Brief Hawaii thoughts

It's been a few days since we flew back from Oahu, and my brain is still on vacation. I guess I left it in paradise, as well as a few square inches of skin off my right knee (from getting pounded into the sand by a monster North Shore wave while we were bodysurfing - we never did get the hang of diving straight into an oncoming wave rather than running away from it). Still, had a blast during my first visit to Hawaii. Chris and Karen have done an excellent job recapping the events of the trip, so I won't bother rewriting the events/activities/food excursions here. Check out their posts at the following links:

Chris' recaps:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5 part 1
Day 5 part 2

Chris' smugmug (all 1143 pictures consolidated by everyone on the trip)

Karen's recap

My highlights, in no particular order:

- powered hang-gliding - as a fan of pilots and flying for years, it was quite the thrill being able to take the controls and fly the thing myself
- bodysurfing - I even saw a turtle!
- the hotel room - gorgeous view from the 25th floor. Marvelous to wake up to, to have as a background while reading the Word, to just sit and look out at a clear blue sky and blue water. I recall sitting on the balcony looking at the skyline and wondering how pristine it must have looked like when the first people to colonize the islands arrived
- North Shore in general - much less developed than Honolulu/Waikiki
- visiting Pearl Harbor - I've been on the USS Missouri in the past when it visited California, but being a military buff, it's always fun for me to see things in real life that I'm reading about in Tom Clancy novels
- high-end Japanese buffet at Makino Chaya's - so painfully full
- Alan Wong's - the priciest meal I've ever had... and I'd have to say it was worth it
- plate lunch from Rainbow Drive-In (Express) - Portuguese sausage with eggs over easy on top of rice... good stuff

It would have been nice to:

- go snorkeling
- go kayaking
- go boogie boarding
- listen to live Hawaiian music with cocktails and a sunset in the background
- spend more time hanging out in the room with folks (we pretty much conked out or did our own thing at nights)

Maybe next time...