Canadian Buffoon's Disney With a Teen Vacation - 08/13 - The Wrap

[Gracefulskinny]

Yay you waited till I got back and could start to get caught back up.

Had a three hour photo shoot.

For what pray tell?

until the phone rang and was asked to work the midnight shift.
Stupidly said "Yes".

Doh!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Oh, geez. What kind of a crappy DIS friend am I?
I didn't even know (or more likely, knew, then forgot) he was looking.

Awe you are sweet. We are fine, but he has no respect where he is and all the stress and low pay go with it. As you are probably aware, safety is a precarious job. They won't work with him to fix anything, but when something comes out in writing, the big boss sends him a strongly worded message about why this particular employee continues to screw up and what he is doing about it. He is not management so cannot require anything of said employee, just beg his non commit al team leader to deal with it. The strongly worded email from the boss is just to cover his own @$$ .

He has applied back st the base in Oregon, so has been waiting to hear but the powers that be there don't have the final say so, even though they have recommended him. We can't decide which kids and grandkids to leave behind, so we are leaving it up to God. He has also started looking here sgain, I would just like to be settled. We have been living in limbo for 4 years. Now are you sorry you asked?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

South St. Vital.

PÌ

I'm in South St. Vital. What about you?

You're probably neighbors

 

[pkondz]

I already offered to take her to Cedar Point while you go to Baniff.

That's right. You did.
But since we're not going to Banff now...

No, thanks, I don't like to eat in the tub.

You sure? Plenty of room.

I've been sick for three weeks off and on.

I know. But I bet it feels a lot longer.

I'm ready for it to be over! Plus my DM said I wasn't allowed to come down for Easter if I was sick.

I get that. When they get older, the last thing they want is to catch someone else's stuff.

Hurry up, geez!!! I'm tired of waiting!

Sorry!
I did work on it. Ran out of time. How about a mini IRL update while you wait?

 

[pkondz]

Yay you waited till I got back and could start to get caught back up.

Uh... yeah! I waited for you. That's it!

For what pray tell?

Working on a portfolio.

Doh!

 

[pkondz]

We are fine, but he has no respect where he is and all the stress and low pay go with it.

Ugh. Not fun.

As you are probably aware, safety is a precarious job.

They won't work with him to fix anything, but when something comes out in writing, the big boss sends him a strongly worded message about why this particular employee continues to screw up and what he is doing about it. He is not management so cannot require anything of said employee, just beg his non commit al team leader to deal with it. The strongly worded email from the boss is just to cover his own @$$ .

Isn't that always the way. Manage without managing.

He has applied back st the base in Oregon, so has been waiting to hear but the powers that be there don't have the final say so, even though they have recommended him.

That should count for something. Emphasis on "should".

We can't decide which kids and grandkids to leave behind, so we are leaving it up to God.

Tough call.

He has also started looking here sgain, I would just like to be settled. We have been living in limbo for 4 years. Now are you sorry you asked?

Four years is a long time. I hadn't realized it was that long.
Not sorry at all. I encourage people to share, here.

 

[pkondz]

PÌ

What???

You're probably neighbors

I look out my window and see this person typing away.... I wonder...

 

[pkondz]

We've got a winnah!

So mini real life update.
I asked Elle this morning if she was busy tonight.
She's not. She gets home around 7:30pm but that's it.

Fast forward to tonight.
She gets home around 7:20 or so, has dinner
and I ask her if she's ready to go.
"Go where?" She asks.
"Out." I reply. "You said you'd go out tonight."
She didn't... but whatever.

We hop in the car and head out.
She has no idea where we're going.
Eventually we get to our destination.
"Is this..." She says. "A casino?"
"Why, yes it is." I reply.

"Gee Dad. Don't you think you should have told me,
so I'd know to bring my I.D. along?"



"Don't worry." She continues. "I brought it."
For the next few minutes, I kept saying.
"Who doesn't always have their I.D. with them?"

Apparently, Elle doesn't.
But she did this time and a good thing too.

We approach the entrance to the casino and she's asked for I.D.
I tell the lady checking her I.D. that it's her first time
and I'm surprising her, but the surprise was almost on me.
"This is your first time?" She says. "Make sure you get a club card.
It'll give you $10 in free play and discounts on food and merchandise."

So we both get set up with club cards.

We wander around for a while just looking at the place.
There's a tunnel aquarium there that's nicer than anywhere
else in the city... and kids can't see it since it's inside the casino.
We stood watching the fish for a while.

Eventually I told Elle to pick a machine to play so we could
use our free plays.
To activate your card, you have to insert $5, then the card
and then enter a PIN.
I paid the two $5 fees.
Elle used up her $10 free play and cashed out $20.
I used up mine and cashed out $11.

"Okay." I said. "Let's go play some table games."

We wandered over to the roulette table.
I'd never really played before, but I knew the gist of it.
I gave Elle $50 to play with.
She asked me to put some chips down first.
So I took about 1/6th of her stack and spread 'em around.
We won a bit back.
Elle played and won.
I played again and lost.
Elle played again and won and then played again...
and won again.
We decided we'd had enough.

She left the table with $114.

We then went over to a blackjack table.
This is my specialty.
I plunked down $50...

and lost it all in about 15 minutes.

Disregard that whole "specialty" thing.


By now it was after 9:30 and she had an early morning,
so we decided to call it quits.
The whole thing was just to let her see what a casino
looked like and have some fun.
It cost me $100 (the $50 I gave her was hers to keep.)
but we had fun and I got to spend some time with my kid.

So I think I was the big winner after all tonight.


Okay... she was, with her $134.40 in winnings.
Still. I'm happy.

Real update probably tomorrow. Next day at the latest.

Maui! We made it!​

 

[SoccerDogWithEars]

That's so sweet you took her to a casino! Glad she had her ID. When I first turned 21, there were a few times I'd go out with my parents and think I didn't need to bring my purse...and then remember at the restaurant that's where my ID was. Now I always put my ID in my pocket if I'm not carrying my purse.

