Hawaii: One, two, four!

If you’ve ever been to a swim meet, no matter the venue, you are aware that the bleacher seating in natatoriums all over the world is specifically designed to inflict a maximum amount of back pain to the user, which studies have shown contributes over a billion dollars in business for chiropractors, osteopaths, and the makers of Advil. Much of my winter was spent on those bleachers, but the SwimVacation trips I missed and my sore back were well worth watching my teen boys swim (and dive) their hearts out. We celebrated with a family trip to Puerto Rico last week, and I had just a day to pack for this SwimVacation trip to Hawaii. 

Heather and I made the slog from our respective homes in Bath, Maine by car to Portland, then a bus to Boston, then a flight to Seattle for a layover in a jam-packed airport. We did find a nice spot for lunch that had a real Pacific Northwest vibe, with a ginger kombucha on tap and a completely vegetarian menu. I hung around with 2-year old “Ebby”, for the remainder of our layover, we counted airplanes (one, two, four!) and spotted different colors on the tarmac (red was popular). She’d squeal and scream and run around the gate after these little exercises, much to my delight and her Mother’s chagrin. 

 The view over Puget Sound to Mt. Rainier as we flew away from Seattle was stunning. The port looked a little sleepy with idyl cranes and few boats, and I wondered if that was a result of slowing container ship traffic from China. Although the distance from Boston to Seattle and from Seattle to Hawaii are about the same, the second leg seemed a lot longer, perhaps because it started with me spilling a full cup of ice water onto Heather’s lap. Once that was cleaned up, a series of movies, TV shows, crossword puzzles, and podcasts filled the hours. We try to get up and move around when possible, which is easier from our bulkhead seats, which I prefer but leaves nowhere for Heather to rest her feet (short legs), so she uses her backpack as a footrest, but that’s not allowed there during takeoff and landing, so I make a lot of trips to the overhead bins, throwing the backpack back and forth, which is how the water spill incident occurred. I should mention that the Delta crew kept us well hydrated during the flight, something that has been lacking on other flights lately. 

As we land in Hawaii, I can already feel the mana here, the spiritual power that makes you feel both small and strong. I’m thinking about our guests this week and how I hope we can harness the mana to give them the trip of a lifetime. It’s our 9th or 10th trip here, I think. 

I have a fear of being labeled stingy, so I try to avoid using “Thrifty” or “Budget” car rentals, but this time I was forced by pragmatism to use Budget. Ugh. We eventually rent two cars here to shuttle our guests around, and we normally get a small SUV and a minivan. We only need one car for our first 2 days here, so we normally get the smaller one first. We were the last customers of the day at the counter, so we got the last car available, a rather large Jeep Grand Cherokee that I’m hoping will allow Heather to see over the steering wheel this week. If not, we’ll downsize (or I’ll sit on a towel - HP). 

Not 5 minutes on the road and we were treated to our first rainbow of the trip. And this lil gecko seemed to be pushing the Cadillac Margarita at Da Shark Shack. Jetlagged, we both opted for water! - HP

We rolled into Kona in time for some shrimp tacos, which we were falling asleep in as the waves crashed on the seawall and the sun set, 22 hours after we saw it rise in Boston. Tomorrow we’ll recover from the trip, go for a swim, and pick up some supplies for the week. It’s great to be doing this work again!

Hopper