Hawaii 2019 (page 1 of 11)

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Day 0

Mike worked a full day & Greta brought Remi to meet Schoeps in Hutchinson. The weather was cold but at least the drive was decent w/o snow. That evening, we drove into Bloomington & stayed at a Courtyard by Marriott near the airport where we could leave the car while we were gone. The snow was on its way and the hotel had a restaurant (Jake’s) so we opted to stay in for the night.

Jake’s was good – we just sat in a cozy bar area, had a couple drinks and a light dinner. Greta had a pesto chicken flatbread pizza, and Mike had Chicken Wild Rice soup and carrot cake.

Day 1

We were up at 3:15 am for our 6 am flight and 4 am airport shuttle. About 5 minutes after getting on the shuttle, Greta realized she’d left her bag with her purse sitting in the lobby. The hotel radioed us at the same time. So Greta & Mike brought the luggage over to get checked in, then Greta went back to wait for the next shuttle. Security lines were VERY long and not terribly fast. By the time Greta got her bag at 445, she barely made it to the gate by 530 for boarding. Not a good way to start a trip, but at least everything worked out. The plane pushed off from the gate prompted at 6 but then due to de-icing, our flight did not leave until almost 7 am. The flight was good and we had the option to either read books or watch movies on the individual TV screens on the seat backs.

We landed in PHX only a bit later than scheduled and had over 3 hours to wait. We went to 4 Peaks Brewery for breakfast. Mike had the Brewmaster’s breakfast (eggs, potatoes, bacon, fruit), and Greta had a Enchilada Breakfast (black beans, avocado, potatoes with an egg topping two small chicken enchiladas) – the food was excellent & filling. Mike ordered a couple of coffee with Bailey’s Irish Cream – once we got the tab, we realized they were $15 each (and they were not big drinks)! Oh well, it’s vacation.

The flight to Hawaii is about 6.5 hours long due to headwinds. Since the seats didn’t have individual TV screens, they recommended we download the American Airlines app before leaving on a mobile device. That way, we had full access to the AA movies/games/TV shows. The flight was good – a little turbulence, but not much. There were no meals on the flight, but we’d had a big breakfast. We both read books & watched movies on iPad & phones. We both had aisle seats next to each other. The plane was supposedly full, the person in the window seat in Mike’s section never showed up, so he & the guy next to him got an empty seat the whole flight – BONUS!

We landed in Hawaii and disembarked right on the tarmac. It was a short walk to baggage claim – which was open-air. It was basically just a big roof with open sides. We got our luggage and headed to the street (all outside) where the bus for Alamo was waiting already. It was a short shuttle ride to the rental place. Renting took a bit longer than expected, because for some reason, Costco booked our car for January instead of February, but Alamo took care of the issue w/no problems. We got a Ford Edge for the week and we were off.

Traffic was VERY SLOW and we wound around on what appeared to be side streets for a good part of the trip to the condo. It was only about 9 miles but took around 45 minutes.

Our condo is right by the front desk but we have a view of the ocean over the roof of another building. We unpacked, and then headed out for supper to Umeke’s Fishmarket. It had a great rating in the “Hawaii Revealed” guidebook and when we got there, saw that it had been visited by “Diners, Dives & Drive-Ins”.

We shared an appetizer of sashimi, and then each got a different kind of poke bowl. Salmon lomi lomi was Greta’s side with brown rice, and Mike had a side of spicy crab with white rice. We also had some fruity drinks (Coco Fizz & Mai Tai for Greta, and a couple Grapefruit Sodas with Tequila for Mike). The place was loud, but the service was great, and very quick, and most importantly, the food was wonderful. Poke for our first Hawaiian meal was definitely a good idea!

We headed back to our condo and tried to watch Top Chef. Greta barely made it but Mike fell asleep. A long day of travel, and being 4 hours behind MN had caught up to us.

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