Last Day and Aloha!

Our last day we disembarked the ship and headed for Waikiki. We were psyched that we found a shuttle that was only $5/person, since the taxi was going to be a flat $25 rate. It took a bit to get to everyone's hotel on the shuttle b/c they were having a parade in Waikiki, but it was cool to be able to see the parade! I think God was giving us an easy send-off from Hawaii, b/c it was cloudy and drizzled all day – made it much easier to be ready to leave! We got a hotel in Waikiki for the day b/c we didn't know what to do with our luggage, plus we wanted to get a shower before we left for the airport. We had lunch at Chili's, then went back to the hotel, where we heard loud planes overhead – what the heck? Turns out they were doing an airshow as part of whatever festival was going on – we could see the planes go over the beach and then again when they turned around behind our hotel. Too cool!

We also took advantage of the free internet at the hotel to finish up a couple of posts and get more pictures uploaded. Around 6:00pm, we headed for the airport. We were the last of 2 couples to be picked up, so we got to go straight there. When we got there they checked our luggage through the Agriculture check, and then we went over to pick up our 27 pound box of pineapples, fresh from the plantation! We didn't plan to keep all those for ourselves, rest assured ;) We got to check the pineapples through to Cincinnati so we only had to pick them up and send them through – too easy!

We had a couple of hours to wait for our flight since our flight crew got in late on the last flight, and they have an 8 hour mandatory rest period before leaving out again. The flight back actually seemed quicker than the flight from TX to HI, believe it or not…and especially to me, since I was able to sleep about 4 hours, while Jarrett only slept about 2 hours – yuck! We had another couple hours to wait in TX before heading to OH, since we couldn't get on an earlier flight, but we occupied ourselves by adding captions to pictures – ha! ;) Then it was off to OH, where we arrived 30 minutes early (yay!) and Mom/Sharon picked us up – thanks again, Mom! After dropping off Mom in Loveland we headed to Georgetown to pick up Zoey! Thanks again to Peggy and David for taking care of our little pup – we're sure she got plenty of spoiling while we were gone!!

So now we're back on the mainland, and it truly was a good length of a vacation – I think we were about toured out! There is no denying that Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on Earth – there truly is nowhere else like it. It was so amazing to see how diversified the different islands were – they are all beautiful in their own way! It is now one week after we've returned, and I will be picking up the CD and prints of our snorkel adventure, so be sure to check those out in the Kona section of the pictures. All of the pictures should be uploaded by now or within the next couple days, but rest assured, there's nothing like being there to see it with your own eyes – we recommend you all go if you have the chance!!

That's the end of the blog…until the next trip…ALOHA!!