You are at the top of my lungs, drawn to the ones who never yawn

After an afternoon rest, we walked over to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel - which I am told is the oldest resort on Oahu. It's flamingo pink and faces Diamond Head. We sat on the patio facing the ocean and sipped Mai Tais (mine a "royal" and J-mo's a "scratch"). Very strong drink, those MTs; 'twas followed by a smooth and very coconutty Pina Colada. I was hammered. Not only was our waitress super cool and chatty, but the neighboring table was occupied by a couple who were 75 and 78 and had just done the Diamond Head climb (which I understand is not much compared to Colorado hiking, but hard enough). They were from a cruise ship from California , but the woman was originally from Colorado. We came to be talking to her because, from a diagonal table, she simply turned around, looked me in the eye, and said "we just finished Diamond Head!" I thought it peculiar but amusing, and we chatted with them for a bit.

Side note: one of the things I love about this place is how frequently European it seems to me. Despite the obvious and pervasive Asian influences here, our hotel reminds me of Europe in many ways. The hotel lobby is a truly remarkable space - there is no distinction between "outdoor" and "indoor" around here - thus one moves from a seating area that looks like an old person's living room (tons of random decor, outdated books, and a stereo from the mid-70's. Oh and a pair of skis - go figure) to a room with a large table for using the internet, complete with a pile of old books one can read, a playing piano, and a water fountain like the ones we had in the halls of grade school. That area leads to the bathtub pool, around which sit leathery bags of flesh that I'm certain were once people and will soon become handbags, in varying degrees of undress (this last part creeps me out a bit).

Anyway, after expensive but wonderful boat drinks, we took off our shoes and walked the beach, and with a rather unpredictable series of waves crashing into us, ended up far wetter than I would have liked in regular clothes. Strolled back to the hotel barefooted (because you can do that here!) and changed out of wet sandy clothes. Visited with Jo and Kriss at their place, which faces the mountains, on which sat heavy rain clouds - just gorgeous. We snacked and then walked to have dinner (tried to eat at a nice place, but wait was too long; ended up at "Cheeseburger in Paradise" - and yes, I bloody well know where that line comes from, and I wasn't happy about it, haha - which was good but took forever). Talked to Sami over text message, and then walked back. Exhausted now.

Pearl Harbor et al is tomorrow.