Ka'a'awa Valley
Author: Mark Dizon
May 3 - 15, 2022
Hawaii is a place I always come back to. It is a place where I absolutely feel at home and a place where I can just destress. Hawaii has a way of re-centering you and making you realize that we do not need much to enjoy life. It has been a long three years since Mayra and I have been back in Oahu (thank you COVID). Our last visit was in May 2019 right before we left Beale AFB, CA for our tour here in Vandenberg SFB. We came to see family in Mililani since we might not be back until after our European tour.
We arrived at 1300 HST after a very early morning flight out of Santa Barbara (I woke up at 0200 PST for a 0530 PST take off). Stepping out of the plane and walking through the Daniel K Inouye International Airport is such a great feeling for me every time. You know you're in paradise. That perfect blend of warm temperature and humidity brings me back to my childhood days in the Philippines and that is one of the reasons why I love Hawaii. It felt really good to see my brother Lito and his wife Angie again. It is always good to see family. Seeing family helps us to reenergize and refocus.
Mayra and I did not have much planned for this visit. All we really wanted to do was spend time with our family, hit the beaches and visit Kualoa Ranch. We booked an ATV Raptor Tour with them and it was an awesome experience. We went through Jurassic Valley where the original Jurassic Park was filmed. Kualoa Ranch is world famous for their movie set tours and the nature preservations they do. Our two tour guides were very knowledgeable and this was one of those bucket list destinations that we had to check off.
800 year old fishponds
The following day we visited Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. The best thing about this place is its lush green scenery and it was totally free to enter. We arrived early before the crowd. This place was very serene and tranquil but as the morning went on, more and more people showed up. A lot of instagrammers and tik tokers were in the middle of the road creating videos so we decided not to spend too much time here and went on to our favorite spot, Bellows Air Force Station.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Bellows Beach inside the military recreation area. I love this place. I have been coming here for years for its seclusion. One of the perks of being active duty military is that we can take advantage of military recreation facilities like Bellows. So we went to the gas station, picked up some snacks and a cold six pack then spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach.
The remainder of our time in Hawaii was spent with family. We hung out with my brother and we enjoyed Ate Angie's awesome cooking (Ate means older sister in Tagalog). Mayra and I drove around the island but we've seen most of the go to spots in Oahu so we took is slow for the remainder of our trip. We went shopping at the NEX and BX (Navy Exchange and Base Exchange for Air Force) and got Ate Angie a gift and flowers for Mother's Day. We had a small barbeque with friends on our final night in Oahu and they brought us lots of gifts to take back.
We flew back to the mainland early the next morning on Mother's Day. I forgot how crazy the airport here can be on departure. We arrived 1.5 hours before our flight which was a mistake. We nearly missed our flight due to the time it took to get through. First, you have to go through the agricultural check and have your check-in bags verified before you can check them in. The line for check-in bags (we flew Southwest) was extremely long. It was a steady slow move to the front counter. After you drop off your bags, you'll have to go through security. If you do not have TSA-Pre (which Mayra did not on her ticket), it will take longer to get through. So note to self, arrive at least two hours prior to departure from Oahu to the mainland.