Well, after several rounds of negotiations with the detailer, my attempts to go back to the east coast have failed. We're staying here in Hawaii for shore duty. Although it's not what we wanted, it's actually a good thing for several reasons:
- It's not Japan. (That was the other option on the table, and I just didn't think LW would enjoy living there.)
- We don't have to move.
- The boys can stay in the same schools with the same friends.
- It'll be a good job for my own professional development.
- The job will involve some travel to other submarine home ports, so I'll get to visit family in San Diego and the PACNORWEST periodically on the Navy's dime.
- We don't have to move.
- I can continue to wear all these Hawaiian shirts I've bought. Have you ever been somewhere on the mainland and noticed when someone from Hawaii walks into the room? They always wear some sort of aloha shirt and stick out like a sore thumb, because nobody else on the mainland wears them.
- We can continue to make money on Hawaii COLA (Cost of Living Allowance).
- We don't have to move.
- Friends and family can continue to come stay at the Blunoz family B&B free of charge.
- We can continue to forget what really bad weather is like (our prayers go out to those suffering from tornadoes and flooding right now).
- We don't have to move.
- I can volunteer to do more with the cub scout pack.
- We'll actually get to USE the new swimming pool and community center they're building our our housing area.
- We don't have to move.
- Malasadas.
- Fruity tropical drinks with little paper umbrellas and a pineapple wedge in them.
- We don't have to move.
- I get to say "aloha" more.
- LW can't spend any money at Target or Kohls or any of those other stores she loves back on the mainland. :-)
- We don't have to move.
- We have a couple more years to explore the other islands - next up we'd like to go to Kauai.
- You all get to read more blog posts about our adventures around Hawaii.
- We don't have to move.
Uh oh... Now LW is writing a new honey-do list for me to do around the house since this is no longer just our temporary home.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Big Island - Part 5 wrap-up
We're back home now safe and sound.
I asked YB what his favorite part about our vacation was. Take a guess what his answer was. Go ahead. I'll give you a moment.
Was it swimming with dolphins? Nope. Was it playing in the pool and going down the waterslide? Nope. Was it seeing the volcano? Nope. His answer: "Drinking POG on the airplane."
Another funny story from the plane ride. I was trying to teach ES about the way the plane operated and what was happening when things changed. When the noise happened that I knew was the landing gear going down, I asked ES what that noise was. He responded with an open-mouth gasp and yelled, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEE!" LW and I both quickly shushed him, put on a sheepish grin and assured everyone around us, no, no, no, everything's fine, there's nothing to see here, move along please.
Let's see... where did I leave off last time? Oh yeah, at the end of the snorkeling trip.
We made it back to the hotel with enough time to do a lot of this...
And some more of this...
And otherwise enjoying the beauty of the swimming pool at the hotel...
...Albeit under a gray sky (vog). All the while, I drove LW nuts whistling, humming, and singing Like the Weather, because it was stuck in my head for the rest of our vacation.
I forgot to mention earlier, this is the first time I've been in a "saline pool." It was actually really nice. Instead of that really nasty smelling chlorine in the water, this water was like a very mild salt-water. Whenever I accidentally get regular chlorinated pool water up my nose, it really stings my sinuses and it's really annoying. With this saline pool, an accidental splash of water up the nose was no biggy. It didn't sting or annoy - just drained like a gentle saline solution.
Monday night we didn't want to go far for dinner because we were tired of being in the car. We walked across the street from the hotel and ended up going to the Merriman's Market Cafe. It had mixed reviews for poor service but good food, so I was a little wary of going there for dinner, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The service was good and the food was fabulous. I planned on just having a salad and some smaller tapas dishes until the waitress told us the specials, and I couldn't resist the seared ahi with pine nut foccacia crust. I know I previously raved about how the seared ahi at Duke's was the best I had ever had, well this tied for first place with Duke's. It was THAT good.
Walking back to our hotel after dinner was one of those moments I really enjoy being a dad. ES was humming the national anthem, so I asked him if he knew the words to the song or what the song was about. He said no. So I walked him through the words and explained what the song was about, and he thought that was pretty darn cool that it was a song about a battle. We talked about the War of 1812 for a bit, then he asked me what the Civil War was and we talked about that for a bit, too.
Tuesday morning, after having gray skies the entire time we were there, we woke up to find the weather like this:
Beautiful, sunny, blue sky on our last morning.
We went to the pool for a couple of hours before we had to get cleaned up and check out of the hotel.
Not long after arriving at the pool, YB declared he needed to use the restroom, so off we went to the LBR by the pool. I had another one of those occasions where I wish I had a video camera in my hand. Imagine if you will... YB standing at the little-boy sized urinal, goggles up on his forehead, swim trunks down around his ankles, doing a little dance wiggling his bare bum back and forth while humming the Indiana Jones theme song. There was an echo in the bathroom, too, so he kept humming louder and louder until the echo achieved a sort of resonance. I thought it was pretty funny, but maybe you just had to be there.
On our way driving out, I was thinking we should have collected some white coral rocks to write some graffiti of our own on our way out of town. The Waikoloa resort area is surrounded by miles upon miles of barren volcanic wasteland. For several miles driving down the road, you'll see the brown lava rocks are covered with things that people have made out of white rocks - names or sayings or drawings. It's like a locally tolerated version of graffiti.
Waikoloa Graffiti
After we turned in the rental car and got checked in at the airport, we visited the Onizuka Space Museum right there at the Kona airport. It's pretty small, but there were a lot of hands-on activities for the kids to do, and they seemed to enjoy it.
