February 16, 2007 Waikiki

We were up at 5:30 (7:30 CST) for Darren to drive us to the airport by 6 for our 8:15 departure. The timing was just about perfect to check in and get through American immigration and customs, pick up a snack, and have a few extra minutes at the gate. Once on board though, we were delayed waiting for the arrival of a connecting flight from Edmonton which was delayed by weather. We departed sometime before 9 and were fed a nice breakfast an hour or so later. We encountered some light turbulence that interrupted service on the second half of our flight, but it was otherwise uneventful.

On our flight, they showed the movie “Man of the Year” starring Robin Williams. It fell short of being good because it was so overly simplistic and preachy, but it helped kill the time on a 6.5 hour flight. You know the type: celebrity comedian who bashes politicians on talk show is drafted by his audience to run for President as an independent candidate. He has all the quick and easy solutions to all the complex problems. Meanwhile, an evil corporation wins the contract to supply a computerized voting system while conspiring against the whole population of America and the world to hide a fatal programming flaw. Of course, the comedian is elected in error and the plucky heroine tries to expose the flaw while the evil corporation tries to discredit her and hunt her down. If you guessed that the comedian does not accept the office, that the heroine is vindicated, and that the evil corporate guys go to jail, then you got it.

We arrived sometime before 1 p.m. Hawaii time (CST minus 4) and were in our hotel room by 2:30. We settled in, changed into appropriate clothing, and took some pictures of our view. Our 37-storey hotel tower shares the block with an 18-storey condominium that is across the street from the beach. A couple of miles north of us is a range of low mountains that is always cloud-covered as it catches the moist north wind out of the northeast while the beach in front of us experiences only occasional broken cloud. We went out to explore and get a bite to eat at “Cheeseburgers in Paradise,” a legendary Hawaiian chain that is expanding to the mainland. Then we took a long walk along Waikiki Beach to take in the sights, including this sea lion swimming along the shore in an area where there were no swimmers. We took in the sunset and then some traditional entertainment on the beach. We packed it in by 8 p.m. after a long day.