April 30, 2013

HAWAII

Day 6 & 7

 

Day 6, we woke up ever earlier than bright and early to go Deep Sea Fishing!  This is probably the pre-planned event that Creag was the most excited for.  We met at the Harbour in Kona and our boat was The Humdinger.  The Captains were two younger guys due to the fact that the original Captain had something come up and just couldn't be there.

 

Hate to say it, but I slept a lot that day on the boat.  I tried and tried to stay awake for Creag's sake, but there just wasn't too much going on.  We did catch about 6 Mackerel's, that were just used for bait fish, but other than that there really wasn't too much action.  We hooked onto something at one point, where they strapped Creag in but as soon as they took off to hook it, it got off!  It was a Spearfish, because we saw it jump out of the water.  Other than the Spearfish, we saw one porpoise and that was it.  The water was very calm that day and from what we heard, no one had luck catching a thing.  After fishing, we went into Kona to walk around and find somewhere to have dinner.  We ended up at a Man Vs Food spot, but I cannot remember the name.  We got a pulled pork sub & wings and watched the sunset.

 

Day 7 was our last day on the Big Island.  We had our Orange French Toast again at the Macaroni Grill and then hung by the pool for most of the day.  We spent the afternoon on the Gulf Course by our complex.  Creag golfed and I rode along and watched and read my book.  There wasn't anyone else on the course that day so it was pretty cool to have it all to ourselves.

We had dinner that night at a place called Three Little Pigs.  We had a few appetizers and we both got a main course.  Creag ordered the Bone Marrow for his app & I got the Crab Mac & Cheese.  Dinner was incredible & perfect for our last meal there!

 

After dinner we went back to our room to pack up for our early flight back to Honolulu the next morning:(  We were both a little sad to see our time on this beautiful Island come to an end! 

 

 





April 29, 2013

HAWAII
Day 5

 

 We woke up bright and early to head to the beach.  This beach was different from all others that we had been to.  There were a lot more tourists and the surf was insane.  We walked out in it and it actually took me under once so I got out as fast as I got in.  It's always in the 80's in Hawaii so we could never stay at the beach all day.  We were both getting a little sun burnt so after a few hours we hopped back into the Jeep and decided to head to The Seafood Bar for lunch.  We ordered Oysters Bienville & Creag did a few Oyster Shots.  It was a great lunch and the type of Seafood that we had been looking for the entire trip!

 

 

 

After lunch, we went for a drive.  A long, relaxing, beautiful drive where we held hands on the way:)  We ended up at the point that everyone had told us about that we missed the day we had driven forever and then turned around too soon. 

 

 The point was called, Pololu Valley Lookout.  Let me say that it was so worth making the drive again. Words cannot describe the view. It was absolutely beautiful. It was a picturesque, lush view and it was the perfect day for it.  We could've hiked down to the black sand beach, but we weren't in the proper shoes so we decided against it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful isn't it?  This is a view I hope to never forget!  A lot of these pictures are definitely frame worthy and may be hanging up somewhere in the very near future!

 



April 26, 2013

HAWAII
Day 4 / A Helicopter Ride and a Luau

 

Ahhhhh, day four!  The day we finally discovered breakfast.  Orange French Toast and to die for Potatoes from the Macaroni Grille.  It was so good, that we went back again for the same thing before our trip ended.

 

 

After our amaze fest breakfast, we ventured off to Blue Hawaiian for a Helicopter Tour where we saw goats along the way.  Creag, being the dare devil that he is, pulled over & hopped out of the car & got as close to them as possible to snap a picture.  I was honestly a little scared for his life because there is no way I would ever even try to get close to wild goats.  That's scary stuff right there!  Luckily, he wasn't attacked and we can still talk about it and we have a great picture to show.

