The first time I visited Guam, as a Student Missionary, on Christmas holiday from teaching 3rd grade, on the island of Pohnpei, Micronesia, back in 1988, I had no idea I'd be back. Now I am on my fourth trip back to this pretty island in the Pacific Ocean, 13 degrees north of the equator, and am finding I feel at home. Guam gave us a lovely warm welcome after leaving cold snowy winter in Washington State, where in Walla Walla we have had no break from snow on the ground since Thanksgiving. A few days before I left home, the trail around Bennington Lake sparkled with snow.
Rob and I left our snowy home on January 3, 2017, saying good bye to family and friends and single digit temperatures. There was wild weather all around, with United Airline delays all over the nation. Our first flight, Pasco, WA to San Francisco was delayed a couple hours. Our flight from San Francisco to Hawaii was quite delayed, but we found out our delays did not cause us near as many problems as some people were experiencing, waiting in airports all day. By the time we made it into Honolulu, we were 5 hours late, getting us there at around 2:30 AM, rather than 9:30 PM. It wouldn't be a problem for us, except that we found after waiting for an hour at the place to catch a shuttle to the rental car agency, that they were all closed from midnight until 5 AM. This meant that we could not get to the Airbnb that we had reserved. So we went back inside and lay down on benches to sleep for a while, hoping we could get a refund. We got our rental car shortly after they opened, but then wide awake, because it was already morning back at home. So we drove around to see what we could see. Safeway had some food, so we were able to grab some breakfast. We stopped at a park by Wikiki and watched surfers while we ate breakfast and watched the sun rise.
Have you ever bought a juicy, ripe, pineapple at the store and taken it to a park bench to open with a pocket knife? I think that was Rob's favorite part of the morning. The paper bag it came with became our table cloth, and then container to carry the half of the pineapple we were too full to eat. That pineapple was so ripe and sweet, juice dripped from our hands and our chins. It was a good thing there were water faucets were surfers and pineapple eaters could rinse off before returning to their cars.
If you are playing the license plate game while reading this blog post, here is an elusive Hawaii plate to add to complete your list of the 50 United States. I know how hard it is to find this plate if you are on the mainland.
We visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial National Park Site. We didn't have enough time to take the ferry tour to the waters above the USS Arizona's remains. It was a somber place to visit, adding to our understanding of WWII in the Pacific.
Our flight to Guam was on time and uneventful, but I was certainly ready to land and head off for some sleep once we reached our new home. Several people from Adventist World Radio met us at the airport and gave us beautiful Plumaria Leis.
Rob will be doing some engineering work for Adventist World Radio for most of three months, during his winter quarter sabbatical from teaching engineering. I will be teaching some watercolor art classes and English as a Second Language (ESL) Classes. Our kids will be continuing their education back in Washington State.
Rob and I left our snowy home on January 3, 2017, saying good bye to family and friends and single digit temperatures. There was wild weather all around, with United Airline delays all over the nation. Our first flight, Pasco, WA to San Francisco was delayed a couple hours. Our flight from San Francisco to Hawaii was quite delayed, but we found out our delays did not cause us near as many problems as some people were experiencing, waiting in airports all day. By the time we made it into Honolulu, we were 5 hours late, getting us there at around 2:30 AM, rather than 9:30 PM. It wouldn't be a problem for us, except that we found after waiting for an hour at the place to catch a shuttle to the rental car agency, that they were all closed from midnight until 5 AM. This meant that we could not get to the Airbnb that we had reserved. So we went back inside and lay down on benches to sleep for a while, hoping we could get a refund. We got our rental car shortly after they opened, but then wide awake, because it was already morning back at home. So we drove around to see what we could see. Safeway had some food, so we were able to grab some breakfast. We stopped at a park by Wikiki and watched surfers while we ate breakfast and watched the sun rise.
Have you ever bought a juicy, ripe, pineapple at the store and taken it to a park bench to open with a pocket knife? I think that was Rob's favorite part of the morning. The paper bag it came with became our table cloth, and then container to carry the half of the pineapple we were too full to eat. That pineapple was so ripe and sweet, juice dripped from our hands and our chins. It was a good thing there were water faucets were surfers and pineapple eaters could rinse off before returning to their cars.
If you are playing the license plate game while reading this blog post, here is an elusive Hawaii plate to add to complete your list of the 50 United States. I know how hard it is to find this plate if you are on the mainland.
We visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial National Park Site. We didn't have enough time to take the ferry tour to the waters above the USS Arizona's remains. It was a somber place to visit, adding to our understanding of WWII in the Pacific.
Our flight to Guam was on time and uneventful, but I was certainly ready to land and head off for some sleep once we reached our new home. Several people from Adventist World Radio met us at the airport and gave us beautiful Plumaria Leis.
Rob will be doing some engineering work for Adventist World Radio for most of three months, during his winter quarter sabbatical from teaching engineering. I will be teaching some watercolor art classes and English as a Second Language (ESL) Classes. Our kids will be continuing their education back in Washington State.
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