Not much to write about this day. We flew home, transferring from flight to flight, wrestling with bags, movies ("The Woodsman," "Trading Places," "The Outlaw Josie Wales," and "The March of the Penguins" - guerrilla video!), and jet lag. But we couldn't neglect to mention the last scrumptious Hawai段 breakfast we had before saying goodbye. When we got close to the Maui airport area, we found a place in a mall called "Ruby's Diner." Not Ruby Tuesdays, which has become a fixture at most malls these days, and not even a close offshoot of it. This place had it goin' on. www.rubys.com. It is a vintage, soda shop style diner, with all the obligatory chrome and red vinyl and classic posters on the walls. There was pleasant Hawai段an music playing at the perfect volume and some of the friendliest staff we had seen in a long time. It was clean and Amy was astonished to notice that all of the posters were hanging at the right height and straight! The food was superb - nothing fancy or unusual or fashionable, just your basic eggs and bacon and sandwiches and milkshakes. The place seemed brand new - whether it was or not we never inquired. Before leaving we asked what song was currently playing and our waiter wrote down the artist's name for us. At the airport Amy found the cd and bought it. Another captured memory. We boarded, flew to Honolulu, boarded again, and watched out the window as the islands disappeared from view one by one.

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All said it was quite an enjoyable trip. Our plans went almost flawlessly and we had a great time. Only a couple of regrets, worth mentioning only because someone may be reading this for helpful information in planning his/her own trip:

We really should have gone hiking somewhere, especially in Kaua'i, and especially because we were unable to make the helicopter trip. The Na Pali coast, which is probably the most scenic area in Kaua'i, and probably the most photographed and the most representational part of the true natural beauty of the Kauai landscape, is only reachable by air, boat, or hike. We had planned on the air tour, but when it didn't materialize we didn't have time to fit in a hike. Which is fine, we did so many other things, but it's really probably worth the time investment to take a hike in Kaua'i and get to see all those waterfalls and green mountains and ravines and cliffs and breathtaking views that make Kaua'i the "Garden Island." If we did it again we would probably trade the tubing adventure for a hike.

It would have been nice to have gotten in a little more snorkeling. That was one of the main reasons we picked the southern part of Kaua'i for our stay. We tried to do more but the days just got away from us. It also could be due to our inexperience with the locations and with snorkeling in general. It was a little intimidating to be given snorkeling gear and an island and told, "Ok, it's all yours, have at it," and then seeing warning signs everywhere about the rough surf and rocks and other dangers. Something about returning home in a cast or with stitches just doesn't scream "honeymoon." And with so many beaches it was quite common to find a beach that was completely deserted except for us, and even when populated the chances of other snorkelers minimal, so there were usually no other snorkelers to emulate. It may have been best for us to take a snorkeling tour with a reputable company. And hey, you usually get another free lunch with them.

Amy also regrets not having spent more time at different beaches. In our defense, we were on three different islands with beach after beach after beach - it can be a little overwhelming. You just want to be everywhere at the same time. If you try to check out too many, you could end up not truly enjoying any of them because you're in such a hurry to get to the next one. But when most people think of a tropical two-week honeymoon vacation, the vision of lying on a white sand beach next to palm trees drinking mai tai's usually comes to mind at some point. Relaxation, leisure, sunshine, slowly soaking it all in, escape from everything. We had so much we wanted to do that we didn't get much time to just enjoy being at the beach in Hawai'i. But if we had spent more time lounging at the beach, we would probably be writing in this paragraph that we regret not having driven around more and explored our surroundings. Bottom line, two weeks just still isn't enough!

Back to some more positive notes:

There are some little things that separate Hawai段 from Florida that are worth mentioning. Most of Florida has Spanish as its second language. Hawai段 has Hawai段an here and there but really uses Japanese as its second language. Japanese is a fun language to listen to. It's also interesting to see written. Hawai段an is a very smooth and pretty language, with heavy use of soft syllables. It's just soothing to listen to. Hawai段an only has 12 letters in its alphabet! Spanish, on the other hand, can be harsh and loud. It's unpleasant to hear yelled in your ear. This alone would be worth moving to Hawai段.

Another issue is the weather. Florida is quite humid and unpleasant most of the year around (this is Damon's perspective only; Amy is perfectly fine with it, thank you). In Hawai段, the high temperatures change about 10 degrees Fahrenheit between the summer and the winter. Most of the coastal areas have a nice constant breeze and lack the sticky feeling of humidity. In fact, the weather, along with the fruit and berries growing wild everywhere and chickens and wild boar running around, make Hawai段 an easy place to live off the land. We were told on a couple of occasions that, especially on Kaua段, there are a lot of "hippies" because it's so easy to live there. There are no predators, no snakes, not even any poison ivy. Supposedly, the TV show, "Survivor," was considering holding one of the next episodes in some secluded place in Hawai段, but they ultimately decided against it because it's just too easy to, well, survive there.

The people make a big difference. Most people on Hawai段 are very friendly. We found it very easy to get along with people. For instance, we stopped at Hanalei beach and walked out to the water. On the way we walked by some scruffy looking guy in a really dirty t-shirt working on a tailgate bar-b-que. In Florida, we would expect someone who looked like that to be loud and obnoxious, and probably leave most of his trash on the beach. We were about 10 feet from him when he set down his cooking utensils, walked over to us, and offered to take our picture. This may not seem like a big issue, but for us it was quite a shock. It was common for people to see you with a camera and offer to take pictures for you. There was an attitude about Hawai段 that we haven't experienced before. Almost a feeling of family with complete strangers - we guess that's what they call "aloha."

Back home, after some hours of sleep, the postman rang with a bin of mail from over the past two weeks. We unburied Amy's ukulele, listened to the Hawai段an cd's we bought, looked over the pictures that our wedding photographer had sent, and proceeded to continue the aloha of our honeymoon into the rest of our days together as life partners.