After a 9 hour direct flight from Chicago, we arrived in Honolulu in the early afternoon and took a bus to our hotel. After years of my dad traveling 3-4 days a week, I finally saw the benefits - when we arrived at the Marriott, they upgraded our room to a 23rd story ocean view room, thanks to my dad's extensive stays at their hotels. Way to go Dad!
view from our hotel room, complete with a real Hawaiian rainbow :)
That first night I got a special visit from a friend that I met when I studied in Spain 2 years ago. Although she is from Iowa, she moved to Hawaii with her husband and has a 6 month old baby girl, who is adorable! Her husband, who is in the military, was returning from Iraq the next day, so she was excited to get to hang out, in order to help pass the time more quickly.
Wednesday morning Dad and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, a park made up of 7 native villages, where you can experience the cultures of the islands of the south Pacific. (http://www.polynesia.com/) My dad played huge drums with in the Tonga village and I did the hula in Fiji and Tahiti!
Wednesday morning Dad and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, a park made up of 7 native villages, where you can experience the cultures of the islands of the south Pacific. (http://www.polynesia.com/) My dad played huge drums with in the Tonga village and I did the hula in Fiji and Tahiti!
Dad banging on the Tonga drums
For more great photos of my Hawai'i trip, visit the links below:After we visited all 7 villages, we went to a huge luau, where we ate all kinds of Hawaiian food and watched different hula dancers perform. It was the kind of luau everyone who visits Hawai'i should experience! They also had a huge show to end the night , where all the villages perform their traditional dances in their native clothes and everything, including Samoan fire knife dancers. 
Me and Dad at the luau, with our real flower leis and pineapple drink
Me and Dad at the luau, with our real flower leis and pineapple drinkOn Thursday, Dad and I went to Pearl Harbor and visited the USS Arizona memorial. They have a nice museum there, and also a video about the Pearl Harbor attack that you watch before you take a boat out to the memorial. The USS Arizona sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and has since been the final resting place for over 1,000 U.S. military officers. A floating memorial has been placed above the sunken ship, but you can still see many parts of the boat both submerged and above the water.
After Pearl Harbor, we continued our tour and drove around downtown Honolulu. We drove through Chinatown, past the state capital building and 'Iolani palace, the only royal palace on U.S. soil. After our tour, we gathered our things at the Marriott and headed over to the Hilton Hawaiian village, where many other Toyota employees were staying for the convention. After we got settled into our room, we had our first trip to the beach, then dinner then bed.
Friday morning we got up really early (5am!) to meet our tour guide that would lead us to the top of the Diamond Head crater. Although I was kind of dragging at first, it was worth it when we arrived at the crater just in time to see the sun rise...
After an hour climb, through tunnels and up World War II stairwells, we finally made it to the top - and what a view!
us with Waikiki in the background
view of the inside of the crater - our tour bus is among the white buildings on the left, the ocean is on the top right
Dad and I at the convention center, in front of the first model of CamryAfter Pearl Harbor, we continued our tour and drove around downtown Honolulu. We drove through Chinatown, past the state capital building and 'Iolani palace, the only royal palace on U.S. soil. After our tour, we gathered our things at the Marriott and headed over to the Hilton Hawaiian village, where many other Toyota employees were staying for the convention. After we got settled into our room, we had our first trip to the beach, then dinner then bed.
Friday morning we got up really early (5am!) to meet our tour guide that would lead us to the top of the Diamond Head crater. Although I was kind of dragging at first, it was worth it when we arrived at the crater just in time to see the sun rise...
