Aloha from Hawai'i

Continuing on Eric's travel theme, I thought that I'd write about my trip to California and Hawaii.

Friday: Arrive in San Diego, Derek picks me up from the airport. We end up meeting Carol at a bar in Pacific Beach after some "interesting" directions. I think that scenery may be a little higher on the new Mrs. Zahn's list of priorities perhaps than it is on mine and Derek's. Either way, have a few drinks, hang out and generally have a good time. Ben meets up with us later in Dana Point, which is always interesting. Oh the stories! I wish I could tell them here... Carol has one or two too many shots and is speaking gibberish on the ride home. She went from happy to falling down in about 4 seconds! She's yelling about politics, and just about everything else that crosses her mind. Not to worry, she passes out on the couch as soon as we get home. Final words: "I'm over it."

Saturday: ran for an hour with Derek in the morning, then went out for brunch with Carol and Ben. Good times had by all, especially those with a clear line of sight of the strippers eating a few tables over. Watched a little Masters and baseball in the afternoon and had a couple of beers. Carol is still nursing her hangover from the gibberish-inducing bout with Patron from the night before, so she's taking it easy. We end up going out in LA to meet up with Bridget (yes, that Bridget) for her birthday at some weird bar near her place in LA. Met her fiancee and a few of her friends and ended up talking to her for a while. Interesting things happening with her and her family. Derek is so enthused that he ends up falling asleep in the corner. Literally. I end up pulling a Carol (i.e. doing too many shots, not screaming gibberish) and we go home. It's a long ride and I hear that Carol and I talked on the ride home, but I couldn't tell you what we talked about. Derek continues his narcoleptic ways and passes out as soon as we get in the car.

Sunday: Leave for Hawaii. Flight from San Diego is delayed, so I end up missing my connection in LA, so I end up getting put on a later flight, watching the Masters from a bar in LAX and texting Eric about the Masters. Plane leaves around 4:45pm PST and gets into Honolulu at 7pm Hawaii-time. Rental car, bags, and I'm off to the Waikiki Marriott.

Monday: Light work schedule, so we're done by about noon. We hustle back to the hotel eat a little something and head off to the beach. Since I landed when it was dark, this is my first look around Waikiki. Let me tell you, it's an odd and conflicting sight. The scenery of Hawaii is amazing. The people on the other hand, are terrible. It's a tourist trap and everyone is fat and ugly. Yikes! We end up spending 2 hours on the beach making fun of everyone else (how else am I supposed to feel good about myself?) and getting sunburned. I guess it's that whole Karma thing... Go out to dinner at Duke's on the beach and meet up with a couple of Australian sisters at the bar afterwards. They are in town for a netball tourney and are out drinking the night before they are set to play 4 games. Love the Aussies! End up talking to the sisters and their mum for quite a while before a few of us head home. But not all of us, as one of the boys ends up bringing one of the sisters back to his place. She left around 7AM, so good for him...

Tuesday: Full work day and I'm nursing a sunburn anyway, so I'm in my room going through email and avoiding doing real work by blogging. I'm here in Honolulu through Friday and then off to Kauai Friday-Monday. I'll write again if we slay any more foreigners....

Mahalo.