If you were just reading my last few posts, then you might think that we moved all the way out here to Hawaii, and then I do nothing but knit. Well, you'd be wrong ... at least a little :)
Quite honestly, it is WONDERFUL being in a real Place again. Our last 8+ years have been spent in very hot, very dry places, where you have to drive a good bit to get to almost anything one might want to do. I mean, in CA, we were 40 miles from the closest town; 73 miles from the closest Target, bookstore, and movie theater; 2 hours from the closest Chick-Fil-A (important landmarks, you know); and a bit over 2 hours from either a lake, beach, or wooded mountain. In Texas, things were a bit better (Target and bookstores were in town, at least) but we still were looking at several hours of driving to get to decent hiking, museums, or most events or activities we wanted to do. This is really the first time in almost a decade where we're in a Real City again. Let's face it, the Army doesn't really send you to cities all that often. The Navy at least almost has to send you to a port (which will also be a City 95% of the time) but the Army... they like their space to drive tanks around and practice blowing stuff up. Being in a city doesn't really give you that sort of space. So, we're in a city for now, and we plan to enjoy it!
Being in a real Place again, we are facing the relatively unfamiliar position of having to make choices about what to do on a weekend! I mean, more than one thing might be going on that we want to go to! Craziness!! There are cultural festivals, plays, concerts, independent movie theaters, museums (plural!!), sports events, historical sites... plus tons of hiking and beaches and natural activities too. And people to do it with!! It's a really nice feeling to be able to get out of the house and do stuff again, without tons of driving to plan in.
Even with driving to plan in, though, it's still not ridiculous (assuming traffic cooperates). My commute to work is across the island, and it's still only about 25-30 minutes (usually). I have blocked off that amount of time just to get across town in some of the places I've lived. Some people plan on that time (or more) just to commute within Honolulu, and I know people in TX that commuted up from Austin or its suburbs, and they had a 45-60 minute commute. But the fact that I work "all the way over" on the Windward side... I think it's the mental distance more than the time. I had to pick something up from a business over in Kailua (Windward side), and when the lady called to tell me it was ready, she said that it could be mailed to me, if I couldn't pick it up myself. She didn't actually say it, but that "all the way over there" was certainly in her voice. Coming from driving-happy Central TX, where driving "just down to Austin" (90 minutes away) is no big deal, it really made me chuckle.
In total honesty, yes, Honolulu traffic is a bear. One accident on the H1 and it will back up for miles. But, as I remind myself, we have traffic here because we have people here. People are here because they want to be here, because there are things to do here. So if I want the one, the other comes with - hard to escape it. And then I turn on my audiobook or the radio (we get NPR again!) and try to relax a bit. Traffic is what it is, not much you can do to change it. Years of driving the HRBT taught me that!
And just because this post needed some pictures, here's a shot from a sunset hike I did back in the fall. Several groups around here head to different trails to go hike at sunset on full moon nights. This one is the view from the trail to the Makapu'u Lighthouse, looking back toward the sunset over Hawaii Kai. Very, very pretty.
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