If you follow me on various social media, you may have seen some posts about Hawaii. Cos I got to go to Hawaii.
Tom had to go for work (#roughlife) and as long as I paid my own flight out there, I'd get to tag along. I managed to find a flight that was not bank breaking and so tag along I did. Tom works for Seton Hall and the men's basketball team played in a Pearl Harbor anniversary tournament. And here's how that trip went
Friday
Got into Hawaii after two very long flights. We had to leave for the first flight at 5am and since Tom didn't get back from work until midnight, we decided we just wouldn't go to sleep so we'd be tired and sleep on the plane and hahahaha that is never a good idea. Tom and I flew separately (he with the team, I by myself cos it saved me a bunch of money).
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| Some pretty views |
I didn't sleep much on the flights but I did sleep like a log that night so that's something. We had dinner with a few of his coworkers and unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the food but OH MAN, it was good. I had butterfish with a miso sauce on wasabi mashed potatoes with swiss chard. Then there were some fireworks on the beach after which I immediately fell asleep.
Saturday
We got up early cos of timezones and the whole going to sleep at 9 thing. Tom had to go to practice with the team so I was ambitious and went to the gym before wandering around the resort and then hanging out by the pool reading Sarah Vowell's
Unfamiliar Fishes
Tom's schedule was clear the rest of the day so we decided to do the hike up Diamond Head. It's only about 1.5 miles round trip but you're hiking UP and there are a bunch of stairs, so it feels like more. Also adding to the challenge is doing this in the afternoon, just get the sun blazing right down on you. But look at these views. Worth it.
After making our way back down we decided "Let's make the 2 mile walk to get lunch!" Cos sure, why not. So we walked over to Rainbow Drive-In for lunch plates which were amazing and after all that walking/hiking, we deserve fried food + rice + macaroni salad.
Back near the resort we found this bar Tom had been talking about for awhile (Rum Fire, though he didn't know the name) and got mai tais. (I got the original '44 recipe which is pretty much just alcohol with a squirt of lime juice so, that was fun.)
We walked along the beach and hung out by the pool till it was time for more eating and hit up a sushi place nearby. We split toro nigiri (which Tom repeatedly called the best he's had ever) a couple rolls (spider and shrimp tempura) and some tempura veggies. That was enough for the day so we headed back and went to sleep.
Sunday
The next morning, there was more practice for the team and more gym for me. Being that this is a trip for the team to play in a Pearl Harbor tournament, a tour of Pearl Harbor was on the itinerary. I got to join on this trip so we took a boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial which was the most somber point of the trip.
Following the tour was a reception. But not just any reception, A RECEPTION ON AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER.
There was food and music and a tour of the carrier that was very cool. I felt kinda bad for the team because carriers are not made for basketball player sized people. Though it was kinda funny to watch them have to limbo their way around.
After this there were more mai tais cos they're so good.
Monday
Tom had yet to get to the beach on this trip but he had more work to do so we got up early to head to the beach around 8am which is fine by me cos I am pale. The water was lovely, the beach was gorgeous, I believe they were filming an episode of
Hawaii 5-0 at the end of the beach.
Good morning. Eventually I was driven to the shade but Tom had to go work anyway so fine by me. I spent the time hopping between pools, reading and drinking coconut smoothies, eventually deciding I should do some holiday shopping. Or at least holiday shopping planning.
Tom came back and had found this restaurant called Nico's Pier 38 so we headed out there for dinner and again, amazing. We had: poke, rare tuna coated in seaweed and sesame seeds with a ginger garlic cilantro dip, green peppercorn swordfish, rice, veg, and more mac salad because that is a thing I am apparently down with.
There was some adventure with our Uber (it involved getting lost and driving on a sidewalk for a brief time) and then we made it back and had ice cream in fresh waffle cones.
Tuesday
GAME DAY! Which meant morning beach time and some quick gift shopping before grabbing lunch.
We went to a noodle place and I was a bit skeptical about cold noodle soup so Tom and I decided to split one hot and one cold and my skepticism was COMPLETELY UNFOUNDED. Oh man, these noodles might have been the best thing I ate while over there.
After we had to head back and get ready for the game. And by "getting read for the game" I mean I had to do nothing but Tom had stuff to prepare before we joined the team on the bus to head over to the base.
There is a whole basketball arena on the Pearl Harbor base, if you're curious. It is also not an air conditioned building. So. The poor players who actually had to run around in that, but hey, Seton Hall won so SUCCESS!
Enough with the sports, let's talk about how after the game and all the other after-game stuff was done, we went to a burger place near the hotel and I got some amazing thing that was burger + pork + pineapple and very good and greasy.
Wednesday
The saddest day because it's the day I have to leave. We spent the morning doing some last minute gift shopping, grabbed some coffee and a snack, and then I had to pack and Tom had to get ready for the second game they were playing. I enjoyed some last minute reading by the pool and finished
Unfamiliar Fishes before it was time to head to the airport for a direct flight back to NJ and ugh that was a lot of travel time. But I had plenty of stand up downloaded to make it through.
And now I'm back in NJ procrastinating getting anything done, pretty much for the entirety of the month. And the day I'm finishing this, it's snowing so. I made a mistake coming back
