taxi to get you more quickly to where you really want to go?

 

What would I change if we could do it over again? I would definitely take a taxi. (I never thought I would say those words.)

Edited October 8, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[terrific_surprise]

Beautiful sunset photo. If this is what you saw on Oahu, you had a spectacular sunset ending to your day.

 

Unfortunately that impressive sunset photo (which I had dreamed so much of experiencing in person) was from the northwestern shore of Oahu, which we reluctantly crossed off our itinerary. :(

 

But, as my wife likes to say, every day is a new day, so this wouldn't be our last opportunity for a beautiful sunset. ;)

 

Tim

[cr8tiv1]

Unfortunately that impressive sunset photo (which I had dreamed so much of experiencing in person) was from the northwestern shore of Oahu, which we reluctantly crossed off our itinerary. :(

 

But, as my wife likes to say, every day is a new day, so this wouldn't be our last opportunity for a beautiful sunset. ;)

 

Tim

 

You really don't sleep, do you! Enjoying your posts. Check your email....

[terrific_surprise]

Our first real Oahu destination was the Punchbowl (the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific). But first, I thought we should pause briefly to pay homage to Hawaiian royalty with a quick drive-by photo-op at the King Kamehameha statue and the nearby 'Iolani Palace.

 

 

 

These monuments are within easy walking distance of the dock at the Aloha Tower Marketplace, so to get to them we simply retraced the path we had just traveled along Ala Moana Blvd.

 

A mere 20 minutes or so after leaving Discovery Bay, we had already escaped from the busy Honolulu traffic, enjoying the view while winding our way along Puowaina Dr., which wraps around the Punchbowl Crater.

 

 

In our discussions before the cruise, Terri had recalled visiting the Punchbowl 30 years ago, but she didn't seem to remember much about it. Nevertheless, she seemed to have a sentimental feeling as she took this photo on our way into the cemetery.

 

 

 

Although I had never been there before, I was feeling sentimental too, struggling to choke back the tears, knowing that it wouldn't be long now before she realized why we were there.

Edited October 9, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[melody hounddog]

Oh the suspense is killing me! Take your time though. I'm savoring this wonderful review.

[terrific_surprise]

Once we entered the cemetery, I knew what I was looking for, but I didn't know exactly where to go to find it. I figured that we would find it soon enough if we kept driving around. Considering the tens of thousands of brave patriots buried there, it seemed inappropriate to hurry to our destination anyway.

 

For several minutes we wandered slowly around this sacred landscape, until I found what I was looking for: a parking lot along the outer road, where a wide, well-paved path led up to the edge of the crater. Parking the convertible and putting up the top, I tried to act somewhat nonchalant, hoping to hold back the tears for just a little longer.

 

When Terri got out of the car, she still didn't realize what she was about to (re)experience.

 

 

As I took her hand, we began slowly walking up the path. We weren't even half way to the top when she turned and put her arms around me, looking at me with tears in her eyes.

 

She remembered.

 

I tried to tell her how thankful I was that I had found it, but I was so filled with emotion that I could hardly choke out the words. As we embraced in tears along the path, some cemetery employees in a golf cart passed by, probably thinking that we were mourning a lost loved one.

 

In the midst of this place where so many tears of sadness have been shed, we were unmistakably experiencing tears of joy.

 

During Terri's brief visit to Oahu in 1983, someone had taken this photograph of her sitting on a wall high above Honolulu.

 

 

Less than a month after this photograph was taken, our romance was rekindled (four years after being high school sweethearts). Of all of her 1983 Hawaii photographs, this one was always my favorite (and the one I found to be most alluring). To me, it captured the essence of the girl I fell in love with.

 

Over the years, she had forgotten the exact location of this precious photograph. Frankly, the precise location mattered little to me until I began planning the cruise, because I had honestly never thought that we would make it to Hawaii. I thought that the photograph would always represent the "mystery of her uniqueness" (a phrase we used in our wedding vows), a side of my wife that I would never have the opportunity to fully experience.

 

But as I wrote about my cruise-planning experience here on CC, I encountered Renee. Having lived on Oahu for so many years, she immediately recognized the location of this mysterious photo as the Punchbowl lookout (even though the skyline of Honolulu has changed so much in three decades).

 

Renee identified the gray building as the Honolulu municipal building, the grassy area surrounding City Hall between Punchbowl Street and Alapai Street, and the waffle looking roof as the Blaisdell Center (HIC). The names of those buildings didn't mean much to me, but they helped me to locate the likely place where the photo had been taken.

 

Regaining our composure after a few minutes of embracing on the path, we floated the rest of the way to the wall at the edge of the lookout. Using the copy of her 1983 photograph on my phone as a guide, I was soon able to snap a picture that closely matched the original.

 

 

Even if you find our sentimentality about these photographs to be a bit silly, the view of the changes in Honolulu's skyline over 30 years is certainly interesting.

 

 

Mahalo nui loa, Renee!

Edited October 9, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[melody hounddog]

Please pass the tissues....

[terrific_surprise]

Oh the suspense is killing me! Take your time though. I'm savoring this wonderful review.

