HAWAII?!?!?! part 2

Last time since I only talked about Pearl Harbor, I'll talk about the rest of the trip now. If anyone's interested in listening. 

We didn't stay the whole day at Pearl Harbor. We were scheduled by Varsity to go early in the morning, so we had time to do what we wanted the rest of the day. My mom and I went down to the beach, which was BEAUTIFUL. The water was bright blue, like a crystal, or light blue Gatorade. It was also super warm, which I'm not used to. The beach was also over a coral reef, which I didn't realize. I thought when I was stepping in, I was just standing on rocks. But turns out, it was a reef! Some guy told me. That explained why there were people snorkeling...We saw another rainbow. But, it was pretty dark in the distance, and the clouds were moving towards us, so we decided to head in after a while (I also wasn't wearing sunscreen and didn't wanna get burnt...) We did head up to the pool to rinse the sand off. The resort had two pools, a kids' pool and an adult one. Both were freezing, so we smoldered in the hot tub for a little. The kids' pool did have these cool fountains on the edge that sprayed up with little light up discs under them, so I jumped between them because it looked fun and I'm a child and I wanted to. We walked around for a while, got food at a food truck, it was a pretty chill day. We weren't quite sure what to do, what there even WAS to do. When we tried to look up stuff to do, it said everything was on the other side of the island and it was a couple hour drive so walking was WAY out of the question.

The next day, I had practice for the Pearl Harbor parade (since you know, that's why I was there) and I stayed up really late learning the routine. I at one point heard some girls yelling the cheer outside, and went out on my balcony, and above me was more cheerleaders practicing! We talked for a while, and it was pretty cool! They unfortunately weren't in my group (since there were so many cheerleaders, we couldn't all practice together, we were split into groups depending on random groups of states I swear were AI chosen because there was no correlation) The day before, we heard about this place called Leonard's Bakery, which was supposed to be really good. We also wanted to go to the University of Hawaii, since it was on Oahu (the island we were on) and although it was a far walk, it was still walking distance. After rehearsal, we headed off, and on the way, we also passed this place called the Rainbow Drive-In, which I remember hearing was on the Guy Fiera show. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The same person who told us about Leonard's told us about that. We stopped in, and it was a cute little place. It was the first (and oldest) restaurant in the state, even older than the state's annexation itself. I wanted to get a pressed penny, but we left and forgot. We got some sort of Japanese chicken and a chicken sandwich, and it was SUPER good. The chicken sandwich didn't taste greasy like fast food, and the Japanese chicken was served in a small pizza box! But they were both delicious, and worth the time. It also wasn't super expensive, which was nice. Super affordable for both meals (unlike everything else on the island...) There were pigeons just walking around. I pet one! I also fed them because I'm that person...but no one was being effected by it, so no harm, right? We talked to this mom and daughter who were here for Varsity All-American, too, but they were from California and very versed with the island.

We started heading for Leonard's, which was closing soon. We saw this other bakery called Nanding's and stopped there, too. I got a Nutella thing. It was good. We tried to stop at this cute store called Snoopy's Surf Shop and had a ton of Snoopy and surf themed things. It was my one good friend's birthday, and she loves Peanuts, so we were gonna get her something there, but it was closed early for some reason. The sign said it was open, but it was locked with no one inside. Sad. Heading for Leonard's, we stopped there (it was packed) I got this melted marshmello thing. It wasn't that good. But, it was fun to try!