ES and I build the solar system.
The Kona airport is a little bit more rural looking than the Hilo airport.
This was our departure "gate." Gate indeed!
Comparison of our vacation in Maui versus the Big Island.
If you are now or are ever in the future stationed in Pearl Harbor, then I highly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to hop over to one or more of the other islands for a visit. I'm really glad we have had the opportunity to visit Maui and the Big Island. I doubt we would ever have the resources to go visit those places on a family vacation from the mainland.
So which was better? If I had the opportunity to take another vacation to another island, I would still like to go see Kauai. However, if I had to choose between going back to Maui or going back to the Big Island, I would go back to Maui. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad we went to the Big Island and got to see the volcano and all. As for a resort-type of vacation destination though, I think Maui was better than the Big Island.
Keep in mind, we're partial to Marriott. We've been staying at Marriott properties for many years and using the Marriott Rewards points for free stays here and there. I realize there are many other hotels to choose from, so my impressions of our vacations could be biased by where we stayed.
That being said, here's a quick comparison of Waimea (Maui) versus Waikoloa (Big Island):
Outside Restaurants and Shopping:
Waimea (Maui): Surrounded by a lot more stores and restaurants to choose from.
Waikoloa (Big Island): Surrounded by miles upon miles of barren volcanic wasteland. There are like 5 restaurants to choose from in Waikoloa itself, and you'll need a home equity loan to pay for dinner at any of them. If you don't want to eat at any of those restaurants in Waikoloa, then you have to drive 20 minutes to the north to go to Cafe Pesto, or you need to drive about an hour to the south to Kona. I suppose if we had stayed somewhere down in Kona then we might not have felt so isolated, but I had no idea going into it how isolated Waikoloa is.
Hotel Restaurant:
Waimea (Maui): Costs an arm and a leg, but has a long menu with lots of choices. Plus, they give you chips and salsa with this edamame puree stuff that was AWESOME.
Waikoloa (Big Island): Still costs an arm and a leg, but the menu is really short and didn't give you much to choose from.
Got Cats?:
Waimea (Maui): No feral cats to bother you.
Waikoloa (Big Island): A feral cat wandered through the hotel restaurant while we ate our dinner. It turns out there was a feeding station on a nearby walking path with a sign explaining that volunteers fed and cared for the cats there.
Recreation (this is pretty hotel specific):
Waimea (Maui): The Waimea Marriott had that really cool water park with two water slides (that was FREE). The downside was the lack of beach access, but who needs a beach when you've got that free water park?
Waikoloa (Big Island): The Waikoloa Marriott saline pool was really nice, but there was only one water slide and it was really short. While they did have beach access, they charged you a chunk-o-change extra to use any of their gear (kayaks, waterbikes, snorkel gear, etc).
Air Quality:
Waimea (Maui): Breezy, nice, fresh air.
Waikoloa (Big Island): Got vog? Got a husband whistling an annoying song about the sky being coal gray for the duration of your vacation?
Bang for the Buck:
Waimea (Maui): The Waimea Marriott was cheaper per night, but we had to pay like $10 per extra per day for internet access.
Waikoloa (Big Island): The Waikoloa Marriott was more expensive per night. Thumbs-up for including "free" internet access in the resort fee, but the Waimea Marriott was still cheaper if you added the $10 per day for the internet access to our room cost though. The cats and vog were free, too.
I asked YB what his favorite part about our vacation was. Take a guess what his answer was. Go ahead. I'll give you a moment.
Was it swimming with dolphins? Nope. Was it playing in the pool and going down the waterslide? Nope. Was it seeing the volcano? Nope. His answer: "Drinking POG on the airplane."
Another funny story from the plane ride. I was trying to teach ES about the way the plane operated and what was happening when things changed. When the noise happened that I knew was the landing gear going down, I asked ES what that noise was. He responded with an open-mouth gasp and yelled, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEE!" LW and I both quickly shushed him, put on a sheepish grin and assured everyone around us, no, no, no, everything's fine, there's nothing to see here, move along please.
Let's see... where did I leave off last time? Oh yeah, at the end of the snorkeling trip.
We made it back to the hotel with enough time to do a lot of this...
And some more of this...
And otherwise enjoying the beauty of the swimming pool at the hotel...
...Albeit under a gray sky (vog). All the while, I drove LW nuts whistling, humming, and singing Like the Weather, because it was stuck in my head for the rest of our vacation.
I forgot to mention earlier, this is the first time I've been in a "saline pool." It was actually really nice. Instead of that really nasty smelling chlorine in the water, this water was like a very mild salt-water. Whenever I accidentally get regular chlorinated pool water up my nose, it really stings my sinuses and it's really annoying. With this saline pool, an accidental splash of water up the nose was no biggy. It didn't sting or annoy - just drained like a gentle saline solution.
Monday night we didn't want to go far for dinner because we were tired of being in the car. We walked across the street from the hotel and ended up going to the Merriman's Market Cafe. It had mixed reviews for poor service but good food, so I was a little wary of going there for dinner, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The service was good and the food was fabulous. I planned on just having a salad and some smaller tapas dishes until the waitress told us the specials, and I couldn't resist the seared ahi with pine nut foccacia crust. I know I previously raved about how the seared ahi at Duke's was the best I had ever had, well this tied for first place with Duke's. It was THAT good.
