Taking Myself on Vacation to Waikiki: Solo Trip (Long Post)

Friday 8/12-Sunday 8/15: Museums, Views, Yoga, and The Princess Bride

Last weekend, I took myself on vacation to Waikiki for a solo recharge. Having direct flights on Southwest from SMF to HNL makes this sort of trip so much more feasible! I left Sac around 7:30am and arrived in Honolulu close to 10:30am, giving me the entire rest of the day on Friday to enjoy on the island. 

I was too early to access my room at the Aston Waikiki Sunset, so I left my bags with the Front Desk staff and headed to HOMA (Honolulu Museum of Art). I really love this museum, both for its collection and for the building itself, built around several courtyards. Mr. E and I even have a membership since we visit often enough! I particularly enjoyed two of the special exhibitions: Mauka to Makai, Honolulu Cityscapes of the 1850s and Cross Pollination: Flowers Across the Collection. Two pieces in the latter exhibition particularly struck me, the first because of the variety of colors and flowers and containers, and the second because it so perfectly shows how tulips move and change once they're cut and put into a vase.

At the end of this exhibition was a selection of several postcards featuring works in the gallery. Visitors could select a card, write a message, and drop it into a box on the wall for HOMA to mail. What a great idea! I wrote out a card to my Mom, and it will be interesting to see how long it takes to arrive in Austin.

Once I was ready for lunch, I headed to the HOMA cafe and was surprised to see how busy it was on a Friday afternoon. I decided instead to order my lunch to takeout and eat at one of the tables surrounding the central courtyard, which was definitely the right choice. As I waited for my order, I perused one of Mr. E's and my favorite galleries, featuring contemporary Hawai'ian art. I noticed right away that the gallery appeared to be smaller than before and didn't include some of the additional works that I'm used to seeing. Sure enough, when I asked the staff at the reception desk on my way out of the museum, they explained that the other half of the gallery has been re-purposed for storage, hopefully just on a temporary basis!

I also made a stop in the store to pick up some cards and a small blank notebook for drawing. I hadn't brought my pencils with me, so I "borrowed" one from the supply near the flower postcards to use as I ate lunch and enjoyed the courtyard setting. My seared ahi salad was delicious!

I wasn't very pleased with my attempts to capture some of the creature statues on paper, but I was more successful with the water lilies in one of the side courtyards.

When I was ready to leave the museum, I decided to make a stop at the Safeway on Kapahulu Street to stock up on some groceries for the weekend, since I knew my suite included a fully-equipped kitchen with full-size fridge and microwave. A light rainfall greeted me as I left the store to walk to the hotel! Along the way, I also bumped into the bike food tour that Mr. E and I had done during our visit in April 2021. 

My suite on the 33rd floor had an amazing view of both the ocean and Diamond Head.

I definitely spent lots of time on the lanai during my visit, just appreciating the ever-changing views throughout the different times of the day and different weather conditions. Once I unpacked, I headed off towards Kalakaua Street for a bit of browsing and some additional beverage shopping at an ABC Store. I walked through the lobby of the Marriott Resort and was pleased to see that the Starbucks had returned! The rainbow sign in the middle is a new and very appropriate welcome.

Dinner the first night was sushi from Safeway, Aviation pre-mixed cocktail (why can't I find this in stores near us here in Sac??!!), and taro chips, all enjoyed out on the lanai, of course.

The gradual sunrise over Diamond Head greeted me on Saturday morning. I started off the day with a walk along Kuhio Street and back along Kalakaua and Waikiki Beach. My adventure this morning was a 9am SUP Yoga class with Yoga Floats near Magic Island in Ala Moana Beach Park. My first time ever on a SUP! I only fell in the water once, and that's probably because I modified some poses once I started feeling off balance (e.g. Tree). Other balance poses were fine, such as Crow and Side Plank.

I think the strangest sensation was being in Down Dog and looking through my legs at the water and sky from a totally flipped perspective! After the class, I rinsed off the salt water and walked back to the hotel, stopping along the way at the Reserve Starbucks on Kuhio Street for egg bites and an iced Americano. I was definitely ready for a shower by the time I got back to the hotel!!! 

I spent a couple of hours in the afternoon at the Bishop Museum and particularly enjoyed the special exhibition about The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu. I grabbed a salad for lunch at the nearby Subway once I got back to the hotel and then got ready to go to the Hawaii Theatre Center for "The Princess Bride: An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes" at 6pm. The show included a screening of the film and than a facilitated Q&A session with Cary Elwes. This is one of my favorite movies, and it was such fun to see in a crowd of like-minded fans and to hear some inside stories from one of the leads! The setting was also quite majestic, and the reusable plastic wine tumbler that was allowed into the theatre makes a great souvenir.

