Granny goes to Hawaii

Granny and I have a week together in Hawaii this year.  A week to ourselves.  The boys won't be there yet.  Lily won't be there yet either.  It's me and Granny.

The advantage of having young parents.  Well, I've been lucky, I've had young grand-parents.

I don't remember how old I was when I told my Granny this "For your 75th birthday, my 35th birthday - I will take you any place you want to go.  Let's go on a trip".  I think I was around 30.  Not really sure.  I can tell you where we were sitting and what we were doing - just don't have the time perspective.

She calls me at some point later (not sure if it was months or years).  "I KNOW what we need to do".  Okay.  Do tell "There is a Riverboat Cruise up the Mississippi River from New Orleans".  My reply "Granny, I will take you ANY PLACE you want to go.  In the ENTIRE world.  This is what you want to do? "   She replies, "Yes".  "Several of my friends have done this, and LOVED it". "We would leave from New Orleans and go for three nights".

Long story short, we went.  I flew to New Orleans.  So did she.  We met at the airport and took a cab to our boat.  We had a MARVELOUS trip.  Of course, I was the youngest person on the boat (staff excluded) by at LEAST twenty years. We gambled.  We toured a plantation.  We sat on the deck in rockers and drank mint juleps.  I flew back to Denver.  She flew back to Dallas.

This was the year before Katrina.  I'm so glad we went.

40/80 trip as we like to call it?  Vegas baby.  She had never been.  It's quite fun to take your 80 year old grandmother to Vegas.

We already have our trip planned for next year.  Nashville.  Neither one of us has been.  We can't wait.  Nolan said years ago he wanted to go - make it the 15/45/85 trip.  I'm still betting he's not going to want to go.

This year?  We normally don't have trips "in-between".  This year is different.  Granny is booked.  Watch out Hawaii, here we come.

She arrives the day after me.  We have a week to ourselves.  We then fly over to see Pearl Harbor and put her on a plane directly to Dallas.  The longest flight of her life.  I will then hop back to my island.

Granny is ready, but might need a few travel items:

Neck pillow
Light blanket
Wide brimmed hat
Comfortable clothes
A bathing suit?  I wonder when was the last time Granny wore a bathing suit?
Her paints and sketch pad
Her camera

The thing I'm worried about most?  She keeps saying she needs some "thongs".  I keep telling her, they are now called sandals.

Hope the islands are ready for us.....