The Family Letter

…you might want to consider getting more sun.

…but this is new:

And yes, I did eat them. Both ways. Hmmmm…

Here I am, sitting in the Pittsburgh Airport, enjoying a smoothie, chatting with friends and blogging. What could be better? Oh, yeah, electrical outlets. Why on earth don't they put electrical outlets in the locations where everyone sits to browse the web..?

Ah, well. Flight time.

That is a long flight. Phew. Honolulu to Atlanta and Atlanta to Cleveland this go around. For some reason, though, I didn't sleep on the long leg, so I'm whooped. My last night's sleep was Sunday night, and my last shower was Sunday evening. You do the math.

But now that I'm back in high-speed land, the photos are online! I have them in desktop-photo size, too, just e-mail me the photo name or JPG name and I'll e-mail you the photo.

Monday morning I had a meeting at 1000 in Honolulu, then decided just to drive around the island a bit. I went back to the PX at Hale Koa for a couple of extra things, then went east on H1 around the eastern end of the island and stopped at a lot of nice scenic outlooks. I visited the beach at Bellows Air Station, and then joined up with H3 and came back through the mountains to H1. From there I decided to check out Schofield Barracks–turns out it is one of the nicest Army bases I've ever seen. I drove from there down 750 back to H1, and over to the NeX just to look around. I ended up on Hickham, fueled the car (about $0.15 cheaper on base than off), and parked at one of the chapels to read and kill time. Then I returned the car at Alamo and got a lift to the airport.

Check-in was an adventure. Checked baggage had to go through a US Department of Agriculture checkpoint first, then I went to find my pineapples (earlier in the week I ordered a box of pineapples, and it was to be delivered to the airport for me). Turns out that was 6 lobbies down, so I lugged my luggage down there and got the pineapples. Which, of course, I was checking, so I took them to the nearest USDA checkpoint and did that again. Since I'd walked to the curb, they wanted my regular luggage, too (again). I got a cart and pushed it all back 6 lobbies to Delta. Where I found out that Delta wanted green USDA stickers not the pink ones I got down near the pineapple guy. So I turned around and walked to the Delta checkpoint, where they said, "You have stickers, why are you coming back?!" I explained, and she put green ones over the pink. Pop quiz: How many layers? Yes, that's right, three on my suitcase and two on my pineapples. But that finally made everyone happy and I settled down to wait for my host. He got stuck at work and called, and we chatted for a bit, then I went through security and wandered a bit, arriving at my gate just as they called my "zone."

Everything was uneventful from there. There were a lot of troops in desert BDUs at Atlanta, coming home for two-weeks of leave. Neat. At Cleveland I got my pineapples and suitcase and a ride back to the hotel where I'd left my car. From there to here.

I've done one load of laundry and eaten dinner, and the other load is waiting for me to haul it out of the drier now, I think, so I'll go to it.

It is good to be home. Now comes the time for prayer…

Not much to report by the way of sightseeing adventures over the past two days. On Saturday morning I had some "introvert" time and relaxed in my room, and prepared for the afternoon's activities. After shaving and cleaning up a bit I got lunch then wandered down to the beach. I've had my first swim in the Pacific Ocean. In fact, that was my first swim in salt water. I have discovered: A) It is salty, and no matter how hard you try you do end up tasting it a little. B) The beach here ends in rocks, and isn't all that deep. C) It can be very relaxing to float in warm ocean water with the sun beating down on you.

Sunday I attended church at St. George's. I was joined by a gentleman who is a parishioner both of St. Andrew's Cathedral, Honolulu, and also St. John's, Sharon, PA. We were in church together last week in PA and this week in HI. That was quite nice. After church the two of us checked out the Navy Exchange (it is HUGE here), then looked around the vicarage at St. George's. From there he took me to the yacht club he's a member of and we just lounged for a while. I came back to the hotel for a bit of a "nap" and conversation online with friends, then the two of us walked a bit around Waikiki and had dinner just off the beach (my hotel). Excellent crab-stuffed fish.

After dinner we walked back to the military resort hotel here (not the one I'm staying at, but the Hale Koa Hotel). It has a "post exchange" (technically this part of Waikiki is all Fort DeRussy, so it has an exchange of sorts with lots of souvenir related items). I bought a few Aloha shirts there and some other souvenirs (edible) for folks, then we parted ways and I came back to my hotel.

Speaking of my hotel, I've been meaning to post a link. I have been meaning to