Walking back to our hotel after dinner was one of those moments I really enjoy being a dad. ES was humming the national anthem, so I asked him if he knew the words to the song or what the song was about. He said no. So I walked him through the words and explained what the song was about, and he thought that was pretty darn cool that it was a song about a battle. We talked about the War of 1812 for a bit, then he asked me what the Civil War was and we talked about that for a bit, too.
Tuesday morning, after having gray skies the entire time we were there, we woke up to find the weather like this:
Beautiful, sunny, blue sky on our last morning.We went to the pool for a couple of hours before we had to get cleaned up and check out of the hotel.
Not long after arriving at the pool, YB declared he needed to use the restroom, so off we went to the LBR by the pool. I had another one of those occasions where I wish I had a video camera in my hand. Imagine if you will... YB standing at the little-boy sized urinal, goggles up on his forehead, swim trunks down around his ankles, doing a little dance wiggling his bare bum back and forth while humming the Indiana Jones theme song. There was an echo in the bathroom, too, so he kept humming louder and louder until the echo achieved a sort of resonance. I thought it was pretty funny, but maybe you just had to be there.
On our way driving out, I was thinking we should have collected some white coral rocks to write some graffiti of our own on our way out of town. The Waikoloa resort area is surrounded by miles upon miles of barren volcanic wasteland. For several miles driving down the road, you'll see the brown lava rocks are covered with things that people have made out of white rocks - names or sayings or drawings. It's like a locally tolerated version of graffiti.
Waikoloa GraffitiAfter we turned in the rental car and got checked in at the airport, we visited the Onizuka Space Museum right there at the Kona airport. It's pretty small, but there were a lot of hands-on activities for the kids to do, and they seemed to enjoy it.
ES and I build the solar system.The Kona airport is a little bit more rural looking than the Hilo airport.
This was our departure "gate." Gate indeed!Comparison of our vacation in Maui versus the Big Island.
If you are now or are ever in the future stationed in Pearl Harbor, then I highly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to hop over to one or more of the other islands for a visit. I'm really glad we have had the opportunity to visit Maui and the Big Island. I doubt we would ever have the resources to go visit those places on a family vacation from the mainland.
So which was better? If I had the opportunity to take another vacation to another island, I would still like to go see Kauai. However, if I had to choose between going back to Maui or going back to the Big Island, I would go back to Maui. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad we went to the Big Island and got to see the volcano and all. As for a resort-type of vacation destination though, I think Maui was better than the Big Island.
Keep in mind, we're partial to Marriott. We've been staying at Marriott properties for many years and using the Marriott Rewards points for free stays here and there. I realize there are many other hotels to choose from, so my impressions of our vacations could be biased by where we stayed.
That being said, here's a quick comparison of Waimea (Maui) versus Waikoloa (Big Island):
Outside Restaurants and Shopping:
Waimea (Maui): Surrounded by a lot more stores and restaurants to choose from.
Waikoloa (Big Island): Surrounded by miles upon miles of barren volcanic wasteland. There are like 5 restaurants to choose from in Waikoloa itself, and you'll need a home equity loan to pay for dinner at any of them. If you don't want to eat at any of those restaurants in Waikoloa, then you have to drive 20 minutes to the north to go to Cafe Pesto, or you need to drive about an hour to the south to Kona. I suppose if we had stayed somewhere down in Kona then we might not have felt so isolated, but I had no idea going into it how isolated Waikoloa is.
Hotel Restaurant:
Waimea (Maui): Costs an arm and a leg, but has a long menu with lots of choices. Plus, they give you chips and salsa with this edamame puree stuff that was AWESOME.
Waikoloa (Big Island): Still costs an arm and a leg, but the menu is really short and didn't give you much to choose from.
Got Cats?:
Waimea (Maui): No feral cats to bother you.
Waikoloa (Big Island): A feral cat wandered through the hotel restaurant while we ate our dinner. It turns out there was a feeding station on a nearby walking path with a sign explaining that volunteers fed and cared for the cats there.
Recreation (this is pretty hotel specific):
Waimea (Maui): The Waimea Marriott had that really cool water park with two water slides (that was FREE). The downside was the lack of beach access, but who needs a beach when you've got that free water park?
Waikoloa (Big Island): The Waikoloa Marriott saline pool was really nice, but there was only one water slide and it was really short. While they did have beach access, they charged you a chunk-o-change extra to use any of their gear (kayaks, waterbikes, snorkel gear, etc).
Air Quality:
Waimea (Maui): Breezy, nice, fresh air.
Waikoloa (Big Island): Got vog? Got a husband whistling an annoying song about the sky being coal gray for the duration of your vacation?
Bang for the Buck:
Waimea (Maui): The Waimea Marriott was cheaper per night, but we had to pay like $10 per extra per day for internet access.
Waikoloa (Big Island): The Waikoloa Marriott was more expensive per night. Thumbs-up for including "free" internet access in the resort fee, but the Waimea Marriott was still cheaper if you added the $10 per day for the internet access to our room cost though. The cats and vog were free, too.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Big Island - Part 4 - Snorkeling Trip
Today we took a trip on the Fair Wind II charter boat to go snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay on the western side of the big island. What a great trip. It was similar to the trip we took out of Maui in April, but both trips had things that I liked about one versus the other.
Historic Note / Aside: Kealakekua Bay is where Captain Cook was killed on his third trip around the world in 1779, and there is a white monument on the shore where he was killed. The monument is surrounded by a fence made up of cannons and cannonballs with chain links hanging between them. This square patch of land is actually the property of Great Britain. The Hawaiians gave the land to Britain as a memorial to Captain Cook.
