ALOHA

My Week In Waikiki.....

Halloween, Jewelry, Macadamia Nuts, Birthday, Shopping, Mai Tai , Sand, Waves, Sunshine, Friends, Food, Jeep and flowers are just a few of the fun shared in Hawaii this past week...

HALLOWEEN is celebrated by everyone in costume and walking along the store fronts for candy. The streets are jammed-packed with happy carefree people having a good ole time. Their costumes are not store bought masks but well thought out outfits. We waited over an hour for a table at the Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed our meal and dessert. Dr Matthews led the walk back along the beach and we all had wet capri pant legs before we got back to our hotel.

The base exchange JEWELRY store was the first stop after breakfast every day- many purchases including a pair of beautiful green plumeria earrings they gave me for my birthday!

I ate plenty of the all natural dry roasted MACADAMIA NUTS and we stopped at the macadamia nut farm- which turned out to be mostly a tourist gift shop!

On my BIRTHDAY - plans were all mine to make---of course I said beach time....but it was misting and windy that morning so surprise...SHOPPING was my second choice.

We rode the bus to AlaMoana center and the SHOPPING began....I went straight to Macy's and found several sweater sets for work. There are plenty of places to browse and SHOPPING we did. CrazyShirts, FabricMart, Apple Store, Macy's, Victoria's Secret, at the BX/PX, and the International Market Place to name a few...

The drink of the week was a MAI TAI and our goal was to find the best one. The Hilton made my favorite but the local bar/hangout MaiTai came in with a really close second = an icy blended Mai Tai - especially when the 151 was added.

Beach time- indescribable- perfect is close though- white SAND raked and ready for my toes in the sand-ass in the WAVES moments and SUNSHINE temperatures in the 83-87 range,....couldn't ask for anything better.

FRIENDS meet and new friendships are made. Diane, Joyce and Susie had lots of catching up to do with Janet, who used to be Dr. Matthews receptionist. Wanda was able to see her son, Chad who is in the Navy and Dr. Matthews visited his astrology friends in Maui. I shared a room with Diane and Wanda so we had some late night talks and some early morning wake up laughs.

FOOD- each morning we ate at the base buffet - a huge spread of fruit- I couldn't get enough of the papaya, made or to order omelets and the most delicious coconut syrup!!!! I usually skipped lunch and we walked to a different restaurant for dinner We ate at the Macaroni Grill for my birthday dinner - complete with a serenade by MissOpera. We waited over an hour for a table at the Cheesecake Factory, no wait at all at Hamburger in Paradise and a short wait at the Yard House. My favorite was a small local place called Uncle Bo's- it came highly recommended and was worth taking the taxi there.

Rented a white JEEP and we drove around the island...with the GPS in the glove compartment most of the way. We saw huge waves, great beaches, picture perfect palm tree and had Ginger Shrimp for lunch at a local food wagon, walked through the antique store and a macadamia nut farm, sat on the beach to see Blow Hole and the sunset...it was a large, fun day and I am so happy we did this tourist thing!

Bright colors +Beautiful scents = so many FLOWERS .... the Plumeria and Hibiscus is my two favorites.

It was another vacation-different friends, food and fun but all good - and good things must come to an end....It was a long flight home to a different kind of beauty...a winter snow-globe wonderland kind full of ice and snow....I am happy to be home but will miss that Waikiki Paradise.....

October 29 to November 5th in Honolulu, Hawaii