Westward Ho!

 We flew out of Seattle at 7:00 AM, which meant we had to leave for the airport at 4:30 AM, which meant the alarm went off at 4:00 AM. Yawn. And then there was de-icing, for which we are grateful, so we took off about 20 minutes late. Since we didn’t have a connection, that was fine. What was less fine was the hour we spent in the airport waiting for our checked bags. I am grateful they finally arrived intact.

This is an overnight layover in Honolulu, so at first I figured we’d stay in an airport hotel. It turns out that  Waikiki Beach is about the same distance from the airport as the airport Hampton Inn, so….we took a cab to Waikiki Beach, quickly change our clothes (OK, maybe that was just me) and headed out for fish tacos for lunch. Yum.

After changing into bathing suits, we headed to the beach and into the water to convince ourselves that we had really left frigid Pennsylvania (and only slightly less frigid Seattle) behind. Floating in the Pacific in the shadow of Diamond Head. What’s not to like?

We cooled off at the poolside bar and then put our feet up in the hotel room for a while before heading to dinner at the Hula Grill. Pumpkin hummus (I know, but it was really good) followed by fresh fish with ginger pesto. The “pesto” didn’t have any cheese or nuts. No complaints. It did have lots of pickled ginger and fresh cilantro. So good. The view didn’t suck, either.

The evening ended with a nightcap on the balcony of our hotel room (small, overlooking a main drag, still fun). Tomorrow we find our way back to the airport and then finally off to New Zealand!