Hawaii -- Day 1

Hello all!  We are back from the big Hawaii trip, and as promised I am posting the full travelogue here.  It will take me a few days to get it all done, but I'll go as fast as I can.

Our trip began on Wednesday, March 28, at 3 am.  Our flight wasn't until 6 am, but no one slept much the night before, and we were anxious to get to the airport.  All the flights, there and back, went very smoothly, thanks at least in part to Roger's super-fancy status with United.  Yay for frequent flier miles!

We got into Honolulu at a little past 11 am local time.  We picked up our rental car and promptly got lost.  It would be a recurring theme of the trip.

Our first big stop was Diamond Head.  We figured that since we were used to living and hiking at altitude, we'd be able to skip right to the top of this one without even getting out of breath.  Well, not quite, but we did get there.

It's not an official Burnett vacation until you climb some stairs

Made it to the top!

Honolulu from the top of Diamond Head

View from the top

Another view

And back down again!

After Diamond Head, we went and got settled at the hotel.  We stayed at the Marriott Ko Olina Vacation Club.  It was easily the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in-- the suite was big enough for all of us to spread out, and included a kitchen and washer/dryer.  The resort also had three pools and its own lagoon.  We liked it so much that we considered buying a time share... but that's another day.

By the time we made it to bed that night, at nearly 9 pm local time, we had been up for almost 22 hours.  Not a bad way to start!