Sweet on the free play too!

My first casino was on a cruise ship. I played craps. I lost $20. And managed to bounce the dice out of the table. When I finished, I promptly went back to my room and washed the cigarette smoke out of my hair.

I wanted to play a slot machine, but they all required the cards and I couldn't figure any of them out.

 

[franandaj]

Cool! Your casino experience was much better than ours, but you'll have to wait until the TR when I get to it.

I think $50 for entertainment for the evening is perfectly fine, and the fact that you got the evening with your daughter makes the $100 perfectly justified. Most theater tickets cost twice that for two of us to go out. The fact that she left with money in pocket to remember the evening by makes it the best. She will always remember her first gambling experience with her Dad! I hope she realizes it doesn't always work that way!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Uh... yeah! I waited for you. That's it!

I feel so special!

Apparently, Elle doesn't.
But she did this time and a good thing too.

guess she will now.

"This is your first time?" She says. "Make sure you get a club card.
It'll give you $10 in free play and discounts on food and merchandise."

So we both get set up with club cards.

She left the table with $114.

and lost it all in about 15 minutes.

So I think I was the big winner after all tonight.

Okay... she was, with her $134.40 in winnings.
Still. I'm happy.

 

[pkondz]

That's so sweet you took her to a casino!

Well, I had to fix that forlorn look she had in Vancouver...

Glad she had her ID.

You're telling me!

When I first turned 21, there were a few times I'd go out with my parents and think I didn't need to bring my purse...and then remember at the restaurant that's where my ID was. Now I always put my ID in my pocket if I'm not carrying my purse.

And that's pretty much what she said.
"When I go out with you guys, I don't bring my purse
and that's where I keep my I.D."

Sweet on the free play too!

Nice little perk.
To keep you playing and spending of course.

My first casino was on a cruise ship. I played craps. I lost $20.

That's probably a good thing.
Then you know you won't win all the time and make it a habit.

And managed to bounce the dice out of the table.

When I finished, I promptly went back to my room and washed the cigarette smoke out of my hair.

Ew. Gross. So glad they don't allow smoking in the casinos here.
Lots in Vegas don't allow it either anymore.

I wanted to play a slot machine, but they all required the cards and I couldn't figure any of them out.

We played... but couldn't figure out what was going on either.

 

[pkondz]

Cool! Your casino experience was much better than ours, but you'll have to wait until the TR when I get to it.

Uh, oh. Fran spent all your funds and you had to cancel the trip.

No? (At least I hope it's no!)

I think $50 for entertainment for the evening is perfectly fine, and the fact that you got the evening with your daughter makes the $100 perfectly justified.

I thought so.

Most theater tickets cost twice that for two of us to go out.

Sure. It's just another form of entertainment.
Would've been nice if my $50 lasted a little longer though!

The fact that she left with money in pocket to remember the evening by makes it the best. She will always remember her first gambling experience with her Dad!

I was really hoping she'd win some money.

I hope she realizes it doesn't always work that way!

We had a bit of a chat about that!

 

[pkondz]

I feel so special!

'Cause you are.

guess she will now.

I hope so!

 

[MHSweb79]

De-lurking to tell you guys about "My Interesting Disney Experience" this week. Hubby was checking on our upcoming trip (not til September, sadly) and discovered that instead of his icon on the Magic Band page was some guy named Anthony Something. The Magic Band mailing address was not ours, but some lady named Robin Something Else in Celebration, Florida. AND, to cap it all off, there were TWO annual passes showing for me - one for 2016 which was real, and one for 2017, which clearly is wackadoo.

So, being currently unemployed and giving all appearance of enjoying it entirely too much, it became my job to call Disney and get our account fixed. Which I did, yesterday. I reported that Anthony and Robin are total strangers, trespassers if you will, and would they please put my husband back where he belongs and also fix the mailing address back to Rhode Island. (Kept the AP on the QT....)

After all sorts of kerfuffle and ONE HOUR and 20 minutes, much of it on hold (I heard the hold music loop twice through. They really shouln't be allowed to play the Soarin' music until the ride is back up. Zippety Doo Dah and its a small world after all. But I digress.) So my trusty phone line cast member finally comes back, apologizes for the lengthy delay, and casually mentions, "And to make up for the inconvenience, we've extended your Annual Pass for an extra year. "



What I take from this is that IT saw the issue but after an hour and a half getting rid of Robin and Anthony just didn't want to fix it. Believe me, Disney is not in the habit of handing out a year's free admission because somebody had to wait an extra hour! I have convinced myself that it could vanish just as easily as it showed up, especially as there is no record of any payment. I guess we'll see next February, when it's supposed to kick in!

 

[pkondz]

De-lurking to tell you guys about "My Interesting Disney Experience" this week. Hubby was checking on our upcoming trip (not til September, sadly) and discovered that instead of his icon on the Magic Band page was some guy named Anthony Something.

Uh, oh.
Your DH has an alter ego.
He's obviously a spy.


Sorry. I was just watching a repeat of the Bourne Identity.

The Magic Band mailing address was not ours, but some lady named Robin Something Else in Celebration, Florida. AND, to cap it all off, there were TWO annual passes showing for me - one for 2016 which was real, and one for 2017, which clearly is wackadoo.

Um.... What?
Can you get some I.D.'s that have those names on them?

So, being currently unemployed and giving all appearance of enjoying it entirely too much, it became my job to call Disney and get our account fixed. Which I did, yesterday. I reported that Anthony and Robin are total strangers, trespassers if you will, and would they please put my husband back where he belongs and also fix the mailing address back to Rhode Island.

Thus setting in motion a chain of events that would change the world...


Or not.



I think I watch too much TV.

(Kept the AP on the QT....)

Atta girl.

After all sorts of kerfuffle and ONE HOUR and 20 minutes

(I heard the hold music loop twice through. They really shouln't be allowed to play the Soarin' music until the ride is back up. Zippety Doo Dah and its a small world after all. But I digress.)

