Garden Ramblings: October 2012

As unbelievable as it seems, we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on September 28th, in Hawaii! We discussed a lot of possibilities for an anniversary trip, but in the end decided that Hawaii would be perfect!

We found a great condo on the Ali Wai canal in Waikiki - within walking distance to everything! We were incredibly fortunate to get seats in business class on Delta in both directions - even though even getting on seemed unlikely when we were coming home.

The weather was gorgeous! Mid 80's during the day, mid 70's overnight - our kind of weather! And of course the trade winds kept the warm days very comfortable.

We spent time at the beach, taking walks around the area, listening to great live music and just generally relaxing and enjoying ourselves! We did a submarine tour of the area which was very interesting and something that neither of us had experienced before.

We were there for 10 days, and before we knew it, it was time to come home.

What a wonderful 10th anniversary! One we'll remember always.

The view from our condo on the 15th floor

Looking the other direction

Every afternoon there were canoe races on the canal - lots of fun to watch

A statue of a Hawaiian "Auntie" in Waikiki

The "infinity pool" at the Sheraton hotel. They were working on this when we were in Waikiki three years ago. It's beautiful - lounge chairs and tables in the pool, and it looks like the pool just runs right into the ocean.

More infinity pool - hmmm..... may have to consider staying at the Sheraton one of these times!

The group "Mauna Lua", performing at Dukes. Wonderful Hawaiian music, a cold beer, Diamond Head in the distance and the blue, blue sea!! Life is good!

On one of our morning walks

Waikiki beach - looking toward the Royal Hawaiian - the pink hotel in the distance - the second oldest hotel in Waikiki

The banyan tree at Queens Beach

The Farmers Market! We got lots of fresh fruit - hadn't had fresh papaya and pineapple since the last time we were in Hawaii!

This is dragon fruit!! And no, we didn't try it - maybe next time!

We were in Waikiki for the Aloha celebration and parade!

There were tons of fresh flowers in the parade

An enactment of Hawaiian royalty. Notice the conch shells the two in front are holding - we heard lots of conch shells being blown during the parade

Lots of marching bands - and they were all great!

One of the princesses from one of the islands. All of the Hawaiian islands were represented by their princesses and courts - all on horseback!

The Royal Hawaiian Band is the oldest continually performing band in the United States and has been sponsored and supported by the state of Hawaii since 1836!!