HAWAII (Unabridged): Part 1

Los Hicimos! We did it! We finally made it to Hawaii. I've been salavating over this trip for years and we made it happen last month. Join me as I explore the exciting and technical details of our trip..... hahaha like you really want to hear about our trip... but this is my offical record of the vacation so please excuse my excess of detail and maybe you can enjoy the pictures.

I had been salavating over Hawaii ever since I found out that military can fly for free in the extra space of cargo planes. And given that Travis AFB does the most "hops" to Hawaii than any other AFB I couldn't let this go to waste. I would like to first publicly thank my mother for helping this trip happen. She babysat Marie for over a week. What a woman. Marie is sweet, but she's a handful. Thanks mom.

Also, given the fact that she was one of the few members left out of this trip I owe her big time.

Brett and I had always planned on going, but once we found out that we were moving to Japan we decided to cancel it so we could spend the time between our families. Then I got a radical hunch that somehow I could combine the two ideas. Thanks to my mom and oldest brother Jesse (neither got to go on the trip) who made this trip happen. Thanks so much.

So here are the details (you can stop biting your nails! I'll get to them!)

My mom flew in and Brett and I tried to get on a Saturday morning hop. It was cancelled. So we tried again Sunday morning and got on. BRRRR! Riding in that plane was freezing. It felt like my feet were in the snow. I should have brought a blanket. We flew a KC 135 with a medical crew. A KC 135 also refules jets mid-air. Brett made some buddies on the crew who took us to the tail end of the plane and showed us how a "Boom Operator" does his job- that is the person who refules the jets.

Almost six hours later we got off and made our way to The Bellows Military Resort.

We pitched our tent and got comfy. Yes, thats right, we camped in Hawaii. I'm cheap and proud.

We checked out the beach and then headed to Waikiki to get some grub. We found it at the Hale Koa Retirement Home.... jk. We did eat at the 5 star Military hotel "Hale Koa"- but the food was ridiculously lame and we were the youngest one there by 40 years. The sunset was beautiful though. I wish we hadn't lost our camera before the trip. If anyone sees a pink Polaroid camera let us know :(.

The next day we rented golf clubs for $1 and hit the driving range. What a view! It looked like something from Jurassic Park. We then rented body boards and hung loose until we had to pick up my dad and brother Nigel from the airport....