Aloha, Hawaii! Day 1 8/17/15

After a summer of crazy busy travel, and the beginnings of a major house renovation, I had nine days left before I had to report back to work in Beijing (add +2 to the travel time, due to crossing the international date line).  Back in February, I planned a girl's trip for Emily, Ellen, and myself. Both girls graduated early with their bachelor's degrees, and Ellen quickly left home for a new career as a news reporter in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Emily went on to graduate school, and finished her Master's degree this summer.  This was my way to properly acknowledge their hard work and accomplishments- Hawaii or Bust, baby!

I flew Ellie from AR to Dallas.  I flew from Ft.
Myers to Dallas.  I met up with her and we flew on
to Phoenix.  I flew Emily from Indianapolis to
Phoenix direct.  We all three met up in PHX, then
made the long hop to Honolulu, HI, together.
Good thing I'm pretty good with logistics!
Diamond Head, and the ocean, was looking
as LOVELY as ever.  So excited!!!

This was coming in to Waikiki beach, where
we'll be spending the next week together.

And this was the view from Luana Waikiki, our hotel. So nice :)

After a very long day of traveling, we checked in, got our
bearings, and headed out to the Hilton Hawaiian Village for dinner.
I was there, oh, about 35 years ago!  I turned seventeen in
Hawaii on a school trip, marching in the King Kamehameha
parade with my high school marching band- good times!

We had dinner at Tropics, right on the beach.  I had vegetable
stir fry, gearing up for my return to China, I guess :)

Ellie and I hopped up from dinner to catch our first sunset on the beach.

It was glorious :)

We figured this guy to be a local, on a scooter
with his surfboard :)

After dinner, we went to the ABC discount store for some
breakfast and lunch stuffs- the girls had packed plenty of
snacks and booze!  We happened to find these in the store,
Mai Tai flavored condoms...they did not make the cut, lol.
The coconut cigars, did, however, thanks to Ellie bug.
I'll pass, thank you very much.

 G'nite, y'all!