With 4 days left of our trip, we hopped a plane to Honolulu, or was it Hong Kong? What a cool/weird/crazy place. I'll tell you one thing, you don't want to be there after you've run out of shopping money. But if you do end up in that situation, here are a few ideas:

With all discretion, study the beauty of Asian people. I didn't dare flash the camera in this couple's face, for fear of offending them. But I still asked Steve to take this secret shot. If only I could see her face again. Before this, I'd never seen anything so beautiful as to make me cry, (other than a newborn). Something about the humility and passion in her eyes, and the loveliness of her frame in that outrageous up-side-down-rose-shaped dress completely overwhelmed me. Total cost: Free!

Torture your kid by browsing through the neatest toy kiosks on the planet, and then tell her that she can't have anything. Emily's pretty used to that routine, though she did get pretty spoiled pre-Honolulu. Total cost: Free!

Take pictures of the superior souveniors that your friends and family would be enjoying if you were nice. Then head right over to the budget souvenior store where you can get twice the loot for a quarter of the price. Total cost: $20

Put on a show for some hungry pigeons with your flaming red new ukelele that you bought with your own Christmas money. Then graciously reward your feathered friends with leftover muffin. Total cost: $8.99

Find a funny little tree, then set your kid free in it. Watch how the combination of bare feet on bark and climbing like a monkey fills her little heart right up. Total cost: Free!

Okay, this concludes my trip blogging. Yikes. Thanks for reading, thanks for the comments. Not a lot of typical tropical pictures in my posts because none of it compares to my British Colombia anyhow. The rustic old beach a stone's throw from my house. The old logs that sit there. The dead crabs and smelly seaweed that last night's tide washed ashore. I'd take BC's old growth trees over cheesy palm trees any day. And 18 consecutive days of soul-soothing, pouring rain over 18 days of annoying heat and sun. The grass is actually browner on the other side. Can you tell I'm happy to be home?