Captain Cook's Monument
YB was dancing on the bow of the boat on our way out to the snorkeling site. I turned on the camera and caught the last ten seconds of his dance.
Now that I watch it again, I suppose it's not that exciting of a video. I hope the grandparents at least enjoy watching it.
The snorkeling was awesome. Similar to the Maui trip, this boat offered boogie boards with viewing windows for kids to ride on.
YB riding his board and watching the fish.
As in previous snorkeling trips, I took tons of pictures of dozens of beautiful tropical fish, but I won't inundate you with a lot of those photos here. I thought just one photo to give you a feel for the visibility (clarity of the water).
Then I said to myself, "Self, still photos just don't capture how ALIVE the reef is. You should take a quick video snapshot." So I took a 30 second video of the reef to give you a feel for it.
The video certainly doesn't give you the resolution of the still photo above it, but still, I think all the MOTION of the fish really gives you a better feel of how much life there is on the reef.
Besides the extraordinary visibility and gajillions of tropical fish though, we had two big highlights today. First, I saw a spotted moray eel and got a pretty good picture of him, too.
Spotted Moray Eel.
(If you click on the image and look at the hi-res,
you can see his mouth and eyes).
Second, and the BIGGEST deal about today's trip, was that we got to swim with a pod of spinner dolphins. The boat crew explained to us that the dolphins were sleeping, and when they sleep they use half their brain to swim like a figure-8 pattern, breathe periodically, and keep an eye out for predators. This is the closest picture I got, unfortunately this was a pretty horizontal shot right after they came up for air, and there was a shimmer in the water near the surface from fresh-water runoff mixing with the salt water. The result is a little blurry image.
Spinner Dolphin Mommy & Baby
The whole pod of dolphins just kept drifting back and forth underneath us slowly and gently, and periodically came up for air. Here's a video I took of the dolphins drifting by underneath us.
Aside from the shimmer near the surface though, the water visibility was on the order of a hundred feet or more. It was good enough that YB didn't need the window in his boogie board to watch the dolphins swim back and forth underneath us.
YB watching the dolphis swim under us.
The boys watch the dolphins from back on the boat.
Overall, it was a great day. We made it back to the hotel in time to spend a couple of hours in the swimming pool before getting cleaned up for dinner. I'll write more about the rest of tonight later, but wanted to share the images from the snorkeling trip for now.
Historic Note / Aside: Kealakekua Bay is where Captain Cook was killed on his third trip around the world in 1779, and there is a white monument on the shore where he was killed. The monument is surrounded by a fence made up of cannons and cannonballs with chain links hanging between them. This square patch of land is actually the property of Great Britain. The Hawaiians gave the land to Britain as a memorial to Captain Cook.
Captain Cook's MonumentYB was dancing on the bow of the boat on our way out to the snorkeling site. I turned on the camera and caught the last ten seconds of his dance.
Now that I watch it again, I suppose it's not that exciting of a video. I hope the grandparents at least enjoy watching it.
The snorkeling was awesome. Similar to the Maui trip, this boat offered boogie boards with viewing windows for kids to ride on.
YB riding his board and watching the fish.As in previous snorkeling trips, I took tons of pictures of dozens of beautiful tropical fish, but I won't inundate you with a lot of those photos here. I thought just one photo to give you a feel for the visibility (clarity of the water).
Then I said to myself, "Self, still photos just don't capture how ALIVE the reef is. You should take a quick video snapshot." So I took a 30 second video of the reef to give you a feel for it.
The video certainly doesn't give you the resolution of the still photo above it, but still, I think all the MOTION of the fish really gives you a better feel of how much life there is on the reef.
Besides the extraordinary visibility and gajillions of tropical fish though, we had two big highlights today. First, I saw a spotted moray eel and got a pretty good picture of him, too.
Spotted Moray Eel.(If you click on the image and look at the hi-res,
you can see his mouth and eyes).
Second, and the BIGGEST deal about today's trip, was that we got to swim with a pod of spinner dolphins. The boat crew explained to us that the dolphins were sleeping, and when they sleep they use half their brain to swim like a figure-8 pattern, breathe periodically, and keep an eye out for predators. This is the closest picture I got, unfortunately this was a pretty horizontal shot right after they came up for air, and there was a shimmer in the water near the surface from fresh-water runoff mixing with the salt water. The result is a little blurry image.
Spinner Dolphin Mommy & BabyThe whole pod of dolphins just kept drifting back and forth underneath us slowly and gently, and periodically came up for air. Here's a video I took of the dolphins drifting by underneath us.
Aside from the shimmer near the surface though, the water visibility was on the order of a hundred feet or more. It was good enough that YB didn't need the window in his boogie board to watch the dolphins swim back and forth underneath us.
YB watching the dolphis swim under us.
The boys watch the dolphins from back on the boat.Overall, it was a great day. We made it back to the hotel in time to spend a couple of hours in the swimming pool before getting cleaned up for dinner. I'll write more about the rest of tonight later, but wanted to share the images from the snorkeling trip for now.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Big Island - Part 3
Observation du jour.
Giving a 7 year old and a 4 year old each their own package of Tic Tacs at the beginning of a 4 hour car ride and telling them not to eat them all is sort of like dumping an entire container of fish food in the fish tank and telling the fish not to eat it all at once.
Music in my head.
Yesterday, as we drove through the volcanic desolation coming south on Rt. 11 away from the volcano, I kept getting the song "Wasteland" by the Mission U.K. stuck in my head.