The walk to the university was definitely further than we thought, but it wasn't hard for my mom and I. The GPS was taking us the wrong way, and we did have to walk through a kind of shady area...but we got there without dying. My mom did ask a lot of random people for directions, though. We entered through the athletics side of the school, with the baseball field and soccer fields. We passed the dorms, and that area was full of fallen foliage and it was dark and didn't look that great. However, once we got onto the actual campus, it was super pretty! There were these big almost palace-looking buildings, surrounded by palm trees and pretty flowering plants and these huge, thick grey-ish trees which were super cool. Everything was so pretty and taken care of. There were stone benches under trees and flowers every five feet it felt like. They had a big theater that we were going to go into, but didn't. It was called the John F. Kennedy Theater. We made it to the bookstore (where I got a nice Champion hoodie and Hawaii University cheerleading sticker) and outside was this really pretty park looking place with trees and study areas. It was super cool. They also had a nice gym/workout facility right next to the bookstore. I really liked the campus. It reminded me of Chatham's campus with the trees and nature just all over this campus with beautiful buildings, but in a tropical way with different building styles (both super pretty though). 

We went up to the hot tub on the roof to chill that night. It was PACKED, and almost everyone was a cheerleader. We met a really nice lady from Louisiana, and another from California. They both gave me college advice. We then talked to the daughter of the California lady who was also super nice. It was cool being up there, even though my legs were pressed against strangers and I felt like I was being boiled alive.

Then, it was the day of the parade! The whole reason I was there was so that I could be in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade as a Varsity All-Amican. Because I'm guessing most people don't know what that is, I'll give a little run-down. Varsity is a company that makes the highest end cheerleading gear--uniforms, poms, shoes, bags, etc.--it the top of the line, lululemon equivalent to cheer. Varsity is also in charge of this company called UCA, the Universal Cheerleading Association. UCA hosts these camps for cheer squads to go to, or for instructors to go to a cheer squad's school (those ones are more private, that's what my school does) The camps are meant to teach squads new stunts, cheers, daces, learn the regulations for stunts and tumbling, and at the end of the camp they're cleared to compete. Without being cleared by UCA or another cheer association, schools aren't allowed to compete (and although there are other companies that clear teams, UCA is the best one and teaches squads the best stuff). Cheerleaders are also allowed to try out for this special group called All-America, where they only choose a couple--if any--cheerleaders from the squad. All-Americans are then allowed to go to certain events, such as Philly or London or Disney. Last year, I went to Philly for the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and this year, I chose Honolulu for the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. Back to the story, it was now the day of the parade! The parade wasn't until the evening, so we had most of the day to ourselves.  From our balcony in our room, there was this huge mountain. It was beautiful. It's called Diamondhead, and it's actually a crater created by the same volcano that made the island (Oahu)! It's a state park, and my mom and I had been wanting to go because we'd heard it was so beautiful. It was a 10 or 20 minute walk from our hotel, but we thought that was better than renting an uber or taking a bus. So, we set off. We saw a lot of red-crested cardinals. We got there earlier than our reservation (you have to reserve a time to come to the park) but they still let us in. There were a lot of Australians there, I was surprised. The whole time we'd been in Hawaii, I'd heard a lot of people speaking Japanese, which makes sense since the island has always had a strong Japanese heritage, but I hadn't heard any Australians. But there were SO MANY. I swear, 3/4 groups I heard speaking English were Australian. I thought Troye Sivan was about to pop out. The hiking trail was very popular in the 1910s and was often a base for military protection. The top of the crater is 760 feet above sea level! You have to go through what feels like an old mine tunnel through part of the mountain to get to the top, which was actually pretty neat! Then, at the top, you can see the whole island. The city, the park, everything. You can also spot Maui, one of the other islands, from the top, too! I grabbed a rock from the peak, and then we headed back down. We hopped on a bus to get back and then we had to start getting ready for the parade. My mom wanted to get some photos of me first, and there were so many other cheerleaders doing that, too. Walking down the street, everywhere was like a swarm of red, white and blue uniforms. To get to the parade starting route, we met back at the hotel and walked I don't even know how far to make it there. I think they said the parade route was a little over a mile and a half, but I don't know how far away the start was from the hotel. I met some nice girls, and waiting at the start took forever. There were so many of us, it felt like we were in a line of a mile long! Waiing for us to start in the parade this year was so much better than it was in Philly last year. Philly was FREEZING, so at least here I could relax and be comfortable. One of the girls I was talking to was a drum major, so we talked about band (she told me I looked like I played bari sax, but I play alto). I'm not in marching band, but I'm in jazz band, and she said she wished her school was big enough to have multiple concert bands cause she'd love to be in jazz band. Once we were in line to go in the parade, however, something was wrong. Since there were 800 of us, we had to be split into four marching groups and would be walking behind four different music trucks. However, it turned out they only had three...and I was in the last group...so my group had to go behind the third group, and since I was in the back, I could barely hear the music. Everyone was counting the whole time and it was the only reason we were on beat together. Although I could hardly hear the music, it was still fun. At the very end of the route, they had dinners for us, and all of the bands were preforming. Bands all over the country came for the parade, including a high school that's only 45 minutes away from mine, and we play them every year in soccer! I scored my first high school goal there, and their soccer team is always really good and really clean, so I always liked playing them. My guidance counselor's son who used to be my brother's best friend also goes to that school. We were going to say hi because we thought he was in the band, but turns out he wasn't. The band that closed it out was the marine's band, and they were SUPER good. Like, good enough that I'd go see them in concert. Absolutely epic. After that, my mom and I headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted.

