I’d never been to Hawai’i. In fact, it had never been very high on my list of priorities. But there was a wedding involved, and I just couldn’t resist the thought of visiting — not to mention doing it in — another state, one of only two which is ever farther west than my own…
Mark and I dragged our asses and our luggage up Seventh Street to the Civic Center BART station at an unspeakably early hour so we could make it to the Oakland airport and catch our rescheduled flight to Kahului. The airport was from hell (who knew there was an even worse option than SFO?), but the flight was just fine. Aloha may be one of the last airlines that actually takes care of its passengers…
We picked up three hours flying west, thanks to that time zone thing, and arrived a little before noon. We got our car, drove out of the airport and were immediately greeted by a Costco and a Krispy Kreme. Just like in America…
It didn’t take us long to find the Longs (for water and snacks) and our hotel (for the elimination thereof). The hotel was budget, but nice, with sort of a faded 1950s glory and a window unit air conditioner which eventually cooled things down. And it was a friendly sort of place. After checking in, we looked around Kahului and got lunch at a burrito place in a strip mall near the Wal-Mart. I sort of liked that we were obviously staying in the “locals” part of the island…
Later, we me KC and Galen at their resort, and they frolicked in the ocean and on the beach while I desperately sought shade. I only do beaches in the fog and at night, and find them to be wretchedly miserable places to spend a hot sunny day, and I don’t apologize for that fact…
Afterward, we had a group of about eight for dinner at a nice Thai place in Kihei…