monkeypod tree for my back yard. I suspect they won’t grow in a non-tropical environment, though. Plumeria blossoms smell amazing. The spud and I both bought Plumeria cuttings to grow our own Plumeria trees. I really REALLY want a pet gecko. We saw tons of them in Hawaii, and it brought me back to my childhood on Guam and the thousands of them we saw during our two years there. Back then I was scared of them (probably because of the way their tails come off. Eeek!), but now I think they’re just the coolest thing. “Aloha”, when said by a native Hawaiian, sounds musical, almost as if they’re singing it. The $2.99 breakfast special, while a good price and filling, always includes very bland pancakes. Taking 10 books in my suitcase along with 5 books in my purse was WAY overdoing it – I only ended up reading about 6 books, two of those on the plane. But I’d still rather have too many books than not enough. If I had to do the trip all over again, I would rent a car for at least part of the week. The only time we had access to a car is when my father wasn’t working, and even then we had to cram four people in the back seat. Nooooooot the most comfortable way to sit, trust me. We took the bus to the Aloha Stadium (there’s a swap meet there, and it was AMAZING), and on the way the bus stopped at Pearl Harbor, and there were about 600 people in line to get their tickets, and Debbie and I immediately decided “Fuck THAT.” Fred is horrified that I went to Hawaii and didn’t visit Pearl Harbor. Hell, I’m a little horrified, myself. But anyway, if we’d had a car, we probably would have ended up going to Pearl Harbor. We also could have spent the week driving all over the island, and swimming on beaches that were all but uninhabited rather than the busy beaches of Waikiki. So if you ever find yourself going to Oahu and are (like me!) too much of a princess to spend the day on a sweltering bus, make sure you rent a car. Whatever the price, I guarantee you it’s worth it.
“Do I LOOK like I missed The Momma?”]]>
Welcome back!
I suspect that your Alabama environment is probably tropical enough to support that tree! It wouldn’t like the cold winters though 🙁
Can’t wait to see all the pictures 🙂
Glad your back and can’t wait for your written entries to be up! Hope your rash clears soon!
Welcome home! I hear you on the flight part, I had to do 2, 5 1/2 hour flights to get here.. not sure I ever want to do that again and I’m DREADING the flight home next Friday, I’m on the red-eye leaving in the evening and fly all night!
For me so far it has been work, work, work but we’re hoping to get in some beach time and touristy type stuff this weekend. I did look for you everytime we drove past Waikiki beach on the way to work.
Look forward to hearing about your trip and comparing notes. 🙂
So I’m guessing you all aren’t headed to Australia to visit your many readers there any time soon? My parent’s went there from Nova Scotia and I think it was a total of 26 hours on the plane. And if you hate the heat in Hawaii you’d loathe Ayer’s Rock. Biggest mistake of my parents’ trip there apparently. The heat was about 42C the whole time they were there and my mom’s feet took about half the rest of their vacation to come down to the size of footballs. he rest of the trip they loved, but the big ass rock in the middle of nowhere and the scorching heat? Not so much.
It’s pathetic, really, how glad I am you’re back. Just a great gap from the lack of bitching and insufficient cat exposure. Heh. Looking forward to the pictures.
Yippee! Welcome back, Robyn, Fred and Spud!
Glad you had an alright time. To see the Arizona without the mad rush of people ya need a car…the tour busses and all that get their around the same times which explains the long line. However, if ya had gone over to the Missouri you can pretty much look down onto the Arizona from the bow (front of the ship). Or there is a little pull-out on ford island that lets ya be about 150 ft from the memorial of the Arizona. Anyway….glad ya got to see my home.
Welcome back! Isn’t Hawaii gorgeous! My hubby and I stopped in Hawaii for 3 weeks on our return from our Army tour in Korea. It was great! We spent the time with our military friends, so no hotel expenses which was great! We did rent a car and I’m sorry to hear you guys didn’t. Having the freedom to pop into a little convertible and go about the island was awesome. I had my Lonely Planet Hawaii book and it was great describing some out of the way places to go. If you guys go back, definately get a Lonely Planet book and rent a convertible! Its so worth it!
We can’t wait to see your travel log and pictures!
I’m so sorry about the rash and flight. Maybe you’ll take Fred and go to Maui! With an overnight lay over in San Francisco. Maui is less crowded, cool (70 degree) rain forest side, and car required! I went to Oahu and didn’t see Pearl Harbor either and I bet I skip it this time too. How did you like the water? I can’t wait to go. The water here in the Northwest is freezing! I am growing a plumeria tree. It’s 2 years old, hasn’t grown in height more than an inch or two, but puts out a little blossom every year than can scent the whole front porch. Very phallic looking! The blossom just grows from the tip of the cutting.
My husband’s parents live in Honolulu and so far, I’ve hated every moment of the trip every time we visit them. The last time we went was just last Christmas, I made Newby plan a week in LA after Hawaii and the stopover really helped a lot. While in the Philippines, I used to have three geckos that I raised from egghood and they were about 8 inches long when I left after two years. It broke my heart to leave them behind but they never had to depend on me for their livelihood anyway, thanks to all those huge mosquitoes. 🙂
I didn’t want to sound like a stalker and ask before you went to Hawaii, but what hotel did you stay in? We stayed 5 days at Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel…it was pretty a dinky place, but it was right across the street from the beach. For the last 3 days, we stayed at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, an awesome, awesome place. It was way out of our budgets but we won the room on eBay…we only had to pay 1/5 of the usual room rate.
Welcome home!! Missed you and your posts and cannot WAIT to hear all about it.
Jen
Welcome back!! I am looking forward to reading your travelog and seeing all the pics you took!! You were missed Robyn!!!!!!!!!
Welcome home…thank God Bitchypoo is now back in full swing…what is life without Robyn’s take on it anyway?
To the point though, it sounds like you have a terrible case of what is known to locals as Haoli Rot. It is a white person’s dread in the islands and usually occurs underneath bra straps, purse straps, sock lines… you get the point. I don’t know the medical term but it truly is a white phenom over there and I had to endure it for the first several months that I was living there years ago. Look on the bright side…at least you didn’t get stung by a jellyfish or eat bad Poi!
Glad you had a good time! I’m very much looking forward to all the pictures and travel-telling.
ACK! I originally missed the part about you taking coral and rocks from Oahu. Oh my. That is very bad! Well, if you believe in Hawaiian curses it’s bad. That could be where the rash came from and if that is the case it will never go away. 🙂 Just kidding. I think. But really….taking coral bad. Very bad.
We missed you something awful!
Heh,I COULD send you some colloidal silver for that rash. It would cure it in DAYS. But Fred has turned me down before when I offered-just cuz there’s a remote possibility you would turn blue. Fred,you chicken!
So glad to have you back! I hope someday to travel to Hawaii… did you get to meet Lilo and Stitch?
I’m the same way about my mom. My friends could tell me something perfectly horrible about myself and I would take their word and probably thank them for pointing it out. My world completely ends and falls apart should my mother say the exact same thing.
Glad you’re back! I had Anderson withdrawal what with you gone and Fred not postingwaaaaaah! And I missed the kitty pictures, too! I hope your rash will clear up fast and that you’ll be able to catch up on sleep. I’m looking forward to your travelogue.
Glad you’re back, too.
Welcome Home! Hope the rash clears soon! I say heck with the night gown- run around in the nude! It will clear up faster LOL
Can’t wait to read your Journal and see all the great pics you took!
Welcome back! Have you heard of mypublisher.com? You can make a book of your trip!