After an hour climb, through tunnels and up World War II stairwells, we finally made it to the top - and what a view!
us with Waikiki in the background
view of the inside of the crater - our tour bus is among the white buildings on the left, the ocean is on the top right
Even after this early morning hike, that wasn't enough for me! That afternoon, we took a tour of the north shore of the island (my dad is such a good sport!) Our first stop was a Japanese temple, then an orchid farm, followed by the beautiful beaches of Oahu's North Shore, where they hold all the famous surfing tournaments. One of the beaches also included and up close encounter with 2 giant sea turtles, who were just lying on the beach, basking in the sun! Finally we stopped at the Dole pineapple plantation, where you learn that pineapples in fact grow out of the ground, and that they can make anything taste like pineapple! We liked the pineapple ice cream the best :)
That night, the Toyota festivites finally began, starting with a fun luau at a nearby tiki bar, full of people from the Chicago region. This is where I was asked many time how I got to be so lucky to accompany my dad to Hawai'i instead of my mom... but with a mom who doesn't like flying, hot weather, going to the beach, or climbing craters, I'd say it wasn't much of a competition!
On Saturday, I finally let my dad relax and we spent the whole morning at the beach (only after the huge Toyota breakfast buffet, of course). In the afternoon, while he went to the Toyota business meeting, I went shopping at many of the 200 stores they had at our hotel complex. Another amazing thing about our hotel is that they had penguins - real life African black-footed penguins...and I got to pet one! yea! A lifelong goal was realized that day- as I was returning from shopping and the workers were feeding them, they brought one onto the ledge to pet. And I possibly may have pushed a few little kids out of the way for my chance to touch my favorite childhood animal, but hey, you only get to pet a penguin once in your life, maybe, so there was no way I was going to miss my chance. :)
That night I took a cab over to the University of Hawaii (where they were holding the Toyota convention) and joined my dad for dinner and drinks, before the evening ended with a Stevie Nicks and Aerosmith concert. Wow, thanks Toyota!
Sunday was another amazing day of Toyota fun... it started with my surf lesson in the morning, which was great, although I realized I would need some major upper body strength if I was going to make this a hobby of mine. I did get up several times and surfed those waves - with Pearl Harbor to my left and Diamond Head to my right, it was just perfect.
me getting ready to hit the wavesThat night, the Toyota festivites finally began, starting with a fun luau at a nearby tiki bar, full of people from the Chicago region. This is where I was asked many time how I got to be so lucky to accompany my dad to Hawai'i instead of my mom... but with a mom who doesn't like flying, hot weather, going to the beach, or climbing craters, I'd say it wasn't much of a competition!
On Saturday, I finally let my dad relax and we spent the whole morning at the beach (only after the huge Toyota breakfast buffet, of course). In the afternoon, while he went to the Toyota business meeting, I went shopping at many of the 200 stores they had at our hotel complex. Another amazing thing about our hotel is that they had penguins - real life African black-footed penguins...and I got to pet one! yea! A lifelong goal was realized that day- as I was returning from shopping and the workers were feeding them, they brought one onto the ledge to pet. And I possibly may have pushed a few little kids out of the way for my chance to touch my favorite childhood animal, but hey, you only get to pet a penguin once in your life, maybe, so there was no way I was going to miss my chance. :)
That night I took a cab over to the University of Hawaii (where they were holding the Toyota convention) and joined my dad for dinner and drinks, before the evening ended with a Stevie Nicks and Aerosmith concert. Wow, thanks Toyota!
Sunday was another amazing day of Toyota fun... it started with my surf lesson in the morning, which was great, although I realized I would need some major upper body strength if I was going to make this a hobby of mine. I did get up several times and surfed those waves - with Pearl Harbor to my left and Diamond Head to my right, it was just perfect.
Sunday afternoon, we headed back to the University of Hawaii for Toyota's big Product Reveal. I was excited for this because you get to see all the new cars for 2008 before everyone else. What I didn't know was that the Goo Goo Dolls would be there to open the show - AND they had Jay Leno as the host for the evening! Crazy! After they showed us all the cars, we got bussed over to the Honolulu convention center, where they had all the food, drinks, and Toyotas you could ever want. It was truly a spectacular evening...
Album 1 - http://iwu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026069&l=4fdea&id=41603236
Album 2 - http://iwu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026094&l=f2f7f&id=41603236
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