Hawaii post #1

Two important things to know about Hawaii:

1. It lives up to the hype tenfold. I’ve heard how great Hawaii is from Leah’s family since the late 90s. Maybe you have that person in your life. The one who is all, “Hawaii this and Hawaii that.” And you’re all, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Well, I promise, it’s about a million times better than any hype-monger will ever monger. Go there as soon as possible. It will change your life. No joke.

2. No matter what you’ve heard, using US dollars there is suuuuuuuper easy. You don’t have to mess with conversion rates or awkwardly shaped coins. Just straight up greenbacks. (I drove Leah crazy with that hilarious joke.)

So, I’m not sure how to go about talking about this trip. I’ll just share some pics. And tell you to go Leah’s blog. She’ll do a much better job than me.

We went to Pearl Harbor. Did you know that there’s still oil bubbling up from that day? I guess they refilled all the tanks right before the attack. More than anything else there, seeing that oil really struck a chord with me.

We went to Waikiki Beach (down the road from Honolulu). We saw Duke (the five-time Olympic medalist in swimming and grandfather of surfing) and ate at his restaurant. I had a fruity drink. Leah questioned my manhood. I ignored her and ate my pineapple garnish.

We left Oahu for the Big Island. Leah’s aunts Cindy and Adele greeted us with leis. The next morning we woke up and had breakfast on the lava cliffs in our backyard. I was sleepy. The sun rose up from the ocean. Fruit flies rose up from the lava.

That day Cindy took us around the island. I drove. In a Mustang convertible. Best decision ever upgrading to that bad boy. It’s like being the captain of a rollercoaster.

The next day we drove through mango groves for surf lessons from Steve (uncle) and Pono (cousin). I stood up for 1.5 seconds. Surfing is hands down the hardest sport I’ve ever tried. We then popped over to Steve’s co-worker’s beach house for some snorkeling in their pond. It’s naturally heated by lava tubes.

Alright. That’s enough for today. I have to go get a new TV remote from Time Warner. Lola ate ours while we were away. If you’re not too bored I’ll share some more pics later in the week. Aloha.