Diamond Head and Home Again

First off, we are home safe. We landed around 11 last night, had our bags by 11:30 and were in the apartment by midnight. Of course, then I had to unpack our suitcases because I am anal like that, so it was 1am before I got to bed. Tim took today off but I headed in for a 9am staff meeting. I managed to keep it together pretty well, I must say. Any time I drifted back into consciousness last night, all I heard was purring - Lulabelle purring on my pillow, Thory purring as he walked up and down the bed hoping for a pets - they were some sad little lovebugs.

Yesterday morning we started by hiking up Diamond Head. It looks deceptively easy from the ground, but it was tough. I mean, I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but my legs were trembling by the time we got down. It's almost a mile up, and the first part of it is up a narrow gravel road.

Doesn't look so bad, right?

There are some beautiful scenic vistas along the way.

But then when you get to the top, you hit this:
There's some steep, narrow stairs. Over 100 of them, in fact. By the time we got to the top, our buns were a-burning.

Then you walk through a low, dimly lit tunnel.

And then there's these! Narrow, corkscrew stairs.

To get to the actual vista point, you cross this board and climb up a little ladder.

Finally, you climb under this low wall thingie. It's a nightmare. I must admit, as I was climbing up and down, all I could think was "I'm glad Grandma was with me on the Death March to the Great Wall, rather than an attempt up Diamond Head." It was vicious.

But, the views at the top were SO worth it.
The view over Waikiki. You can see a little rainbow in the clouds.


Down to the ocean - you can see a little lighthouse along the coast.

The reef below.

Another windswept photo.

We climbed down and had a shaved ice reward at the bottom, then jetted back to our hotel room to finish packing, shower and get ready to fly out. We went through the International Market Place one last night for some last minute presents (maybe we picked up something for a certain birthday girl...) and then went to the International Pancake House for lunch.

Returning our rental car was a breeze, as was checking in. The woman at the AA counter was like, "I can see you have a pet" and then tapped our suitcase. At first, I thought she meant that we had a pet IN our duffel bag. Which, if I could bring the cats I would, but I would buy them little pink kitty strollers. She was then like, "you have pet hair on your suitcase... I have a cat... I understand." Our big suitcase lives under the bed 24/7, and the cats sleep on it constantly. It's half cat fur when we pull it out.

The flight was smooth, except for when I spilled my soda onto Tim. Damn my ham hands!

So now we have nothing on tap until Door County for the Fourth. Well, Sara and I have a massage next weekend, which I am very much looking forward to. Hawaii was so relaxing and amazing - we had a great time.

I leave you (for now) with our pictures from our fancy dinner out on Saturday night. We went to Alex Wongs, which was delicious (but which I might have liked more if its menu had less seafood options.)

Here is me and the world's cutest husband, with our dessert courses. He had five tastes of creme brule and I had THIS!

Coconut ice cream in a chocolate shell, garnished with fresh fruit. It was so realistic looking that I could hardly take my spoon to it. But once I did, I found it to be absolutely delicious!

So there are our first two travelogues of the year. Keep posted for additional fun about the Ford family. Now I have to go snuggle a cat on the couch.