Hawaii

Our next stop was Oahu, Hawaii. We stayed for about 10 days, and we did a lot of stuff. My favorite was Pearl Harbor, hiking, and the Luau. We had a private tour for Pearl Harbor which allowed us to hear some great information and skip some lines.

Hiking  Monoa Falls, Diamond Head and Koko Crater Railroad Tracks

California Again

We came home for the holidays, but ended up staying for 5 months, dealing with testing and family affairs. We spent a few weeks in Palm Desert, which was nice. It was hot, but dry. I got to do a lot of hiking, especially the Bump and Grind trail. That became my personal challenge, trying to improve my time hiking the difficult hike. I received a HR Fit Bit as a gift from the family, and this allowed me to track steps taken, miles walked, heart rate, stairs climbed, and calories burned. It was great. I started getting up by six to hit the trail before it got to hot and had two hours to complete the hike before heading off to work.

Some other fun stuff we did in Palm Desert was go to the BNP Paribas Open Tennis Tournament. i got to see Rodger Federer play a practice round. I never really liked tennis until I started playing it. Now, I enjoy watching the game, so it was fun to see someone famous playing. 

We also got to go to a windmill tour. Before going on this tour, I thought one windmill was pretty much like any other windmill. Now I know differently. There are a variety of kinds of windmills, but the average takes 6-9 million to build and about 10 years before it produces a profit. So, 1-3 or a whole set can be built by different companies or individuals, depending how much money they can put down. 

San Jacinto Aerial Tram

We all went up the Aerial Tramway to the top of Mount San Jacinto. The weather had been in the mid 90s down in Palm Desert, so we figured there would be hardly any snow on top. We were right, but Morgan still found enough to throw snowballs at me. I also saw a tree that smelled like maple syrup. Morgan made me stand there sniffing the tree forever before he took the picture. 

Finally, we went on a hot air balloon ride. 

Atlanta, Georgia

 Civil and Human Rights Museum - Really fascinating to see. Not only about Civil Rights and Martin Luther King Jr., but also about the Human Rights violations that are happening around the world and what we can do to help.

Coco - Cola World - This was a pretty interesting place. They make it seem like Coca-Cola is what can bring the world together peacefully. There advertising is moving, involving family and community. But, a bit incredulous. 

 I am not much of a news watcher, but after visiting the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, I do think that if I had to chose a news station, I would pick CNN or one of their affiliates. 

Huntsville, Alabama

My favorite part of visiting the NASA or the Marshall Space Flight Center was getting a flight uniform for a Halloween costume. It can be very stressful finding a good costume, so I was very excited when the flight uniform fit me. I even have a winged name badge. Can't wait to try it out next year.

Birmingham, Alabama

The Birmingham Civil Rights Museum was very interesting. They did not allow photos, but they had a moving display on the children killed in a church bombing that happened in Birmingham. I learned a lot from this museum. 

Pensacola, Florida

There were two main reasons we went to Pensacola, Florida. The first was to see the Blue Angles Air Show, and the second was to see the white soft sand of the beaches here. The air show was great. We went Friday night and Sunday day. The Friday night show was great because all the planes were lit up and had fire and firework spectaculars. But on Sunday, we actually got to see the Blue Angels fly.

This Helicopter was one of my favorites. It's name is Otto. Here he is flying backwards.

This is the largest group of planes that fly together. These planes were also made from kits by individual people.

 

Blue Angels. In some instances the planes are only 18 inches apart. Yikes.

 

Fat Albert - the carrier plane for the Blue Angles.

 

Then, we also enjoyed the white soft sandy beaches of Pensacola. I don't think I have walked on sand as soft and fine as the sand here. Also, with sand bars near the shore, you can walk out really far and the water would only be at your waist. On one of my morning walks, I saw this bird in the water, sneaking up to catch a fish. He did it. It reminded me of a stalking cat.

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile, Alabama

The highlight of Mobile, Alabama was going to Memorial Park to see the USS Battleship Alabama. This battleship was used during WWII, and shot down 22 enemy planes. We got to tour all around inside and it was fascinating to see living quarters, engine rooms, and even weapon rooms. There was also a submarine there, but we ran out of time.