June 19th saw us waking up for the last time on NCL's Pride of America. The ship was heading back into harbor in Honolulu as we went to the Skyline Restaurant for a morning breakfast before disembarkation. Our luggage had been spirited away in the night and was hopefully safely tucked away for its journey to the airport on our plane to Chicago. We ate a leisurely breakfast (almost without chocolate milk for Thomas and Rebecca, as the waiter at first claimed the ship was out of chocolate milk, then found some from the buffet upstairs). We then walked around the ship one last time and sat down on some chairs in the lobby to let the disembarkation line dissapate.

We scanned our cards one last time and exited the ship and went through the empty warehouse to where we hoped our pre-arranged ride to the airport was waiting. We found the van driver, but he was unaware of our reservation. After showing him the receipt on J. R.'s cellphone, he took Janie and Rebecca off to the airport, while Alex, Thomas and J. R. walked over to Aloha Tower, where we would rendezvous for one last day on Oahu.

The boys unsuccessfully tried to find a Starbucks at Aloha Tower, only to learn it had closed. So they waited while Janie picked up a rental car, which was a red Jeep which was quickly dubbed "Buster's Cousin".

Our first stop of the day was the Bishop Museum, which had been closed on our earlier attempt the previous week. The museum houses a large collection of artifacts from Hawai'i history, but we were also surprised to learn it had a planetarium and science center as well. Our first stop was the planetarium, because it had a restroom, but we also were engaged by the giant sphere in the center of the room which was connected to a computer terminal. There, you could turn it into a projection of the Earth which showed natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami that hit Thailand, or, as Thomas preferred, a giant replica of the Death Star.

We headed next to the Bishop Museum itself, which housed three floors of artifacts dating back to the earliest history of the islands, when settlers from Polynesian and Tahiti came to the islands through Hawai'ian independence and statehood. Sadly, no picture taking was allowed in the museum.

After noon, there was a planetarium show of the constellations visible in the skies during this time of year. We wished we had seen this earlier in the week because we had tried to glimpse the Southern Cross, but had no idea what to really look for or where to look. After this, we went to the Science Center where they were holding a demonstration on how lava was formed, including pouring of molten lava.

As it passed noon, we grew hungry, so we left the Bishop Museum and drove over to Ko Olina, where we hoped to find lunch and a beach to relax. We found both at the J.W. Marriott Ko Olina Beach Resort. We had read where they would validate parking for the Ko Olina lagoon if you ate lunch at the resort restaurant, and since the limited public parking was full, that is what we did. Lunch was very good and then we walked through the pool area and down to one of three lagoons on this area of Oahu where we spread out our beach mats, changed into our swim trunks and spent the afternoon relaxing for the final time on Hawai'ian sand.

Being huge Disney fans, we had to take pictures of the Disney Ko Olina Beach Resort that was being built directly adjacent to the Marriott and would share the same public lagoon.

We left Ko Olina around 5PM, and to our shock, the gates were open on the parking deck so we didn't have to pay for a day of parking -- unheard of in Honolulu. We were hoping for some dessert, but it was too late for Dole Whips and we didn't want to fight or pay for parking down on the Waikiki strip where the Cheesecake Factory was, so we returned to the Hilton Hawaiian Village where we knew yummy island ice cream was waiting. We got our ice creams then headed out to sit near the pool and enjoy the scenery where we had spent most of our first week. We finally took some pictures of the penguins and turtles and then headed back in Buster's Cousin to the airport.

It took us a while to find the right security lines at the airport as the signage for agricultural control was very confusing. We finally got through security though (forgetting to take our 3-1-1 bag out of our luggage, not that TSA noticed) and began the long walk to our terminal. Honolulu airport is confusing as you walk outside after going through security to head to the overseas terminal. We found the Red Carpet Club, where we changed out of shorts into jeans for the flight home. We regretted this for a moment when we got to the gate and found the flight was being held up because the air conditioning was not working and the temperature onboard as over 90 degrees! They finally got it cooled and we boarded a half-hour late for our flight to San Francisco, which meant we would have a tight turn there and no chance for breakfast. Luckily for J. R., Janie and Rebecca, they were upgraded to business class for the San Francisco to Chicago leg, meaning a hot meal.

We arrived at O'Hare, as did our luggage, mid-day on June 20, called for our limo, and headed home not-quite-ready to begin another work week after a fabulous two weeks in paradise.