I may have hung up at the third song.
Probably would've been too late, though.

So my trusty phone line cast member finally comes back, apologizes for the lengthy delay, and casually mentions, "And to make up for the inconvenience, we've extended your Annual Pass for an extra year. "

They did what???
How do I get someone to take my account over?

What I take from this is that IT saw the issue but after an hour and a half getting rid of Robin and Anthony just didn't want to fix it. Believe me, Disney is not in the habit of handing out a year's free admission because somebody had to wait an extra hour! I have convinced myself that it could vanish just as easily as it showed up, especially as there is no record of any payment. I guess we'll see next February, when it's supposed to kick in!

Wow. That's quite the story.
Now we have to wait until February to see if it sticks or not!
I'd bet that it will, though.

 

[pkondz]

Maui! We made it!

Midnight.
The witching hour.
Perhaps I was bewitched, I slept.
But only for that hour.


One a.m. sweeps up...
Which brings us to our present predicament.

I sat bolt up in bed,
my throat feeling as if I'd swallowed
a handful of razor blades.


Not good.


I desperately needed... something.
Anything.

Really. Not. Good.

The first thought?
Gargle some warm salt water.
Except I hadn't "bothered" to grab some salt
when I had the chance.

Stupid!
Really. Really. Not. Good.

I cast around frantically,
both physically and mentally.
"Drink some water?"
Just the thought of trying to swallow
sent chills down my spine.

Wait.... Of course!
I rushed over to my carry-on and rummaged
around for...

Got it. Lozenges.
I popped one in my mouth
and eagerly sucked away at it.
I began to feel relief.

My whole body... sagged.
I was beat. Wiped. And... relieved.
After a few minutes, my throat was feeling okay enough
(not great... but okay) to let me get back to sleep.
It was two o'clock in the morning.

I slept...


Six a.m.
The alarm warbles its merry little tune.
I hate that sound.
Nevertheless, despite a foreshortened night,
I wake up in good spirits.
We're going to Hawaii today!
Ruby's up quickly as well.

A few minutes later, on a hunch,
I check on the evil twosome.
And I am right.
Their room is dark and quiet.
Neither of which continues after my arrival.
"Rise and shine! Up and at 'em! We got a plane to catch!"

<incoherent rumblings and mumblings>
I am encouraged. They seem to be waking.


By seven, we're all set and ready to leave.
We stop by the desk and drop off keys and settle the bill.
"How often does the Skytrain to the airport come by?" I ask.
"There's a train every seven to ten minutes." Comes the reply.
Ha! "Seven to ten minutes."
Clearly he doesn't know who he's talking to.


One thing I forgot to mention,
and this is especially important for @franandaj
The check-in desk (or check-out, in this case)
is on the third floor.
You can take the escalator up from the lobby,
or the elevators to your left as you come in.
No. Not immediately to your left,
that'll take you into the casino...
Hey! Where are you going???

When you check out, there's an elevated walkway
that's by the desk. It takes you over the street
and straight to the Skytrain stop.

(Also a warning to Alison, there's one spot with a few stairs.
There is a wheelchair lift, however.
I'll be honest. You might want to just take a cab.)

We wound our way along the walkway until we came
to some ticket dispensing machines.
They were a little tricky to figure out at first.
Eventually, I figured out that this was a Parking ticket dispenser
and sheepishly moved on.
The train tickets were just a little further on.


Why didn't we take a cab?
A cab is only $20! (plus tip)
Four tickets at $2.75 a pop comes out to $11.
And no tip for the Skytrain.
And it's probably faster.


We got our tickets, went up the escalator
and lined up at the platform with our luggage.
Less than a minute later, the Skytrain rolled up.

Minutes later we arrived at Vancouver airport.

I looked, but didn't see a WestJet check in area.
I asked at the information booth and was told
it was basically in another zip code at the end of the terminal.

We slogged down towards it.
Upon arrival, I explained our baggage difficulties
to an Agent and we got to skip the line again.


It sounds like we're getting all kinds of perks
by not checking in our bags.
But in reality, it took longer each time.
Instead of just printing off the tags
and dumping the bags, we'd have to wait
as the agent re-invented the wheel.

"Hi, we couldn't get our bags checked in on line.
At least not without paying a fee, and we're not
supposed to pay a fee because I have a WestJet
credit card."

"Can I see your passports?" I'm asked.
I hand them over.
The agent pecks away at his keyboard for three days.
"Okay, you're all set." He chirps.
I don't know how he can be so happy
after not sleeping for three days.
He slaps tags on the suitcases,
slots the boarding passes into a passport,
grabs the other two passports,
hands everything to me and says "You're good to go."

Bonus points if you can tell me what I said back to him.
Doesn't have to be exact.


We move on to US customs and passport control.
There are kiosks available to swipe your passport
and get your photo done.
Hmmm... This is new.
Whatever. Security is always changing.
And while it's a pain, it's less painful than the alternative.

I swipe my passport, pose for the photo and...
half my head is missing.
"Retake photo?"
Uh... yeah.
This time I notice the silhouette I'm supposed to pose in.
<Click!> Worked.
Kay's next. <Click!> Then Elle. <Click!>
Then Ruby. <Click! FLASH!!>
Her photo shows a vague resemblance to a person,
only with the highlights completely blown out.
"Retake photo?"
Couldn't hurt. Try again...
<Click! FLASH!!>
Somewhere in all that white is a person.
Well, we tried.
Let's see if they'll let three Canadians and a ghost
into the country.
The agent grabs the photos, doesn't even look at them,
holds up the passports and compares us to our photos.
And we're in!
Ha! Fools. They have no idea what havoc these three women can wreak.
(I of course, am placid.)

I said placid... not fla... oh, never mind.

We begin the long trek to our gate.
<trudge> <trudge> <trudge>
It was a fair distance away.
<trudge> <trudge> <trudge>
I think it was in Seattle.