We spent almost the entire day at the pool today. ES and I took a break in the middle to rent a "peek-a-boo" kayak (with a window in the bottom to see the fish) and went kayaking in the bay for half an hour. It was really cool, but not very conducive to getting photographs of what you saw. After we saw something cool, it would swim out of our field of view before we could aim the camera. We did see two sea turtles, a bunch of tropical fish and coral though.
ES watching the fish through the window.
The view between my legs.
ES's picture of Daddy
(see me paddling in the reflection in my sunglasses)
Like father like son.
ES's self-portrait.
Anyway, getting back to my "music in my head" topic... The sky has been hazy and gray all day from the vog, although it's been sunny (YB's rosey red cheeks can attest to that). So today's song running through my head was 10,000 Maniacs, "Like the Weather." "The color of the sky as far as I can see, is coal gray..."
Another Awesome Dinner: Cafe Pesto
For dinner tonight we went to the Cafe Pesto about 20 minutes up the road in Kawaihae. This was another one of those restaurants LW picked out because it had good reviews in both the Hawaii The Big Island Revealed book and the Frommer's Hawaii with Kids book. It also had EXCELLENT reviews on TripAdvisor (like an average 4.5 stars out of 5 from 23 user reviews - that's pretty unusual).
We weren't disappointed. The food was all excellent, the service was friendly and professional, and the atmosphere was really nice. The prices were surprisingly low considering all the fancy little frills - details like the red rose on the table, the lace doily under the dessert plate, etc. In fact, this was the LEAST expensive dinner we've had since we arrived on the Big Island, and in terms of food quality and service it was on par with the Hilo Bay Cafe our first night.
The decorations in the restaurant were quite the conversation pieces, too. One wall had some really beautiful paintings of Hawaiian scenery (with really big dollar values written on little tiny price tags attached to the painting). The wall behind us had a whole series of nicely framed photographs of Elvis. Most of them were of Elvis in his younger years when he looked somewhat "normal." The one right behind our table was from 1973 with him in the white jacket with the big collar and the gem stones all over and the HUGE rings on all his fingers. ES asked us why he had so many big rings. How does one explain the terms "ostentatious" or "gaudy" to a 7-year old?
The ONLY complaint I came up with for Cafe Pesto was in the restroom. They had one of those artsy-fartsy new sinks with a big stone bowl on top of the counter that was absolutely impossible for anyone under the age of about 13 to reach inside. I had to lift ES up so he could wash his hands.
BTW - I was informed by my family that I embarass them when I take pictures of the food at dinner, so I had to keep the camera hidden away tonight. They didn't say anything about not taking pictures in the bathroom though.
Tomorrow's agenda: Get up early and head out on a snorkeling cruise and to see the Captain Cook monument.
Giving a 7 year old and a 4 year old each their own package of Tic Tacs at the beginning of a 4 hour car ride and telling them not to eat them all is sort of like dumping an entire container of fish food in the fish tank and telling the fish not to eat it all at once.
Music in my head.
Yesterday, as we drove through the volcanic desolation coming south on Rt. 11 away from the volcano, I kept getting the song "Wasteland" by the Mission U.K. stuck in my head.
We spent almost the entire day at the pool today. ES and I took a break in the middle to rent a "peek-a-boo" kayak (with a window in the bottom to see the fish) and went kayaking in the bay for half an hour. It was really cool, but not very conducive to getting photographs of what you saw. After we saw something cool, it would swim out of our field of view before we could aim the camera. We did see two sea turtles, a bunch of tropical fish and coral though.
ES watching the fish through the window.
The view between my legs.
ES's picture of Daddy(see me paddling in the reflection in my sunglasses)
Like father like son.ES's self-portrait.
Anyway, getting back to my "music in my head" topic... The sky has been hazy and gray all day from the vog, although it's been sunny (YB's rosey red cheeks can attest to that). So today's song running through my head was 10,000 Maniacs, "Like the Weather." "The color of the sky as far as I can see, is coal gray..."
Another Awesome Dinner: Cafe Pesto
For dinner tonight we went to the Cafe Pesto about 20 minutes up the road in Kawaihae. This was another one of those restaurants LW picked out because it had good reviews in both the Hawaii The Big Island Revealed book and the Frommer's Hawaii with Kids book. It also had EXCELLENT reviews on TripAdvisor (like an average 4.5 stars out of 5 from 23 user reviews - that's pretty unusual).
We weren't disappointed. The food was all excellent, the service was friendly and professional, and the atmosphere was really nice. The prices were surprisingly low considering all the fancy little frills - details like the red rose on the table, the lace doily under the dessert plate, etc. In fact, this was the LEAST expensive dinner we've had since we arrived on the Big Island, and in terms of food quality and service it was on par with the Hilo Bay Cafe our first night.
The decorations in the restaurant were quite the conversation pieces, too. One wall had some really beautiful paintings of Hawaiian scenery (with really big dollar values written on little tiny price tags attached to the painting). The wall behind us had a whole series of nicely framed photographs of Elvis. Most of them were of Elvis in his younger years when he looked somewhat "normal." The one right behind our table was from 1973 with him in the white jacket with the big collar and the gem stones all over and the HUGE rings on all his fingers. ES asked us why he had so many big rings. How does one explain the terms "ostentatious" or "gaudy" to a 7-year old?
The ONLY complaint I came up with for Cafe Pesto was in the restroom. They had one of those artsy-fartsy new sinks with a big stone bowl on top of the counter that was absolutely impossible for anyone under the age of about 13 to reach inside. I had to lift ES up so he could wash his hands.
