Believe it or not, procrastinator that I am, I did manage to find everything that needed to be packed, except for my barong ring. That barong ring has been misplaced for a couple of months. It makes me uncomfortable to travel without it (another of my superstitious habits), so will make a concentrated effort to find it upon my return.
I was up at 4:30 a.m., showered, packed a few more things, did the once over and was off to the airport. Unlike my last trip to Hawaii, my flight wasn’t delayed and I wasn’t hung over. Of course, I wasn’t sitting in First Class this time, either. I’d purchased a book to read on the flight over, Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. My time was spent reading, dozing off and on, and having a little conversation with the man seated next to me. He was going to be in Honolulu for 3 or 4 days for a Christian men’s retreat. He mentioned that he was looking forward to having loco moco for dinner that night. I confessed to having cravings for loco moco for the past week! He also told me that there’s a restaurant in Kauai that he loves for their oxtail soup, but he couldn’t remember the name of the place.
Our flight actually landed early. By the time I reached the baggage claim area, my suitcase was just going around the carousel. Perfect timing! I went outside and waited for my friend, who was picking me up. We haven’t seen each other for years, and I was SO happy to see him again! Since I hadn’t eaten anything on the plane, he offered to take me to lunch. We went to the Diamond Head Cove Health Bar for an acai bowl. Truth be told, I’ve never had an acai bowl before, even though there’s a place right in the Embarcadero called Blue Hawaii that serves them. He ordered “Da Mana” cove bowl for us to share and suggested that I get a veggie wrap, in case I didn’t like the acai bowl and/or needed something more hearty. The “Da Mana” was double acai topped with granola, blueberries, strawberries, banana, bee pollen and honey. He mentioned that the honey was from Kauai. Though a little skeptical at first, I actually liked the acai bowl; it was fresh, healthy and the flavors were great together. Now I’ll start eating acai bowls! The veggie wrap was good, too, especially the sauce, which seemed to have cilantro and garlic. I only finished half of the veggie wrap, however, and took the rest to go. You know how I’m always taking photos of things that I eat? Well, I forgot and my camera was in the car, anyway. You’ll just have to imagine the deliciousness! They also served kava, but he assured me that it was like “liquid heroin.” Somehow I didn’t think that would be a wise decision for me in the middle of the afternoon! He dropped me off at my hotel with my ton-o-luggage, then I set about unpacking.
Once my things were settled in my room, I ventured down to Kapiolani Park to check out the Lei Day celebration briefly. I perused the leis, listened to Kapena perform for awhile, then came back to my room. I was hungry again, so finished up the second half of my veggie wrap. I was trying to log on to my laptop, which was giving me problems. It might need a new battery. If so, there very possibly could be a lull in my postings from Hawaii! I’ll need to ask around as to where to buy a laptop battery. (It seems to be working fine this morning, but we’ll see.) Since my laptop failed me yesterday late afternoon/early evening, I decided to take a nap. Jet lag always kicks my butt the first day whenever I travel either East or West of California! When I woke up, my plan was to go see the live music on the rooftop at Dave and Buster’s in Ward Center. They told me that the rooftop doesn’t open until 10:00 p.m. (it was around 9:20 p.m.) and that there would be no live music that night, but a DJ. In the meantime, I wandered over to Big City Diner and had a… wait for it, wait for it… yup, a loco moco! Oddly, I accompanied it with a glass of pinot grigio. It was Wine Down Wednesdays, which meant all of their bottles and glasses of wine were half price, as long as you purchased food. It was the smart thing to do, right? The loco moco hit the spot, but I still might have another one, or two, before the end of my trip! I didn’t quite finish the loco moco, either, so took the rest to go. Then I debated about Dave and Buster’s. Did I really want to hear a DJ over live music? Did I want to sit there with my to-go box? Was I still tired? I decided to call it an evening, go back to the room and sleep early (for Hawaii). It was a typically beautiful evening in Hawaii for the walk back to my hotel. I was asleep by 11:00 p.m., which was 2:00 a.m. in San Francisco!
