Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Week on Oahu

I had a brilliant post written about our week in Oahu to accompany the slide show. It was pure genius and I know it would have received prestigious awards and accolades and I, no doubt, would have been contacted by Conde Nast within the week, begging me to be a feature writer for their Travel magazine for a ridiculous amount of money, all travel expenses included of course. But alas, Blogger conspired against my good fortune and ate my words. Even the title of my post is missing. I guess I should be happy the slide show remained.

I wrote in the zone, but the zone is now gone so there's no telling what I'm going to end up with. Here it goes...

We arrived late Saturday night and collapsed into bed as we had all been up a good 24 hours. You can imagine our delight Sunday morning when we woke to views of Diamond Head, the ocean and the pool from our balcony. We used that day to get over our jet lag and explore the resort. What a surprise it was to see penguins on the grounds. Somewhere around 6:00 we had a delicious dinner at Benihana, stuffing ourselves silly and then retiring to the room where I think we were probably asleep by 8:30. It was 2:30 Philadelphia time, after all.

Monday we took a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe (pictures tomorrow) and figured out our week. Usually I know exactly what we're going to do before we ever get to where we're going, but the family wanted a kicked backed and relaxed week. So I held myself back and decided to wing it. There were really only two or three things I absolutely wanted to do and one would involve a rental car. We stopped at the Hertz kiosk on the way back to our room to reserve a car for Thursday, but nobody was there so we decided to call later. We forgot.

Tuesday morning we got up early - but it was pretty easy because we were still somewhat on Eastern Standard Time - and caught a tour to Pearl Harbor. (pictures tomorrow) Wow. Or to quote Todd - what a somber experience. The Arizona Memorial was at the top of my list of what I wanted to do on Oahu and I'm so glad we did it. If you've never been and you ever have the opportunity, it's not to be missed. But take tissue.

We intended to stop at the Hertz kiosk again, but the line was humongous so we thought we'd just call from the room later. Again, we forgot.

On Sunday whilst unpacking Todd realized he'd left his diabetes medicine at home. He thought he could go two weeks without it, but by Tuesday he realized that wasn't going to happen. We had reservations for a catamaran ride (on the Mai Tai) and walked the mile or so down the beach to catch it. Todd decided (and rightfully so) he needed to get his medicine situation taken care of. So the kids and I stayed for the catamaran and he walked back to the hotel, called his doctor, walked a couple miles the opposite direction to the pharmacy and back again - all before the rest of us returned.

I had taken the battery out of my camera to charge after Pearl Harbor and told myself not to forget it before the catamaran ride. I even looked at it as I was packing up stuff for the ride. As the catamaran came into shore from the previous trip I aimed for a picture. But the camera wouldn't do anything. At all. Then it hit me. The battery was still in the charger. DRAT! It was nearly as bad as the trip to Hilton Head/Savannah without the camera. Oh, the photos I could have stunned and amazed you with. Turned out to be a good thing, though. I wrapped the camera in Taylor's t-shirt once we got on the boat and tucked it away. Then I was able to totally enjoy the ride and the sea spray without worrying about the love of my life getting ruined and thus hurtling me into the depths of despair, casting a terrible blight on my vacation. Just believe me when I say the view was breathtaking.

Wednesday was a day of chilling. We had four loungers, two umbrellas and two intertubes and hung out at the beach. Remember a few posts ago when I was talking about stubbornness? Before we went down I asked Todd if he wanted me to lather him up with sunscreen. He didn't think so because he was planning on staying under the umbrella and he'd put some on his shoulders and head before he went out to the water. He fried his tummy. I would love to tell you I was the picture of demure femininity, but that would be a lie. I was smug and, though I don't think I actually said, "I told you so," I know he and everyone else knew I was thinking it.

Todd finally tried calling Hertz and we were told there were no cars available for Thursday. That was pretty disappointing to me because the only other thing I really wanted to do was explore Diamond Head and drive around to the North Shore. I should say really, really.

That evening we met up with my friend, Cigi, and 2/3 of her delightful family. They treated us to a delicious and fun dinner and her husband proved to be a great tour guide of Honolulu afterwards. Her daughter made us more wonderful leis and we felt like royalty. They dropped us off at our hotel around 10:30 and we had to laugh because it was the latest we'd been up all week.

Thursday we grabbed a taxi to a shopping center with a guitar store - Taylor can only go so long without a guitar - and then walked from there to a really nice shopping mall. There were actually a few things we needed to get there and the food court was pretty amazing. When we returned to the resort we went swimming and then ate at one of the pool cafes and listened to a live band. Good stuff.

Friday was our last day at the resort. Todd and Taylor took ukulele lessons and Katie and I took care of some business (buying stamps, mailing post cards, etc.) and browsed around the shops for a little while. After the lessons we were to meet up and go for a late lunch/early dinner. Instead the boys wanted to go down to a shop where they'd eyed some ukuleles earlier in the week. We had to pass a Pearl Factory and Katie and I stopped to look at the pretty jewelry. When we caught up to the guys they were in their own little stringed instrument world so I told Todd Katie and I were going back to the Pearl Factory and were going to each buy an oyster. He asked about buying a ukulele and I said, "Sure. But then I get to have my pearl set here." (Do I know how to work a deal or what?)

Katie and I went back to the Pearl Factory, chose our oysters and then excitedly watched as she opened them up. First Katie's and it was a beautiful, good sized, white pearl. Then she opened my oyster. We all gasped as she pulled out a gorgeous blue pearl. Todd and Taylor had shown up by then so I got Todd's permission for the setting I really wanted - it was for our 20th anniversary, after all. It's a diamond pineapple in white gold. (pictures tomorrow) Katie got a very pretty white gold plumeria necklace just for being my daughter and riding on my coat tails.

Because we'd spent over a certain amount we got to choose another oyster for free. So I chose it and when she opened it up it held another blue pearl. Instead of having it set, however, I brought it home. I'm going to wait until we can afford the ring I want and trust me when I say it's not going to be cheap!

Then all of a sudden it was Saturday and we were leaving for the Big Island. You'll just have to come back for that week.

Labels: travel

Mused by Jenster :: 9:43 AM :: 5 People musing:

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