We went so many places in Hawaii that I don't think I will ever see again. “Pop, pop, pop,” went my ears on our descent into the Honolulu Airport. My dad picked up our rental Cadillac Deville because it was big enough to fit our 6ft. 7in. dad and the rest of the family, and my family headed to our hotel. Well, not really one hotel, but a village of hotels called the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The Village is right on Waikiki Beach and in view of Diamond Head, a mountain. I didn’t know that that many hotels could be together. The whole village was so beautiful. Our hotel is called the Ali’i tower. It looked like a skyscraper. The Ali’i tower had over 25 floors and a pool on the second floor over looking the ocean.
We rode on a submarine that we signed up for in the Village. The submarine is called Atlantis. We saw an uncountable amount of fish of all colors, shapes, and sizes. We even saw a few ships teeming with undersea life. One of the fish I saw was Dory, off of Finding Nemo. It was really cool seeing all the fish in their natural habitat because I’ve never seen fish unless they were in an aquarium.
Have you ever had fruit produced by Dole. Well, I went to their plantation and I saw a pink pineapple. It was really unique. I’ll never see that again. There was a train going around the plantation. I learned that back in the past, after the harvest to get rid of the plants they set the field on fire.
While my mom and I were swimming in the ocean searching for shells, my mom felt something against her foot. She looked down and saw it was a jellyfish bigger than a softball, with long, stinging tentacles. Lucky for her it didn’t sting her. My mom and I ran out of there so fast I thought we were Olympic sprinters in training. Mom, Dad and I were really cautious after that.
My family and I went to Pearl Harbor. We received recordings that told us what happened at Pearl Harbor. The recordings told us all that happened on that day. My family and I had some time before we went on a trolley to see the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, so we broke for lunch. After lunch we boarded a trolley and rode out to the Arizona Memorial. At the Memorial there is still oil leaking, drop by drop, out of the oil tanks. The people call it the tears of the soldiers that are pinned down in the ship. Being there and learning what happened gave me an idea of what the soldiers felt like, pinned and unable to breathe. I almost broke down and cried by the back wall that had the names on the Arizona.
During our stay on the island, we went on hike that led to a waterfall,. We thought it was only a quarter mile long but it ended up being a mile long, in flip-flops, but on the way to the waterfall was lush and green. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The waterfall was an oasis in a lush green environment, falling probably more than 60 feet. The sound was tremendous. I saw a multitude of birds on that hike.
On our last day in Hawaii I had so much fun it should have been illegal. We went to a center called the Polynesian Cultural Center. My family and I were greeted with Alohas and shell necklaces. There was a guy that showed us how to make a fire, climb a palm tree, and milk a coconut, which I don’t really know how to do. After visiting several areas, we came to an area and they were showing us a native dance. It looked a lot like the funky chicken. They were picking volunteers to do the dance and I was picked, probably I was hiding behind Matt’s wheelchair. It was really embarrassing because I thought I was doing it badly, but it was a really cool experience. At the end of the day there was a luau with prime rib. That was by far the best feast I’ve ever had. The whole feast flowed with good food that was perfectly seasoned and had no bad cooking in it.
This was so special because this trip was historical and fun. This Hawaiian vacation was so wonderful because it brought our family together and it was once in a lifetime. My life will never be the same because of my trip to Hawaii. I will cherish these memories forever.