Hawaii ~ Building Sandcastles

“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.”
― Walt Whitman

Lagoon at KoOlina Resort - O'ahu

As they passed me on the sidewalk yesterday I overheard the little girl clad in a swim suit and sun hat, carrying her plastic bucket and shovel, say to her mother, “Today. . .I am building a sandcastle!”

Her ‘to do’ list was done for her day. She was heading to one of the four lagoons at KoOlina the resort on the west coast of O’ahu where we are living our month-long winter timeshare life. Her list was a bit longer than mine. I had nothing in mind ‘to do’ at all. And yet, we were both looking forward to our day’s activities.

End of the road - Yokohama Beach - O'ahu

Our visits to Hawaii weren’t always like this. Back in our work-a-day world we were lucky to squeeze in a 10-day visit to this Pacific paradise. Once here we’d zip back and forth across the island trying to sample as many restaurants, walk as many beaches and see many tourist attractions as was possible. We’d go home needing a rest from the vacation.

Slope along O'ahu's Wai'anae Mountain range

We’ve reached a point in life where we don’t need to cram as much in as we can to our days – no matter where we are. We've allowed ourselves more time in the places we travel to (an advantage of retirement and its savings) which gives a new feeling to our nomadic lifestyle. Taking a nap, reading a book, watching ocean waves. . .things we’d probably describe as ‘doing nothing’ if someone were to ask, are becoming our norm.

Monk Seal - Kauai

Maybe as we’ve settled into these ‘boomer years’ we’ve recognized that we aren’t going to check off every destination on our travel bucket list nor will we cross off every ‘must do and see’ that we have listed for the destinations that we do visit.  We’ve slowed our pace and decided to strive for the quality instead of the quantity of our travel moments.

We’ve also gotten over the need to fill each day with planned activities. I know many of our friends prefer and are more comfortable traveling with structure – groups with leaders, itineraries and meal plans that are set months in advance.  We just don’t travel that way. Never have. And we are getting more set in our laid-back ‘where the winds blow us’ mode of travel with each passing year. And it means missing some of those 'must see' places but we can live with that. It also means we are open to everyday 'discoveries'. . .

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”
― Maya Angelou

. . .such as the one we had in neighboring island Kauai two weeks ago.  The waitress pouring us a cup of afternoon coffee asked if we’d heard there was a seal on our beach. Minutes later, camera in hand, we were watching the 'little' two-year-old girl nap on the beach in front of our hotel. The Monk Seal drew quite an audience of watchers – all who delighted in doing nothing more than watch an afternoon nap in progress.

Sleeping Beauty on the beach in Kauai

“Forever is composed of nows.”
― Emily Dickinson

KoOlina - O'ahu

Now I have to admit that when we arrived I did slip back into that old mode by saying, “This time we really should go to Pearl Harbor.” And then I added that we ‘needed’ to drive to the North Shore and see its big waves, and then there is that Thai restaurant only a few minutes away in Kapolei town that we ‘needed’ to go back to and maybe this time we should go out on a sunset sail.. . .

Frozen MaiTai

That ‘to do’ list like so many others has been filed away. We’ve opted to sip frozen MaiTai’s on the spur of the moment and watched the sun set as often as we can. That’s enough for our travel 'to do' list these days.

KoOlina Sunset

“There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free.

Don't miss so many of them.”
-- Jo Walton

That’s it from us this week. We’ll be in Hawaii a bit longer so we may have another tale or two from here. In the meantime, tell us about your travels – are you more comfortable with an organized itinerary or a blank page with no ‘to do’ lists?  Do you need a vacation from the vacation after you get home? Where ever you go and how ever you do it, may your travels be safe and happy.

Linking this week with:

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
Photo Friday
Travel Inspiration