Day 1 in Waikiki, Honolulu
I started my day waking up before my alarm to beautiful, sorely missed sunlight streaming through the hotel window. My aunt Jann and I had flown in at 10:00 that night, much too late to catch a glimpse of the tropical sun or wide beaches.
Of course I checked me email first, work and school don't stop, even for vacation. Although it is much easier to come to terms with the workload since it is within subjects and organizations I enjoy. But I left work behind to visit the hotel gym while Jann went for a beach stroll. Run a couple miles- then pilates for a few minutes. The usual routine.
I headed back up to the room, sweaty and feeling good, to meet Jann for breakfast. We traveled down to a cafe on the first floor of the hotel, acaí bowls making the perfect post-workout treat for a hot day. We then left our hotel's campus to walk the Waikiki beach stretch- about four miles of sand, shops, surf and sun. Along the way I dipped my toes in the ocean, my first time in warm water in years.
Our walk took us all the way down to the end of the beach, where we took photos in the park and admired the view of the mountains. When we turned back, we switched to the inland side of the street, visiting shops and storefronts as we moseyed back towards our end of the stretch. I stopped in to buy my first souvenirs of the trip, some gifts for friends as well as a shirt with "Hawaii" written on the front for myself. Sometimes you have to be a bit tacky.
We crossed the street again, switching over to the beach side just at the right place to find banana soft serve, ice cream made from plain blended bananas. We got some for lunch, our second blended fruit meal of the day, and after the first bite vowed to come back again during our trip.
By the time we made it back to the hotel the sun was high in the sky, giving us the perfect opportunity to lounge in the
adults-only pool (I can do that now!) while reading our respective books. After a few hours of reading, napping, and a good amount of tanning, we headed to the room to get dressed for a nice dinner out.
We went to an early dinner at a sushi bar in the upper floors of one of the shopping centers, with a perfect view of the beach sunset. We shared many delicious plates of sashimi, maki rolls, and tempura cauliflower before beginning out trek back to our home for the weekend. Walking along the beach, we were able to watch the sun disappear below the horizon, barely dodging the tide as it came rushing in to flood the beaches we had walked on that morning.
Back at our hotel, we enjoyed a Hawaiian vacation classic of shaved ice while watching live music, a performance of ukelele and singing on the beachside. Finally, we retired to the room after our long day, where I got to shower off the sunscreen and sand before collapsing in bed to write this post. As we prepared for bed we discussed our plans for tomorrow, and for the rest of our time in Hawaii.
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