When Language Academy reading teacher Cindy Edwards stepped off of the plane Dec. 26, and on to the busy streets of Hawaii, the first thing that came to mind was that it looked like any other big city.

“I didn’t see much of a difference,” Edwards said.  

Then she saw the sandy white beach and the intense blue water that she knew she would never forget.

Edwards and her family felt they couldn’t take a trip to Hawaii without visiting one place in particular. 

“We first went to Honolulu because our mission was to go to Pearl Harbor the next morning,” she said.  

This ended up being the most memorable portion of the trip for Edwards and her family.

“A really moving part of Pearl Harbor was a spiral of markers that represented the battleships and submarines that fought and were lost at sea,” she said.  

Mrs. Edwards got to experience several new things, but the breath taking atmosphere wasn’t necessarily the main focus.

“Honestly, just being with my family was my favorite part.  My grown kids were tolerant of me,” she said.  

Unfortunately, their trip came to an end Jan. 2.  They had to pack up and board their flight back to the every day life of Northwest Arkansas.