Arriving in Paradise

Eric, Ui and Milana, my seat mates for the seven-hour flight from Seattle to Honolulu.

  I hope I have Milana's name spelled right.  What a great little trooper!  At nine weeks, she took everything in stride as if she'd traveled a lifetime.  

Eric and Ui were on their way to show of their new daughter to the grandparents who live on the North Shore of Oahu. Turns out they're friends one of Annie's friends at Groundspeak. 

We all seemed to get along very well during the longer-than-usual flight, extended because of strong head winds across the Pacific. In the morning we sat waiting for a long time to take off in dreary, wet Seattle weather and  in late afternoon, deplaned in Honolulu to sun, lots of vibrant color and the 80s----well, worth the long flight. Eric and Ui, it was such a pleasure to meet you. 

Annie presented Mom and Dad Love with lovely tokens of the arrival to the islands.  

Wish I could capture that wonderful fragrance of my lei and bring it home.  We immediately went to the rental car agency, picked out a jeep and headed on our way to our destination of Turtle Bay on the North Shore.  

Late flight arrival translated into 5 o'clock traffic on the freeway, so it was just about sundown when we reached our condo. 

We stayed in the condo long enough to drop our suitcases and then walk briskly (walking after sitting for eight hours felt mighty good) toward the Turtle Bay shore and the evening adieu to another beautiful Hawaiian sun. 

That's Bill with his first information display. He's never met an informative display that he didn't like.  In fact, we have found that it's vitally important to check behind us for Bill because he likes to take it all in, including the facts on virtually any sign or display.

Yup, Bill has found his first Hawaiian geocache at Turtle Bay Resort.

Just as on Annie's and my trip to Maui a few years back, we've already met the local cats.  This kitty and its all black partner were playing in the bushes near the Turtle Bay Hotel.  Very nice kitties.

Big, big surfing event is keeping parking spaces full along the highway on the North Shore.  We'll probably go take in some of the action today. 

Our introduction to Oahu and the North Shore has been brief because of quickly approaching darkness, but here we are, Bill in a chair reading Cindy's book about the Pope, Annie snoozing in her bedroom, both Mom and Dad love sipping on homegrown fresh coffee, and my fingers banging out quick highlights of the initial sights on what is sure to be an adventure and sun-filled week far away from winter and rain.

We'll take it!  Happy Wednesday!  GO ZAGS!