Hawaii

Okay.  Here I go at trying to do the promised updates.

First, Hawaii.

No, I will not load this post up with pictures.  Sorry.  If you were hoping for that, the pictures are on Facebook.  I've been frustrated at the fact that blogger has a limited capacity for pictures and every time I load a new one, it deletes an old one.  If you click on an old post of mine, you will see where the photos have been replaced with a black rectangle with a gray dash in it.  Thanks, Blogger, for destroying my blog.  I would have switched to a different platform by now... but let's face it, I'm struggling to find the time to blog, let alone transfer to a new site.

Anyways, back to Hawaii.

Bill and I flew out on the Monday after Easter.  It was Spring Break for Will and me.  That was critical to the timing.  Technically, our 20th anniversary has yet to happen (it's on May 8th... tomorrow!!), but there was no way I was going to take off during school and hope that Will would actually get himself to school for a week.  So, we went during a school holiday.  I felt horribly guilty about leaving the kids.  I wanted to take them with us, but there was no way we could afford to.  As it was, we stretched our resources to the limit just so we could go.  Besides, taking the kids along is a real anniversary kill-joy.  So, despite the guilt, we left the kids at home to fend for themselves.

That got some raised eyebrows from some of my coworkers and friends.  They thought I was nuts leaving two teens at home alone for a week.  But, hey, they are 19 and 16 (nearly 17).  They don't need a babysitter.  I was fairly confident they could handle themselves while I was gone.  And I was right.

This was the first time I have flown since prior to 9/11/01.  I know.  It really has been that long.  I have sent my kids off on adventures, but I have always traveled by car.  It's not that I was afraid to fly, but I don't have to travel for work, and it's just too darned expensive to fly for fun!  So, this was my first personal experience with the TSA security circus.

Flying has changed, but I thought the screening process was pretty non-intrusive and quick.  Maybe because I wasn't singled out?  Anyways, we were through security pretty fast and sitting down to a meal in the airport while waiting for our flight.  It was cheaper to eat in the airport than pay for a meal mid flight.  Oh, I will say this about security... on our flight home I packed a water bottle filled with sand into my carry on, not thinking anything of it.  It tripped security measures.  They had to pull it out, inspect it, pour some out onto litmus papers and test it with chemicals to make sure it wasn't, you know, bomb stuff, then send my carry on through the scanner again without the bottle... oi.  In the end, they gave it all back to me with a smile and wishes for a safe journey.  The whole thing was very friendly.  I'm sure they've had to test plenty of bottles of sand.  {rolling my eyes}

I spent the flight to Hawaii watching movies on the screen in the seat back in front of me.  Nice!  When we got to Hawaii, there was a glitch getting to the car rental place, due to poor communications.  But, we finally go there and picked up our RED Mustang convertible!  Bill hated it, but I enjoyed it very much!  Except I think the steering wheel gets in the way of seeing the speedometer.

Well, I'm not going to really give you a blow by blow of the entire week.  You'd fall asleep, and who really wants to read all about someone else's vacation?

I'll just say that it was sunny and wonderful and fun beyond all reason!  Life is lived at a much slower pace there.  We spent every waking moment outside, and even kept the sliding glass door of our room wide open all night long to enjoy the breezes and sounds of the surf.  We surfed and snorkeled, hiked, biked, ran, and sunbathed.  We did the traditional tourist stuff; Pearl Harbor, Hanauma Bay, Valley of Temples, and the Polynesian Cultural Center.  But we also did normal people stuff like grocery shopping for half our meals and jogging the local workout trails.  We were even given the locals discout (Kama aina discount)  once by a friendly server at an off-the-beaten-track hole-in-the-wall Jack In The Box.

Maybe it is because we just went through all the fuss of security at the airport, but I did notice the complete LACK of security at the resort.  We stayed at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore.  The lobby was open air and there were no locks to the stairwells or elevators.  However, despite that, I never felt it was a problem.  Turtle Bay Resort is on the North Shore of Oahu.  It is a rural setting.  So peaceful!  It really was the perfect place to get away and unwind.  I'd go back in a heartbeat.

The only black spot on our whole vacation happened only hours before we left the island.  We had checked out of the resort and finished touring the Byodo-In temple (the Buddhist temple in the Valley of Temples), but we still had a couple of hours to kill before heading to the airport.  Since there was a movie theater across the street from where we were, we decided to take in a show.  We were practically the only people in the theater, since it was a mid-day weekday showing.  When we came out of the theater, we discovered that someone has hit our rental car and drove away!  AURGH!  We called the police, the rental agency, and my insurance.  Everyone was very kind about it and even that stressful event didn't ruin my vacation.

Now we're home and I'm wishing I could live in Hawaii.  But, at least I only have a few weeks left before summer vacation begins here at home and I can fill my days with fun in the sun, homestyle!