Brian and I live on the windward side and base is on the… not windward side (leeward?). It takes Brian anywhere between 35-45 minutes commuting, his longest commute ever… but he’s ok with it for the pay off of living where we do. Here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery he gets to see on his ride to base (when it’s light out… sometimes he leaves too early).

I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, but those distinct edges on the mountainside are from the volcanoes geography.

Most of the road names are authentic Hawaiian and it’s fun hearing the GPS attempt to say them.

Here we’re approaching a tunnel which comes out at a nice view of Honolulu area. There are huge drops on either side of the barrier so I close my eyes and pray. Just kidding…

Someday I’ll get better pictures and maybe a video of my drive to the marine corps base and from our house. The drive to the Marine Corps base is so pretty that it makes me emotional sometimes.

One of the first weeks we were here, Brian was driving and let someone out ahead of him. They Shaka’d him:

This gesture but twisting your wrist usually. It’s basically a way of saying thank you in Hawaii. Now, when people don’t shaka him for doing that, he gets offended.

I am trying to get in the habit of doing it, too, but felt it weird when I had CT plates. The highways here move at a “slow” pace and I love it. There aren’t millions of cars zooming on either side of you. I’m not sure I’ll be comfortable driving on the massive highways back home ever again but we’ll see. The dividers in the middle of the road are commonly raised bumps instead of painted and I realize that wouldn’t fly where snow plows are common.