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Pililaau Army Rec Center - July 4-6
July 4th
Michelle reserved this place a year in advanced. Apparently, it gets booked pretty fast. The location of this area is on Pokai Bay. The military owns some land on Pokai Bay and built cabins in the area. For the 4th of July, I tried to invite whoever, but in the end only Cousin Audi and her family came. We tried to think about what would be a good 4th of July meal, the only thing that comes to mind is hamburgers and hot dogs. That was on the menu.
The drive to the cabin from Mililani was about 45 minutes. We checked into the guard shack and parked at the office. Michelle got the key and parking passes. Our cabin for the 3 days was cabin #9. We got two parking spaces. The walk to the cabin was about 1 minute. Inside the cabin are 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living area and kitchen. The kitchen was furnished with utensils. There is a BBQ grill in front of the cabin with a picnic bench. There is also a lanai where we could hang out. The beach is a few steps away. The only drag about this area is that there is lack of privacy since the cabins are connected in pods of 4.
Malia had this idea of the mermaid cave, so we went. I told Malia it would be busy there, but she didn’t seem to mind. When we got there, it was busy about 30 people. We got to the hole, while Jared and Michelle hung out by the rocks. An older mother and her daughter were waiting to go inside. The mother had a difficult time, so she told us that we could go first. I had no problems getting down to the ladder, yeah someone installed a ladder. I helped Malia down and saw that there were a lot of people down there. There were three girls with G-string bikinis. It was kind of awkward for me since we were so cramped in there. Eventually, Malia got her way and she was able to take a picture in the cave. I reminded Malia not to be selfish and let others come down. If we were by ourselves, we could have taken our time. Near the cave are these memorials. Lots of them. One memorial had generations of people on them. Going back, we hit traffic. We stopped at Sugar Hut. Not the greatest customer service as it seemed that we weren’t invited. We were about to leave, but Malia was persistent in getting her chocolate truffle for $1. We did. Also of note was a great pumpkin crunch. It was really good.
It took forever to get dark on this summer’s day. I got more and more drunk. The kids were having so much fun playing around the cabin with the other kids in the neighboring cabin. Today is America’s birthday and it felt like it here. We were celebrating our freedom. The fireworks went off in Koolina at 8:30pm, but we didn’t get to see it as Pu’u O Hulu was in the way. We continued talking good story. I got really drunk, I was drinking so much beer, it was crazy.
At 12am, we started to put everything away. I was so tired, even though we took a nap in the afternoon. I remember knocking out a little after 12am. I woke up at 5am the next morning, but went back to sleep until 9am.
Since it was 4th of July, it was really busy. It appeared everyone was feeling good already since all the bottles were out. I threw my Kona Brewing in the freezer trying to get it to chill fast. I cleaned the BBQ pit and loaded it up. I cooked the hot dogs first and corn. The corn to my surprise was excellent. Michelle wrap the corn in foil inside was butter and garlic salt. Next year we are making more corn! Audi, Manu and the kids came around 6pm. They brought more food. I already had three beers and was feeling tipsy. I cooked the teri burgers, added cheese and toasted the bun ~ $$$. I wish more people could experience my May’s teri burgers, it taste so good.
July 5th
After waking up at 9am with a bad hangover, I cleaned up the cabin by washing dishes, taking out the trash, cleaning the BBQ grill, and tidying up the place. Everyone was still sleeping and I got anxious and needed to do something. I inflated my tube. My pump was garbage and wasn’t inflating my tube properly. I got impatient and went down to the beach to chill in my tube. For some reason, it is the thing to do for me at the beach, chill in a tube. After about 30 minutes, I went back and everyone was still asleep.
We went back and I started dinner. Guess what it was? Yup teri burgers and hot dogs again. The sunset was amazing, one of the most picturesque sunsets I’ve ever seen. We stayed out there till the sun went down. Michelle was drinking her white wine (Sauternes) and I was drinking Kona Brew (Longboard as always). I got drunk pretty good again, and only 3 beers this time. We watched TV, they have the old cable from Oceanic, but most of the basic cable channels.
July 6
Our last day here, checkout time was 11am. I woke up at about 8am and went down to the beach again to float in my tube. Jared joined eventually, but we didn't stay too long because it was really hot. I feared that I would be burned by the sun. Breakfast was hard to make in sub par pans. But I was able to fry bacon and cook eggs. I turned out good. The pack up was fast. We said bye to the cabins and went home. Clean up took about 1 hour, but was enjoyable since everyone was doing their part, except Jared, he needed to be forced to do stuff.
This place is a must again. Michelle suggested more people next time. I totally agree. If I invite early, we could potluck then I wouldn’t need to buy so much food. I think everyone is willing to potluck.
Herbert Pililaau - I didn't realize that Pililaau was a person, I thought it was Hawaiian for something. There is a plaque near the office about Pililaau where I got the following information. He grew up in Waianae and enlisted in the Army. He was a private in the Korean War. In one of the battles called Heartbreak Ridge, his infantry was told to retreat. Pililaau stayed back while his infantry retreated. He used up all of his bullets and eventually fought the enemy with his knife and bare hands before dying. His bravery awarded him the Medal of Honor by Harry Truman.
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