Hmm.... I'm sweating.
I'm not tired, even though we've walked for 70 miles
(Halfway there! Woot!)
Oh... Don't tell me I'm popping a fever now, too?


We popped into a store and got some drinks...
and some Tylenol.
I know from experience that it helps bring down a fever.
Never tried it on myself, but it worked wonders for the
rugrats when they were little.
I pop a couple of pills and wash it down with some Ginger Ale.

Back on the horse.
<trudge> <trudge> <trudge>

35 miles later, we come across a Tim Hortons.
There's a long line.
(This is Canada. It's Timmies. Of course there's a line.)
I tell the family to relax and grab a seat, I'll stand in line.
In retrospect, I should've made the DDs do it.
I was the one with a possible deadly virus.
Let them stand!
Old habits die hard.
Yippee ki yay.

Took about 20 minutes to get to the front.
And with all that, we still had time to kill.


After our fine meal of bagels and croissant sandwiches,
we set out on the remainder of our journey.

<trudge> <trudge> <trudge>

We made it!!
My God, we made it!

And it was, for all its distance, the perfect gate.
There were displays there.
With figurines.
Lots of figurines.
Here's one of the displays:

Cool, no?

Here's another one:

All of the displays had the same amount of figurines
on the other side.
There was Minnie and Donald and others that I can't recall now.
Still, a pretty good collection, I thought.
I took it as a good omen that there were
Disney figurines at our gate.


Not long afterward we started boarding our flight.
It just sort of... happened.
First a person in a wheelchair was wheeled on board.
No announcement, they just waved him on.
Then a few more people boarded.
Finally they made an announcement that they were boarding.
No "People requiring assistance or families with small children",
just... Boarding.
I figured, "Well, might as well go."
We boarded too.

We were seated in the second and third last rows.
Kay and Elle had the window and middle seats
directly in front of us.
There was no one behind us.
And bonus... there was no one beside us in the aisle seat.
Well, not for Ruby and I anyway.


One of the flight attendants started the safety dance.
She started by saying hello and then:
"No waves?" She asked.
I guess when you've been married as long as we have,
you just sort of synch up.
Without even so much as a glance at Ruby,
we both raised our hands and waved like crazy.
"Oh!" Said the flight attendant. "I see you back there!"
And no one on the plane (not even the DDs) had any
idea what she was talking about.

We took off a few minutes later,
just a few minutes late,
at ten o'clock.


The flight was pretty uneventful.
It was a bit bumpy,
which I overheard an attendant say
was pretty normal for that time of year.

This aircraft has the "latest in entertainment" features.
Which means, you have to bring your own device.
Be it a laptop, tablet or pad.
You can rent one, but why should you have to pay
if it's better than a seatback TV?

But. Since I do happen to have an iPod,
I was okay with the set up.
The one good thing, is that every seat
has a plug so you don't run out of juice.
I do like that feature.

So I tuned out my family and they,
much to their enjoyment, tuned me out as well.
It's probably the longest they've ever spent with me
and not had to hear at least one Dad joke.


I watched a couple of movies and one TV show.
The TV show was interesting.
iZombie. It's about a girl who becomes a zombie,
but works in a morgue so she doesn't go running amok
when she gets the munchies.
The hook is that she gets some of the traits and memories
of the person who's brain she snacks on.
She solves crime.
I think it's based on a true story.

Of the movies, one was Sicario.
Nominated for 3 Academy Awards
(Cinematography, Music & Sound)
Pretty intense, about the Mexican drug trade.
I'd recommend it, but it won't be what you'd expect.

And the other movie.
You know, you people are smart.
Almost everyone guessed that I'd watch Inside Out.
I wonder if it's because I'd mentioned
that I hadn't seen it yet.
I must admit, I enjoyed it.
And that always surprises me.
I mean... it's a cartoon.
It's "supposed" to be for kids, right?
Still, when I was home alone one day,
I sat and watched it and liked it.

Oh, I watched Princess Bride on the plane.
Seen it before. But it's still fun.

I thought this would be an easy one since the first
picture posted after the previous update was this:

Pretty sure @Captain_Oblivious is kicking himself
right about now.
At least, I hope he is.
If/when I meet him, I could do it for him.


At long last, this came into view:

Maui! Yay! We're almost there!
And there's the airport!
(If you're having trouble seeing it,
look near the middle of the photo, below.
The runway stretches from there to the far right side.)

And now we're over Kihei! Where we're staying! Yay!

Um... you can turn around now,
the airport was back atta way...

Uh...

And with that, we left the island of Maui behind us.
I may... may have wondered if the pilots had fallen asleep.
It's happened before.
(I did take a look at the approach plate later
and it does start out over the ocean. Guess they were awake.)

In any event, it worked out
and we were soon touching down here.

Welcome to Maui!


Because we were at the back,
it took a while to get off the plane.
I was anxious to get to the carousel of anxiety
and claim our bags.
"I need to go to the restroom!" Kay announces.
Kay's never seen a restroom she didn't want to visit.
It's a thing with her.
At least I know that Elle won't have to go.
She can hold it like a camel can hold water.
"I'm going to go too." Elle says.

"Sure." I say nonchalantly.
A vision of cool and calm.

Inside I'm like this:

The bags! The bags! We have to get the bags!
They'll be stolen for sure if I'm not positioned
just downstream from the barf chute
when they come out!

Is it hot here? Or is it just me?


Actually... it was hot.
Not stupid hot like, oh... Florida in August.
But pretty hot.
In winter!
Go figure.


After six or seven hours,
Kay and Elle come out of the restroom.
We strolled off down the now nearly deserted
hallway in the direction of where our stolen
luggage would have been if we hadn't stopped.

And when I say "strolled", I mean it took
everything I had not to sprint off while
wailing forlornly "Save yourselves! Every man for himself!"
And why couldn't Rose make room for Jack on that door?
Man, that's cold.


