“I Kissed a Dolphin”

View a trip to Hawaii through the eyes of an 11-year-old (whose father made her take notes the whole time)

By CHANDLER DONOHO

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IT’S FRIDAY, JULY 18. So far, so good on the plane. I’ve just gotten a digEplayer. It costs $15 to rent. My dad had to pay with a credit card because “Your money doesn’t work up here,” according to the Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant. The digEplayer is fun to listen to. I watch Nim’s Island and Be Kind, Rewind. I also listen to music. Lunch is okay, but the pasta is not so good. The sauce is too peppery. The cookies that come with it are good. And the flight attendants are very nice.

Flying over Oahu is way different than flying over the other Hawaiian islands. I’ve been to Maui and Kauai. Oahu is more city-like. Kind of like looking at San Diego from way up high. We are about to land soon.

WE ARE STAYING at the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel in Waikiki. I’ve just finished getting a hula lesson. I learned to dance to the song “Hukilau.” The hula was very fun to learn, and the hotel lady was a good teacher. The song is about fish, and a village that likes to eat the fish. You tell the story with your hands, sort of like a mime.

And now I’ve just gotten a “cookies in the sand” treat. The sand is brown sugar, and the shells are white and dark chocolate. My dad is telling me not to “OD” (overdo) on the sugar!

I’m meeting my friend Carly for dinner. She’s on my softball and soccer teams. We didn’t plan it——Carly is also in Oahu at the same time. We have dinner with Carly’s family at Village Seafood & Steaks in the hotel, which is huge. The steak is very delicious, and the rice tastes great. After dinner we watch fireworks that are very loud. They shoot them off right on the beach in front of us. Afterward Carly says, “I was not expecting that!” The fireworks were beautiful.

JULY 19. Carly and I wake up in the morning and play Kirby, a video game on the TV. My dad says we didn’t come to Hawaii to play video games, but we can play for one hour. It cost $7. It’s really fun, but there are mean people in the game who are hard to beat.

Then we go to a breakfast buffet, also in the Hilton Hawaiian Village——which has many, many restaurants——and load ourselves with yummy food. Carly and I aren’t allowed to eat Froot Loops at home, but this is vacation. Well, it’s more a vacation for Carly, because I have to take notes and write a story.

Then we go to the beach. The beach is warm - er than San Diego’s beach. I LOVE this beach. You can see some fish swimming around the rocks if you look closely and carefully.

After the beach, we drive on the freeway to Sea Life Park. The drive to the park is amazing. There is an island near the entrance to the park, which is kind of like SeaWorld but is in Hawaii, and it is a gorgeous scene. At the Dolphin Adventure, we kiss a dolphin and dance with a dolphin. We are right there in the water. Carly and I did not think a dolphin would feel so rubbery. It is a great experience. I hope to do it again soon. We get pictures of us, but they are very pricey so Carly and I just get one picture each.

Oh, and also the seal noises were hilarious. We imitate them on the drive back.