Week 6, 7 and 8- Wow, how time flies!
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2009
1
7
Trip End
Jul 26, 2009
What I did
Honolulu, Hawaii
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
I knew it was Monday this week when I woke up with a charlie horse. This week we did our usual field trip to the pool Mon. and Wed., went to Hickam Beach on Tues. which was really neat because we got to see a submarine reemerge from the bay and the kids and I were so intrigued. On Wednesday we went to the Hard Rock Café with all the Camp A Counselors, which was my first time going to one so that was a pretty fun way to break up the week. I had to laugh this week on Friday when we were all talking about what we were going to do on the weekend and one of our campers was so excited to go out to eat with his dad that night because they had the BEST wings EVER. When we asked him what restaurant he was going to, he replied "Hooters!." Didn't stop laughing after that one for awhile.
On the weekend we went to Jack-ass Ginger Falls which was a pretty long hike and at the end was a really neat waterfall with a pool of fresh water at the end. Some of the other camp counselors found a jumping rope and had fun swinging off from it. I, however, felt lame and didn’t want to be wet the rest of the day so I opted out of this jumping experience. When we asked how it got its name they said that a lot of wild ginger grew all around that area so we were hunting for the plant the whole way back but I don’t know we actually found any.
Later that day we went to Diamond Head, it’s the huge mountain looking rock usually seen in the background of Waikiki’s coast. Some of the counselors in our group had already hiked it and said it was a long hike but totally worth it at the end. I’m glad that we got this advice before we started because it was a LONG way up around loops and rock stairs and at the very end you had to climb through a metal tunnel to the very top. But once we reached the top, the view was absolutely breathtaking! It was the bluest water that I had ever seen and you could see every skyscraper and hotel along Waikiki Beach. The hike back down was a lot nicer on the legs but after two long hikes, my body was shot.
On Sunday we went ATV riding on one of the MWR trips we saw advertised, which we all thought would be a great idea, thinking that we would be able to go “ATVing” and actually explore all around the back forest areas of Hawaii. Wrong, turns out it was a small dirt course with a 2 miles loop that we did about 100 times over. Not quite the adventure we were looking for…But we still managed to have fun and went to the mall later that night because everyone needed a little shopping therapy after that.
Week 7&8- Bye-Bye Pearl Harbor
My my how time has FLOWN by! The last two weeks seem like a blur right now because I am now writing this all down 3 years later by memory and some old notes but I’m attempting to give it a shot. The last two weeks we went to the pool as usual with the campers. On one of the days all of the kids voted that Andrea do a jump off the high dive and were relentless at letting her back down once she agreed to it. Andrea wasn’t the fondest of heights so when she hesitated to jump once she was at the top, all the kids started chanting “face your fears, face your fears” really loud. When Andrea plugged her nose and took the plunge all of the kids cheered. I think they had everyone at the pools attention on us which was really funny.
Later that night we had a private tour of the Arizona Memorial at sunset by Captain Cook who is captain of both Hickam and Pearl Harbor. This was one of the coolest experiences ever. He was really funny and let a bunch of us take pictures with him and let me wear his hat. At the start of the tour it was slightly rainy so there were a bunch of rainbows that appeared in the ship yard which was a really neat sight. I have toured the Memorial once before but walking inside the memorial and reading all the names on the wall at sunset was taking the experience at a whole new perspective. At the very end of the tour, all of us counselors got into a circle and did a little presentation for the captain by singing some songs that we usually do at the end of camp. Then we took some group photos and headed back for the night.
On one of the days we took the campers to Kailua beach where one of the kids spotted a portuguese man o’war on the sand. These little blue jellyfish like things have a long tentacle attached to a small balloon like pouch that lets it float and they can really get you with their sting. Some of the other camps had already had some campers get stung so we made sure to stay far away. I was having a bad day this day when I realized I had forgotten my lunch back at camp. All the other campers realized I wasn’t eating anything and were generous enough to share parts of theirs to get me by, which really made my day.
On our last full weekend in Hawaii we went to the Polynesian Culture Center which we heard had a great luau. It was really fun but also really “touristy.” They had a lot of fun things to try like starting a fire with just sticks, cracking a cocoanut and learning how to hula. They also had a boat tour that we went on and a presentation where all the tropical places like Fuji and Tahiti did their version of the hula. Then they had the huge luau and even had a huge hog roasting over the fire and gave us leis to wear. It was all really good food especially these purple sweet rolls made from taro root. We tried poi for the first time and it wasn’t something I’d eat again. At the very end of the night they put on a huge show with hula dancers and flame throwers that ended up being a lot more professional and put together than I thought it was. Overall it was worth going to.
Week 8- The Final Week
We prepared for the FINAL week of Camp A in Hawaii. We had been working on our part of the summer presentation for “Dessert Fest” where all the families get to come and watch what the kids have been doing all summer. All our campers were pretty young so it was hard getting all their little attention spans to participate but we managed to get down a couple small skits and songs. On our 2nd to last day of camp, Suzanne, Ashley and Karla from the other camp nearby and Evan and I went to a nice restaurant close to our camps called Schooners that we had wanted to try for a long time. It was right on the Pearl Harbor bay and there was another gorgeous sunset going down - such a great way to wrap up an amazing summer. Friday was Dessert Fest and all the camps came together on Pearl Harbor Base where there was a nice auditorium. Everyone gave their skits and one of the camps with some older kids even did a rap version of a blend of camp A songs and it was really cool! The camp counselors also had to help perform so it was pretty hilarious getting up on stage with our nice tall socks and men’s kakis but at least this was the last time we had to wear this lovely fashion, fwew!
On my final weekend here, I can’t remember a ton but I know I went down to Waikiki with Molly and a couple other counselors to hang out on the beach and say good bye to our last Hawaiian sunset. Molly was actually doing a 14 weeklong camp and had already been on Hawaii longer than me and wasn’t leaving for another 3 weeks so she was getting a little homesick knowing that a bunch of us would be leaving soon. It’s crazy to think that you’d actually be ready to leave such a gorgeous place, but I totally understood where she was coming from and was anxious to come back home myself.
At the airport before we departed, all of our weeks of travel and collecting “souvenirs” had added up and our luggage was at the brink of being over the maximum weight capacity. So all of us were frantically repacking bags to get the weight distributed and luckily I had sent a couple packages home already so I was mainly helping Suzanne stuff as much of her stuff into my bags so hers would pass –that’s team work!
Although the ending of my adventure wasn’t as glamorous as coming into this gorgeous island, I left with some incredible experiences that I will always remember and made new friends who I will look forward to seeing again someday soon I hope. I will be back to visit you Hawaii!
