Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Hawaii, Day 1

Aloha! Made it here safely. Day 1 was more of a success than I could have imagined. The flights were smooth. The kids were happy and well behaved. All persons and their luggage arrived in the same city at the same time. We were greeted at the airport with leis. It was all very nice. As we were milling about in the hotel lobby waiting to check in, I found a flier for a concert by one of my very favorite Hawaiian singers, Raiatea Helm. She burst onto the Hawaiian music scene about 6 years ago at the age of 18 an has received numerous awards and honors since that time. Anyway, I almost couldn't bring myself to look at the date on the flier. I was sure I had already missed the concert or that it was going to be happening after I left. I had to stifle a squeal when I saw that it was tonight(!) at the Waikiki Aquarium. So, just like that I had made my plans for the evening. It was a great time. There were just a few hundred people there, all sitting on a grassy area on the aquarium grounds, right on the beach. Raiatea's voice was just as angelic in person as on her CDs and she performed many of my favorite songs such as 'Alekoki, Kimo Hendeson Hula, and Haole Hula. Which reminds me, as an added bonus, she danced hula to Sophisticated Hula, which was a treat. There was a meet and greet at the end so I got her autograph and a picture with her. Yeah for Day 1! After the concert, I just wandered around Waikiki a bit, going to the beach, the Duku Kahanomoku Statue, and the International Marketplace. Two other gratifying things that happened: 1.) 4 or 5 different local folks (including Raiatea) complimented my mu'umu'u, which was nice because I think the colors are a bit obnoxious. 2.) My tan is darker than Raiatea's.

I'm beat. The clock says 10 p.m. but my body says 3 a.m. and we have an early morning planned. I'll add pictures to this post at another time. They don't allow you to hook anything up to the computers at my hotel so I'll have to find someplace else that will let me hook up my camera. I'm getting kicked out of the internet room. Until tomorrow.

1 comment:

kel said...

Jo, sounds like so much fun. I had a dream last night that I was in Hawaii.