We get to the carousel and there's no one there.
There's no luggage there either.
Except for two lonely suitcases,
circling aimlessly in search of their owners.

I breathe a sigh of relief as I collect them.
I can almost hear them calling my name.
"Hi pkondz! Where you been? Had to pee?"

Shut up.
I loathe lippy suitcases.


Luggage safely in hand,
we set out to find our rental car.
First we had to take a shuttle to the compound
where they keep the cars confined.

There was a bus already there,
but it was full and just pulling away.
I don't wait for busses of course,
so there was another waiting to take its place.
Minutes later we were picking up our Hyundai Sonata
and plugging in Bitc... uh... Itchin' Betty (the GPS.)

As we exited the lot, I asked the attendant for two things.
1. I had forgotten to procure a map so I asked for and got one.
I promptly tossed it into the glove box and never looked at it again.
2. "Where's a good place to eat around here?"
When in doubt, ask a local. They'll know where the good stuff is.
I could see it now... traditional Hawaiian delicacies awaited.
"Well, there's a Wendy's not too far from here." He offers.

Awesome.
I didn't bother to ask for directions.

Okay! We're here! We've got wheels! We're free!
Where do we go first?

Continued next post​

 

[pkondz]

Continued from previous post​

Costco, of course.
Except we didn't.

Here's the plan.
We'll pop into Costco, grab some supplies,
check out where the gas station is,
and then head out for the hotel.

Except.
I suddenly remembered that Costco only accepts
cash (of which I didn't have all that much)
debit (of which I didn't want to use, due to the exchange)
credit (which in Canada is MasterCard, but in the states is Amex.)

I don't have an Amex card anymore.
No one takes it in Canada.
Well, not everyone takes it.
So I got rid of it.


Okay. We won't go in Costco, but we'll see where the gas station is.
And we never saw it.
But we did see this:

Well... yeah. There are chickens all over the place,
but I meant this:

We've never had Krispy Kreme doughnuts before.
There are only six in Canada. And none near us.
The low-carb diet craze of the early 2000s did 'em in.

Luckily, we were on a more high-carb diet,
so we ventured inside.

Oh. My.
I thought I heard a chorus of Angels,
but it was just the sound of the doughnut machines.
I may have shed a tear.

We decided to get a half dozen...
and wound up ordering five.
I was so tired, that I couldn't even count that high.
It wasn't a total fail, since I'm the one who got the extra doughnut.
I needed sugar. Stat!
I think I came to the right place.


Oh. And if you guessed Krispy Kreme
for our first meal, I'll give you partial points.
It wasn't really a meal, but it was the first
thing we ate in Hawaii.


Suitably sugared, we decided that some real food
was in order.
Kay didn't want to leave, though.
Krispy Kreme has Wi-Fi.


Leading up to this trip I was extremely busy.
As such, I came less prepared than usual.
You already know I didn't bring a map,
and I had to ask for one to toss in the glove box
to ignore.

I also didn't take detailed notes of everything
I wanted to do.
And one of those things was this:
When we were in Oahu in 2012,
we'd stopped at a shrimp truck and had eaten
arguably the best shrimp we'd ever had.
I was really looking forward to a repeat, but...
There aren't any shrimp trucks on Maui.
They farm shrimp in Oahu, but not Maui.
But... There was one shrimp truck on the island.
But I didn't know where it was!
I didn't even remember what it was called.
I suppose, seeing as it's the only one on the island,
that the name wouldn't matter.
But you never know.

I remember looking at Google maps to see how far
it was from the airport, so I had a vague idea where to find it.
I looked at Betty's map and guesstimated where it might be.
We set out without much hope of actually finding it.

A short while later, we arrived in the area
where I thought it might be.
Nope. No shrimp truck.
But there was a food truck there.
On a hunch, I pulled over and got out.
I walked over to the food truck and:
"Hi, uh, this is going to be kind of a weird question.
Um. I don't want to order anything from you,
but do you happen to know where the shrimp truck is?"

I felt bad.
I'm basically telling the proprietor that I want someone
else's food more than theirs.
But she just smiled, pointed and said. "Right there."

It was about a hundred feet away, on the next block.

We moved the car a little closer and got out.

Elle's already perusing the menu.
Dang that kid's quick when she's hungry!

Hey you two! Get out of the way!
We're hungry!
Sheesh. People.

We decided to order two plates for the three of us to share.
(Ruby's allergic. So she got to watch us eat.)
One plate has a dozen shrimp, rice and a crab/mac salad.

We had to wait for a few minutes, but...

Oh, man. My mouth is watering just looking at that.

We each grabbed a shrimp and popped them in our mouths.
And then spent the next few seconds pulling shells out.
We all assumed (like in Oahu) that the shrimp were
peeled and deveined.
Well, they were deveined. The peeled part? Not so much.
After our false start, however, we were quickly gorging
on shrimp, rice and salad.
Well, Elle didn't care for the salad, and Kay's not a rice fan.
But that meant more of what you did like per person,
so it's all good.

It was probably around 3:30pm by now.
I had originally planned to visit
Iao Valley Monument but I'd read that
the valley is frequently clouded in
during the afternoons.
Instead I figured we'd skip it,
check into the hotel and see it another day,
time permitting. (probably not)

Well, the weather didn't look too bad.
I decided to risk it.

It was a great decision.
The drive to the park was worth it by itself.
We stopped at one point because I couldn't
take it anymore.
We kept "oohing" and "aahing" until we finally
just pulled over to take a picture.
The whole drive was like this:

It's cliché, I know, but pictures really don't do it justice.

After half an hour or so of driving,
we approached the entrance to the park.
I noticed a sign that said the park was closed at 5:30pm.
Hmmm... We've only got an hour or so.
Is that going to be enough? Or are we wasting our time?

