Tag: pool days

Oahu

Day 4 Tuesday

Pu’u Pia hike. 1.9 mile out and back. Or should I say up and back down. Elevation was 721 ft. Very beautiful hike. Through the jungle with vines and vegetation all around. Muddy and slippery at times with tree root steps. Yes there was falling involved lol. Just on the way down. Me and Camden. We made it to the top and the view was amazing. Took a group photo. The last one was four years ago. We added one small human👶

Back to the room. Since there was no running water we went swimming instead. I took my muddy shoes and scrubbed them with sand. Refreshing 😁

Hard Rock for dinner. It reminded me of the old days. Traveling and eating out with the kids. Even though they are grown it’s still the same. Although Krystal didn’t get nachos and Kasey didn’t get chicken strips lol.

Day 5 Wednesday

Tragedy. Camden dropped his lip balm in the toilet. I said five second rule. He got it out of there pretty quickly and the toilet hadn’t been used. I said clean it with a disinfectant wipe but Krystal didn’t agree and threw it in the garbage. 😭

Thrifting at Savers. I found some t-shirts and a small carry-on for the trip back. I think my stuff expanded lol.

Razor Sports. Drift carts. So much fun. A mix of Mario Kart and go-carts on tiny wheels. There is a lever you can pull to lift the back end of the cart up to drift around the corners. I think Liz screamed every time she turned a corner. Kasey and Randy couldn’t catch me though lol. Hard as they tried they couldn’t pass me and Camden was in front the whole time.

Lunch at the mall Rainbow drive in. Hamburger and rice plate. Delicious!

Beautiful sunset.

Oahu /Molokai

Wow. The town of Lahaina on Maui burned down along with the surrounding residences. It’s unbelievable that a wildfire sparked and blew through the town and homes so quickly. We were just there in January of this year and I was thinking about going back there for this trip but decided on Oahu instead.

Is the trip still a go?

So many mixed messages on social media regarding travel. I understand, people are mourning and some say to stay away from Maui and to stay away from all of the islands. That tourists are using up all of their resources. Others say, please come. Even to Maui. That their businesses and jobs will be affected without tourism. Some are afraid it will go back to covid times. Conspiracy theories flying. Who, what, when, where, why, and how. So many questions unanswered. I feel the answer is a double edged sword. The big corporations on the islands do benefit from tourism but they also provide jobs and use services from small businesses on the islands. If the vacationers stay away will it affect the islanders negatively?

Well, I am still going but not without much consideration and forethought. I will make sure to shop small, tip with cash and leave as small of a footprint as possible. I think that we all need to consider this when traveling anyway.

My heart goes out to everyone affected and sending ❤️ always.

Oahu /Molokai

Of course. Nothing ever goes as planned. I just got notification that my return flight will be delayed two hours. That will put me back in Portland at 11:30pm. since I’m not a fan of a 3 1/2 hour drive that late I will need to find somewhere to stay the night. Which also means I need a hotel that will come and get me from the airport. So I will end up staying there the night before the flight.

Staying the night in Portland before my flight does two things for me.

1. I no longer have to watch Krystal pack the night before the flight. This is good.

2. I will be at the airport waiting for Krystal and Randy to show up to board the flight. This is bad lol.

Historically they are never early for a flight. Not “Kris” early, (5 hours before boarding and not even able to check my bag) 😂 but early like me. Normal early. Two hours early. No, they will run in with 45 minutes to spare 🙄 One time, Krystal forgot her phone and we had to drive back to the house to get it lol. They have been lucky though and never missed a flight. Yet.

Getting packed up. I am taking the bare minimum. The least I have ever packed for a trip to Hawaii. We will see how that goes.

I was asked by a reader why I blog my trips.

I blog to let friends and family know what I am up to. I blog to let others that have thought about traveling solo know that it’s possible. Once upon a time I had my doubts I would ever be able to go and see what I wanted without a partner. Don’t get me wrong. Traveling with someone is fun. Experiencing things together but it’s also exhausting. Making sure the other traveler is having fun too. You might want to go shark tank diving or parasailing and they are afraid of heights or sharks lol. But mainly I blog to remember. To be able to look back and have zero regrets. My first blog to Vegas 2016 solo got deleted off of here but I learned a lot from that trip. Part of it was saved in my personal archives and it’s fun to go back and read it. I’m pretty sure that trip was all about buffets and eating lol.

Well, see you in the air ✈️

Vegas 2022

9/8/22-9/11/22

Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett. Allegiant Stadium.

Heading to Vegas for a short trip with Kris. I started packing a week ago. I know! So not me. I did have my suitcase out and ready though. We are doing carry on. As I am packing for just three days I realize that there is no way I will be able to pull off carry on for a week in Maui😕 Boooo.

When we originally booked this trip I thought it would be in the 80’s but I think I may have miscalculated lol.

Shhhh. Don’t tell Kris but I think it’s going to be a little bit warmer 😲😁😂. So I am packing cooling towels, sweat rags, water bottles and I’m looking for a battery powered personal size fan lol. It will be fine😁.

We are staying at the Linq on the strip. Hopefully no flash flooding while we are there. I want to ride the High Roller at night.

Welp scrap that hotel lol. Kris mentioned that it would be fun to hang at the pool one of the days. Soooo. The pool at the Linq is pretty small and boring. Yes, it was cheap lol. So I changed the reservation to the MGM Grand. They have a lazy river 😁 and we are renting a cabana. I’m so excited!

Flight Day!

Flying out of Medford. Got to the airport really early. Good thing because when we went through TSA check-in I got flagged for a pat down. And I mean a PAT DOWN. She asked me if I wanted to go to a private room😲 I said no, why? Well, now I know. She patted all my lady parts😂😂. Awkward. Apparently my zipper was throwing them a red flag. Like I had a knife In my shorts. Oh well, I passed the search and we moved on.

I checked our flight and it’s been delayed 45 by minutes. We went up to the Sky Lounge for lunch and a margarita😁

Finally boarding. I booked us in the extra legroom seats which are at the exit row. We are responsible for opening the door and inflating the slide in case of emergency.

The seats did have lots of leg room but they were just wide enough to fit a ten year old. Poor Kris and anyone that weighed more than 150lbs😂😂.

Kris noticed that like hotels there is no lucky number thirteen lol. Well at least we will be lucky🤞🏽

Started onto the runway and something was making a noise like a sick duck coming from underneath. Oh great. I hope the wheels don’t fall off.

Captain update. Fifteen minute delay due to the amount of traffic coming into Vegas 🙄

And we are in the air! Yay!