So when I mentioned I had been to Hawai'i previously, this is where we went. My parents brought me here for an obviously-not-that-memorable trip when I was a kid. I remember almost zero about it.
That's probably not a bad thing, since 99% of the memories I have of spending time with my Dad are negative anyway. I do remember being in the ocean quite a bit, that's about it. And the bugs in our room. Holy shit, they have epic bugs here. Haven't see a single one so far this trip, but I imagine when we are done with the cruise and get to our resort in Kona that will change.
5:30 AM - Well that's better than 4:30 anyway.
Unfortunately, the wife is also awake, and she fades in and out of consciousness for the better part of 3 hours. I get up and hit the gym. I have committed to eating and drinking whatever the Fuck I want this trip, and still losing 5 pounds. That is going to take some serious commitment at the fitness centres. So far, so good.
As I am typing this, I am starting on a bottle of Chardonnay while having just finished a bowl of ice cream.
8:30 AM - To the buffet for breakfast, and then we have the day to ourselves. We are here overnight, and have an excursion booked for tomorrow, but no plans for today. We were hoping to catch the Colts game on TV here, but the only morning game they are showing is the Cowboys/Falcons and I'd rather eat paint than watch that, so we decide to just walk off the ship and explore a bit on our own.
At most ports we have visited, there is always something interesting, if rather touristy, right off the ships. Not here, though. We walk and walk and walk and all we find is a shitty strip mall consisting of Whole Foods, a drug store, and a bunch of hole-in-the-wall restaurants that are not open.
Oh, and a Baskin Robbins. Also, not open.
Cocksuckers. That's just mean.
On the way off the ship, we passed by a beautiful, and I mean beautiful, little wild cat. She was laying beyond a security fence where we couldn't get to her, and she seemed to have little interest in coming closer to the fence to say hello. She was a black and orange tortoise, similar to our Sidra but totally different colouring patterns. Anyway, not much we could do but keep on walking.
On the way back, she had come under the fence and way laying in the middle of the path, seemingly waiting for us. She was so skinny and malnourished, but not skittish at all. She let me pet her and rolled over on her back so I could rub her belly, all the while kneading into the pavement. I wish we had known she would have been here, we could have brought her some food from the store (there were tons of empty cans of cat food strewn about in the nearby bushes, obviously from others who expected to find wild cats). Eventually she got up and started to rub up against my leg. If there had been any logistical way to do it, we would have adopted that cat right then and there. So, we did the only thing we could do, which was to give her some more pets, tell her that we hoped someone would find her, and give her the love she so desperately wanted, and say goodbye. This brought both of us to the brink of tears. The wild cat problem here is heartbreaking.
My God, could you imagine the reaction of Ashley and Sidra if we had brought another cat home? Jesus, the freaking dog wasn't enough of a disruption to their lives, now they had another sister to put up with? They probably would have packed up their things and left.
We get back to the room and Tracey decides to hit the pool while I lay down for a nap. The nap doesn't totally take, but I get a bit of sleep I guess. I don't feel very refreshed when I get up, but I can't just lie here all day
Well..I COULD, I suppose, I'm on vacation on a cruise ship in Maui.....but that would just be sad.
12:30 PM - I'm up and dressed into my pool gear and I go and wrangle up Pool Bear who has almost no interest in moving from her spot, until I point out the time and tell her she is probably hungry. She realizes I am right and we go hit the buffet for a plate of miscellany which we bring back and consume poolside. It's a nice day, but just enough cloud to keep it from being spectacular. The pool, for some reason, is freaking freezing, so we spend a bit of time in the hot tub and then to back to lie down as the sun starts to break through.
2:00 PM - That's about all the poolin' I can handle today (tomorrow is 5.5 hours of beach time in Maui!), so I decide not to disturb Pool Bear and I head back to the room to relax on our huge balcony and enjoy some of our wine. We have dinner reservations for 6 PM at La Cucina tonight, so there is lots of time to relax.
3:00 PM - Pool Bear has returned! The guests on today's excursions have started to pour back onto the ship, meaning the pool has now become, in Tracey's own words, "kid heavy". That's enough to send either of us scurrying away like a squirrel in search of nuts.
BTW, I forgot to mention the other day, at that wonderful outdoors-y Lodge that we stayed at, the squirrels were everywhere. And I don't mean in the bushes, I mean everywhere. I encountered one sauntering down the middle of the path like he owned the joint. I dubbed him the "Mayor of Cedarbrook". Pretty sure he was wearing a top hat and cane.
3:30 PM - The Chardonnay is almost gone and I am sitting here doing nothing. Nothing. Just staring into the ocean. And it is glorious.
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| We are going to spend an inordinate amount of time on this balcony. |
6:00 PM - We arrive at La Cucina for dinner and have another fabulous meal. Tracey has a Caprese salad for an appetizer and mushroom risotto for her main, and both portions are so large she can't finish either of them. I had two different pastas; Spaghetti Carbonara and Shrimp Ravioli in a Creamy Lobster Sauce. I ordered the 'appetizer' size for both, and I was (barely) able to finish. Everything was superb. They had asked if we were celebrating anything, and Tracey had mentioned this was my "birthday week", so the staff brought me a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. A nice touch.
After dinner we head to a saloon for a game of "Movie Trivia". Basically the place is cut in half, into two teams. After 7 rounds, our team had a slight lead. The final round was "Jeopardy-style" where you wager a certain amount of points and then answer a multiple choice question. The category was "Nobel Prize and the Movies". When the question came up "Which movie featured a real-life character who received a Nobel Prize", I knew the answer before the choices ever came up. Obviously, it was A Beautiful Mind, which told the story of famed Mathematician John Nash.
The multiple choice answers started to appear: 2 of them were ridiculous, the 3rd one a movie I had never heard of, and the 4th choice was "A Beautiful Mind - Mathematics". Since we knew the answer and had wagered all our points, we were guaranteed victory!!!
Oops.
Holy trick question, Batman.
John Nash did indeed receive a Nobel Prize, but it was in Economics.
The correct answer was "I.Q - Physics", which I guess was a movie about Albert Einstein that about 11 people saw in 1994.
It turned out that both teams had wagered everything, and both teams had selected the same wrong answer, so we all went home as big, fat, losers. A 0-0 tie.
I have filed the paperwork for a formal protest.
For now, though, we will have to be satisfied to go back to our cabin and try to get a decent sleep, since we are at port the ship won't be flinging us around all night. The weather forecast for the next few days is "Wind". Yes, just "Wind". That is going to be interesting.
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