Waikiki Beach, Thursday morning, March 30. Hey-- it's not raining in this shot!
You may have noticed the light postings here since last Thursday... truth is, we've been out of town for the past week and in Hawaii. A high school friend of mine was getting married, and we decided to take advantage of that to introduce Blogger Baby to the islands.
Unfortunately, we picked possibly the worst week of the year -- nah, maybe make that decade -- to visit. Things were never horrible -- how could it be horrible? You're still in Hawaii, and besides, going back for me is as much a chance to visit old haunts and check up on old friends as it is doing touristy stuff -- and could have been a lot worse.
Actually, that's what we started to call our vacation -- the "It Could Have Been Worse Tour."
It started before even leaving LAX. Our plane sat on the ground for 2 hours as mechanics tried to figure out why a blinking light in the cockpit was signaling something wrong. (Rumor swirled that the jet was leaking oil.) We eventually were forced to disembark and wait for a replacement plane. Annoying in general, but even tougher with an infant in tow. A five hour flight with a 15-month-old is bad enough -- try what turned into an 8-hour ordeal!
But we finally got on the new plane and headed out. Can't argue with being safe. Hey, it could have been worse!
We got to Hawaii as the state continued to be inundated with rain. And for the full seven days we were there, it rained 80 percent of the time. Which means we had a few dry spots to head to the beach -- which we took full advantage of. Hey, it could have been worse!
Of course, toward the middle of this week the beaches of Ala Moana and Waikiki became unsafe for the first time in decades, as a broken sewer line in Waikiki forced the city to drain hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage right into the Ala Wai Canal for several days nonstop. Yuk.
The Ala Wai Canal is pretty gross to begin with. Now it's presently the world's largest toilet. As the Honolulu Star-Bulletin's Thursday headline read, "Still nasty." The Ala Wai flows into the ocean between Waikiki and Ala Moana beach, making parts of both unsafe. Luckily, we'd already hit the beach several times before the sewage hit the water. Hey, it could have been worse!
By the way, on one of those visits to Ala Moana Beach, I scraped my foot on some coral rock. It bled a bit, but nothing major. Hey, it could have been worse!
Unfortunately, my fave beach for lounging and swimming, Kailua Beach, was shut down after another, separate sewage spill brought on by the nonstop rains.
Meanwhile, back near our hotel, we woke up one morning to find that our rental car had been hit by someone, possibly as they parked behind us. The impact left a huge punch in the rear bumper, but the car was still fine to drive. Hey, it could have been worse!
I can't get too worked up about the trip disappointments, however, because just seeing Blogger Baby on the beach was worth the entire vist. Evan loved -- and I mean loved -- the beach. He giggled when I brought him into the ocean. He couldn't get enough of picking up rocks and sand. And he was in heaven when we floated him around on a raft.
Our Hawaii trip was also, of course, filled with food, as we consumed lots of Spam (of course!), shave ice and more.
We'll be posting highlights all weekend, as we share with you our restaurant picks, our debate over Oahu's best shave ice; we rate our hotel; and a lot more. Keep checking back!
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