The ticket booth was manned by a friendly, older gentleman.
"How long does it take to see the park?" I asked.
"Why?" He asked. "Do you need to be somewhere at a certain time?"
"No. Your sign says you close in an hour."
He looked at me dumfounded.
"I've been here for years and you're the first person who's ever read the sign."
"Usually." He continued. "I wind up locking the gates with people still inside."
Observing the beautiful surroundings, I replied. "Would that be so bad?"
"Well." He said. "You do see the stars, but it gets pretty chilly."

He must not understand Canadians or our winters.

"The whole trail is only about half a mile." He rejoined.
Okay, that's do-able.
We paid the five dollar entrance fee and parked.

The needle is visible from the parking lot.
You can see it in the photo above, on the left.
History says it was used as a lookout.
I have my doubts.
Wouldn't you put a lookout on the higher hill to the right?
In any event, the site was the location of one of the
bloodier battles King Kamehameha fought to
unite the Hawaiian Islands.
Bloody battle. Nice location.

And it's absolutely gorgeous.

A closer look at the needle

The needle itself is an illusion.
It's actually a ridge that you're seeing from one end.

The view back to the parking lot.

One nice thing about being at a location.
People don't ask me for directions.
The problem about being at a location...
People ask me to take their photo.
Here, I got asked three times.
I may not mention it again in the TR,
but I pretty much got asked every day of our trip.
It was a nice change from the direction questions.


Speaking of family photos,
these two kept following Ruby and me around.

We tried to lose them, but without success.
They're like leeches.


We made our way down from the overlook
and descended down to a running stream.

All in all, I was really glad we made the detour over here.
The sky was cloudy, but they were high enough
not to obstruct the view.


By now we were all in happy-go-lucky vacation mode.
We'd had some Krispy Kreme doughnuts, some shrimp
and had seen some sights.
Now it was time to make the 30 minute drive to the hotel.

You know, most of the guidebooks say that Maui traffic
can be bad around rush hour.
But really... how bad could it be?
It's an island in the middle of the Pacific.


An hour later, we pulled into the Maui Coast Hotel.
Hey! Would you like to see pictures of the resort???
Click the link above. I didn't take any.

After a few minutes checking in,
we moved the car, took the elevator up to the 5th floor
and settled into our new digs.
Hey! Would you like to see pictures of our room???
Click the link above. Then click "Rooms",
then "One-Bedroom Suite".
Voila.

Now if you took the trouble to actually do that,
you may have noticed that there's only one bed.
The sofa does pull out, but...
a. Sofa beds suck. And;
b. Sofa beds suck. However!
c. Sofa beds inherently... suck.

Kay had discovered on a recent jaunt
that the sofa bed was more comfortable
for sleeping when left as a sofa.

To make up for the bed shortage,
we'd brought along an inflatable mattress.

Which reminds me of another story.
Because this chapter isn't long enough already...


Tangent!


A couple of years ago, Elle said she wanted to go tenting.
She wanted to take our big tent
and invite a couple of her friends.
(Dee, whom you've met in a previous TR and Bea.)
Since none of them were 18 yet, Elle asked if I would go too
so I could put my name on the campsite.
I said sure, I'd just hole up in a small 2-man tent
and keep to myself.
(Which I did... until they got bored... then guess who
rented a boat and took them tubing?)
I brought an inflatable air mattress for myself.
Dee also brought one for herself.
But she was smart. She also brought a foot pump.
It's a basic bellows type pump that you stomp on.
While Elle and Bea were setting up their tent,
Dee started pumping up her mattress.
I set up my little tent; it didn't take long.
I sat at a picnic table and watched Dee work up a sweat.
Boy, that girl worked!
But eventually, oh after about 30-45 minutes, she was done.
Once she was finished, she sat down at the table, exhausted.
"Well." I said. "Guess I better inflate mine too."
"You can borrow my pump if you want." Dee offered.
"No thanks." I replied. "I'm good."
I then took out my electric pump, plugged it in
and inflated my mattress in about 20 seconds.
The look on Dee's face was priceless.
I just had an ear to ear grin on mine.


As I was saying... Back in Maui,
we'd brought a mattress... and a pump.
Twenty seconds later, we were all set.
And hungry.
I had a list of a few places nearby
and I also had a guide book
and of course... Google.
And we were all too beat to go anywhere.
"Why don't we just eat at the hotel?" I said.
Good idea. That's what we did.

We wandered down towards the pool
where there was a pool-side bar & grill.
And live music too!
There was a guy playing a guitar and singing
and he was good, too.
Bonus for Ruby and me was that we actually knew
what he was playing.
I don't know if the kids enjoyed it as much,
but they aren't paying, so too bad.

Our view from our table.

We ordered some drinks... which I only remember Kay's.
Because she ordered ice tea, then proceeded to put
three sweetener packets in it.
But it took about half an hour because our server
forgot to bring them... three times.
I finally went over to another table and got some for her.

I didn't take any food porn pics either.
I'm failing miserably as a TR photographer.
And... I don't care.
I was relaxing. Not cataloging.
I can tell you that Ruby and Elle had Caesar salads,
Kay had chicken tenders and I had
these crab & shrimp sugarcane pops which were good.

While we were eating, we were joined at our table.

Made me think of @orangecats2.
This little guy hung around us for most of the evening.
Maybe she smelled the crab/shrimp?

We sat nibbling our food, sipping our drinks
and listening to the live music.
Pool side.
In Maui.

Not too shabby.


Eventually though, the day caught up to us
and we decided to call it a night.
I signaled our server who promptly
brought us someone else's bill.
I thought about just paying it since it was
less than ours... but figured either;
1. It'd come out of her pocket; and while she
sucked as a server, she was friendly enough. Or;
2. Someone else would accidentally pay it.
I'm just not that mean.
I told her about the mix-up and we eventually
got the right bill and settled it.


We got up to head back to the room and...
"Why are you limping!?!?" Ruby asks me.
"My calves are tightened right up!" I exclaim.
Sick + lack of sleep + climbing slanted stairs
all combined to tighten up my leg muscles I guess.
Hmmm... probably add in dehydration and the flight, too.
Dunno. It's never happened before... or since.
But at the time... I could hardly walk.
Which would really suck if it continued the next day.

