Aloha!
Not long after our plane departed the runway, the temperature dropped, and the wind picked up. New Hampshire’s first significant snowstorm is forecast this weekend and, as much as I’d love to ski in its wake, I’d already booked a flight to Honolulu. My older daughter recently settled into her new apartment on Oahu, so I told myself I needed to check up on her.
As I boarded the Hawaiian Airlines flight at Logan Airport, I was welcomed by a cabin crew outfitted in uniforms of royal blue shirts with palm leaf designs. The women decorated their hair with flowers, mimicking the appearance of Miss Hawaii 1964, Leinaala Teruya Drummond, who passed away in September and whose face appears on the tail of the airplanes. Eleven hours later, the pilots impressed me when they buttered the landing.
Once in the terminal, I darted to the bathroom to change into a summer dress. My black jumpsuit combined with periodic hot flashes and tropical weather made me feel like those wrestlers who wear plastic suits to cut weight before a match. A few minutes later, my daughter left her Army installation and greeted me at the airport with an orchid lei!
The next morning, my daughter headed back to work, and I walked to the beach. I played in the waves, found some bleached corral and spotted a sea turtle swimming near the shore. I also built a sand replica of the Diamond Head crater, which is located on the opposite end of the island.
As I left the beach, I snapped a close-up of the sand. Then I realized, this sand is the topping they use for everything bagels!