So it's late Saturday night right now in Hawaii (actually it's 12:30 am Sunday morning; 6:30 am for you guys). We just got settled into our hotel in Maui. We're staying at the Sheraton Maui on Ka'anapali Beach in West Maui. From what we can see, it's a very nice resort, although it's pretty dark outside so we can't enjoy the scenery yet. Aaron is pretty excited about the apple pies at McDonald's out here...I'm not sure why but he was bonding with the valet parking guy about it. I'll let him explain that one tomorrow.
Vicki and my flight to LAX yesterday was somewhat uneventful and we arrived with only a minor delay. Aaron and Cherie where there to greet us and we headed off to explore LA before going 85 miles east to Yucaipa, CA where the Sheelers live. While in LA we strolled Venice beach and watched the weirdoes...one guy gleefully sang (in the tune of "Jingle Bell Rock") "Jingle bells, jingle bells, help me get drunk..." while he shook a paper cup with change in it...priceless!...others vagrants were sleeping in the grass and 60 year old women, wearing totally inappropriately revealing clothing mind you, were offering psychic readings and all forms of incense. We didn't stay long, only long enough to grab a bite to eat and stretch our legs.
From there we headed east to the Sheelers...our 85 mile drive was bumper to bumper the whole way! NO JOKE! We were in the car for 4 hours and we arrived at almost 7 pm. Pam and Pat were incredible. She had some old family friends over for a candle-light BBQ. Much wine was drunk and a merry time was had by all while we swapped stories and discussed old mutual friends and family members. Sleep came quick for Vicki and I...it was a long day.
This morning, Pam and Pat again outdid themselves with a great breakfast they made for us. Various friends stopped by to say hi while they were out in service and we chilled for the morning leaving at noon to head back to the city to catch our flight to Maui (a decidedly quicker trip this time).
Then the drama started...Vicki and I were on the same flight at Aaron and Cherie which was delayed by more than an hour due to heavy storms in Texas...while waiting at the gate we were annoyed by this 6 year old boy who wouldn't sit still and was running around our luggage making tons of noise. You can imagine the glee on Vicki's face when we go our seats on the plane and the same boy was right behind her...hahahaha...I was laughing inside at the irony. Oh, and while we were waiting to get on the plane Jackie was in another part of the airport on her lay-over waiting to board hers...she had a brush with celebrity when her dream came true. One of her idols got off the plane she was about to get on. Guess who it was? Okay, I'll give you a clue...tight, short, short, striped shorts...tank top...afro...white male...guess yet? One more clue..."sweatin' to the oldies." You better know by now. Anyways, Jackie got his autograph (kidding).
The last drama of the day was what happened one hour into our five hour flight. We were five rows from the back of the plane and we heard a commotion...I looked back and there was a mass of confusion as the fight attendants literally pulled people from the back row of seats screaming at them to get up! Then one flight attendant yelled to the front of the plane to another "CODE RED, CODE RED, CODE RED..." by now everyone was turned in their seats and looking back...alarms were going off and people were running down the isle. The captain came on saying there was a serious medical emergency and asking if there were any physicians on board. It was pretty scary, especially being so close. I'm pretty sure they started to charge up a defibrillator, I could hear the charging sound like a camera flash before it fires. The plane was silent as a mass of people hovered over a woman in the back who had collapsed and seemed to be unconscious. After about 15-20 minutes things calmed down slightly and the woman had started talking. The captain explained the situation to the whole plane and told us he was in contact with a medical team on the ground and we would not be turning around, thankfully. The woman spent the rest of the flight lying on the floor of the back galley under the supervision of a physician and nurse who stepped up to help out. When we arrived in Maui, they let us off the plane first but they had a whole medical team waiting at the plane door to go in and assist the woman. Thankfully all ended well for us (we finally got to Maui) and for the woman.
We're so glad to be relaxing now in our room. Vicki's already asleep and I'm sure the others are too. Tomorrow we just plan to chill out at the resort. I'll post more then. TTYL and enjoy the pics.
Venice Beach
Don't leave your bike in front of police station...
How Aaron deals with LA traffic
Eat your heart out, Burrows...
Pat giving us a lesson...
Man, I am so weak...people were ducking for their life
Killing time at LAX...
When life gives you lemons...
Finally, our plane is here...Maui here we come!
6 comments:
Blog Overload Blog overload! It is a rush of new information and good pictures. Glad to hear everyone made it even though there was code red! That must have made your hearts jump for sure. I must run for the moment or I'll be late for the meeting. I'll check back later for sure.. I'm just glad you all made it.. and Richard Simmons!
I tried to post earlier but it didn't work. Now it appears to be fixed. Sounds like an exciting flight for M and V. Even more exciting for Richard Simmons. I wonder if Jackie got some good pictures of Richard in those striped shorts. There is a live webcam at your resort. I'll get the link and post it. Yesterday men were in the pool working on it (no water). Later in the day I noticed that it was partially filled. The webcam can be controlled for 3 minutes. It won't zoom in close enough to recognize people on the beach. However, there is a courtyard area between two buildings that has tables and umbrellas and you can get relatively close to people there. Maybe we'll see you one of these days! Have fun.
http://www.mauigateway.com/~rw/video/sheraton.html
Link to Maui livecam at the resort!
Yes, part of the pool is under construction. We knew about this before we left and called the resort. Supposedly it won't affect us, also the luggage guy last night said we can use the Maui Westin's pools if we want...nice. They have waterfalls etc.
aaron great stress release.i'm grad to see your fearless navigater [matt] was hard at work helping you in traffic.take it easy buddy
type ya later
chris
shucks, you went huntin'. haha. unparalleled skill with the compound bow.
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