Daydreaming.

They say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...

Something about winter inspires me to daydream. This Sunday when I was on my cleaning rampage I opened some windows upstairs to freshen the air and blow the staleness away. And it reminded me of spring. As did yesterday afternoon after my carpool buddy dropped me off. I chatted with my neighbor and noticed the shrubs between our houses are in vividly blooming, a cross between fuchsia and purple and pink. It is this weather that makes me think of spring and summer things, that elusive part of the year here in the NW.

But daydreams are just that -- hopes and wishes -- without any reality behind them. Jeff and I have decided on Maui for our Hawaiian vacation late this summer (September) and we're spending this month researching and planning. As I've mentioned before, you don't really know someone until you've been on vacation together. We've been talking about what we'd want to do and what this sort of vacation might look like. Jeff's never been to Hawaii -- I went to the Big Island and Maui with my family when I was 16. There are a few things that I learned about Hawaii from that location. First, decent hotel rooms are expensive, at least two or three times what you'd pay here. But because of lizards and bugs, there is no way I'd want to stay in a cheap hotel (again, cheap does not necessarily equal yucky in all places, but in Hawaii, there's a good bet it does). Second, when a room says ocean view or partial ocean view, it means you can see the ocean through the palm trees for the former and, if you lean off of your balcony, you can see the ocean in the latter. Finally, you don't want to go to Hawaii in the middle of summer. Tourist trap.

So when we started discussing where to stay, Jeff wanted an ocean view room. My philosophy on hotel rooms is this -- unless you plan to spend a lot of time there, get something comfy and clean and call it a day. Does it look at a mountain or a forest instead of the ocean? Fine with me. The first Hawaiian myth I had to debunk was that ocean view is not synonymous with ocean front, which is what Jeff was picturing -- basically that you'd open your door, walk across a deck, and be on the beach. Not at resorts you won't, I explained, because they generally put gardens and pools between rooms and the ocean. This is probably a positive development because garden and mountain rooms are significantly less money, even at nice resorts.

Because he's such a strong green, Jeff is researching like crazy. I'm really excited to go snorkeling and boogie boarding again and I might even be up for parasailing. Jeff wants to hang-glide and I told him that he's on his own for that one. There will also be plenty of time for swimming and time on the beach. We want to hike and probably do the Road to Hana. We've also agreed not to take a 6am flight or to fly on a small plane -- we're thinking of taking a direct flight on Alaskan or Hawaiian, hopefully the former so I can cash in some miles.

So the daydream is slowly becoming a reality. I'm really looking forward to heading to a tropical paradise with my love.

xoxo
Sarah