I was up early on Sunday morning for my run around Diamond Head. For part of the route, I was following the same path as a 15K race -- that's definitely too far for me to run these days! My 5ish miles was plenty, and I cooled down with yoga in the room before grabbing some breakfast at the new Starbucks along the exterior of the Marriott. 

Today's adventure was a snorkel, turtle, and lunch tour with Hawaii Nautical, and I had to be at the Kewalo Basin Harbor before 11am. I decided that this would be my "taxi-free" day, especially since I had more time and no early or late plans that needed a scheduled pick-up, so I took The Bus both to and from my catamaran tour. So easy! A direct route on Route 20 with a stop half a block from the hotel and another right by the harbor. I'm very glad that I packed my wet suit so that I didn't get cold during the hour-ish snorkel time. Unfortunately, I didn't see any honu, and the water was rather rough due to the winds, so I even felt a bit sea sick during the trip, which is unusual for me with that type of water craft. One of the crew noticed my Hawaii Cat Cafe tank top (from our April 2021 trip) and later showed me a picture of her kitty, Eleanor, that was adopted from the cafe.

I lay down for a bit when I got back to the hotel to get over the queasy feelings. Then I showered and washed out my swim stuff before going for a walk along Kuhio Street to find some dinner. I ended up at the International Marketplace and had some vegan gelato as an appetizer followed by a mixed poke bowl to take back to the hotel. I had time for some more drawing and reading and enjoying the sunset out on the lanai before eating my poke and wrapping up the evening.

My final morning started with another walk along Waikiki Beach, this time with the specific intent to visit  the Kapaemahu stones that I had learned about at the Bishop Museum. The stones are in an enclosed area right on the beach, but I don't know that I had ever really noticed them before and certainly didn't understand their significance and history.

After my in-room workout, I went to a 9am beachfront yoga class with Sunset Yoga Waikiki near the Aquarium. This is another activity that I had done during our April 2021 trip, and this time there were only two of us with the instructor. As we moved through the poses, I remembered that outdoor yoga in nature always sounds better in theory than it is in reality, at least for me... I kept feeling tiny ants and other creatures skittering over me, the big tree providing some cover from the sun kept dropping fluff on me, and the shade just wasn't cooperating with the positioning of my mat. Note to self: Outdoor yoga is much better on a protected lanai with a nice view than on the grass somewhere!!!

I picked up breakfast at Starbucks again on my way back to the hotel, supplemented by the yummy roasted vegetables from my leftover snorkel tour lunch, and had enough time for some final images of Diamond Head before catching a ride to the airport for my 12:55pm flight.

My return flight from HNL got me back to SMF just after 9pm, so I had a little time to reconnect and snuggle with Mr. E and Caly before turning in.

A few more views of Diamond Head for good measure...

Catching Up on Travel Updates: Family Time in Colorado

Thursday 7/28-Sunday 7/31: Mr. E's Family Wedding + Lunch in Littleton

Thanks to Mr. E's status on United, we got upgraded to First Class for our afternoon flight from SMF to DEN on Thursday and enjoyed the extra perks. The rental car pick-up was relatively quick, so we arrived at our Residence Inn near Golden at a reasonable hour. We stopped along the way to pick up some provisions for the weekend and then settled into our suite.

Friday was a remote work day for both of us, and we had plenty of space to set up our respective work stations after grabbing breakfast at the hotel and Starbucks at the nearby Target. Mr. E was able to meet up with L & M for lunch at a local restaurant. In the evening, we picked up L & M at their hotel and made our way together to The Golden Hotel for the rehearsal dinner. The gathering was originally planned for an outside area overlooking the river, but the threatening weather in the mid afternoon caused a change of plans and a quick set-up of an indoor room instead. As we enjoyed the meal and visiting with family, I realized that it was the same room that had hosted one of my PCA Peer Network face-to-face meetings years ago when I was still working for CPCA! No wonder it felt so familiar...

On Saturday morning, we repeated our breakfast and coffee arrangements and then headed to Littleton just before noon to meet up with A, R, F, and C at their house for lunch. We got to see their backyard renovations and new solar panels and meet the new canine member of the family, Zelda. I'm so glad we were able to spend a couple of hours with them during the weekend! We also heard all about R's new job and upcoming big transition. 

We returned to the hotel in the mid afternoon to get ready for the early evening wedding at The Pines at Genesee, a lovely outdoor venue where the ceremony for D & J (D is the eldest son of Mr. E's cousin D) was held in a shaded pine grove. I think their ceremony was even shorter than ours!!! We carpooled again with L & M and had plenty of time to chat with other family during the cocktail reception and dinner. Once the toasts and remarks were completed, we decided to take our leave and wrap up the evening at the hotel.