On the way to the room,
Ruby said she wanted to stop by the lobby
so we could get some extra blankets for the mattress.

I (slowly) approached the front desk and asked.
The man at the desk was the same one we'd
checked in with a few hours earlier.
He said he'd have some sent up to our room right away.
"Room ___, right?" He said.
I don't know how he remembered our room number,
but he was right.
I was impressed.

We headed up to our room
and started to put things in order.
While we were doing that, housekeeping came
with the blankets.
Fast. Impressive again.

We got settled, I watched TV for a few minutes
while Ruby passed out.
No idea if the kids stayed up or not.
I didn't care.
They were in the other room.
My legs hurt.
I'm tired.

So very ti.....zzzzzzzzzzzz.......


Contest!

10 points for anyone who flew off on a tangent!

cinderkelly, Gracefulskinny, SoccerDogWithEars,
franandaj, SnowWhiteOz, natebenma, afwdwfan,
Curiouser&curiouser!, jandlinz, Captain_Oblivious,
irene_dsc, orangecats2, DonnaBeeGood,
GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes, 6travel, DISNEYMOON10121991,
vrajewski10513



Previous chapter's questions and answers:

1. 1. Do we make our original scheduled flight?
Answer: Of course! Why not? 5 points

2. When we do get going, name one movie I watched.
Answer: Princess Bride (or Sicario) 15 points

3. Where do we eat breakfast?
Answer: Tim Hortons (Timmies!) 10 points

4. Did you see it? Bonus points if you did.
Answer: pkondz Airways on the jetway. 10 points


5. What's our first real meal in Hawaii?
Answer: Shrimp from shrimp truck. 20 points.
(Seafood - 10 points. Krispy Kreme - 5 points.)


And 20 bonus points for anyone who guesses
what our one and only excursion is.
Well, we still haven't gotten to that part yet.
Tomorrow morning.


Answers:
Steppesister - yes, Little Mermaid, Timmies, saw it, pulled pork - 25 points
DonnaBeeGood - yes, Bridesmaids, Timmies, saw it, pizza - 25 points
cinderkelly - no, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, Tuna poke - 20 points
Gracefulskinny - yes, Mask, Timmies, saw it, Muna Poa - 25 points
SoccerDogWithEars - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, pupus - 25 points
rndmr2 - yes, Miss Congeniality, Timmies, saw it, hot dogs - 25 points
Mrs T 2009 - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, nope, spam - 15 points
franandaj - no, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, Tuna poke - 20 points
SnowWhiteOz - yes, Pitch Perfect, Timmies, nope, spam - 15 points
natebenma - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, nope, sushi - 15 points
afwdwfan - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, seafood - 35 points
Curiouser&curiouser! - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, nope, nuts - 15 points
jandlinz - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, spam - 25 points
Captain_Oblivious - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, burgers (Krispy Kreme) - 30 points
irene_dsc - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, spam - 25 points
orangecats2 - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, pulled pork - 25 points
GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, seafood - 35 points
6travel - yes, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, seafood - 35 points
Terra Nova guy - no, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, pig roast - 20 points
MHSweb79 - no, Elf, Timmies, saw it, spam - 20 points
DISNEYMOON10121991 - no, Inside Out, Timmies, saw it, spam - 20 points
vrajewski10513 - yes, Grown Ups 2, Timmies, nope, luau - 15 points


Messiest post - DonnaBeeGood - 5 points
Prettiest post - SoccerDogWithEars - 5 points (come on. she's a freaking beauty queen)
Cleverest post - natebenma - 5 tanned points
Best line - Captain_Oblivious - 5 precious points


Standings:
SoccerDogWithEars - 70 points
DISNEYMOON10121991 - 60 points
GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes - 60 points
afwdwfan - 55 points
Captain_Oblivious - 55 points
6travel - 50 points
DonnaBeeGood - 50 points
irene_dsc - 50 points
jandlinz - 50 points
franandaj - 45 points
Gracefulskinny - 45 points
orangecats2 - 40 points
rndmr2 - 40 points
SnowWhiteOz - 40 points
BibbitybobityLu - 35 points
Curiouser&curiouser! - 35 points
MHSweb79 - 35 points
Terra Nova guy - 35 points
vrajewski10513 - 35 points
cinderkelly - 30 points
natebenma - 30 points
Steppesister - 30 points
TheLittleKatie - 20 points
Mrs T 2009 - 15 points
ForeverDance - 10 points
Self_resqing_princz - 5 points
MAGICFOR2 - 0 points
mmeb144 - 0 points

If I've made any mistakes,
(ETA: I already did!)
let me know!

Next round:
1. Rise & shine! What time am I up?

2. What weird breakfast item do I buy?
(Hint: It's been guessed before.)

3. Can I walk?

4. Did you see it? Bonus points if you did.
No? Might want to look again.

5. What local treat do we get?

Good luck!

Coming up... We finally go on that one and only excursion!

We all live in a...​

 

[franandaj]

I just read your report on my phone, but I'll have to wait to comment properly when I have a stable internet signal. Read: on my computer in a hotel with real WiFi. Or home with my Fios. So I'll be back when the signal is better!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I sat bolt up in bed,
my throat feeling as if I'd swallowed
a handful of razor blades.

uh oh!

A few minutes later, on a hunch,
I check on the evil twosome.
And I am right.
Their room is dark and quiet.
Neither of which continues after my arrival.
"Rise and shine! Up and at 'em! We got a plane to catch!"

Your nicer than I am. I've got a whole playlist of obnoxious wake up songs that I have been building since my Nanny days when I looked after a family with a teenager. When I really had to get her moving I'd crank up the music till she woke up.

Instead of just printing off the tags
and dumping the bags, we'd have to wait
as the agent re-invented the wheel.

Bonus points if you can tell me what I said back to him.
Doesn't have to be exact.

"Really? That's it?" "Well Okay then. Thank you!"