 

 

After we got our fill of the goats, we made it to the place where we took the Helicopter Tour.  This was very highly recommended to us by everyone that had been to Hawaii and not taken the tour so we were pretty pumped.  It was supposed to be the Best Tour according to Travel Channel.  It was 2 hrs long and we went over the volcanoes & the valleys, rain forests & out over the ocean.  It was a great experience & we saw some awesome things but the second half made me SICK!  I didn't throw up, but I was close.  I have a lot more pictures, but they aren't edited yet, so I'll come back to add them later.

 

 

After the tour we headed back to The Bay Club for a swim where Creag had to test out the kiddie slide.

 

We went to a Luau later that night @ the Hilton.  The food was great and so was the entertainment.  I wish we would've gotten a full length picture of us all fancied up, but I didn't:(  Dinner consisted of Pulled Pork, Spare Ribs, Chicken, some kind of fish, and a lot of different sides.  Drinks were included, but the mixed drinks had no alcohol in them what so ever so we stuck with Kona Beer.  I almost killed my husband by feeding him coconut, but he survived so I was MAJORLY RELIEVED!  The Hilton was beautiful, we talked about staying there IF we ever go back.  The kids would love their pool and they have so many restaurants and shopping on site.



 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 was the point that we realized we were half way through our vacation and time was running out!  I have just a few more, amazing days to share.  I'll be back on Monday for Day 5 & 6!

 

 

 

 

 



April 24, 2013

HAWAII

Day 3

 

Looking back at all of the pictures that I have from Day 3 of our trip, it was obviously one of our busier days.  We woke up early which was the trend for this entire trip & headed to Starbucks for breakfast.  We had decided to grill out for dinner that evening so we stopped by the Market for groceries & sunscreen for the beach.

 

Can you see the cute little lizard?

 

After we had our breakfast & did our shopping we took the stuff back to our room and then headed off for the day.  We didn't have a certain beach in mind, we just drove until we found one.  The one that we found, was the best yet.  Driftwood, even more coral and blue water.  Absolutely beautiful.  So beautiful, it didn't seem real.

 

We spent quite some time there and then decided to drive on.  Creag found a field w/ a good trail, so we four-wheeled with the Jeep as far as we could to a point.  It was almost a cliff and was incredible!  We were the only ones there, so we explored for quite some time.  There were black crabs everywhere, crawling on the lava rock.  The waves would come crashing in and it was amazing to experience.

 

It was about lunch time, so we kept driving to find a place to stop off and grab a bite to eat.  We ended up in a small town called Havi and stopped to walk around.  We were both pretty indecisive about food and almost had this Barbecue Chuckwagon, but they weren't going to open for about a half hr.  We decided to head back to the room and grill out for lunch instead of dinner and took the long way back.

 

We went up a lot in elevation & ended up in what they call "Cowboy Country".  It was totally unexpected and very cool to see.  There were cactus's, cows & horses and it kind of felt like we were back in Kentucky!

 

It was a nice drive, but I was so glad to get out of the car. It seemed like we were in there forever, and I was starving!  We prepped our lunch and then pulled our lawn chairs over to the grilling area of our complex.  Lunch was definitely good.

 

 

After we cleaned up, we went to the pool for a while.  After talking to our bartender about what we did that day, we found out that if we would've kept driving 5 more miles, we would've made it to the very tip of the Island which was the best viewing point.  We were a little disappointed we didn't keep going, but hey, we didn't know!

 

 

 

 

That afternoon, we drove to Kona and took a tour of their Coffee Plantation.  It was a cool experience with a tour guide who LOVED to talk.  We learned a lot about the vegetation in Hawaii, the fruit & vegetables they grow & of course how coffee is made.  We left with a few bags of coffee beans and a "Thank God we got out of there"!

 



 

 

 

After our little tour, we were already in Kona, so we stopped at the brewery for a drink and an appetizer.  Their tours had already ended for the day, unfortunately.

 

 

 

The drive back was beautiful, the sun was setting and it was very peaceful.  We saw a lava tube on the side of the road, so we stopped to check it out.  Creag went down in it & walked all of the way through, but I had flip flops on so I passed.

 

 

 

 

We ended our day at the Lava Lava Beach club with a dinner on the beach & live music.  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.