David Does Hawaii

We left Bellingham on Saturday, February 17, just after noon. The first legs of our trip were a bit silly. We flew on Horizon Air, our twin-engine prop service, from Bellingham to Seattle. That's pretty normal. But then, in order to get to LAX, we continued on Horizon Air from Seattle to Medford, Oregon and then on to LA. But hey, what do you want for free. We're on our way to Hawaii using frequent flier points.

Only one problem. When we went to check in for our flight in Bellingham, the gate agent was having trouble getting our bags checked all the way through to Honolulu. In her attempts to correct the problem, she inadvertently cancelled our American Airlines flight to Hawaii. When we got to LAX, we no longer had tickets, and the flight was completely booked (and there were standby passengers). Genny gave the gate agent a box of chocolates and she was finally able to get us seats. Unfortunately, we were no longer seated together. But at least we got on the plane.

The flight was uneventful. But we didn't arrive until midnight local time (2 am Bellingham time). By the time we got our bags, found the shuttle, and got to our hotel, it was 1:30am.

Bruce met us on Sunday morning for breakfast. No, this is not his vehicle. But I couldn't resist.


He took us to a Chinese New Years party at one of the other officer's homes. They had hired a dragon dance team to entertain. We had a great time. It was fun to meet some of the other people Bruce flies with. His commanding officer was even there.

I've even got some video of the party to share with you.

I think you can probably tell we had a good time.

After the party, we drove back into Honolulu and went to China Town. But the place was pretty much closed down for the day.

Monday morning, we walked down the beach toward Diamond Head and went to the Honolulu Aquarium. It's a small aquarium, but they have a wonderful display of local reef fish.

Bruce met us for lunch afterwards and then Bruce, Emma, Clarice, and I all took surfing lessons. We all did pretty well, but Emma proved to be the absolute champion of the group. Unfortunately, the photographer who usually works at the surf shop took Monday afternoon off, since it was President's Day, so we have no photos of our group surfing. You'll just have to take my word for it that I actually did stand up several times (actually, I was able to stand up and ride a wave on my very first try...with a little helpful push from the instructor). It was both easier and harder than I ever imagined: easier in that it's actually not to hard to stand on the board and ride a gentle wave; harder in that the paddling was absolutely exhausting. My back hurt by the end of our two-hour class and my knees were bruised from the board.


After a hard day surfing, we all headed out for dinner.


Tuesday, Bruce had to work, so we spent the day on our own. We had a leisurely breakfast. My girls are definitely getting into tropical beverages.

After breakfast, we went to the Honolulu Zoo, which turned out to be a wonderful zoo, one of the best we've ever been to. The giraffes were fantastic, but the high point of the zoo was definitely the komodo dragon.

After lunch, Emma was back to the surf shop for her second day of surfing lessons. The waves were breaking much differently than the day before, and the rides were much shorter. But the photographer was there and since I wasn't surfing (I'm still recovering from yesterday), I shot video from the beach. I'll edit the video and post some segments once we get home.

Once the day's surfing was completed, we had just enough time to get cleaned off and then head back to the beach to watch the sun set, which definitely ranks as a ritual. Genny thinks our sunsets in Bellingham are more beautiful, but the one today here in Hawaii was pretty spectacular.

Then it was time to head back up the beach in search of dinner. Of course, before we could get there, Genny, Emma, and Clarice did some shopping, with Emma buying a pair of shoes (what is it with women and shoes?). Even Clarice wonders about all the shoes already lining Emma's closet back home.

All in all, it's been a pretty spectacular three days so far.
Tomorrow we're off to swim with the dolphins.