Still Hangin' in Hawaii

Well, my last post was pretty depressing, so I'll try to be more positive now!

Sunday we went back to the commissary for weekly groceries, then to the farmer's market where I bought a ton of fruit that I thought I could space out over the remaining days I have here, but it has all stubbornly refused to ripen so between now and Thursday I have to eat a 2.5 pound mango, a bunch of ladyfinger bananas, a large papaya, an asian pear, an apple, and 3 rambutans (which are like lychees but covered in soft red spines). I am thinking a Thursday afternoon desperation smoothie may be in order. Anyway, later on Sunday Caitlin and I hiked up a mountain out by Dillingham airfield, and it was really pretty and good exercise. There were great views along the way, lots of friendly pot-smoking mountain bikers along the trail, and it was a good workout. Afterward we got shave ice and a coconut, and I couldn't help myself, I bought two guavas. I am going to end up in a fruit coma.

Yesterday Caitlin and I spent all day at the Ko 'Olina spa. It was very nice...we first jogged along the beach, then used the weight room, then hung out at the spa for awhile. I personally am not a fan of saunas or steamrooms, I find it difficult to breathe in them, but the other facilities were nice and I enjoyed my super-facial (I'd never had a facial before that included a back massage and arm/hand foot/leg treatments, but I wasn't complaining) although I got a couple of zits that evening...hmmmm.

Today was my first day all on my own, as Caitlin is starting her job at Maui Divers. I had my helicopter ride today which was one of THE coolest things ever. A plane is such a utilitarian way to fly. Always in a straight line, getting to your destination as quickly as possible. Flying in a helicopter is like you fly in your dreams (if you've ever had a dream that you could fly). You can hover, pause to look at things, skim the ground, it was just so neat. When we flew over the area where they filmed the helicopter scene (and others) in Jurrasic park, they played the music from the movie over the headsets we had to wear and it was very surreal. After my flight I made a stop at Lush to pick up my sister's order (whenever I go somewhere she scurries to the computer to figure out if I'll be near a Lush store) and then went home. I was lucky I did, because I narrowly escaped being caught in one of the worst traffic jams in Oahu history, if not THE worst. Some army guy was towing a crane behind him on H1 and it was too tall to fit under the overpass so he smashed into it. It compromised the structural integrity of the bridge, so they had to shut down H1 for the rest of the day. If you've never been here before, H1 is the freeway, the biggest road on the island, and one of the only ways to get from Honolulu to the west. Poor Caitlin on her first day of work had to drive all the way up and over the top of the island on a 1-lane highway to get home, along with everyone else who was in Honolulu at the time, and she didn't get home until 9:30! I saw the crane and was in the slow traffic going by but thank goodness they hadn't closed the road yet.

I think I'll avoid Honolulu tomorrow....

So lonely...

So lonely...
Current mood: depressed

I said goodbye to Will today until next Friday...what was I thinking planning our trip this way? I figured Will is going to be away for his management retreat thing for work next week anyway so I might as well stay in Hawaii, but because of logistics it ended up that I will be spending 6 nights away from him instead of the 3 that it would have been. Argh! I miss him so much already. This is the second longest amount of time we've ever been apart, and I know people in long distance relationships are probably rolling their eyes right now (especially since I'm in Hawaii) but I dont' care, I'm feeling depressed without my husband so :-P

This morning we tried to go to Hanauma Bay in the morning, but by the time we got there, waited through the admission line, and found out we still had to watch an 8-minute video on how not to touch coral while snorkelling we would only have had about 20 minutes at the beach. We told the people we were Maeve and Court and that we had already seen the video, but they didn't buy it so we just got a refund and went to hike Diamondhead, the big extinct volcano that dominates Waikiki beach. It was hot and dry as promised, and it is getting irritating to have to pay a fortune for parking everywhere we go, THEN have to pay admission, fees, taxes, etc. I was warned that Oahu was expensive, and boy is it true! I still think we're doing pretty well though considering we are staying with friends and I returned our fun yellow jeep today. Maeve is letting me use her car for the rest of the trip.

Then I had to drive my husband to the airport and say goodbye :*( After that I didn't really feel like doing much, and Caitlin wasn't feeling well either, so we've just kind of laid around the whole evening chatting. It is kind of nice though, since we've been going constantly for a week now.

I'm not looking forward to sleeping alone tonight :-(

-Sara

Happy Birthday will ( days ago)!

My sweetie is now officially 26! I am once again married to an older man :-) For Will's birthday I booked a sea kayak for the morning and we went out to a couple of islands off the coast of Kailua beach. It was hard work rowing, and it was honestly pretty miserable on the way out to the little island that was our goal. The wind was going against us which meant we were hitting waves straight on and it was a heck of a struggle, plus it was raining a bit and turtles kept surfacing right next to our little kayak and freaking me out. I was afraid I'd smack them accidentally with an oar! The island was cool though, with little tidepools to explore and impressive waves crashing all over the rocks. On the way back the wind was with us and the sun was out so it was nicer, but we were so tired! After that we went and checked into the Marriott on Waikiki beach, then went on a sunset cocktail cruise on a catamaran which was a blast. I was worried the waves would make Will or I seasick (the waves got kinda big once we went out past Diamondhead) but it was just fun, and we even "surfed" in the catamaran. Once we got back we staggered up the beach to the Marriott where we had an awesome sushi dinner. It was really good, but I had broken my flip flop on the way up from the catamaran so I had to shuffle into the restaurant in bare feet. The next morning we jogged on the beach and did a little bit of shopping, then headed back here to Maeve's. Everything turned out as I had planned, which was really nice, although a couple of times I thought we were late so I was rushing us along, but apparently there is island time here too (although admittedly people are only about 10 minutes late here instead of 30 min-1 hour in the Caribbean). We did a luau last night which was ok, but not great. Having alcoholic beverages available would have made it a bit more fun, but we found out the Polynesian Cultural Center is owned by the Jesus Christ Church of Latter Day Saints, so that explains there not being any drinks. It was really cool to watch 20 gilrs line up and hula though...

Today we were back in Waikiki to go on a little 1-hour submarine tour. I was hoping we would see sharks and octopi and such but it seems like Hawaii only has black and white and yellow fish. There aren't nearly the different colors of fish you see in the caribbean, and the coral is nonexistant. There are lots of big sea turtles though, so that is cool.

I have to run now, we're going to the Ko 'Olina sushi buffet tonight, so I'm going to go get ready. I hear the east coast is getting battered with Ernesto right now, and that they have 12 foot waves at Ocean City. Funny, because that is bigger than they have here right now! I hope the storms don't delay Will's flight home or anything, although he should have a nice flight since he is flying first class, lucky boy :-)

-Sara