Zweback, Bergsrud! Thanks for Majuro and the Hawaiian pit stop, too

It’s time for me to express my gratitude to Mark Bergsrud of Continental Airlines.  Growing up, my cousin Mark creamed me in ping pong more times than there are grains of sand on Waikiki.  He also knew great music when he heard it.  I have him to thank for my Neil Young fascination.  For these things, and for our trip to Majuro, I thank Mark.  Without you, Mark, there’s just no way we could have done this.  

You’re a handsome devil, too. 

Zweback back atcha!  If we ever end up in a nursing home together and there’s a ping pong table, watch out!

It turns out that the only American carrier to Majuro is Continental, and the only way there is through Hawaii.  What the heck, I said, let’s spend a week there.  Sure, there are lots of tourists on Waikiki.  Sure, it’s expensive.  But, dang it, it’s pretty darned nice.  Who can say anything bad about sand, sun, water, and ukeleles?

Birds of Paradise, anyone.  I had to pay a guy ten bucks for this shot.  I say it was worth it.

Besides the beach, we did the standard tourist trips.  Pearl Harbor, of course.

The trip out to the Arizona was very moving.  It’s a powerful experience to be above that ship knowing all of those sailors are buried below. 

Snokeling.

Do you think I could market a calendar of pictures liek this?  Actually, creeping on fish in those crystal clear waters is really amazing.  It kinda makes my father-in-law’s fish finder on Lake of the Woods seem a little inadequate.  My favorite moment was spying  a humuhumunukunukuapua’a, the state fish of Hawaii.

Climbing Diamond Head and making friends with other tourists.

These are my friends Yuko and her husband.  We met on the Honolulu city bus on the way out to Diamond Head State Volcano.  Yuko took a shot just like this on her camera.  I wish I knew her last name; it’s probably posted on her MySpaceJapan page.  If any of you MySpace surfers find it, let me know. 

Looking back on Waikiki from Diamond Head.

Sometimes the spf 45 sunscreen went to our heads.

Made some more friends.  Touched by two angels (who also sold us all of our aloha shirts and skirts).

We took a side trip to the Big Island to visit our friends the Staleys, too, but I’m going to save that for another entry, so stay tuned.

It was great to be in Hawaii, but tiring.

Hawaii is a great place to visit.  I’m glad it’s on the way to Majuro.  I’m glad it’s on the way back, too.  Thanks, Mark.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.