Here is the Hawaii blog again. I have some residual thoughts/adventures/items to put in here just to complete my trip to Hawaii, so I will try my best to get it finished in the next week or two. I still haven't posted all my photos on Facebook. Kind of lost my impetus. But I would like to publish these last few days, for my own sake, even if no one else is interested. This is the entry for Thursday, November 7 (almost 3 weeks ago). Huh. It's strange to think that just 3 weeks ago I was in Hawaii. A world away, and yet it also doesn't seem that long. Anyway, here goes:
Wow. What an amazing day.
I got up around 5 because I couldn't get back to sleep, and I posted a couple of blogs. Sleeplessness can be quite useful. I got ready after that and drove down to the conference hotel, parked in the same lot (same space, even) and walked over. I got there early, stashed my stuff on my chosen seat in the conference room, and wandered to the restaurant for breakfast. This morning I tried a pancake with maple butter, but I wasn't impressed. I also had eggs and bacon - the scrambled eggs as prepared for large numbers of people tend to be squishy, but these were surprisingly tasty anyway. And of course, bacon.
I finished breakfast with time to spare before the first lecture, so I decided to walk on the beach for a while. The sand near the water was soft and spongy and your foot goes in about 3 inches with each step - tricky to walk in, and I saw some people running, though even the fittest of them didn't exactly make it look easy. I wore my new dress and headband that I bought in Hanalei. The handkerchief hem got soaked by rogue waves. I didn't mind, though. I walked and took some pictures and then skittered back in time for the first lecture, washing my sandy feet off in little puddles in recessed tiles on the pool deck of the hotel.
The lectures were good again, although I skipped the last one (it was the musculoskeletal guy who was so detailed and less practical). Several people at the conference admired my "Tropical Tantrum" dress, and the coordinator of the conference snapped my photo with another lady (whom I had just met because she commented on the dress) in front of the Symposia Medicus sign.
This photo is from the Symposia Medicus Facebook page, by the way.
So, I took off to enjoy my afternoon. I walked by a mall called Whalers Village, which was conveniently and tantalizingly wedged between the Westin hotel and where I had parked my car, so naturally I stopped. They had several typical-appearing mall stores, but they also had some pretty little specialty shops, and I was drawn in. After all, it was "my" afternoon to go adventuring. And I like all kinds of adventures, even malls sometimes. While I was at this big, beautiful outdoor mall in the blazing sunshine, I sat on a bench by a fountain and called my family - it was early afternoon. Parent-teacher conferences had taken place that afternoon, and I wanted to find out how they had gone. I didn't have any real fears, but this is the first time ever I've missed them [insert mommy guilt here], so I felt compelled to follow up.
Turned out that everything went well, but my elder daughter had gone home early with a fever, and when I spoke with her, she was weepy and sad, partly because she was sick, and partly because she missed me. I tried to cheer her up with the news that I would be home in a few days, and also that I had found some machines to make the rolled penny souvenirs. She had asked me to bring some back for her - she started a collection from a field trip recently. I was dubious about whether I'd be able to find any, but oddly enough, right there in the mall was a rolled penny machine. Success.
There was also a charming little store where I sought some nice things for the girls. I struck up a conversation with the sales clerk - most people are so very friendly here, and it's genuine. I rarely felt that people were kind because they were obligated, or because they wanted my money. It is that sense of "Aloha" that may sound cliche, but really impressed me on this trip, especially traveling solo.
Anyway, this nice saleslady and I talked about where I was from, and why I was on the island. I chose out a few things for the kids, and then asked her where the nearest Post Office was. She gave me directions. Since I only had two carry-ons for this trip (total weight 30 pounds), I was interested in shipping items home, including but not limited to souvenirs, because it is cheaper to ship a box than to check a bag twice. Or even once.
When she discovered my motives, she immediately said, "Oh, you don't need to go to the Post Office. You're buying items here - I'll give you a box and just ship it from here." I protested that it wasn't that much of a problem for me to drive to the PO on my way to the airport on Saturday, but she insisted. "Don't worry; I'll take care of it." So she sent a box with me to take to the condo and fill with "whatever you want." Charmed by her kindness, I did as she said, and then ignored the remainder of the mall stores, stopping only to make some souvenir rolled pennies for my elder daughter (for which the sweet store clerk had given me change for a $5 bill, including many shiny pennies), and headed for the car. Off on a new set of adventures....
...to be continued...
Happy Thanksgiving
wb
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