Waipio Valley, Day 4

Today was our day to wake up and head to our ATV tour of Waipio Valley. I decided to play it safe, warm, and dry and ride in the mule with one of the tour guides while my husband took part in the muddy crazyness the trails had to offer. The views of the valley were beautiful and one of our guides was one of only 75 farmers that live and farm in the valley and had some great stories to tell. This valley is where a lot of movies have been filmed; movies such as Waterworld (where they find land) and most recently Predator. I do have to say I think we would have seen more of the valley if we had taken the horseback riding tour (I think we'll have to do that next time). After getting back into signal we got a call saying our sunset sail was canceled due to the high winds…boo. So we watched the sunset at the hotel and then headed all the way into Kona for dinner and beers at Kona Brewing Company. 

where the Kings children use to play

one of the largest waterfalls in the state

Hawaii, the Big Island, Day 1

The Whole Island Drive, Day 2

A View from the Top, Day 3

Under the Sea, Day 5

Saying Goodbye, Day 6

A View from the Top, Day 3

Hot Lava!

Today we took a helicopter ride around the island, talk about seeing some cool stuff. We took off from the Kona Airport and made our way to the other side of the island to view the volcano from above. Since it was spewing a lot of gas there was a 6 mile no fly zone around the crater…boo. But we headed on to see…LAVA!!! We started flying in the area north of where Chain of Craters Road ends and this is where we saw same trees on fire and some lava seeping out of the ground. We also got to see Jack's House, the last surviving house in the Royal Gardens subdivision that was taken over lava from Kilauea (75 homes were destroyed when the eruptions began in 1983). You can tell by the picture that the lava is getting dangerously close to his house. After we saw all this we headed towards Hilo and got to view the coastline and MANY waterfalls! It had rained the night before so the valleys and rivers were flowin'! We made our way to the Kohala Forest and we landed in one of the valleys (our pilot was quite inredible!). We got walk around here and pick some fresh fruit right off the trees. We got back in the helicopter and followed the coastline all the way back to airport, and we got to see our hotel along the way too!

this is Jack's house. The lava has gotten so close but its still standing  in March 2012 Pele destroyed his home

some trees on fire

After we were done with this we decided to rent some snorkel equipment from Snorkel Bob's and head to Kekaha Kai State Park…we drove our rented sports car on an "unimproved" lava road to get there! (Unimproved is the word they used on the sign…why not just say unpaved or something because it looked like there was never any maintenance done to this road.) We stayed there for a few minutes but the waves were pretty strong due to the VERY windy weather that day. So we opted to head to the Mauna Kea resort to see their beach. (Mauna Kea is the sister hotel to ours, Hapuna Prince.) Matt went snorkeling around the rocks while I just relaxed on the beach, I was a little nervous to snorkel without someone making sure we weren’t going too far or if there was a shark or something near..eeekk!) After that we cleaned up and got ready for dinner at Hapuna's Coast Grill. The food was amazing! But what was better was watching the sun set and then see a shooting star while we ate dinner; a truly wonderful night!

no room for error

Hawaii, the Big Island, Day 1

The Whole Island Drive, Day 2

Waipio Valley, Day 4

Under the Sea, Day 5

Saying Goodbye, Day 6

The Whole Island Drive, Day 2

On our second day we took a drive around the island to see EVERYTHING we possibly could. Our first stop was the Punalu'u Bake Shope (the southernmost bakery in the USA). After we got our treats we walked back to the car and nearby there was a mechanic working on a tour bus. Well for some reason the driver started backing up and ran over the guys leg! My husband ended up having to call 911; thank goodness the fire department was right across the street! After we were able to leave we headed on our way to Punalu'u Beach Park.

This park is famous for its black sands (much more accessible then Pololu) and for the sea turtles that come up on the sand to nap and sun bathe. While we were there we were able to see two turtles on the beach and many playing in the water bobbing their heads up and down. Next we headed to Volcano National Park and man was it cold! We drove around and saw some steam vents and saw lots of smoke coming from the crater. We walked through an old lava tube that was in the now rain forest which was pretty cool and then we drove all the way down to the end of Chain of Craters Road (which use to go all the way through but they stopped repairing it because lava kept covering it up!). While we were down there we saw a lava arch and some amazing cliffs.  After this we left the park and headed to Mauna Loa Macadamia nut factory and Big Island Candies to get some treats. As we continued our was around the island we also stopped at Rainbow Falls and Akaka Falls. After this we were ready to get back and we headed back to the hotel where we had the most beautiful sunset! what a day!

Lava tube

Sea arch

Rainbow Falls

Akaka Falls

breathtaking sunset

Hawaii, the Big Island, Day 1

A View from the Top, Day 3

Waipio Valley, Day 4

Under the Sea, Day 5

Saying Goodbye, Day 6

Hawaii, The Big Island

We landed in Kona around 9pm and drove in the darkness, surrounded by lava and water to get to the hotel. Its super dark on all the islands because of the light restrictions they have at night. We made it to our room and were so excited to see what the island looked like the next day!

