It's been a crazy few days so I decided to do a condensed version of the Hawaii trip.
I left Thursday morning pretty early from the local airport to fly to Houston to catch the flight to Honolulu. The flights were pretty uneventful minus the seat shuffling to accommodate a family. I ended up with a decent seat mate which is always good when flying for 8+ hours in one plane. We had quite an entertaining couple in the seats next to us, too, so we all enjoyed each others company and the flight went by as quickly as you can hope.
Honolulu airport was just as I remembered. When I got there I had a text message from Bill stating that he was in a meeting and that I needed to find the shuttle bus to Waikiki. So I got on the bus and went straight to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Well, I must admit that we were super lucky. The government employees who travel are typically put up on post, but there was no room so as long as the hotel would take the government rate Bill go stay where he wanted. So the Hilton it was! With the Diamond status that Bill has earned from all of this travels, we were put in the Rainbow tower 3 rooms deep from the ocean. The view was like a postcard. WHOA! I admit that I was a little hesitant about leaving the kids for so long, but to see that view was so worth it!
Thursday afternoon, I took a little walk over to the Hale Koa (the military hotel) which is next door to the HHV to buy sunscreen and a snack from the PX. No tax and cheaper prices were well worth the walk. I also stopped for a pedicure while I was there since again I knew the price would be much more reasonable. I was just getting finished when Bill sent me a text that he was heading back to Waikiki. That evening we took a walk to grab some food and do a little window shopping.
Friday, Bill had to go to work again so I took the morning to go take photographs. I had been practicing with my camera so I wanted to take my time. I took a nice leisurely walk and then went back to the room. I then decided to go shopping. So I walked and walked and walked, stopped for coffee and walked some more. Bill got off early and called so I met him back at the HHV. We then walked down to the Ala Moana center and shopped some more. I got a really cute pair of red sandals for 15 dollars! WOOT. Friday evenings there are fireworks on the beach so we didn't want to roam too far for dinner so we ate dinner at one of the restaurants on the resort. Then we sat on the beach and watched the fireworks and then took a walk before getting some icecream. (white chocolate macadamia nut which was to die for!)
Saturday morning we woke up and decided to head toward Pearl Harbor. We were going to hit up the swap meet but it was closed because there was a college football game at the stadium that evening. So we went to the historic sites. We didn't pay for the tour this time since we had done it before, but decided that we'd just go to Ford Island to get a different view. When we go there we decided to take a tour of the USS Missouri. It was very interesting. We walked all around the ship that had served from the end of WWII through the Gulf War. There were very powerful and moving videos playing. We were there for quite some time. We then went over to the NEX to find some luau attire. We each chose our items and went back to the hotel to change. We rested before heading to the bus for Paradise Cove Luau. We did enjoy it but found it a little over the top in the "cheese" factor. It was super late by the time we got back to our rooms. We were so ready for bed.
Sunday morning we got up and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for breakfast. Yes, I said breakfast! They serve breakfast there because they televise all of the NFL games when they start here at 1pm EST. Subtract 6 hours and it was 7am Hawaii time. :) So we watched a little football before heading out for the day. We went back to go to the swap meet which is the "flea market" of sorts. We picked up our goodies before heading up the H3 to the North Shore for a scenic drive. We stopped along the way at a couple of the shrimp stands and really enjoyed the fresh food. We then stopped at the Dole Plantation to check about getting pineapples to bring back. Then it was off to our friends' house for dinner. (We were able to visit with a family that we met while at Ft Jackson.)
Monday, Bill had to work again so I spent the morning relaxing. I went and got a massage with a lady who I met in the park. She had a little office space in a strip behind the resort. She was wonderful, gave me a discount and massaged me for longer than the hour I paid for. I did tip her well!
SO it was back to the airport for me and a long wait because of the delays. When I boarded, I found out that my seat mate from the trip over was the same seat mate for the trip back. This is incredible considering that she had originally planned to stay in HI until Wed. It just seems like really low odds that we would even meet again, let alone be assigned seats together.
I was back in TX bright and early and ready to see the kids. Ian was in school, but he was super glad to see me. Aaron said he didn't miss me. He's such a booger!
