Part 1: Hawaii

May 23 we stayed with Louise. We arose at 5:00 and went to Indianapolis to catch our plane. We cleared the security check-in and left for Las Vegas at 10:55. We had aisle seats across from each other and could play cards. I am catching up on my "through the Bible in a year" reading too. I sat beside a couple from Lebanon, IN whose son is a dancer in Vegas. We landed there and I called Maders to talk briefly. It was so hot in Vegas that our plane could not re-fuel there so we had to go to San Francisco. From there to Honolulu we were all near to two crying babies. We saw two movies: In Good Company and The Pacifier but could hardly hear them. We had to wait an hour for our luggage but then John, our tour director, took us to our hotel where we had pizza and champagne. He had a suite but we had nice rooms as well. We didn't get to bed until 2:30 AM our time.
We arose at 6 AM local time and walked the Waikiki beach, showered and went off to the Wailai Golf Club for our first tour. This is where the Sony Hawaiian Open PGA event is played in January. It was fun and he treated us to a very good lunch. We went to a grocery where we bought beer and snacks. We were surprised at the high grocery prices. We went to John's room at 7:00 PM and partied. We called Stacy, Emily and the Durkins. We are still in our calling area. We had a good time at John's and enjoyed the view of the moon over Diamondhead. We were off to bed at 11:00 PM local time.
Thursday we awoke at 6:30 and walked the beach again before showering. We went with John at 8:30 and toured the Hilton Hawaiian Village after a fantastic breakfast buffet compliments of the Hilton. (We are staying at the Sheraton). It was a fantastic establishment of four buildings and a great location on the beach. We didn't stay there because it is too far to walk to the main city. John took us on a driving tour of the island. He knew the area somewhat because he taught there for two years some time ago and even lived there one year. We saw some of the beautiful beaches and great surfing areas. John took his swim suit and went into the ocean for a memory dip. We stopped at the Dole pineapple plantation and bought some macadamia brittle. We can't take pineapple of any raw fruit from country to country. We went to the Royal Hawaiian next door for our anniversary dinner since we won't get much of it as we cross the international dateline and lose most of the day.
We arose early and took a city bus to Diamondhead so we could hike to the top. It is really difficult and is over a mile "straight up". The view is breathtaking and we enjoyed it. When we returned our room and moved our luggage to John's room for the rest of the day. He had flown on to the next stop: Sydney. We ate barbecue chicken for lunch and then both took a dip in the warm ocean water and the pool (which was cooler than the ocean). We all finished off the case of beer I had bought and then went to an early bird special of beef and shrimp for a mere 12.95. It was a good meal and we shared it. We loaded into the van and went to the airport for our 11:59 flight to Aukland, New Zealand.