Locals, Friends and the perfect vacation...

Friday, in Honolulu, started with coconut yogurt and an 8 mile hike to Diamond Head (in flip flops, an extremely bad idea), lunch at a local taco place (complete with macaroni salad and rice) and back to our hotel for a quick nap. We got ready for the wedding, showered up and slipped on nice but casual clothes. With the bride and her family, Shannon, Lyman and I headed off to the beach for the ceremony. The waves were magnificent and drowned out the vows, we snapped pictures of each other and the lovely couple (plus a mongoose) and headed to the oldest hotel in Honolulu for a beautiful sunset and reception. The night ended with a toast at midnight and a bunch of pumpkins happily turning in.

Saturday, Shannon and I headed to the beach and waited for the new couple to pick us up. We headed to a fish sanctuary, snorkeling and hanging outwith the sun. It was a wonderful excuse to be in Hawai'i with such good friends. An expensive dinner at one of the most famous restauarants on the island (the Michael Simon of Cleveland, the Tom Douglas of Seattle), more drinks, more good times.

Today, Sunday, my last day in paradise was hanging out at the beach in the morning, buying some tchotches and postcards for friends, then running to the "North Shore" (after we had just found the perfect beach spot) with a local guy (James, the groom) for some of the best shaved ice on the island, private beaches, roadside Thai, and back to the city to grab one more glimpse of the evening with Kermit, the green raft, that Shannon and I had bought at one of the 49 ABC stores on the island.

I head back to Seattle with as much vitamin D as I could possible get, having tasted everything coconut as possible. A red eye will have to carry me through the day and into practice in the evening having spent a few days on one of the best places on Earth for one of the best reasons.

ps - this was wedding 22nd... I forget Rebecca & Rich's wedding - which was small but fabulous.