It's our first full day on Hawaii's Big Island! (we arrived 9:30pm the night before) We can't wait to have a look at our hotel grounds and Hapuna Beach. Once we look around we get in the car and head out for breakfast. We stopped at the Hawaiian Style Café in Waimea…SO good! The food was great, the service was great and fast, and the cost was low! (My three favorite things when we eat out!) I had some biscuits and gravy with hash browns and eggs and my husband some toast, eggs and bacon…yum, yum! It was crazy how cold it got as we drove up into the mountain, 80 degrees by the beach and 65 up where we ate. After eating we took Kohala Mountain Road to Pololu lookout…


warning, warning, warning!

which we then found out had a trail to a black sand beach. We decided we would hike down (without any water) since we drove all that way to see it…p.s. the views are spectacular! We get down there and put our toes in our first black sand beach! Very cool! Now it's time to hike back up…we made it but we were tired and had to ask some people for some water. We took a look around some shops in the area and then headed back to the hotel via the Akoni Pule Hwy along the coast where we were able to see the mountains of Maui. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and in the sand. I ended up having to take a nap because the jet lag caught up with me. Then we went to a resort neighborhood of Waikoloa and had some dinner and walked around the shops. What a great 1^st day!



view from 1/2 way down the hike

toes in the black sand

The Whole Island Drive, Day 2

A View from the Top, Day 3

Waipio Valley, Day 4

Under the Sea, Day 5

Saying Goodbye, Day 6

Key West: Day 3 & 4

Saturday we had the day to do whatever we want. The hotel had Jet Ski rentals so we decided to rent one and go on a trip around the island. It was really cool! We saw this are where the Navy was carving out a “hide-a-way” base for submarines but since they were doing this during the space race they quickly figured out that you could see these channels from space and that there weren’t so hidden so they scrapped the project. They were about 90ft and now they are about 60ft, freaked me out not going to lie. You can see them from google earth too. Sliding over the crystal clear water was really cool! It was only a few feet deep. Then when we got to the southern tip of the island our guide had us cut the engines and wait and see if some dolphins would show up; and they did!!! After that we went to the pool and had some more drinks…yummy Bahama Mamas! And after eating an early dinner we went for a drive north on Highway 1. We drove all the way to Marathon Key, seeing some funny named Keys, privately owned Keys and seven mile long bridges; of course the top was down! Made our way back and just rested; we surprisingly went to bed really early! But aren’t vacations for relaxing! 

Sunday came and it was time to leave, we made our way to the small airport where I had my 1^st slice of key lime pie (haha, I was so full at all the other restaurants)! Then we headed to Tampa (side note, had some Mexican food at the airport there and they didn’t have refried beans! Don’t know what kind of Mexican restaurants they run in Florida but that’s BS!) And then made it home to Houston! Good to be back!

Key West: Day 1 & 2

Since we didn’t have an official honeymoon we kind of count this as it! Six months after our wedding and over the Thanksgiving holiday we decided to go to Key West, Florida. We get onto a little puddle jumper (18 passenger plane) and head for the keys! Since this was our first real vacation together we even rented a red mustang convertible! Ugh, so wonderful! We drove around the island to be familiar with our surroundings and then we headed to the hotel to relax, have some drinks and figure out what we were going to do for Thanksgiving dinner. To our surprise when we got to our room Matt’s parents had sent us a welcome basket with coronas, chips and salsa! So sweet! I had plenty of time to plan this trip so I found tons of coupons online for free drinks and deserts. So we decided to go to Two Friends Patio for dinner. Since it was thanksgiving night the busy part of the island wasn’t so busy; we had a really good dinner and then went across the street for some drinks. I was feeling pretty sleep though so after a few drinks we headed back to the hotel.

The next day before our parasailing trip we had breakfast at the same place we had dinner. Just as good too! The waiter asked, “What can I get you to drink? Orange juice, coffee, one of our grey goose specials?” Matt said, “I didn’t know I had that option!” It was funny. So after that we waited on the pier for our boat to take out into the water for an adventure! Parasailing was so much fun, but if I had to choose between that or sky diving I would do sky diving again….I don’t know, something about the water makes me nervous :P After that we hung around the square for a while and then headed for our next activity. We went sunba diving but since the water was choppy (making the water murky) we couldn’t go to the reef, we should have asked for our money back then and there. Instead we went to this lame area and didn’t see any fish, just other stuff. And the girl that did it didn’t know her job very well b/c she didn’t put enough weight on my weight belt and I kept floating up. So I think it’s safe to say we won’t be doing that again! After we got cleaned up we went to dinner on Mallory Square at Hot Tin Roof. The food was wonderful! And if it hadn’t been cloudy we would have had a perfect view of the sunset, but…you can’t predict the weather. 

Headed back to the USA!

Once back in Munich (even the same hotel) we get our room, relax and get ready for our last night in Europe. We head out to this cute restaurant next to a creek and have our farewell dinner with our director and travel mates. Once everybody started drinking things went smoother, there were some older ladies that went and we wish we had had the chance to talk to them sooner since they could easily be me and Ashley 20yrs down the road. It was a really good and filling meal! We went back to the hotel for some sleep.

The next morning we were up and ready to go! We got on the bus that took us to the airport, one bad thing…I felt a cold coming on :-/ oh no!!! By the time we got to the Frankfurt airport I was done for, we got a few more souvenirs and I got some cold meds before we boarded our 10hr flight. The cold meds didn’t work and I wasn’t feeling so good. I was able to ask around and found someone with some American cold medicine and that help tremendously! We made it back to Houston where our men were waiting for us! <3 

<3 So glad to be home <3