… both in the comments, in person, and by email. You’re all an amazing resource.
As an addendum to the last post, I’m sorry for the slow responses to your comments. I managed to randomly sprain my right wrist last weekend, and since then everything (brushing my teeth, lifting glasses of water or tea, driving, writing, reading, and predictably, typing) has been a challenge. Some coworkers scared me into thinking that I had RSI (repetitive stress injury — common forms of this are carpal tunnel, “tennis elbow” and assorted versions of tendinitis). I went to the doctor, who confirmed it was a sprain. I’ve never been so excited to have a one-to-four week injury. RSI would be plausible, giving my 7-11 hours a day on the computer and that knitting habit. It would also be wildly career- and life-limiting. About a third of the people I work with have permanent nervous injuries that prevent them from typing, gardening, using knives for dinner prep or forks for eating, driving, etc. I’m always pretty neurotic about ergonomics and taking frequent breaks, but this has been a good reminder to be vigilant.
That said, in the interest of healing, I’ve been typing and writing as little as possible. A friend lent me the Hawaii guidebook that she used for her honeymoon. I’ve been soaking it up, but it’s hard not to make lists of cool things as I read. Instead, I bought some of those little tabs (I love office supplies) and have been merrily sticking them.
Yellow is “things to do”, red is “things to avoid” (samples are rain, cold, and shark-infested waters), blue is maps, and green is interesting information (did you know that Mauna Loa, the biggest mountain on the Big Island, is 100 times the volume of Mount Rainier? Crazy!). I’ll summarize them in written form once I have my writing hand back. It’s a pity that I’m so right handed — my coordination on my left side is embarrassingly limited.
It’s seeming like we’re narrowing things down to Maui and the Big Island. A volcano is too cool not to visit, and the Maui snorkeling seems exciting. This site was a find. Oahu sounds so nice, but I suspect that we’d be frustrated by the crowds, traffic, and homogenization. Kauai looks beautiful, but very remote and not quite touristy enough, if that makes sense. I have a fear of showing up somewhere where they expect you to prepare food and entertain yourself — while that’s ideal at home, it’s not quite what I’m going for on this trip. Any disagreements?
We did our honeymoon on Kauai, and when people say “not as touristy” I think what they mean is “no nightclubs” and “smaller than the other islands.” We had plenty to do to keep our little tourist hearts happy. I’ll try to remember to bring the guidebook we’ve got in to knitting on Wednesday if you’d like, so you can look through that, too.
Hopefully you’ll feel better soon. I’ve only been to Honolulu and I loved it but I hear you can’t go wrong anywhere in Hawaii!