Trip to Honolulu, Hawaii to visit Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor and the island of Oahu. I bought the plane tickets on Delta from DFW to Honolulu with $600 vouchers we had. We earned those on New Years Eve 2014 on our way back from Boston. MSP-DFW was oversold, so we spent a night in MSP. It was extremely cold in Minneapolis with temps around -10°F.
We stayed in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Alana – Waikiki Beach which was pretty good accommodations for the money. In retrospect, I wish I had paid a little more to stay on the beach. The Hilton Waikiki Beach Resort is right on the water and had a premium beach next to it. The walk from the Doubletree was not far, but it wasn’t nearly as convenient. For Hawaii, it was pretty cheap.
We visited Pearl Harbor and Waikiki Beach. Pearl Harbor was easy to get to by bus, but you could rent a car and park easily too. The USS Arizona Memorial was still open when we visited, but it closed shortly after we visited. I actually rented a car our last day to drive around the island. We made stops at the north shore and Makapu‘u Point.
It was a red-eye flight back to Los Angeles then to Dallas. We got upgraded on the long leg, HNL-LAX which was great. Great meal and a casual nap.
World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument
Crossroads of the PacificDirection sign to many destinations
USS Arizona MemorialYou can see the oil in the water 27,000 days later.
USS Arizona Memorial
USS Arizona BB 39
USS Arizona MemorialWar Memorial of the Pacific Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Pearl Harbor Pano
USS Arizona MemorialViewed from the main national monument grounds
USS Arizona AnchorRecovered from the USS Arizona Cast in Chester, PA 1911. 19585 pounds/8.88 metric tons
USS Bowfin torpedo chutes
Inside the USS Bowfin
Electrical room on the USS Bowfin
USS Bowfin
Battleship Missouri Memorial
Chester Nimitz statue
USS Missouri
USS Missouri
USS Missouri Surrender SpotOver this spot on 2 September 1945 the instrument of formal surrender of Japan to the allied powers was signed thus bringing to a close the second world war
World War II Surrender Documents
Worst room on the ship
View from USS Missouri
USS Missouri overlooking the USS Arizona Memorial
Japanese Zero Fighter
Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero Fighter
F4F-3 Wildcat
F-14D Tomcat
P-40E Warhawkp
SBD Dauntless
Waves crashing at Kahauloa CovePictures don't do this beautiful place justice.
Lanai Lookout
Waves crashing at Wawamalu Beach Park
Makapuu LookoutLookout on the island of Oahu, Hawaii
Makapuu Lookout
Me overlooking the water
Makapu'u PointOverlooking the water and Kāohikaipu Island State Seabird Sanctuary
Makapu'u Point
Near Pokole Point
Seems like paradise
Kualoa Regional Park
Kualoa Regional Park
Hawaii Waters
Sharks Cove
PhotobombI was trying to take a picture of the beautiful scenery and this happened
Sunset along Ala Moana Beach
Trip draws to a closeOne of the last pictures of my trip taken on the Ala Moana Beach. We headed to the airport shortly after this and flew home on a redeye
Ben Holcomb is a Storm Chaser and IT Professional (in that order) that lives in Norman, Oklahoma. Ben works for a managed service provider with clients mostly based in the financial sector as a Linux Engineer. He has seen approximately 200 tornadoes since 2007 and has appeared on most national television networks. Ben has been to all 50 states and 19 countries and loves to travel. He has also installed weather forecast and display systems in multiple foreign countries. Ben lives with his cat Nacho.
