Hawaii Day 1

You know it's going to be a great flight when the pilot gets on and leads with "well I've never in my 20 year career seen headwinds like this..." So, yeah: what's usually a four and half hour flight was a bit over six, but--cry me a river--I landed in Honolulu around 1:00. My host, the one, the only, the famous US Army Judge Advocates General Captain Ben "Slabb" Widlankski, Esq, met me at the airport (in full badass army gear, no less... he even had one of those neato berets, which I'm sure are not called berets, and calling them berets or "neato" would probably get me sent directly to the brig, but you know what I mean), and took me to his place in Waikiki. He had to head back to work, but I quickly changed and went directly to Ala Moana beach, where I put a towel down and promptly called everyone I knew in NY to gloat.
More good news: I got to see Lauren! Though absent for the SF leg of the trip, Ms. Benwgk1 will be joining for Hawaii and Japan. After a few hours at Ala Moana and wandering the rest of Waikiki, I met Ben and Lauren (who got in around 5:00), for a triumphant dinner of poke and burgers.