 

Please pass the tissues....

 

Ahh, yes, Melody: "savor" is the operative word here. I'm "savoring" the process of writing this review, not wanting to miss the opportunity to re-experience the aroma of every beautiful feeling we went through on this cruise. (And even the not-so-wonderful moments contribute to the beauty of this memory for me, just as dark areas of a photograph add the contrast which makes the image appear more clearly.)

 

Unfortunately, the process of "savoring" takes some time, especially when I am trying to recall memories from months ago. (This is definitely not a fast food meal.)

 

I appreciate those like you who are patient enough to savor it with me (even if it means that you shed a few tears along the way).

 

Tim

Edited October 10, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[terrific_surprise]

Because of the precious 1984 photograph of Terri sitting on the wall at the Punchbowl lookout, I naturally wanted her to sit on the wall again to attempt to recreate the original scene. In addition, of course, I wanted to give her a hug when she sat on the wall, and to capture that moment on camera.

 

 

Just after the above picture was taken, the cemetery employees zoomed toward us in their golf cart, demanding "get off the wall!" They explained that for safety reasons sitting on the wall is prohibited (even though it seemed to us that in the unlikely event that she had fallen off the wall, it would have only been about a four foot drop). We had not intentionally broken any rules, because as far as we could tell there were no signs prohibiting sitting on the wall.

 

As you may notice from the above photo, the wall does not appear to be the same wall Terri sat upon 30 years ago. I can only assume that it was rebuilt at some point, because the view itself is clearly identical.

 

After Terri got off the wall, I continued taking more pictures (with her standing safely on the ground) such as this view to the southeast, of Diamond Head and the Waikiki area (the beach itself being hidden by skyscrapers)...

 

 

...and this view to the northwest looking across the edge of the Punchbowl Crater.

 

 

At some point in this process, a spot appeared on the lens of my best camera (in my oversentimentalism, I muse that perhaps it was a dried tear). The spot can be seen at center left of the below photo.

 

 

Not being meticulous enough to re-check the cleanliness of my lens, the spot persisted throughout many of the remaining photos, as you may notice.

 

(Another lesson learned: if you plan to take once-in-a-lifetime photos, don't forget to clean your lens frequently.)

Edited October 10, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[terrific_surprise]

We were in no hurry to stop absorbing the unforgettable view at the top of the Punchbowl lookout -- but it wasn't long before we realized we needed to move on with our day.

 

Heading back down the path toward the parking lot in the cemetery below, we noticed some poignant monuments along the way.

 

I was surprised to see what appeared to be large prickly pear cactus plants right alongside the tropical vegetation on the edge of the Punchbowl Crater. (Although desert plants are not usually a strange sight for us, I didn't expect to see them in Hawaii.)

 

 

 

I drove the car back toward the center of the crater, briefly reparking it near the Honolulu Memorial and its grand stone staircase, which serves as the visual centerpiece of the cemetery. For a few minutes I tried to find the grave of Space Shuttle Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka (which CC's Renee had told me was nearby) but eventually I gave up. The Challenger tragedy was the first national disaster we experienced as a married couple, so I somehow felt an emotional connection to Onizuka's grave site.

 

(Obviously I did not take this photo of Onizuka's grave.)

 

Less than five minutes after ending our hour at the Punchbowl, we were driving up Route 61 heading toward the windward side of Oahu.

 

After fighting traffic again for just five minutes on the busy Pali Highway, I took the turnoff for Nuuanu Pali Dr. (a quiet two-lane road). A couple of minutes later I began focusing on looking along the right side of the road for the trailhead to the Judd Trail.

 

At times it seemed almost like we were entering a tunnel due to the thick canopy of trees overhead.

 

 

Passing some cars along the right side of the road, I assumed that they were parked there for the trail, so I tried to see if any parking spots were open. Unfortunately I never noticed a place to park (and I never even noticed the trailhead).

 

Within a minute or two I saw the Board of Water Supply building to the left. From the notes I had prepared before the cruise, I knew that if we passed this building, we had gone too far.

 

Rather than turn back and face the difficulty of finding a place to park, I made a quick decision to cross the Judd Trail (and Nu'uanu Falls) off the itinerary. When I explained my decision to Terri, she didn't seem to mind (with her apprehension toward hiking an unknown trail undoubtedly outweighing her interest in seeing a new waterfall).

 

We saved about an hour by skipping that hike, but by this time it was almost noon, so we were still almost an hour behind schedule (not that this worried Terri: she had the luxury of not needing to concern herself with the details of the itinerary).

 

At this point, I don't think I was extremely concerned yet about running out of time for our Oahu activities. Instead, I was anticipating the opportunity of sharing a new dramatic view with Terri: this time, looking across windward Oahu from the cliffs of the Pali Lookout, just a few more minutes up the road.

Edited October 13, 2013 by terrific_surprise

[roomba920]

Too bad you missed The Judd Trail.

As a fan of the TV show "Lost", I understand lots of scenes were filmed there.

Including the first and last scenes of Jack in the bamboo grove, where he wakes up and then later dies.