We only had two nights and one full day in Honolulu but we had two things we wanted to do: visit Pearl Harbor and meet up with Mama Chang and her family. Mama and Papa Chang started the World Vision Youth Ambassador program while they were in their 70s and influenced many lives. Unfortunately, Papa Chang passed away about 20 years ago, but Mama Chang is still going strong in her mid-90s and is an inspiration to all who have the pleasure of meeting her (including our girls).
We arrived in the afternoon, but had a bit of time to take a walk down to Waikiki beach. We had seen ABC Stores on the other two islands, but after passing two of them in the span of two blocks in Waikiki, we concluded they were like Tim Horton’s in Canada with one on every corner.
The next morning we went to Pearl Harbor. It served as a good history lesson for the girls and was meaningful to me. My great uncle served on the Arizona but was off-duty and not on the ship during the attack.
That afternoon we met up with Mama Chang’s daughter who gave us a driving tour up the coast. Oahu is a beautiful island as well!
First stop, snacks!
The Halona Blowhole lookout didn’t have enough wave action for me to catch much on the spray coming up out of the blow hole, but this fellow hanging out on the beach was pretty fun to see.
Our last stop was the Sherwood Forest (or Hunananiho) beach. It was another magnificent beach and was nice that the forest provided shade during the afternoon.
It was one of my favourite beaches of Hawaii. Unfortunately it was not immune to the effects of Pacific Ocean trash and Annika collected lots of plastic pieces. They are beautiful in their own way after being smashed and tumbled in the waves and the sand, but it is sad that plastic is joining the makeup of the beach.
We finished the day by heading back to the house for dinner with Mama Chang and the rest of the family. It was an honour to share a meal together and to tell life stories. They are a wonderful family and like many other times during this trip, we felt blessed to have joined them but sad that it was so short.
Mama Chang with her son, daughter, and son-in-law.
The girls even got to play a new game before the evening was done so that really made their day.