I’m not a serious bucket list kind of guy but I’ve already chalked up two items on this trip. The first was riding on the outside of a cable car in San Francisco yesterday with Esme. Then this afternoon I found myself swimming at Waikiki Beach with a pretty girl (Esme, that is) and with Diamond Head in the background. Esme and I hit the beach right after checking in to the Waikiki Resort Hotel. The water was delightful: pleasantly warm yet refreshing with light wave action within the area protected by a breakwater. Tomorrow is surfing lesson day but surfing isn’t on my bucket list. It’s not happening for this old guy I’m afraid.

This has been a travel day, pretty much uneventful except for a thirty-minute delay in leaving San Francisco. United claims it took that long to clean the cabin. That, plus a long wait for our bag put us at 4 PM reaching the hotel. But we got checked in with our tour guide, Mel, and at the front desk with plenty of time for our quick dip.

Dinner at 5:30 was a buffet affair. After, Mel and his co-guide Mike gave an introduction that emphasized Hawaiian heritage. They both have native blood and will be bringing Hawaiian and Polynesian culture to this experience. They particularly emphasized the importance of grandchildren (moopunas) )learning from their grandparents (kupunas).

The ice breaker exercise was for grandparents to introduce their grandkids and then for the grandkids to introduce their grandparents. Esme said, “These are my grandparents Jon and Judy. They travel a lot.” Pretty much sums us up, I’d say.

Tomorrow is surfing in the morning and then our self-propelled visit to Pearl Harbor in the afternoon.