My Hawaiian Dream Vacation

I'm not sure if it's the warmish weather we've had recently, the change in daylight, the upward trudge of starting a brand new year, or what, but all of a sudden I've got a bee in my bonnet about taking a tropical vacation.

My husband and I aren't real travelers, but for about four years straight we made an annual pilgrimage to Kauai. When we first went, in 2003, my husband had never been. He grew up in the South, and was pretty sure that Hawaii was overrated, based on the TV footage he'd seen of it on Magnum P.I. Also, he wasn't too thrilled about flying in general, and flying over the ocean seemed unnecessary just to take a vacation.

I was able to convince him that he should at least check it out now that he lived in California. Well, I've never seeen someone take so quickly to a new environment. Within hours we were wearing flipflops, eating saimin with locals, and focusing on the most pressing issues you can muster on vacation in Hawaii: should we swim in the ocean first, or the pool? Where do they grow these large avocadoes? Should we try the locally-brewed pale ale, or the locally-brewed lager? Why not both?

Anyhow, Kauai became a second home to us for awhile and was even the site of the wedding proposal, and a year later, the honeymoon. But now it's been more than a couple of years and I'm feeling the itch. We saw these neighborhood friends last night and ended up discussing Kauai, as well as apparently a joint dream that I share with the woman, which is to open up a little bakery in Kauai, one that's open for about four hours a day. I know that living and working there couldn't possibly be as romantic as I envision, but I'm sure it would be lush, warm, casual, and maybe above all else, different. I'm starting to think that different sounds good as a theme for the future, and the husband seems to think so as well.

So, a trip seems in order, for research and assessment. I'm logging into Orbitz now...