We Take Ourselves With Us

We saved the most dangerous adventure for our last day, when it didn't matter so much if Ned and the kids lost limbs: swimming with the sharks!  I passed on this--not because of the sharks: I swim with those every day--because every other line on the website was a version of the following: "If you tend toward seasickness, you WILL get sick on this trip."  So, Pasadena. I dropped the rest of the family off at the boat launch on the North Shore, and we said our possible last goodbyes. Then, with a heavy heart and empty stomach, I set off for breakfast.  On the way to my actual destination (through my worry, I had managed to Google several options), I saw a roadside sign for an organic farm dotted with kicky striped umbrellas and pulled over. The view was gorgeous, the fresh breakfast was yummy, and for quite some time, it was just me and the glowing supermodel who was running the register (seriously, I think I need to start juice fasting because all of th...

Winter came very early to Upstate, dumping a surprise 8 inches of snow.  So as we set off to our 11ish hours of flight from Toronto to Vancouver to Honolulu on November 16, we were surrounded by thick, heavy, slushy blankets of white. And, after those 11ish hours of flight, one ridiculously long Trusted Traveler bottleneck (about 50 TTs in line for two frequently malfunctioning terminals), and four time zone changes, we finally got to Honolulu.  Whew! We got to our lovely, friendly, nicely sized, and Hilton Honors-point-paid-for Doubletree and fell into our beds for one night of on-land sleep.  Time zones were on our side in this direction, which assured we were up for brekky--including Harper's first Loco Moco : rice, eggs, ground beef (sans gravy) which is a gf/lf eater's dream meal.  This tie-dyed Mickey t-shirt got a "stay frosty" hand sign more than once (from people Harper swears thought she made it), so thanks two day trip to WDW! Le...