The final day, in the morning, I had a surf lesson. I was super excited, and waiting for it all week! Oahu is a very popular surfing island. They have Vans Pipe Masters--a huge surfing competition--there every year starting on Pearl Harbor Day. If it wasn't the whole way on the other side of the island, we would've gone to watch. But at my surf lesson, I hung with another cheerleader (she was from Alabama) who was super sweet. There was also an Australian kid my age, but he didn't talk much. Surfing wasn't as hard as it seems, but the instructors said that dancers, cheerleaders and soccer players all typically do really well, and I'm all of those things so I guess I got an advantage. I really liked surfing, and I totally want to do it again! We were pretty far out, but not far enough that you couldn't see shore, and the whole way out it was pretty shallow. Like, I could touch the whole way out there pretty much. I had a few really good waves, but my last two SUCKED and I was disappointed. But, hey, it was still super fun! After that, I went and swam in the ocean. I got stung by a jellyfish, which wasn't that bad. I went straight into a hot shower and it didn't bother me again after that. We asked the surf shop what we should do, and they said since we didn't put vinegar on it right away to get a hot shower so that I could sweat the venom out. And look! It worked! They said it would be itchy after that, but it wasn't, and it's fully healed now. 

That evening, UCA sent all the cheerleaders out to luaus that were off the hotels perimeters. They were split in half, each half at a different location, but both were a little over an hour away. And, as it turned out, we got the worse luau... At the other one, they were taught how to make leis, given the seed necklaces, the cheerleaders went on stage and learned from the dancers how to hula, they got to go on trails to see tropical birds. Theirs was also really long, and it everyone who went to that one said they loved it. At ours, the food wasn't good, we got conch shell leis (which are actually still cool, I have mine hanging in my room I really like it) and there weren't birds and we didn't get to dance with the dancers. The show was still good though, don't get me wrong. There was this one girl who was so fun to watch, she was featured a lot. The MC was also really good. She was funny and had a really strong voice. I did talk to one of the drummers afterwards (music nerd ik) and he told me about the noises him and the dancers make to signify changes in tempo or to show a new part of the music was starting. It was something I had noticed because I went to a dance camp over the summer where one of the classes was African dance and it was similar, so I wondered if it was the same. It was! He said he appreciated me noticing :) The first half of the show was the dancers dancing out the story of how the Polynesians came to Hawaii, which was really cool!

The next day, we had to leave :( We walked around and I dipped my toes in the ocean one last time, then we headed to the airport. As soon as we got back to my town, though, I had to almost immediately go to my dance studio's Christmas show. It was hectic, but I'm glad I made it back in time for my dance show. 

Anyway, those were my adventures. I hope you enjoyed hearing about them. :))