September 18th, 2006

Food: we ate too much while we where there-- cause it's a vacation, yo! I gained 8 pounds, and no foolin'. And it was hardly worth it. I mean, Hawaii is not known for it's culinary expertise. There was spam. I like spam, actually, but it serves an an excellent symbol. We had fried this and that, lots of pineapple, of course, as well as macademia nuts. Not too much fish, oddly. We had cheeseburgers one night and pizza another and ate in an Italian place another, which just goes to show you what was available. One stand-out was Matsumoto's Shave Ice Stand on the North Shore, world-famous, and worth the drive. You would think shaved-ice was just shaved-ice, right? No, this man knows what he's doing.

Accommodations: we stayed at the Hilton Resort, a big ol place with 5 or six towers and a whole freaking shopping mall and plenty o' restaurants. One needn't leave the resort at all if one didn't want to (though we did) as there was that much. The grounds had rivers and ponds, fish, parrots and ibisi and flamingos standing around. It was very lush. Lots of swimming pools, and of course it was right on the beach. And we loved being able to charge everything to our room. I am a bit spoiled now, I think: I may not be able to stay at a regular hotel ever again.

Culture: we saw a bit of it. The thing about Hawaii that sometimes rubes like me forget is that it is America still. Oh sure, it wasn't even a state when my dad was born, but what else will come of a place that US picks up for it's military value? Servicemen are not known for their motivation in culture preservation. So culture there is more or less that flora and fauna, the Hawaiian words on the street signs, and the pineapple on every plate of food you see. The one exception to this the Polynesian Cultural Center, located on the North Shore. This is a sort of museum of the various Polynesian island (plus Fiji), and it costs an arm and a leg, but it gives you a good feel for what indigenous life was like for the natives. Their crafts, their social structure, and so on. At the end there was a big luau and performance of dances, which was fairly entertaining.

The Ocean: We went snorkeling one day, rode an aquacycle, played in the surf. Things you more or less must do if you go to Hawaii. We didn't try surfing, but we'll probably go back someday and it will be on the list. At Waikiki, the water doesn't get more than 5 feet deep for at least a few hundred feet off the beach. And warm? Not immediately, but you get used to it within seconds of jumping in. We bought a few cheap inner tubes to float on, which was fun. And we got sand in our shorts, of course. If you go, take aqua shoes: the sea floor is not sandy, but very rocky, and most of the rocks have rough edges.

Miscellaneous: and everything else. We visited the USS Arizona, watched the King's Jubilee at our hotel complete with fireworks, listened to a time-share presentation, bought some shortbread cookies, went to a swap meet at the Aloha stadium, and probably lots of other stuff that I am forgetting but, hey, that's a vacation for you: relaxing, not worrying about the details.

It was a good time, the first time I've been away from my laptop for more than a few days in 4 years. Can I wait for the next vacation? Yes, I am a home-body, I am not a travel-nut. But it will be easier to get me to go next time. And I DO want to got to Hawaii again, someday.