Aloha!

About a month ago I got back from a business trip to Honolulu. It was my first time to Hawaii...

...I. Was. CRANKY. Despite all the hullabaloo about how beautiful it is and after all the "Lucky!" and "Sooo jealous!!" statements, there I sat on the plane, dreading the entire trip altogether. Not only did I have to go through the new scanners that expose you to radiation equivalent to a few hours of flight in a matter of milliseconds, but I got a VERY thorough pat-down (I'd call it second base at least!!) waaaaaaaaaay to early in the morning which I felt was entirely unnecessary since the TSA had seen through every inch of my body. I knew I wouldn't have time to sight-see. It would be 6 hours on a plane (which, by the way, I'm a white-knuckle flyer--it's not my favorite thing in the world), 6 hours back. Wake up early for work, do my thing, get back to the hotel, clean up, have a working dinner, watch tv til I fall asleep. I'd done the same thing when I went to Albuquerque a few months back, except this trip to work, eat and sleep was a 6 hour plane ride away. Raaawwwwrrrrr.

Getting out of the airport and getting the boss' rental car was the usual. First things first, we had a meeting to take care of as soon as we landed. Ok that was taken care of. Checking into the hotel gave me the first notion that maybe it wouldn't be as boring as I thought it would be. Staying at a Hilton is never a bad gig. Staying at a Hilton in Hawaii is even less so.

The "lobby" was little more than a roof and a tall granite concierge station. The rest was open to the moist warm air, the palm trees, the sound of water splashing from the pools and fountains and of course, the ocean view a mere matter of yards from where I stood.

I took this photo upon my arrival to the hotel.

Because there were no king sized beds available, the concierge upgraded me to a partial ocean view. On the 23rd Floor. Awesome.

The view from my room. Looks like something out of a travel pamphlet!!

The first night of dinner was as expected. It was a long day and I needed a drink. Never in my life had I tasted a pina colada as sweet and fresh and fabulous as I'd tasted that night. It also had fresh strawberry puree at the bottom, and the sweetest pineapple wedge balanced on the rim like only Hawaii can pick. Best $11 I've ever spent on a drink.

The second afternoon we had some free time, so I decided to make good use of it and walk down the boardwalk towards Diamond Head. Just in time to watch the sun set. I thought maybe here I'd get to see the green flash...



Took this while standing with my toes in the sand on Waikiki Beach

I went out to dinner with the boss again to a seafood restaurant. Now those of you who know me know I'm not a huge fan of cooked fish. At. All. So when I saw the Tuna Carpaccio I could not resist. It was served with a mild warm sesame oil and topped with sweet Maui onions and radish greens with a housemade chili sauce similar to sriracha. The crispness of radish and onion was the perfect complement to the delicate, buttery texture of the fresh tuna, which was only made better by the slight bite from the chili sauced which graced my plate. My mouth waters as I type.

...So as not to bore with EVERY single detail, the rest of the trip went as expected, but I wasn't cranky about being in Hawaii at any other part of the trip than before I was there. While at the Honolulu Airport, I happened to glance a cart which was selling various plants native to Hawaii to be brought back to the mainland. So I just had to stop and take a look. I found a couple really beautiful looking images of plumeria on the package and decided to take them home with me. I gave one to my mom as a souvenir, and decided to keep the other one here with me. And I barely got around to planting it yesterday. I'll post more about it tomorrow.