Guam...Where America's Day Begins

Where in the USA is it summer all year around, do you find both Spanish and Japanese influence in it's history and the locations of a major US military offensive during WWII? Yep, it's Guam! Lana and I just finished a week traveling around Guam...our last trip before leaving Korea. It was filled with both sun and rain (a typhoon had just passed the island a couple days prior to our arrival), but still was a very enjoyable and relaxing vacation for us both before the baby arrives! There are two US military bases on Guam, and we stayed on the US Naval Base since it is more centrally located on the island and because Andersen AFB would not guarantee room availability before arriving.

Our days usually started with a trip to the base gym and then making a determination on what we thought the weather would do. Thankfully we only had to wait one day for the sun and we were able to enjoy the beaches on both bases. Some of the nicest beaches on the island are located on the bases since they see less tourists and are in great locations...a few times Lana and I were the only ones enjoying the scenery. The Navy Base has Gab Gab Beach and a great lagoon at the bottom of old Spanish Steps (from sometime in the 1700s), while Andersen's most picturesque is Targue Beach. The lagoon reminded us of our time in the Philippines, and the best part was we had the whole place to ourselves during our time there! Both Gab Gab and the lagoon had great snorkeling! When we arrived at Targue Beach we could hardly believe we were on an Air Force Base...might be requesting an assignment there in the future when it's time for me to sit behind a desk for a few years. We finished our days with a nice meal, to include our favorite, Indian, a couple times!

The middle of the week was filled with clouds and rain, so Lana and I visited a few of the WWII memorial sites from the Battle of Guam, specifically where the Marines landed at Agat and Agana Beaches. I didn't realize Guam, or for that fact, most of the Mariana Islands were locations of major US battles against the Japanese during WWII. Probably one of the better known islands is Tinian, where the bombers took off to drop the Atomic bombs on mainland Japan. Apart from the memorial sites, there are many reminders of past war. On both bases, there are many Japanese pillboxes (or bunkers) cut into the sides of cliffs where soldiers waited for the coming attack from the USA. There are even remains of a US Marine Corps F-4U Corsair crash out in the jungle on the the Navy Base.

The last couple of days cleared up again, so naturally we spent the time at the beach snorkeling and enjoying the sun. Early Friday morning we took a boat out just of the west coast of the island and were soon surrounded by many dolphins. Had I been quicker with the camera, I'd have a picture of a couple of them jumping out of the water. Sadly, our enjoyable trip came to an end and now we're back in Korea wrapping up our last few weeks. Perfect timing...today was Korea's first snow fall of the winter. Can you say a drastic change of climate?!

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Guam

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