Hawaii trip - first post

Aloha.  :)

This is the first time in two days I've had time or energy to sit down and recount our recent travels.  It's Thursday close to 5 AM local time and we haven't adjusted to the new time yet, so I'm sitting out on the balcony of the hotel room under a nearly full moon, listening to the ocean (and the feral roosters) and smelling the bacon cooking for breakfast.  We technically don't have an "ocean view" room because I booked the cheapest one available, but we can see part of the pool and a slice of the bay if we stand near the balcony railing, which is good enough for me.

Tuesday was a day full of hurry-up-and wait.  We got up at 4:45 AM and a kind friend drove us to the airport by 6 for a 7:15 flight.  They are doing a lot of construction on the airport, and the TSA check-in has changed to be more central.  It's less relaxed now.  I don't care for the change though I can appreciate the efficiency of it.  Of course we all were stopped because we were wearing travel pants with zipper pockets in weird places, plus they took my bag off to inspect because I had a "knife," which was really a multi-tool that doesn't have a blade in it.  I should have been smart enough to carry that in my purse; I will remember that next time.  The guy who had to inspect my bag was a big fellow, and it was a bit comical to watch him trying to open all the attachments of the tool with his big gloved fingers.  I didn't laugh, at least not audibly, because I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to laugh at the TSA officer.  They are almost all very kind in our airport, though, so it wasn't a big deal.  My older kid always gets nervous "around people in uniform," she says, which is unfortunate.  Then she worries that her anxiety may make her appear suspicious.  Sigh.  We made it through OK.

Our flight to Denver was not only on time but we got in 25 minutes early.  That gave us enough time to scout out some breakfast and fill our water bottles before we had to board our plane for Honolulu. That flight was full but not terrible, and we got in 30 minutes early.  Our next flight wasn't scheduled to leave for 4 more hours, so we had an extended time in the airport, which is not very exciting (couldn't go outside to enjoy the nice weather, for example).  We paid $10 each for two micro pizzas and a sandwich, and mostly sat around.  It was getting close to our bedtime and we had gotten up very early so the kids were getting more and more frazzled (the older one goes to bed by 9 or she's toast).

Fortunately, there was a K9 dog training exercise going on right near our gate, in which various dogs were learning to track a guy with a scented bracelet on his ankle.  We watched 5 or 6 dogs go through with varying levels of success.  They were cute dogs like pointers and labs, not scary guard dogs such as German shepherds or dobermans, and when each one finally found his or her target, s/he lay down and was rewarded with a ball or squeaky toy.  Listening to the dogs chomp on their squeaky toys made them even less intimidating.   It was nice to have that to watch while we waited.   There were also some birds in the waiting area, having flown in somewhere, including a pigeon that had only one foot and was walking around on the stump.  It seemed to be getting along all right, though.  The birds tended to hang out near the restaurants - smart birds.

We finally got our inter-island flight, which was about half an hour in duration, and then got quickly to the rental car place.  Budget gives customers a grocery card to use at a certain grocery store to get the good prices, which I thought was a very neat idea.  We will use it when we leave the hotel in a few days and go up north.

I was disappointed to find out that one of the hikes I wanted to do with the kids was not going to be available, because of flooding last year which washed out the road.  It sounds as if it was a terrible experience for the people living beyond the washout, and is still very difficult because any traffic has to convoy because the road is only one lane. We will find other things to do, certainly, but wow.

The hotel is only 2 miles from the airport so it didn't take us long (although we did get turned around a couple of times) to get in and get settled.  By this time it was after midnight by our EDT clocks, so we took showers and went to bed at 7:30 local time.

Because of this we were up early yesterday, but the restaurant opens an hour early during the conference to accommodate the number of people with breakfast vouchers.  There is a fine print thing I didn't see that says I will have to pay an extra $50 a day because I have three "adults" and the room only is for two (13 and up is considered an adult, even though someone who is 13 can't drink, vote, sign legal documents or even drive).  The course coordinator is looking into that for me, to see if I can pay for the breakfast separately, because it seems silly that in a room labeled to accommodate 4 people I would have to pay extra to house my dependent child.  We'll see how that works out.

The kids slept about 10 or 11 hours and woke up very refreshed before 5.  We walked around a bit to find the conference room where I would be all morning, and then went to breakfast.  Wow, what a buffet.  All kinds of waffles/french toast/pancakes; made-to-order omelettes; smoked salmon; cheeses; fresh pineapple, mango and melon; bacon, sausage, hash brown, cereal, fruit juices, chocolate and white milk....  I didn't need to eat lunch until later.  The food was very good.

I checked into my conference at 7, and the lectures started at 8.  The conference is very good so far - "Care of women over 50" - but there were one or two things that were more specific for OB/GYN than for a mere family doc (since I don't operate).  Overall, though, I am already learning things.

The dermatologist made a mistake in her lecture, calling a certain condition that can cause an enlarged nose (rhinophyma) "C S Lewis nose."  I went up to her after and apologetically said, "I think you made a mistake when you called rhinophyma C S Lewis nose - didn't you mean W C Fields?"  She laughed and said, "You're right - my son and I just finished reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."  I asked if she had read the other books and she said with interest, "No, are they good?  We read a family book together and I don't have any ideas."  Since I've been reading to the girls since they were tiny, we have a long list of good ones, so I told her I'd be happy to give her some ideas.  :)

After the conference (during which the girls slept, did some homework by the pool, and read), the three of us drove to Costco (of course there's a Costco) to get sunscreen (which we couldn't bring on the plane because we only take carry-ons).  I was glad to do that because the Costco was only 2 miles away, and they had two containers (plus a small tube) of sunscreen for $12.50, and the hotel wanted $20 for one of the same size.  I could make a killing selling some on the side.... but I'd probably get thrown out of the hotel.  ;)

We grabbed some lunch at the grocery store deli, and took it back to the hotel.  After we ate we went down to the pool, which is difficult to describe.  It's 4 feet deep all the way around, and is in a big circle around a central "island" connected by a bridge.  We swam and splashed for an hour or so, then went back to shower and change for a reception put on by the conference.  They had appetizers that were amazing but I was so full from all the other food I'd eaten that day that I couldn't really enjoy it.  They had some trivia questions (my younger kid won a t-shirt) and then we chatted with the dermatologist about books for a while, then walked on the beach and went back to the room to crash.  We watched a few YouTube comedy sketches and then went to bed by 8 local time.  Maybe we'll be able to stay up later tonight.

That is for now,
cheers and aloha,
WB