BTW - I was informed by my family that I embarass them when I take pictures of the food at dinner, so I had to keep the camera hidden away tonight. They didn't say anything about not taking pictures in the bathroom though.
Tomorrow's agenda: Get up early and head out on a snorkeling cruise and to see the Captain Cook monument.
Big Island - Part 2
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm going to recap our day on the Big Island mostly with pictures today.
First we went to the Jagger Museum on the western rim of the volcano.
View from the Jagger Museum
There was a seismometer in the museum. I walked in from checking out the view outside to find the boys dancing and jumping up and down to get the seismometer to register.
Turns out, it really was moving when they moved. I tried it, too...
After we left the Volcanoes National Park, we started the long drive clockwise around the island. Driving south on Route 11, we drove through the plume from the volcano, and it was like driving through really thick fog.
Driving through the VOG on Route 11 Southbound
Next stop: Black Sand Beach
YB with his feet in the Black Sand
The boys really enjoyed walking around the tidepools and seeing the fish and crabs in the water.
ES and YB checking out the fish and crabs in the tidepools.
Ahh, my Lovely Wife :-)
Family Portrait on the Black Sand Beach
Of course, we had to stop and grab a geocache near the black sand beach.
ES holds up the geocache he found.
Next stop: South Point
We took the long, bumpy road to the very southern most point of the United States of America. Why? Well... to say we'd been there? To admire the view? Oh, and to get a geocache, too.
This is what the bumpy, single-lane, wind-swept road looks like going to South Point (note the way the trees are all leaning).
Here I am at the navaid on the southern most point of the United States.
The boys said it was too windy, so they stayed in the car while I got out and grabbed the geocache.
On our way back up from South Point heading toward Waikoloa, we stopped for lunch in Ocean View. Based on a recommendation in the Hawaii Big Island Revealed book and on TripAdvisor, we stopped at the Desert Rose Cafe.
This place isn't very fancy or expensive, but the food was good and the service was friendly. I had the kahlua pork and LW had the Korean chicken. The boys had a burger and chicken nuggets (big surprise, I know), and the fries here are hand made and really good (on par with In-and-Out).
This is the specials menu (the dry erase board) and the drink menu (the top shelf).
It turns out, the lady who founded the Desert Rose Cafe is a fabulous BAKER. This is the glass display counter inside the restaurant.
I had an extraordinary raspberry coconut strussel for desert.
Next Stop: Waikoloa Marriott
Other than the Desert Rose Cafe, there really wasn't much to see between South Point and Kona. We decided not to stop anymore and just proceed onward to our hotel in Waikoloa. We managed to make it to the hotel in time to enjoy the pool for the last ten minutes of the waterslide being open, and then for an hour more before the towel-stand closed up shop for the evening.
ES got to test the underwater capability of his new camera. Here's one of the shots he took of me and YB underwater.
I got to witness a wanna-be, future Darwin Award Winner DIVE into the pool from THIS VERY SPOT. I think the guy was drunk. He subsequently slipped while trying to get into the hot tub. Then he tried diving again from the hot tub into the shallow end of the pool (right next to another "no diving" sign), but some lady I assume was his wife yelled at him not to do that.
ES relaxing on the balcony after his bath and before going to dinner.
We didn't want to spend any more time in the car today, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant.
This was the sunset view from the hotel restaurant.
This was my first mai tai on the big island...
And this was LW's first cosmo. :-)
To wrap things up, there are a LOT of BEAUTIFUL flowers here. I won't inundate you with hoards of pictures, but I'll just leave you with this one.
On the agenda for tomorrow: Relax by the pool. Ride the water slide five gajillion times. Maybe check out a kayak or a water bike for a ride with the boys.
First we went to the Jagger Museum on the western rim of the volcano.
View from the Jagger MuseumThere was a seismometer in the museum. I walked in from checking out the view outside to find the boys dancing and jumping up and down to get the seismometer to register.
Turns out, it really was moving when they moved. I tried it, too...
After we left the Volcanoes National Park, we started the long drive clockwise around the island. Driving south on Route 11, we drove through the plume from the volcano, and it was like driving through really thick fog.
Driving through the VOG on Route 11 SouthboundNext stop: Black Sand Beach
YB with his feet in the Black SandThe boys really enjoyed walking around the tidepools and seeing the fish and crabs in the water.
ES and YB checking out the fish and crabs in the tidepools.
Ahh, my Lovely Wife :-)
Family Portrait on the Black Sand BeachOf course, we had to stop and grab a geocache near the black sand beach.
ES holds up the geocache he found.Next stop: South Point
We took the long, bumpy road to the very southern most point of the United States of America. Why? Well... to say we'd been there? To admire the view? Oh, and to get a geocache, too.
This is what the bumpy, single-lane, wind-swept road looks like going to South Point (note the way the trees are all leaning).
Here I am at the navaid on the southern most point of the United States.
The boys said it was too windy, so they stayed in the car while I got out and grabbed the geocache.
On our way back up from South Point heading toward Waikoloa, we stopped for lunch in Ocean View. Based on a recommendation in the Hawaii Big Island Revealed book and on TripAdvisor, we stopped at the Desert Rose Cafe.
This place isn't very fancy or expensive, but the food was good and the service was friendly. I had the kahlua pork and LW had the Korean chicken. The boys had a burger and chicken nuggets (big surprise, I know), and the fries here are hand made and really good (on par with In-and-Out).
This is the specials menu (the dry erase board) and the drink menu (the top shelf).
