Officially Aloha'd out...

Whew, back from vacay and I can safely say that I don't think I would like to go back to Hawaii for a while. At least not the part I visited this time. Waikiki, it seems to me, is old, rundown, dirty, crowded, expensive, stifflingly humid, and not that much different from any other city in a lot of ways (hard-to-pronounce-Hawaiian street names aside...). It's like stepping back in time. Most of the buildings look as if they were built 40 years ago. Everywhere you go it's ALOOOOOOOOOHA! and MAHALO! and people call you "CUZZIN" because everyone is one big happy "OHANA" (family). I felt like saying "seriously?" It was all very touristy and kitschy and cheesy to me. Maybe I'm just too cynical for my own good.
Anyway, we had a good trip. At the very least, E and I got to spend loads of time with Jeff for the few days we were there. It will be another couple of months before I see him again but it was nice to spend Thanksgiving with him, even if we didn't get our pumpkin pie and turkey dinner. The luau we went to on Thanksgiving was all of the things I mentioned above rolled into a 4 hour long mai thai fest.
We did get to see the famous North Shore and the Banzai Pipeline. If you've ever watched a surfing movie, it looks just like that in real life...lots of waves, lots of sand, lots of surfers, and lots of signs saying "don't swim here".
Pics forthcoming...