A Tale of Two Trips: Disneyland and Hawaii July 2014 Long Way Home: The End 9/13 p.40

[natebenma]

You are having really bad weather this year. I heard that Boston got 47 inches of snow in the last 10 days. We got 19.3 inches on Superbowl Sunday, which was a lot, but I think everyone stayed home that day and the streets got cleared off pretty quickly. I suppose they don't have any place to put all that snow you have in Boston.

Spamalot sounds like it was a lot of fun. It must be a lot of work for Ben though, with his school work on top of the rehearsals and performances. Maybe once he is comfortable in his high school routine he'll have a better idea of whether or not he can become involved in the theater again.

Up to this point the winter hasn't been too bad. But the boys have had 4 snow days in the last two weeks.

Fortunately, there was only one day of bad weather for Spamalot- it snowed all day on Saturday, but by the evening the roads were safe enough for all of our cast and most of our audience to get there.

I am going to try to post my first photos without use of Photobucket. In addition to being the Black Knight, Ben was also the puppeteer who operated the Killer Rabbit. At the end of the scene, the rabbit is blown up and he knocks over the board, revealing himself. For every show he did some improv. Usually he would scream at the knights "You killed Phillip you Bs!" and one night he couldn't find the body because the rabbit got stuck in the curtain. During the final show, he did a magic trick, pulling a rabbit out of his hat.

 

[natebenma]

The view from Diamond Head is fabulous. Now I wish we had taken the time to hike that trail when we were in Oahu. How long of a hike was it? Too bad you didn't have more shade. We loved to hike when we visited Hawaii but we usually looked for shady places to hike.

You seemed to have found a lot of shifty characters in Waikiki. I would have used cash to pay the cab driver, too. We also use cash for the WDW cabs. It just seems like the safest thing to do.

The trail is not bad at all. According to the certificate we received, it is .8 miles. Plus 327 steps. That was the hardest part, but really not too bad. I think it was around an hour and a half total for the hike, including time at the top.

It was weird encountering so many people who were out for the almighty buck in the very short time we had been in Hawaii. Did not spoil our trip in the least, though!

 

[jenseib]

Great pictures of Spamalot. I love how Ben is so into theatre. You have a budding star.

Diamond head looks so beautiful. My parents also went there several years ago and loved it.

That is one scary taxi ride and I would've been a little nervous as well.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Loving all the photos from spamalot. Ben looks amazing. Shows what a talented young man he is that he ad libbed a little too!

 

[natebenma]

Great pictures of Spamalot. I love how Ben is so into theatre. You have a budding star.

Diamond head looks so beautiful. My parents also went there several years ago and loved it.

That is one scary taxi ride and I would've been a little nervous as well.

I really do hope Ben does more shows. He has been in 12 plays with our community theatre group and 2 at the middle school, but I'm afraid that he may be done. He is a natural on stage, but it is a lot of time/work and he is really concerned about his workload when he gets to high school.

I would love to climb Diamond Head again. It was not a bad hike at all and I would totally do it again. I just might rethink the cab ride!

Loving all the photos from spamalot. Ben looks amazing. Shows what a talented young man he is that he ad libbed a little too!

Theatre has been really great for Ben. He has lots of confidence and he has no fear getting up in front of a group, which is a really valuable skill in all aspects of life.

 

[teekathepony]

I got so far behind again. I'm getting really bad at this Dis thing.

Ok, caught up now.

Very interesting tour around Pearl Harbor.
What a tragic story about your dad and the Thresher submarine. I got goosebumps reading about it.
Ugh! What a frustrating story about the scammer trying to make it hard for you to use that coupon! Anyway, glad you did get it booked in the end!
Dinner looks yummy, too bad the show wasn't anything special.
Seriously? Again with the scams, that photographer in the restaurant? That's awful.

I've been loving the Spamalot pictures, looks like so much fun!

I've been hearing about your blizzards, they come my way when they're finished with you. We keep getting rain instead of snow, so we just have a ton of ice.

Diamond Head looks incredible! I probably would have had a heart attack on those stairs, but really, what a view from the top!

That taxi drive!!!

 

[natebenma]

I got so far behind again. I'm getting really bad at this Dis thing.

Ok, caught up now.

Very interesting tour around Pearl Harbor.
What a tragic story about your dad and the Thresher submarine. I got goosebumps reading about it.
Ugh! What a frustrating story about the scammer trying to make it hard for you to use that coupon! Anyway, glad you did get it booked in the end!
Dinner looks yummy, too bad the show wasn't anything special.
Seriously? Again with the scams, that photographer in the restaurant? That's awful.

I've been loving the Spamalot pictures, looks like so much fun!

I've been hearing about your blizzards, they come my way when they're finished with you. We keep getting rain instead of snow, so we just have a ton of ice.

Diamond Head looks incredible! I probably would have had a heart attack on those stairs, but really, what a view from the top!

That taxi drive!!!

I'm glad you are enjoying the Spamalot photos. I have a ton more, but I won't be posting them because 1) I am not a sadist 2) I don't feel right posting pictures of kids I know on a public board. Of course, random kids at Disney are fair game! 3) A lot of my photos are "unauthorized". Not supposed to take pictures during the show. OOPSIE!

Congrats on getting all caught up!!! I have been having trouble finding the time to DIS, too. No worries!!!

