After two years of planning, researching and waiting the day of leaving has officially arrived!!! The lists are all checked off, bags packed and on the first flight of the first leg (Norfolk-Chicago). Hopefully, the rest of the day will continue to be as uneventful and we’ll make it to San Jose without incident or delay. 🙂 …


… Fast forward … We made it to San Jose and will get a few hours sleep before the next flight! Bed looking mighty good!
And look at this weather! The heat index at home got up to 103 today … So so tired of it. So these temps felt wonderful! This was the temp when we landed in San Jose.
Ta Ta for now! See ya in the morning!

Well it was a short night. Close to midnight before we got some zzz’s and the alarm went off at 6am. Got our shuttle to the airport at 7:00 and were checked in and through security before 7:30. The flight was scheduled to leave at 9:10 so we had plenty of time to grab some breakfast. San Jose Joe’s was about the only place around and the menu looked decent so that’s what we did. By the time we finished, found a restroom and got to our gate there wasn’t too much time to kill. We are flying Alaska Airline to Hawaii, go figure. LOL 

The attendant made an announcement about available seats upgrading to first class and Bob’s antenna went up. Obviously the flight isn’t full. My man was so tickled to get a good deal and upgrade us to first class. What a  cool surprise to the day! We were already excited but 5-6 hours in coach vs. first class? No comparison. We kind of fell in love with Alaska Air. They’re laid back attitude is very similar to Southwest. They took excellent care of us! I even had my first POG Mimosa!
What’s a POG Mimosa you ask? Well, let me tell you! Pineapple juice, orange juice and guava juice. This first one was in a plastic cup. The next two were in glasses. Hahahaha. Then came the snacks – a plate of fresh fruit (and it was good!). Before we landed they brought out the hot nuts. Bob could smell ’em, imagine that. He was so excited to get those hot nuts. I wanted a picture of the nuts with his beer and my POG but she forgot my POG so by the time I got it the nuts were gone. Oh well.


We’re less than an hour away from landing in Honolulu!!! Hehehehehe! How cool is that?

First looks of Hawaii from the air right before landing. I think the left side of the plane got the best views but I took what I could get.


You know we aren’t city people, so all this city stuff doesn’t really excite us much – but look at the water! Isn’t it beautiful? And it’s so calm today – not so much last weekend. There were two hurricanes lobbying for Hawaii sitting out the in the pacific heading this way. Thankfully, they skirted more north and from what we heard it wasn’t that bad here. Hope these calm conditions hold out for our snorkeling in the coming days.

We got our rental car and made our way through the streets and “interstate” (speed limit 35-45mph) to the hotel. The Hilton is an older hotel but very nice. It’ll do I think. 🙂 Another first for us, we’re on the 21st floor. Wow. Look at the view we’ve got for the next couple of days!



After quickly unpacking a few things (we’re only here two nights), we decided to explore a little. Besides, we just had to walk down to that beach! Bob had planned to eat at Duke’s tonight – a place right on the beach where we can watch the sunset during dinner – with it being my birthday and all. 🙂 So we started walking that way, figuring we would try to make reservations in person. Folks, it a city. And this is off peak. SMH. I’d hate to see it on peak.  And the beach? Well, it’s a tiny little beach with lots of people claiming their little spot on it. We did stick our toes in the water and it felt delicious! It just makes us look that much more forward to where we’re going when we leave Waikiki. We stayed down here for two nights so we could go to Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, the lighthouse and snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We figured it was better than driving back and forth from the north side of the island. Back to Duke’s. It’s one of the few restaurants right on the beach here. Apparently we’re a tad bit too late trying to make reservations for a sunset dinner. The earliest time they could get us in for a reservation was 9:45. Hmmmm, I don’t think so. She said we could just walk in and wait for a table if we wanted – and we did consider that for a few minutes. In the end, by the time we walked back to the hotel we were hungry and thirsty. It was, after all, about 2:00 by then – and that would be 8:00 our time at home. We just went to the restaurant inside the hotel and got some adult beverages and food – fish tacos and a Kalua pork sandwich. We are so not gonna be hungry for a real dinner by 6:00. That’s ok. Maybe we’ll just walk back down to the beach and see what kind of sunset we can get. In the meantime …


Outside our window in the restaurant the courtyard was set up for a wedding. There’s a gazebo and lots of lush vegetation providing a gorgeous backdrop. Sure enough, while we were sitting there a bride and groom (and what appeared to be groomsmen) showed up for photos. I should’ve taken more pics. I always say that. You’d think I would’ve learned by now. But seriously? I had no idea how important a roll they could’ve played in this journaling. I had my own thoughts about this couple that I kept to myself – and thoughts about the dress too. SMH. WHAT was she thinking? Anyway, so we just watched. It was very entertaining. After, I don’t know maybe an hour or so, another wedding party showed up! So now, we’re really getting curious as to how this is all going to play out. This new wedding party had an awesome photographer. He had some fun poses in mind for these groups and they were all up for the antics. Eventually, we could tell he was moving towards the gazebo. I was wondering how much longer the original group would be milking it. (They probably pay a fee for a certain amount of time to do the shoot – at least that’s what I’m guessing.) And this is where it starts to get even more interesting. I look over and the guys who I thought were groomsmen are holding hands and looking like a couple, having their own photo shoot. About that time Bob glances over (I hadn’t said anything to him) and they kiss. And the photographer is shooting away. Bob turns back to me and said, “did you see that?” LOL Uh huh. “How many weddings are there going to be here tonight?” LOL I have no idea. It was at this point I said the hell with propriety (yeah, I know, when do I ever conform, right?) and picked up my phone and started snapping my own photos – through the windows –  wishing I had been doing it all along. Joel, our server, told us you see everything out there – don’t be surprised at anything. LOL


You decide … Back in the room, Mr. Troupe is recharging and I’m sitting here catching up on my thoughts. We have changed our minds so many times on what we’re doing tomorrow I guess we’ll figure it out as we go. Every time I think we have a plan, we change it again. So we’ll see. Other than getting a sunset tonight I don’t think anything is locked in stone for tomorrow. We just know we have 1-1/2 days to cram everything in. As of now, the snorkeling has been nixed due to the mass number of bodies that go to that beach every day – 3,000. If we weren’t snorkeling the rest of the time it may be different, but since we are I think we’re going to forego that tomorrow.
Mr. Troupe’s recharging took longer than either of us intended so I hung out on the balcony enjoying the view and playing with the changing light. It was a pretty sunset even from my view with a building in the way. The color was amazing.


That’s all for tonight!