Finished the drawer project and some additonal Hawaii Info

I finished the Bench drawer today and already have it stuffed full of tools. Nice to finally be done with that little project. I bet you can tell that the front was made from a remnant of the shipping crate of the wing kit, can't you?

I ordered 3 drawer handles today, so OK, it's not totally done yet, but close enough. I will spend the weekend purging shelves in the garage and re-arranging my peg board in a more organized fashion.

For my fellow guitar and music lovers, I just wanted to insert this little video from the first night we were in Hawaii. I have never seen Santana being played on a Ukelele before - thought it was quite cool! The original song was being played over some loud speakers and this guy was jamming to it on his ukelele. A little further down I found another "dueling" musician on a pair of Jamaican drums that was also playing to the same song - who would have thought....

Next is pic of my lovely wife taking advantage of one of the colorful flowers that were blooming on bushes all over the place..

And another pic of the top of Diamond Head, a dormant volcano on Oahu and the edge of Waikiki that is said to have erupted over 300,000 years ago. To appreciate this photo, you have to reailize that on all the travel and tour brochures it cautions people that it will take about 1.5 hours to cimb to the top where this pic was taken. Yes, you have to hike up to the top from the parking lot, which is shown down in the crater where we started the trail up to the top. Noreen and I made the climb in about 25 minutes - we were really truckin up that hill! Thought we had really accomplished something until we found an alternate stairway near the top with 99 stairs, and met a woman at the top who said she climbs up and down this set of stairs 10 times a day - after which I went back to feeling like my usual out-of-shape self! One trip up those stairs was enough for me. The view from the top was absolutely beautiful, and well worth the hike to get there.

And lastly, I took more video than pics while at the Arizona Memorial. As I mentioned in a previous post, this was a special, life-long goal of mine that is now fulfilled, but with a yearning to return again someday. It was a very emotional experience for me. Noreen took this shot of me looking back toward the remains of the bow of the Arizona, which can be seen just above the water line in the background. Further in the background is the U.S.S. Missouri, in its pristine glory as the last battleship ever built by the USA. The entire time I was out there all I kept thinking about was how ironic this was - to be at the site where WWII began for America in 1941, and at the same time to be within sight of the Missouri, where the war was officially ended in 1945 while it was moored in Tokyo Bay. Two ships at the opposite ends of a journey, together in one place.

I will try to transfer my other video and post some clips of the memorial. One other word of caution to anyone that would like to experience this for themselves - this is a time to rent a car and take your time to visit the grounds, take the audio tour, and visit the museums, in addition to the short time you are given to visit the memorial by ferry boat. Do NOT take a tour bus.