Of leis, rain, and the Arizona

Last Friday it was raining in Honolulu, but as I posted on Facebook, rain in Honolulu sure beat the freaky out of season snow that was going on in Kansas City.

Here's what we received as we got out of our car at our hotel:

Mine is the one on the left;
Kent's is made from kukui nuts

I'm not a juice girl, but at check in we were given some juice that was amazing. It was a mixture of pineapple, lemon juice and hibiscus flowers -- so good and refreshing that I was a pig and had two glasses. I've searched online to see if I could find the recipe, but alas I've had no luck.

Our room faced the ocean and instead of having curtains over the glass doors, the balcony had sliding louvered doors that let in the air but kept out the (very persistent) birds. We could hear the sounds of the waves so we left the glass doors open the entire time we were there. Oddly, our toilet had -- well it wasn't exactly a bidet although it operated in a similar fashion. Suffice it to say you could get a nice cleansing for light, medium or heavy situations. I didn't try it.

Saturday morning, we decided to try to see the USS Arizona. Kent had done some research and learned that the tickets generally get fully booked a good six months in advance. Well six months ago, we didn't know we wanted to go to Hawaii. But the website also said that some day of tickets would be available. So off we went and stood in line to get into the park the moment it opened. And to our utter surprise, we got tickets to the first boat ride of the day! I am so very glad we were able to see the park and the Arizona.

The rest of the day, we spent on the beach under a big sun umbrella reading and people watching. You see some amazing things at beaches, that's for sure.