My Pictures from Twentynine Palms

Kealoha at Twentynine Palms, CA

Sorry the blog hasn’t been updated but since I am on the road K’s mom has been posting for me. Unfortunately, she fell and ended up on crutches so she is way behind on everything!

I am in Oregon now but my visit to California was awesome! I’ve met Marine pilots before at home at Vance Air Force Base so I was pretty excited to visit the Marine base at Twentynine Palms in California and check out how our ‘sister service” does things when they are at home. I didn’t realize Twentynine Palms is the world’s largest Marine base, home of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. They have infantry units stationed here as well as the largest formal school in the Corps, Marine Corps Communications and Electronics School. Students there learn to troubleshoot, operate and fix anything dealing with communications equipment from radios, to faxes, printers and phones. SEMPER FI! (I love the Marine motto - it means "always faithful" - but I better get saying it all the time out of my system before I get home. )

Joshua Tree National Park is also at Twentynine Palms, so there was lots to see and do.

My new friend Cadence (isn’t that the coolest name for a Marine family doll?) was nice enough to show me around. I arrived during Little League season so I got to go to lots of games; I wish I had brought my cheerleader uniform! The kids in the family play softball AND baseball so Cadence and I spent lots of time running back and forth between from the ballfields but we didn’t miss a single game!

Unfortunately, I was a little late getting off to my next host in Oregon because one of the kids hurt his knee at a game. I needed to stay and make sure he was going to be okay before I could leave; I would have worried too much to enjoy the trip otherwise.

Cadence also introduced me to the vast desert and the endless sand here in the "high desert." I had never seen the desert before; it was amazing! Cadence likes to pretend she lives on Tattooine like Anakin Skywalker! Even though it's very hot and they don't get much rain, there are still trees/shrubs/and small plants…even some flowers!

The city of Twentynine Palms is called the Oasis of Murals. There are approximately 18 murals scattered around town painted on the sides of the local businesses. Each mural tells a story of the history of the town. My favorite mural was what Cadence’s family calls the hide and seek mural. It's a huge desert scene and the legend across the bottom that helps you find different items like hidden coyotes, plants, flowers, lizards, etc. You can spend hours looking at it!

I also got to meet Cadence’s sister, travelling Corde, when she came home for a little break between visits. Corde told me all about her visit with Miss April in Colorado. I was so excited! I will be visiting her after this trip to Oregon is through…I can’t wait!

My Visit to Hawaii in Pictures

Hello, Honolulu!

I bet you are all jealous that I was lucky enough to spend two weeks visiting beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii. Oh, it was nice see 80 degree weather again after a long winter in Oklahoma! I'd been so homesick! I stayed with our old neighbours at Hickam Air Force Base and got to say good bye to our old house, which is being torn down soon. (They are finally going to build new base housing in its place. No more rats!) K's best friend Olsa was very happy to see me and paid me lots of attention. I've never had my clothes changed so often! I helped her with her homework everyday after school. We did lots of sightseeing while I was there, too.

We visited the Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor (which is right next door to Hickam AFB). This has to be one of the saddest places in the world. The memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, which is the final resting place for over 1,000 of the 1,177 sailors killed on when their ship was bombed by the Japanese Navy. Over half of the Americans killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor went down with the Arizona. Many, many survivors of that day come back to pay their respects; when we lived in Hawaii the girls’ dad always volunteered to work as a military escort for them at the anniversary service each year.

I also got to be an honorary Girl Scout for the day and go on a field trip with the troop to see the Battleship Missouri. The “Mighty Mo,” which is now a museum at Pearl Harbor, is a Navy battleship that fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Persian Gulf War. She is most famous, though, for being the ship that hosted all the allied and Japanese leaders when the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II. I got to see the exact spot it happened!

We also went out to Ford Island (which is in the middle of Pearl Harbor - you go over a bridge to get there) to visit the new Pacific Aviation Museum. I got to have my picture taken at Luke Field in front of the abandoned control tower. Ford Island is where a lot of the location shots were filmed for the movie Pearl Harbor; you can see Luke Tower in the movie, too! Lots of new buildings are going up over there now: nice new housing, temporary lodging facilities (which is a fancy name for military hotel) and the new museum. The museum even has flight simulators where you can “fly” a plane!

My favourite visit, though, was to Nimitz Elementary School to visit all the girls’ old friends and teachers. Mrs. O, the world’s best Kindergarten teacher (who taught K and her sister when we lived in Hawaii), was so happy to see me! I took a picture with her for the girls; they really miss her (especially that smile). I made lots of new friends, too, in Olsa’s classroom.

I was very sad when my two weeks in Hawaii was over, but I was excited to be on my way to California. Right now I am Twentynine Palms in southern California. Wait until you see my pictures!