Beachside Hut at the Pacific Gardenia Hotel, Saipan
We took our first vacation outside of Korea in April of 2004. It had been
a few years since we'd been to the Tropics, so we chose Saipan. Saipan is
a small island (about 12 miles long by 5 miles wide) located along the Marianas
trench in the South Pacific.
We
chose to stay at the Pacific Gardenia Hotel, a nice small hotel with it's own
club with live entertainment along the beach. The price was right:
a suite was $85/night--about half the price of a room at any of the island's
larger hotels.
The
staff at the Pacific Gardenia were incredibly friendly and helpful--even when we
locked ourselves out on our balcony three different times! Every night
there was a Filipino band that played oldies out along the beach. We'd
just hang out in the back of the audience, right along the shore, where the
music and waves blended together to make the perfect island paradise.
We
saw lots of wildlife--stuff we weren't used to seeing. We pulled up to
Tank Beach and a four-foot monitor lizard greeted us. The only thing we
didn't see were a lot of bugs (thank goodness).
You can visit the Pacific Gardenia Hotel at:
The Beach at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam
As luck would have it, we also got to visit Guam in July of 2004! Chuck went out on business and Lynnette flew out by commercial air later. Guam is located about 200 miles south of Saipan and is about four times the size of Saipan. Guam had more of the tourist hotels and restaurants than Saipan, so it felt a little more crowded. Still, it also has all the sun and the sand--and we can use our Military ID cards to shop on base! BONUS!
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