Pearl Harbor was incredible to see. I was not emotionally prepared for the lost submarine memorial. I didn't know it was there.

We encountered a few people who gave us some issues, but we didn't let them taint our feelings about beautiful Hawaii or the number of really nice people we met during our trip.

The stairs at Diamond Head were the worst part, but we all made it fine. You need to be in moderately decent, but not excellent shape to do it.

Ice stinks!!! We have more snow coming, no place to put it...

 

[natebenma]

Walking Wonderful Waikiki

After we survived our cab ride from hell, we returned to our room.

The boys wanted to relax for a little bit in the room, so Mark and I decided to go for a walk along Waikiki Beach. There is a path that runs parallel to the beach which we used for a ways. It is a little difficult to walk along the water because the beach is sloped and crowded.















We wanted to check out the surf lesson options in case Nate wanted to do that in the afternoon or on Saturday. These boards offering rentals and lessons were all along the beach.










Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Continued from Previous Post: Walking Wonderful Waikiki

We turned around and started to make our way back to the resort.








Our resort and beach are in sight:











What a beautiful beach!




Next Up: Lunch at CJ's, Mom Goes AWOL, Military Museum

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

That beach is stunning! Wouldn't mind being there now

 

[saintstickets]

Great pics from atop Diamondhead and Waikiki Beach! DW and I were there 2+ years ago and there is just so much to see and not enough time to see it all...and that is just one island!!!
Interesting cab drive back to the resort...are you sure he wasn't a transplant from New York or New Orleans?

 

[eandesmom]

It's an odd little walk isn't it, on the beach side. It just stops at a certain point and you have to go on the beach. Which is fine if you know and take off your shoes! LOL

 

[jwwi]

You have great pictures of the beach, I love the one with all the surf boards lined up. It looks just wonderful there, will winter ever end?

 

[Wood Nymph]

Your beach walk looks lovely. I loved the warm soft ocean breezes in Hawaii.

It is nice that they have a sign that lists the prices for the activities and rentals. It cuts down on price gouging, although I am sure that there are plenty of bargain rental places just off the beach. At least there are on the other islands.

 

[teekathepony]

What a gorgeous walk along the beach. I love that you can take surf lessons there, it would definitely be on my bucket list to try surfing!

 

[natebenma]

That beach is stunning! Wouldn't mind being there now

You and me, both!!!

Great pics from atop Diamondhead and Waikiki Beach! DW and I were there 2+ years ago and there is just so much to see and not enough time to see it all...and that is just one island!!!
Interesting cab drive back to the resort...are you sure he wasn't a transplant from New York or New Orleans?

There certainly is no shortage of things to do. Oahu is a big, beautiful island, but we concentrated on the activities near Waikiki.

I'm not sure where the cab driver was from before coming to Hawaii (Mars?), but we tried to keep our interaction with him to a minimum. He didn't seem to mind keeping up the conversation (and sales pitches).

It's an odd little walk isn't it, on the beach side. It just stops at a certain point and you have to go on the beach. Which is fine if you know and take off your shoes! LOL

It is strange that there is not a continuous path along the beach. And walking on the beach was difficult in places. Didn't stop us from making this walk a few times, though.

You have great pictures of the beach, I love the one with all the surf boards lined up. It looks just wonderful there, will winter ever end?

Thank you! I really like the picture of the surfboards too. It wasn't until I posted the picture here that I noticed the guy stretched out on a board with a book. How awesome is that!!! I would be perfectly content there instead of having to grab a shovel YET AGAIN today and tomorrow.

Your beach walk looks lovely. I loved the warm soft ocean breezes in Hawaii.

It is nice that they have a sign that lists the prices for the activities and rentals. It cuts down on price gouging, although I am sure that there are plenty of bargain rental places just off the beach. At least there are on the other islands.

It really was nice being able to see and price out the different services along the beach. We talked to a guy at one booth, and he had a great price for a group lesson, which would be a private lesson if nobody else was doing it at the same time.

But Nate was not feeling it while we were on Oahu.

What a gorgeous walk along the beach. I love that you can take surf lessons there, it would definitely be on my bucket list to try surfing!

We really did have a lovely walk. I was hoping that Nate would take surf lessons here, since Waikiki is such an iconic surfing beach, but we ended up doing that later in the trip, when we were on Maui.

 

[momabbate]

What a nice afternoon stroll. It is nice that the boys are at an age you can leave them behind. I'm not sure why but lately I have been wanting to go to a beach.

 

[MEK]

Oh WOW Dee! Those pictures are amazing! You must love looking at them right now considering you are totally snowed in right now! The beautiful hues of blue are just stunning. What a great afternoon! Loved seeing those pictures to get me psyched for warm weather!

 

[KatMark]

I am never going to finish my TR or get back to my PTR. Every time I think I can, I find updates. And with taking off Friday to go to Dubuque for the weekend, I got further behind.

But what an update to come and read. Your pictures of the beach are making me remember our honeymoon and our time on the beaches in Hawaii. They are simply beautiful. A nice afternoon for you and Mark while the kids rested.

 

[HockeyMomR]

Dee - wow!!! Simply lovely. I want to be there right now. My work has been a headache as of late and that beach would be a perfect remedy. I am sure you would like to abandon your 4 feet of recent snow for a sandy beach and lovely blue water too. Thanks for the uplifting photos.

Also, look forward to hearing about surf lessons!

Rebecca