It turns out, the lady who founded the Desert Rose Cafe is a fabulous BAKER. This is the glass display counter inside the restaurant.
I had an extraordinary raspberry coconut strussel for desert.Next Stop: Waikoloa Marriott
Other than the Desert Rose Cafe, there really wasn't much to see between South Point and Kona. We decided not to stop anymore and just proceed onward to our hotel in Waikoloa. We managed to make it to the hotel in time to enjoy the pool for the last ten minutes of the waterslide being open, and then for an hour more before the towel-stand closed up shop for the evening.
ES got to test the underwater capability of his new camera. Here's one of the shots he took of me and YB underwater.
I got to witness a wanna-be, future Darwin Award Winner DIVE into the pool from THIS VERY SPOT. I think the guy was drunk. He subsequently slipped while trying to get into the hot tub. Then he tried diving again from the hot tub into the shallow end of the pool (right next to another "no diving" sign), but some lady I assume was his wife yelled at him not to do that.
ES relaxing on the balcony after his bath and before going to dinner.We didn't want to spend any more time in the car today, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant.
This was the sunset view from the hotel restaurant.
This was my first mai tai on the big island...
And this was LW's first cosmo. :-)
To wrap things up, there are a LOT of BEAUTIFUL flowers here. I won't inundate you with hoards of pictures, but I'll just leave you with this one.On the agenda for tomorrow: Relax by the pool. Ride the water slide five gajillion times. Maybe check out a kayak or a water bike for a ride with the boys.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Big Island - Part 1
I took some leave and we've flown over to the Big Island for five days of exploring and vacation. Before I start, let me first say that we are using the Hawaii The Big Island Revealed book. I've written before about how much we have valued the recommendations in the other books in this series like Oahu Revealed and Maui Revealed. So as you read along, any references I make to our "guide book" are referring to this book.Go Airlines
We took Go! airlines this time since they were the cheapest, but let me tell ya - you get what you pay for. I wasn't very thrilled with their service (or lack thereof). I mean, common now, am I the only guy who would get the heebie-jeebies about their operation when your flight doesn't even appear anywhere on the departure status board? This is a digital status board for the whole airport and all the inter-island airplanes, not just Go. I looked up and down the board for a flight with my flight number leaving Honolulu at 4:40 and headed to Hilo, and there weren't any. There was a 3:30 flight to Hilo that was boarding right as we got there, and there was a 7:40 flight to Hilo way down on the list, but nothing that matched our flight number and departure time. I had just printed the boarding passes that morning, and it didn't tell me anything about the flight being cancelled. So I went to the counter to ask, and the guy looked at me like I had three heads and said, "Oh yeah, brah, that plane will be boarding in just a minute." Thaaaaanks, that's REALLY reassuring. No explanation was given for why our flight didn't exist on the digital display for the airport. In any case, we eventually got on our plane and got moving.
Quick funny story: When we started to make our descent into Hilo, the pilot nosed the plane over, and you know how you get that funny feeling in your groin area when you have that moment of waitlessness as the plane changes direction downward? All of a sudden, YB giggled and said really loud, "Whoa! That hurted my penis!" The attractive twenty-something girl in the seat in front of YB whipped her head around and looked back between the seats at LW. LW half-laughed and said, "Sorry!" with a sheepish grin. The girl smiled back and said, "Oh, that was priceless!"
Rental Car
After landing and getting our bags, we headed over to the Budget car rental counter. Since we signed up for their FastBreak frequent-renter program, we received a coupon in the mail for a free two-level upgrade on our next rental. She didn't have any cars to upgrade me two levels, but she gave me the choice between the Pontiac Grand Prix and the Jeep Compass.
I had never heard of nor seen a Jeep Compass before. The lady let me take the keys and check out the two cars to decide which one to take. The Grand Prix had 30k plus miles on it and smelled like a typical rental car. The Jeep was brand-spanking new and had new car smell. Based on the smell and on the fact that our guide book recommended getting a vehicle capable of handling some dirt roads, I opted for the Jeep.The first time I regretted taking the Jeep was when we tried to load our suitcases in the car. We almost couldn't get them to fit in the back. The "trunk" space is non-existent in the compass. I suppose we could have strapped them to the roof rack, but then our clothes and stuff would be all wet from the rain, so that wasn't gonna do either. We managed to squeeze them in at just the right angle that we could slam the hatchback shut. Aside: Mind you, these are the SAME suitcases / same loadout we took to Maui, and they fit fine in the Chevy Impala we rented there.
The second time I regretted taking the Jeep was when we got toward the 3,000 foot elevation sign, passed a gas station with gas for MORE than $5 per gallon, looked at the gas gauge and GASPED to see we had already burned a QUARTER tank just in driving 30 minutes from the airport.
They say bad things happen in threes, so I am knocking on wood and praying that the third time I regret taking the Jeep won't be anything catastrophic. Stay tuned...
FABULOUS Dinner: Hilo Bay Cafe
Before we left Hilo to head up to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we had an awesome dinner at Hilo Bay Cafe. We went here based on the recommendation in the Hawaii Revealed book, and it's a good thing, too. We NEVER would have found that place if we hadn't read about it in the guide book. It's a little store front in the middle of a strip mall wedged between Walmart and some other big name stores. Once again, looks can be deceiving...
