Greetings from the Garden Isle. This will be the shortest blog ever, but I’m just here to check in and let you know I’m alive and well in Paradise.

This month-long escapade has passed its halfway point, and I’ll be here for another 10 days. On September 20, I’ll be heading home on a flight that leaves Lihue Airport at the enticing hour of 9:50 pm. We will land at LAX somewhere around 5:30 in the morning Pacific time. After that, a 2-hour layover before the final leg to MSP. Yay!

Blog writer’s note: I won’t try to weave stories into the photos today (or vice-versa.) I’ll just post random pics I’ve taken as I go. Like this one.

My return flight (a week from Monday) may be enticing to some, but I have a long history of being unable to sleep on planes when the schedule makes it very beneficial to do so. Red-eye flights and I do not get along. It’s the eastbound flights that are the worst, whether it’s from Hawaii back to the mainland or from Minneapolis to Europe. Just the thought of “If I just get a few hours sleep on this flight I’ll be good to go when we get there” is enough to keep me wide awake. The good news for this trip is the fact I really don’t have to be ready for anything when I get home. I can just rest up however I see fit.

I’ve fallen into a nice groove here. Barbara was able to pull the trigger on a surprise visit last week, coming in on Wednesday and staying until Sunday night, and that was fantastic. We had a wonderful time together and with a few of Mary and Lonnie’s good friends. Bob, Thom, and Michael are aces and great people, and our two dinners together were fantastic. Many laughs all around, and too much good food to even imagine.

I’ve been doing a lot of walking, whether it’s a just a jaunt out the front door and around the area here by the condo or taking a drive to a nearby beach to walk on those trails. I think I’ve been averaging about 7,500 steps per day, and cleared 10,000 once or twice. That sort of exercise will allow you to eat pretty much whatever you want for dinner.

Food trucks are the rage here, as are “pop up” food stands. Mary and Lonnie had highly recommended the food sold by a nice woman on a street corner in downtown Kapaa. Just her and two bright red umbrellas, with a couple of warming ovens and one small hot plate. The French Dip sandwich was to die for! And, oddly enough, we somehow got on the subject of Minnesota and she said “You’re from there? My husband is from White Bear Lake!” That, as we say, is more evidence that it’s a small world. Barbara’s office is technically in Vadnais Heights but about a block away you’ll find yourself in White Bear Lake. “Go Bears!” (That’s a “Fargo” reference, by the way.)

So it’s all good here. The weather has been sublime. Biscuit and Maxie have been very good boys and are ultra-friendly with me now. And, I know my way around this island well enough to pretty much go wherever I want without much research.

I leave you with one funny story…

At the end of one of my walks a few days ago, I was just about back to the car at Kealia Beach when a surfer came walking toward me on the path. He was soaking wet and carrying his board. As we passed, he said, “Hey man, do you know what time it is?”

I looked at my “smart watch” (I use those quotes because I’m not smart enough to understand half of what my watch does) only to find it had switched itself to a different setting, tracking my activity instead of just, you know, TELLING TIME like most watches do. I apologized and said “Sorry man, my watch just switched to a different screen. I’m not sure what time it is.”

He then said, in perfect surfer dude language, “Uh, dude. Your phone is in your right hand.”

Geez. I’m such a boomer. And an idiot. To hear the surfer guy’s voice accurately, think about how Sean Penn would’ve said it, playing the one and only Jeff Spicoli in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

That’s all for this one. I’ve got so much on my agenda I need to go. I’m busy here. Just crazy busy. It’s hard to get it all done each day. Maybe I’ll take a nap…

Aloha, gang! I’ll recap the whole trip when I get back home in 10 days.

And, feel free to send the Aloha back my way with a click on that pesky “Like” button at the bottom.