I tell the family to relax and grab a seat, I'll stand in line.
In retrospect, I should've made the DDs do it.

Make them earn their keep!

So neat!!!

All of the displays had the same amount of figurines
on the other side.
There was Minnie and Donald and others that I can't recall now.
Still, a pretty good collection, I thought.
I took it as a good omen that there were
Disney figurines at our gate.

There was no one behind us.
And bonus... there was no one beside us in the aisle seat.
Well, not for Ruby and I anyway.

She started by saying hello and then:
"No waves?" She asked.
I guess when you've been married as long as we have,
you just sort of synch up.
Without even so much as a glance at Ruby,
we both raised our hands and waved like crazy.
"Oh!" Said the flight attendant. "I see you back there!"
And no one on the plane (not even the DDs) had any
idea what she was talking about.

This aircraft has the "latest in entertainment" features.
Which means, you have to bring your own device.
Be it a laptop, tablet or pad.
You can rent one,

iZombie. It's about a girl who becomes a zombie,
but works in a morgue so she doesn't go running amok
when she gets the munchies.
The hook is that she gets some of the traits and memories
of the person who's brain she snacks on.
She solves crime.

Huh... how gory is it?

Oh, I watched Princess Bride on the plane.
Seen it before. But it's still fun.

You can never see that movie too many times. Its a classic!

And with that, we left the island of Maui behind us.
I may... may have wondered if the pilots had fallen asleep.

It's happened before.

Wait, really?

(I did take a look at the approach plate later
and it does start out over the ocean. Guess they were awake.)

Not surprising. The one on Oahu does to. Kinda unnerving when you land late at night and you don't see land beneath you while landing.

Inside I'm like this:

The bags! The bags! We have to get the bags!
They'll be stolen for sure if I'm not positioned
just downstream from the barf chute
when they come out!

Not stupid hot like, oh... Florida in August.

Florida in August is its own kind of hot.

And why couldn't Rose make room for Jack on that door?
Man, that's cold.

Because James cameron wanted it to be a Romeo and Juliet type situation. He wanted Jack to die.

We get to the carousel and there's no one there.
There's no luggage there either.
Except for two lonely suitcases,
circling aimlessly in search of their owners.

Well at least you didn't have to deal with extra chaos to fight for them.

"Where's a good place to eat around here?"
When in doubt, ask a local.

They'll know where the good stuff is.
I could see it now... traditional Hawaiian delicacies awaited.
"Well, there's a Wendy's not too far from here." He offers.

Sounds like my mother in law.

Except.
I suddenly remembered that Costco only accepts
cash (of which I didn't have all that much)
debit (of which I didn't want to use, due to the exchange)
credit (which in Canada is MasterCard, but in the states is Amex.)

Unfortunate.

We've never had Krispy Kreme doughnuts before.

so we ventured inside.

wise choice! hope the hot now sign was on!

Suitably sugared, we decided that some real food
was in order.
Kay didn't want to leave, though.
Krispy Kreme has Wi-Fi.

"No. Your sign says you close in an hour."
He looked at me dumfounded.
"I've been here for years and you're the first person who's ever read the sign."
"Usually." He continued. "I wind up locking the gates with people still inside."

Oh now that is reassuring.

The problem about being at a location...
People ask me to take their photo.
Here, I got asked three times.
I may not mention it again in the TR,
but I pretty much got asked every day of our trip.
It was a nice change from the direction questions.

At least people ask. I just was baffled at the number of people that were trying so hard to get a selfie when all they would've had to do is just ask someone else.

But really... how bad could it be?
It's an island in the middle of the Pacific.

Bad, because its an island in the middle of the pacific and they are land locked and have nowhere to expand the roadways.

Hey! Would you like to see pictures of the resort???

Sure!

Click the link above. I didn't take any.

"You can borrow my pump if you want." Dee offered.
"No thanks." I replied. "I'm good."
I then took out my electric pump, plugged it in
and inflated my mattress in about 20 seconds.
The look on Dee's face was priceless.
I just had an ear to ear grin on mine.

Now that's just mean!

But it took about half an hour because our server
forgot to bring them... three times.

Standings:
BibbitybobityLu - 35 points
DISNEYMOON10121991 - 30 points
SoccerDogWithEars - 30 points
franandaj - 15 points
GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes - 15 points
irene_dsc - 15 points
jandlinz - 15 points
MHSweb79 - 15 points
rndmr2 - 15 points
SnowWhiteOz - 15 points
Terra Nova guy - 15 points
afwdwfan - 10 points
Captain_Oblivious - 10 points
Curiouser&curiouser! - 10 points
DonnaBeeGood - 10 points
ForeverDance - 10 points
Gracefulskinny - 10 points
TheLittleKatie - 10 points
vrajewski10513 - 10 points
6travel - 5 points

These are the standings from last round.

Gracefulskinny - 35 points

These are the standings from this round.

Gracefulskinny - yes, Mask, Timmies, saw it, Muna Poa - 25 points

10 points for anyone who flew off on a tangent!

cinderkelly, Gracefulskinny, SoccerDogWithEars,
franandaj, SnowWhiteOz, natebenma, afwdwfan,
Curiouser&curiouser!, jandlinz, Captain_Oblivious,
irene_dsc, orangecats2, DonnaBeeGood,
GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes, 6travel, DISNEYMOON10121991,
vrajewski10513

Adding this bonus plus the other points my math says I should have 35 points for the round. and 45 points total. Found the proper quotes to save you time from having to hunt yourself.

1. Rise & shine! What time am I up?

8am

2. What weird breakfast item do I buy?
(Hint: It's been guessed before.)

your in Hawaii. You get Spam and Eggs.

3. Can I walk?

I'm going to be optimistic and say a good nights sleep did you good and you can walk.

4. Did you see it? Bonus points if you did.
No? Might want to look again.

Hi Waldo!

5. What local treat do we get?

Mochi and/ or Muna Poua