Leaving Kauai today was emotional for me; I got a bit choked as the island dropped away from the plane this afternoon. A sunny day with huge white clouds after two days of rain made it all the more poignant. Strange to say goodbye to Phil. Strange to leave Tammie and all the little jokes we’ve put together over the last month. But SO grateful to have such a dear friend who’ll put me up and put up with me for a month! I couldn’t have asked for a more generous tour guide and listener; it was great fun to meet so many of Tammie’s friends, too, and put faces to names. And what a blast to go to Maui — a first for both of us!

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I forgot to mention that I tried a local breakfast the other morning: Loco Moco! It didn’t sound all that special to me, but it was so good! Check it out.

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Happy to say that I (barely) made the luggage weight limit, at 49.5 lb of 50. I love the Kauai airport: open air, you show up just before your flight, the security line is about a minute long, and no one is crabby. It’s all good.

Arrived in Honolulu to the best view I’ve had of the island: I was finally able to view Pearl Harbor, clearly seeing the USS Arizona Memorial gleaming white in the water above the sunken battleship, with the Mighty Mo (USS Missouri) battleship in dock nearby. I’ll be going there tomorrow. For today, I went into a bit of “city slicker” shock going into Honolulu, tons of cars and people and buses: overwhelming! After getting my car and checking into my hotel, I drove through Waikiki, which is packed with stores, stores, and more stores. I did manage to see the statue of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, the “father of surfing”; there must have been 20 fresh leis on the statue’s outstretched arms.

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I continued driving east toward Diamond Head; I had hoped to hike the path into the crater, but it was later than I’d expected by the time I got there, so I continued on past to a beach nearby and watched dozens of surfers. I continued on the Kalanianaole Highway east past Kahala Beach, Koko Crater, Hanauma Bay, Halona Blowhole, Sandy Beach, and then made the glorious turn north toward Makapuu Point. I literally gasped at the view. Several uninhabited islands just off the east shore and a view for miles up the coast, with the road hugging the cliffs. I was lucky enough to see a few whales breaching, just as a bonus!