A Space-Age Discovery

I Took A Vacation to Tahiti (Finally!)

I did it!

I took a vacation!

Don't hate me, but we went to Tahiti and it was...well, it was Tahiti. Soooo quiet and as far away from DC as we could go. We skipped the turkey and stuffing and opted for tropical drinks and snorkeling instead.

Any other month, the COSTCO magazine would have met the same fate as most of our mail: rip off the address label, shred it, and recycle the rest, usually without even thumbing the pages. But this time I slowed down to read an interesting article about a single mother who treated her daughters to a trip to Tahiti.

That's when we discovered the entire COSTCO Travel universe. So many all-inclusive options, we were overwhelmed. Since Tahiti was on our bucket list, we reviewed the packages and chose Moorea, a small island 11 miles northwest of the main island of Tahiti.

Although Moorea is only about 37 miles in circumference and 10 miles wide, it was the perfect getaway for doing...nothing. What made it even more relaxing and enjoyable were the new friends we met, the incredible array of cuisines we tried, and despite a few raindrops and clouds, it was absolutely worth the 36-hour trek from DC.

The Surprise Highlight: The USO at LAX

As beautiful as the island of Moorea was, do you know what also caught my attention?

The USO at LAX.

We had a 9 hour layover in LA (yes NINE....operator error.) Plenty of time to nap, eat and of course crawl around with my Nikon.

It felt great to get back into photography architecture, especially a place with so much iconic history. The Bob Hope USO - LAX is the flagship center with over 7000 square feet and resides in the historical Theme Building. This structure is a classic example of space-age architecture and is designated a historic cultural monument (source: Wikipedia).

The observation deck used to be open to the public and at one time there was even a restaurant. Now it’s defunct and as I crawled around with my camera, I could see the upper level looked more like construction storage.

Regardless, it was an impressive place to photograph.

Thank you to all USO volunteers that support the Veteran community, these facilities make all the difference during long travel days.

And of course, for those of you who want to see pics from Tahiti, I've dropped a few below.