Our return flight on Sunday was in the late morning, so there was time for my workout and for breakfast before we had to head back to the airport. No upgrade this time around, but the quick direct flight got us back home to Sac by early afternoon, giving us plenty of time to unpack, do some chores, and get ready for the work week.

Catching Up on Travel Updates: Mom Visit & East Coast Trip

Thursday 6/30-Friday 7/8: Austin, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Austin

During the middle part of J & B's family vacation in Costa Rica, I headed to Austin to spend time with mom and take a trip back East so she could visit her sister and several long-time friends. 

Due to an outbound flight delay, I arrived after midnight but had luckily booked a pick-up in advance so didn't have to worry about getting to mom's house. And since I took Friday off to spend with her, I could even get a decent amount of sleep before embarking on the day. We took care of the final step for securing a Texas title to her car, practiced the drive to J's house a couple of times, and had some meals at Solstice. I even had time for a mini swim workout in J's pool in the afternoon (though I totally goofed and forgot to put the vacuum back in the water -- ugh!).

Mom and I had an early morning departure on Saturday for our flight to Newark. The experience at the Austin airport for a wheelchair was less than impressive, but luckily I was able to push a chair with one hand while pulling my bags and having Mom hold her bag on her lap! Our flight was on time and uneventful, and we had a wonderful helper with the wheelchair once we got to Newark. Not only was she friendly and kind to Mom, but she took us all the way out to the rental car area, helped us get to the front of the line, and stayed with us until Mom could get into the car. Amazing service!!! 

We had to wait a little bit for our room to be ready at the Residence Inn since we arrived prior to the usual check-in time. But we eventually were able to get settled into our two-bedroom suite and then headed off to Bristol Glen to meet up with C & G and see Aunt J. G had arranged for Mom to have dinner in Aunt J's room, so then C & G & I were able to go out to dinner on our own at a local farm-to-fork style restaurant that was absolutely lovely. 

On Sunday morning, Mom and I ate breakfast together down in the public area and then popped off to a nearby grocery store to stock up on a few provisions. This particular Residence Inn offered an egg white option of some kind each morning as part of the breakfast buffet, including a DIY omelet station, which was definitely a perk for me. 

In the late morning, we headed to C & G's house for the afternoon. They had picked up Aunt J right around the time we were leaving the hotel, so she was already there and settled in when we arrived. Mom got to spend lots of quality time with her sister, and I got to catch up a bit more with C & G. In the early afternoon, while Aunt J was napping, Mom and I went for a swim in their lovely outdoor pool. We finished off the visit with an early dinner of grilled salmon, vegetables, farro salad, and ice cream or gelato. Yummy!

Monday was our first friend road trip day, taking us to Sunbury, PA to visit with Aunt S for a couple of hours. She lives in an amazing house with lots of great art, furnishings, and architectural details, most of which were designed by her sister and friend when they lived in the home. Too bad the backyard pool had been filled in years ago, as another swim would have been a nice activity for me while Mom and Aunt S chatted. Luckily, I had brought my elephant adult coloring book and colored pencils, so that was a good way for me to be present during the visit even if I wasn't actively participating in all of the conversation.

On our way back to New Jersey, we stopped at a Subway for lunch and arrived at the hotel with just enough time for me to do a short swim before we were due at Bristol Glen for another short visit with Aunt J. After an hour or so, we returned to the hotel for the evening, where we had dinner together in our room (grocery store sushi for me, takeout McDonald's for Mom).

Tuesday was for our second friend road trip, this time to Hamden, CT to see M & M. We had a wonderful visit with them, and I was much more involved in the conversation, probably because I had spent quite a bit of time with them not only as a child but also when I was older and in college in nearby Middletown, CT. I took time out for a walk around the nearby school just to get some activity before Mom and I got back in the car to return to New Jersey. Another Subway stop for lunch and then some traffic (no surprise...), but we still were on time for our final visit to Bristol Glen and to say our goodbyes to Aunt J, C, and G.

We had an early afternoon flight back to Austin on Wednesday, so we could take our time in the morning with breakfast and then the drive to the airport, including the rental car return. We again had a very helpful and prompt experience with the wheelchair service to get to the gate (quite a distance!) and were rather early so had a couple of hours to wait before boarding the plane. Another uneventful flight and easy pick-up at the Austin airport (I again had to be responsible for the wheelchair pushing in Austin -- such a difference between airports!!!). We got back to Mom's cottage at Solstice in the early evening and had plenty of time to unpack and settle in.

On Thursday and Friday, we did some other chores and errands, practiced the drive to J's house, had a few meals in the dining room and others at the cottage, and just generally relaxed, and talked, and read, and enjoyed being together. I also got to swim a couple more times at J's. My return flight to Sac was late afternoon on Friday, so I was definitely a bit tired by the time I got home, but it was great to have the whole weekend here with Caly and Mr. E before jumping right back into work on Monday.