Wednesday, Sep. 18 Our
intention was to leave at 5:30 for St. Louis and a night stay-over with Emily
and family. But, as I pulled into the
garage after teaching at Rock Bridge (and pulling off that afternoon the first
ever flash mob done at the school – the orchestra played Viva la Vida), in trotted Trissy from the street covered in black
slimy mud. Obviously, she had managed to
get out of her collar that was attached to the tie-out in the back yard and she
made a visit to the pond in the park across the street. SO, she had to be bathed before we could
leave. Thanks, Trissy. That set up back a half hour but we arrived
in time for Emily and Joe to catch a movie out while we watched a movie in: “The
Impossible”. Not the best movie to watch
just before flying to an island surrounded by ocean, I admit.
Thursday, Sep. 19 Our
plane departed at 1:30 so we had the morning to spend with Emily and the two
youngest. Steve stayed home so Quinn
could sleep and Lucy and I accompanied Emily to a photo shoot at Noah’s former
pre-school. Lucy and I played with
toys. Our flight, first to Los Angeles
and then to Honolulu was fine. We flew
over a part of the Grand Canyon, we think.
"Into Darkness" was the movie- I loved it a second time. Beckie greeted us with leis. That really tickled me because I can remember
as a little girl hearing about people all receiving a lei as they departed their
plane. Of course, this was in the
sixties when airlines were a WHOLE lot more accommodating to their guests. So it was really special that Beckie
remembered that little detail. She also
had a yummy dinner waiting for us back at her apartment . And, she gave up her very comfortable queen
size bed for us to sleep in all week.
Friday, Sep 20 Here
is the view from her lanai (or balcony).
They are REALLY close to the art museum café and you can see the tower that
sits next to 53 from her window. It is a
small apartment but really nice. It has
a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, and air conditioning. Parking is provided but you have to go down the
driveway of doom to get to the garage.
This picture does not do it justice.
Steve estimates it to be a 70-degree angle. Our first order of business on Friday was to rent
a car for us to use. It took us a bit to
find the rental office which was tucked in a random location on the University of
Hawaii Manoa campus. We visited the
Honolulu Museum of Art and had lunch at the café where both Kyle and Beckie
work.
Delicious food, fantastic service. Home to nap and, when Beckie got off work, we
went to a nearby beach for a quick swim.
Home to get a picnic dinner ready and we went to another beach to eat
and watch the fireworks that a hotel in Waikiki has every Friday night.
We had a brief visit with Jared Seibert
who
is an ear,nose, throat doctor in the Army and stationed in Oahu.
Saturday, Sep. 21 Beckie
took us to a farmer’s market that was swarming with busses of Japanese
tourists. We got breakfast there and
admired all the beautiful flowers and produce for sale.
Then, while Beckie and
Kyle worked, Steve and I drove to the northeast part of the island and Laie
where the temple and BYU-Hawaii are located.
Beautiful drive, beautiful temple, beautiful campus.
We connected with Chad and Cynthia Compton
who we knew back in the late eighties when they were living in Columbia.
They are both professors at BYU-Hawaii and we
had a great visit with them and went out to a nice restaurant for dinner.
Sunday, Sep. 22 Beckie
lives in the Makiki Ward that meets in the Honolulu Tabernacle that was built
in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor.
The
chapel is enormous – maybe you can see how large the choir loft is. There are TWO cultural halls. And the Christ mosaic with the reflecting
pond in front is magnificent.
After
lunch and nap, Beckie took us and the dogs on a drive around Diamond Head. Beautiful beaches everywhere we went.
Monday, Sep. 23 Beckie,
Kyle, Steve, and I all spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center – back in
Laie. It was a great experience. It is divided up by the various islands and
we visited many of them- Samoa, Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand. We watched the canoe pageant in the afternoon.
We had the luau dinner in the evening.
And, by the time for the evening show – the BIG
EVENT, we were so weary that we only stayed for the first half. I guess there is only so much dancing and
fire twirling and drumming we could handle.
Tuesday, Sep. 24 We
relaxed and took the dogs to a gorgeous beach on windward side.
On the way, we stopped at an amazing
lookout.
Many Japanese tourists LOVED the poodles. Here is some random guy holding Max!
At the beach, little squalls
would blow in and blow away with bright sunshine in between. It was windy enough that day for the
wind-surfers to be out. They were quite
fun to watch. Then home to bathe (dogs
included),
nap, and then out to dinner at a hamburger place called The Counter
(offering gluten-free burgers!!!) and to Barnes and Noble to buy Brandon
Sanderson’s latest book for me.
Wednesday, Sep. 25 Our
first stop was to the famous swap meet
held at Aloha Stadium. It was there I
found my purple mumu and most of the souvineers we brought back. We tried to visit Pearl Harbor right after
but couldn’t get tickets until 2:30 so we did a bit of other shopping the rest
of the morning, went to the apartment for lunch and a nap, and then back for an
afternoon at Pearl Harbor. So glad we went – it was really a meaningful
experience to see the film and take the boat ride out to the Battleship Arizona
memorial.
We had take-out Thai food for
dinner and we watched “ What’s Up Doc” (Kyle’s first time to see it!)
Thursday, Sep. 26 We
hiked up to see Manoa Falls in the morning.
Beckie says that parts of Jurassic Park were filmed there – not surprising. It was very primeval. Very green and lush.
It wasn’t a tough hike, just a bit muddy from
recent rain. We carried umbrellas just
in case it started to rain during our walk but it never did. It rained on others parts of the island,
though, and we were afraid our last day at the beach would not happen, but, it
is often the case that the rain clouds will hang out over the mountains and the
beaches will be bright and sunny and so it was at the beach at Waikiki where we
spent a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Before dinner, we watched a co-worker of Beckie and Kyle’s from the museum
restaurant do taiko drumming in her class.
It was really fascinating. Then,
we ate seafood at a restaurant called Uncles that was located right on the
pier. Yum.
Friday, Sep. 27 We
had to wake up bright and early to catch our 7:30 flight to Los Angeles. In-flight movie was “Monsters University”. American Airlines doesn’t have the small
movie screens located on the seat back in front of you. They have screens on the ceiling over the
middle aisle. If you happen to have a
window seat, you can only see half the picture.
Dumb. So, Steve didn’t even try
to watch the movie. He read and slept. After landing at LAX, we rented a car and drove
to Newport Beach to the hotel where my 40th high school reunion was
being held. It is about 30 miles south
of LAX. Only, on a Friday afternoon, the
trip took us almost an hour and a half.
UGH. Fortunately, the luxury of
the hotel helped to sooth frazzled nerves and it was wonderful to connect with
three of my friends from high school days.
 |
| Susan Getz Lyon, David Palmer, me, Susan Lendroth |
We were part of a group that always ate lunch together. Sadly, the others could not make the
reunion.
Saturday, Sep. 28 We
had breakfast with my reunion friends before our drive back to LAX – which took
only 30 minutes this time. Our flight
was delayed, however, due to navigational issues with our plane so we had to
wait three hours for another one to be available. Flight home was uneventful. We had a short stop to see the grandkids in
St. Louis before driving home to arrive at 11:30 pm. The end of a MOST AMAZING vacation.
