The trip home from Hawaii, from hot sand to snow
On Thursday, we began the 4,000-mile trip home. We were scheduled to fly out of Honolulu at 1:15 pm with Alaska Airlines, have a very short overnight in Seattle, and be in Whitehorse just before 2:00 pm Friday. Although there were some bumps along the way, that’s not too far from what happened.
I haven’t posted many photos of the hotel we stayed at, simply because I didn’t want to spend any time taking a good set. Everything about the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort was wonderful, though – this is the massive reception desk on the right.
We thought about laying on the beach and going swimming one more time, but to me it didn’t seem worth it to deal with wet bathing suits again for just a couple of hours. We did go for a last walk, though, and were greeted by this rainbow in a clear sky.
Out at the end of the jetty, dozens of these little fish were being bashed around where the waves hit the rocks. It seemed like an odd place to choose to live.
There were a few little crabs out baking in the hot sun instead of dropping into the still water a foot below.
While we waited for a cab to the airport at 10:20, I took this photo of the weather report screen in the lobby. sigh 🙂
At the fairly quiet airport just after 11:00, a very helpful agent assisted us with the checkin kiosk and Agriculture inspection, and we were soon through security.
Hawaiian music and a last photo op with a hula dancer in the terminal.
The Japanese garden in the center of the terminal is lovely. That’s our plane in front on the left – very convenient.
The control tower, directly above the Japanese garden.
Although I take photos of lots of airliners, I seldom post any to the database I contribute to, because they’ve all been done before. The listing for this one, though, Hawaiian Airlines’ 2013 Airbus A330-243 N393HA, didn’t have a photo yet so I added it.
Awesome – Honolulu Airport with a Hawaiian Airlines plane, and Diamond Head in the background 🙂
At 1:27 we were off the ground, and 12 minutes later, said goodbye to Hawaii. Mahalo!
Sunset out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean somewhere. Having a large beer with lunch at the airport was good for helping me pass the time with my eyes closed.
We landed in Seattle a few minutes before 10:00 pm, caught a shuttle to the nearby Hampton Inn & Suites, and were in bed by 11:00. Because we had to start Friday with an international flight (so a 2-hour-prior arrival), we had a 04:00 wakeup call. The fog outside didn’t look good!
The days of quality dining were over – a fast-food breakfast in the food court at SEA.
At 07:00, we walked out to our plane for the 34-minute hop to Vancouver. It was Alaska Airlines’ (Horizon Air) Bombardier DHC-8-402Q (Dash 8) N402QX, which is decorated with University of Montana colours and logo.
When there was no real attempt to increase power as we travelled along the active runway, I said to Cathy that an ugly message was coming, and a couple of seconds later the captain announced that the flight had been postponed due to weather issues in Vancouver. We taxied back to the terminal but didn’t get off the plane, and at 08:45, we tried again, though we were #9 in line for takeoff this time.
At 08:48, we were above the thin fog layer, looking across at Mt. Rainier. When we got to Vancouver I could see no indication that there had been any weather issues, but we were still in time for our connection to Whitehorse so it didn’t really matter.
Security, Customs and getting our Air Canada boarding passes was all quick and dead simple, but Cathy’s Swiss Army knife had somehow ended up in my backpack, and she no longer owns it.
Our Embraer 190 taxied away from the terminal at 11:20 as scheduled, but we sat in the run-up area as plane after plane went around us. The captain announced that we had a minor maintenance issue to deal, and a few minutes later that it was actually a crucial mechanical problem that had to be dealt with, so back to the terminal we went. It might not take too long so again we stayed in the plane.
At 12:20 we were on our way again, and quickly climbed into clouds. There were a few breaks around 2:00 as we neared the Yukon, though – just enough so we could see the mountains and feel at home.
At 2:33, the final turn to land at Whitehorse.
We arrived home just after 3:00 pm, to a joyous reception from the kids 🙂 As amazing as the trip was – one of our best ever, we agree – getting home to our family is the best feeling.
I can’t finish this off without thanking the wonderful woman we found to take care of our home and family at the last second when our regular sitter got very sick. Rebecca Barfoot is an artist from Colorado, and as well as taking an instant liking to her, we both love her work. She left this beautiful piece for us with a note that says in part, “a little piece of ocean & a little piece of the Aurora (which she saw here on her birthday), & the boreal”. You can see some of her work on her Facebook page and other pages linked from there. Monty clearly missed her the first day, so we have no doubt that life was good, and we can’t thank her enough.
Now, back to reality. It’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and that’s precisely what we’re doing – giving thanks for the amazing life we have here. I hope that you’ve all enjoyed travelling with us on our last long trip without our family for many years. From now on, the trips you’ll be seeing here will be motorhome adventures 🙂
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