To Hawaii and back

Having never been to Hawaii (yes, hard to believe), I jumped at the chance to go for three nights, even if it was just to Honolulu.  You know me, give me a nice room in a good hotel that has a bar, and I am a happy camper.  Annie had a business trip, the room was paid for, the airline ticket was reasonable, so off I went.

Honolulu is not like the Hawaii of people's dreams, of course. It was more like staying in a high-rise Santa Monica. Near the water (we could see the harbor and ocean from our room) but surrounded by high rise hotels and condos and lots of traffic.  Did I care?  Nope.  The hotel was lovely, the drinks at the bar were good, Annie is fun to travel with and I was AWAY!  Away from work, away from my house and roommate, away from everything.  That alone was worth the price of admission.

One of my oldest friends lives in Honolulu so we hung out a bit and he took me on a helicopter tour of the island. It was a "doors off" four person helicopter, small and very maneuverable, able to tuck into small canyons and make U-turns in a small arc.  Despite a few moments of trepidation, once we were up in the air and I was convinced I wasn't going to fall out, it was a great ride. The island (Oahu) is beautiful, of course, as all the islands are.  (It's just the Honolulu part that isn't so attractive.)  Lush, green, wet, with oceans that varied from light turquoise to deep navy.  

Good food as well. We (Annie, myself and my friend Flip) had a great meal at a very old-fashioned traditional high-end dining restaurant that was excellent.  Annie and I ate at a very new, very cutting edge place another night and then at a very local, very Hawaiian cafe for breakfast one morning.  In between were lunches (very Hawaiian) and snacks at the pool (good fish tacos) and small bar bites.

Yes, it was hot and humid, too humid for me, but since I was on vacation, it didn't matter.  And they are not in the middle of a drought, so taking a long, cold shower after walking a couple of miles in hot, humid heat was a great treat.

Would I go back?  Of course, I will go anywhere if someone asks nicely.  I would prefer a cooler and dryer time of year and it would be nice to not be in Honolulu all the time but it was fun, it was great to see Flip, great to travel with Annie and it was more than great to be out of town for three days.  I read a couple of books, slept well, stared out the window of our 16th floor room for a while and looked at hot hunky men at the pool.  Not a thing wrong with any of that!

.