The flight from Rochester to Chicago was full, but the flight to Kona was only a third full, so we each had a row of three seats. Entry into Hawaii went smoothly with a lot of online preparation required by Hawaii, although Greg is still waiting for his checked bag. The bag either never made it to Chicago, or missed the connection to Hawaii, we'll know more tomorrow.
The weather was overcast in Hawaii with a few sprinkles. We checked in and had dinner an went to the grocery store.
After spending yesterday online getting checked in to our flights and preparing for the Hawaii bureaucracy, we will now spend the day standing in lines waiting to talk to people who will make sure we spent the previous day online.
Watch this for our exciting activities!
I think the thing I am most looking forward to is the Road to Hana tour, in a van with a hired driver and the four of us who will be on Maui. I don't swim much, but I am looking forward to those little waterfall swimming holes.
The weather today was amazingly nice, high 60s Fahrenheit and sunny (which is why I pushed myself so hard). We send our best wishes to the south and eastern seaboard as they recover from the heavy rains of hurricane Ida. That weather system did not get to western New York State. Unless the jet inventory is disrupted, we should not have trouble getting to Chicago and then flying over the wildfires in the west and finally to Kona.
The virus numbers in Hawaii dropped substantially for a couple days but then spiked back up yesterday. We have our N95 masks for indoor events and flights, and cloth or cheaper masks for outdoor events.
But eventually, one takes one's turn, and today is my first day of a three-week vacation (including two weeks in Hawaii). I don't mind waking up at my normal workday time, but it takes me a couple days to stop thinking I need to psyche myself up for the next leg of the rat race.
To be clear, I am not complaining about my job, but it's nice to play hooky for an extended period.
However, the big project during my few days at home is to paint the deck, not exactly the most fun I'll have in the next three weeks. It's a small wooden deck, and it has already been scraped and cleaned, but opening a can of paint is such a commitment.
Oahu now requires restaurant patrons to show a vaccination card or a negative test result. We're vaccinated, of course. I still think the elected officials talk a big talk and then hold back on the rules (a relief for me). A vaccination rule is probably annoying for the restaurants, but getting vaccinated is such a no brainer (aside from the microchip), it's no worse than showing an ID to drink alcohol.
Today, the lieutenant governor suggested there could be a stay-at-home order for Labor Day weekend (that's this coming weekend). The governor walked that back, slightly, but the leaders are clearly concerned. We arrive Sunday afternoon. Maybe they'll keep us at the airport until Tuesday.
I don't mean to trivialize the dangers of the pandemic. People are dying. But again, there is little danger from my family group, and our activities are pretty safe (mostly outdoors, even the luau) throughout the trip.
It's just hard to take all the comments at face value. There are a lot of conflicting constituencies pressuring the elected leaders, but few actual orders over the last few weeks.
