Ahh...Home At Last!

Hi all. We're home! Got home last night (this morning, at 1 a.m.). Felt SO good to lay in our own bed. Ahh, life's little luxuries! We were beat!

Our flight yesterday was scheduled to leave at 1 p.m. Hawaii time. Check out was at 10 a.m.

I was just out of the shower around 8:30 a.m. and got a phone call from the owner of the cottage that went something like this: (forgive me if it isn't verbatum, my mind wasn't 100% focused on the words - you'll understand why)

" Hi, this is so-and-so, owner of the cottages. There has been an earthquake in the South Pacific, near Fiji. There is a Tsunami warning for the islands. You need to get in your car and go to the bridge near Hanalei. Take Power House Road and go up to high ground as far as you can get. Please alert any one else in the cottages you can. Stay in the mountains!" "Get to the airport ASAP and try to get an earlier flight off the island. Hurry, there may be a lot of other people trying to get earlier flights."

Well, to say the least, we were in a little bit of a fog, packed up quickly, and left to the airport. I had all kinds of visions going on in my head - memories of the Maui earthquake in 2006, visions of the Tsunami that hit Indonesia...Then my cel phone rang. It was Ty, our son, telling me he had gotten a call on the voice mail at the shop telling us to evacuate, etc... Now, he was worried.

Once we were about a half hour away from the airport, we came to our senses and realized that Fiji was SOUTH of us from the OTHER side of the island. We were on the NORTH side. AND NO ONE ELSE on the island that we saw was in any sort of panic. Hmmmm....

Needless to say, our vacation was OVER! But, a warning like that lets you know you're alive!!! We just wanted to be home.

We got on the plane and at for least the first half was VERY turbulent. Please, let us get home safely, already! We've had enough excitement for one day!

Glad to be home - even with the cooler weather. And having to wears jeans, long sleeves, and SOCKS! HOME SWEET HOME.