Who knew such a fabulous restaurant could be hidden in there? The service was superb. The atmosphere was very warm and comfortable and artsy. The food was just absolutely fantastic. The bread is excellent and the honey-butter they bring with the bread is so good I wanted to pick up a spoon and eat it like ice cream. LW and I shared a spinach salad with sliced strawberries and candied macadamia nuts with some sort of sweet cream cheese and vinaigrette dressing. For dinner I had the fresh catch Ahi medium rare with a wasabi sauce. Then for dessert, I couldn't resist the blueberry bread pudding with blueberry ice cream.I'm telling you, this was a contender for the best meal I've had in the state of Hawaii. It was THAT good. Yes, it was expensive, but I was expecting our dinners here on the big island to be similar to our trip to Maui. I definitely felt we got what we paid for in terms of the quality of the food and the quality of the service though.
Aside: You're welcome, Uncle Jon. YB finally figured out the straw-trick you tried to teach him with his soda at dinner and was SO excited he wanted to call YOU right away to tell you the splendiferous news. We told him you were asleep, but we'd tell you later.Kilauea Military Camp (KMC)
For our first two nights on the island, we're staying at KMC in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We got a very nice (not luxurious but comfortable) two bedroom one bath cabin / apartment.
Update 6/12/2008: Someone came to my blog after doing a Google search if KMC had internet access. They have a very good wireless network at broadband speeds. Unfortunately, you have to pay extra for it. I think it was like $9 per day. They also had a weekly rate, but I only paid for one day. They give you a little card with a user name and password on it, and as soon as you log in, it starts the clock on your 24 hours of access. Signal strength was great and I didn't have any problems with the connection once I had the user name and password from the recreation center.
ES in front of our cabin at KMC
This is the first time in OVER a YEAR that I've worn either long sleeves or blue jeans. Up here at 4,000 feet, it's actually a bit chilly. We actually had to dig through our closets to find some long pants and shirts to wear up here before we packed.After grabbing some breakfast at the snack bar this morning, we headed out to explore the national park.
We've figured out to use the timer feature on ES's new camera and grabbed this family photo at the Volcano House across the street from the park service's welcome center.
We went to the steam vents. This is where rain water has collected, then gets heated by the volcanic activity and turns into steam.
Next we headed over to the Kilauea Iki Lookout.
Then down to the Thurston Lava Tube. This is the entrance to the lava tube. The hike is easy and short with some stairs involved. This lava tube has installed lighting, so you don't have to bring a flashlight with you (although it is recommended).
This is inside the lava tube.
Next we went to see the Devastation Trail. Now, take a look at that hill of volcanic ash and sand above, then scroll down.
It used to be forest just like this before an eruption shot all that ash up 1900 feet in the air and the tradewinds blew it into the pile you see in the previous picture above, hence the name of the trail. (Aside: The boys were trying to create a road-block.) This picture is on the path from the parking lot leading out to the Devastation Trail.Finally, we drove down the Chain of Craters Road. There was some pretty spectacular scenery along that road. We drove all the way to the end of the road down by the water's edge.
First we stopped to see the arch.
Then we walked out to the "end of the road." This photo is looking back toward where we parked by the arch.
We all got a kick out of the road sign poking up out of the middle of the lava flow.
In the distance, you can see the steam plume from the currently active lava flow pouring into the ocean.The Joys of Traveling with Small Children
Throughout the day today, there was a recurring pattern in the boys' behavior. Each time we stopped the car and got out at a new location, we went through this same routine...
Step 1) Whine. "Are we going home now?"
Step 2) Insist on getting geared up - sunglasses, camera, stuffed animal, etc.
Step 3) 5 minutes down the trail / after leaving the car, declare you're tired of carrying the gear you insisted on bringing and hand it to LW or me to carry the rest of the way.
Step 4) Whine. "Are we going home now?"
Step 5) REPEAT Steps 1-4
We finally drove back to KMC and had a late lunch at the snack bar around 2 p.m. and went back to our cabin. The boys had fun playing for a little while, but then they started a new routine of whining about how hungry they were (less than an hour after eating lunch) and how bored they were and they wanted to eat and they wanted to go to dinner. When ES asked how much longer until dinner at 4:40 and I told him we had dinner reservations for 6, I thought he was gonna die. "You mean I have to wait an HOUR and TWENTY MINUTES before we go to dinner?!?!"
LW got us up and moving again to go for a walk around the camp, and we went down the road to do a wine tasting at the local winery. Then we went to dinner at the Kilauea Lodge. It was okay. Not spectacular. It was the #1 rated restaurant (out of five restaurants) in Volcano, HI, on TripAdvisor.
ES didn't like the bread because it had sunflower seeds in it. Then ES decided he wanted to try a salad (he NEVER eats ANY cold, salad-type vegetables, so this was TOTALLY out of character for him). He took one bite and proceeded to very noisily spit it out with a "BLAH!" that echoed through the restaurant (it was lovely).
Then the entrees came. ES didn't like his spaghetti. YB didn't like his chicken. First YB said he didn't like it because it was served on a bed of shredded red cabbage. I tried explaining to him that it was fine and if he just stabbed the chicken with his fork, the red stuff would stay on his plate. He didn't go for it. I transferred the chicken to an empty bread plate. He tried it and immediately spit it out as too hot. I tried it - it was lukewarm at best. So then he declared that he "wasn't hungry." YB sat there coloring and playing and refused to eat his chicken... until we told him he couldn't have dessert. Then he decided to try his chicken again, but this time he spit it out and said it was "too cold." Gimme a break!!!
Neither son drank his $10 sprite in a 6 ounce cup. Although they were delighted that it came with a cool plastic sword holding a cherry in their straw. As you would expect, they proceeded to have a sword fight at the table - ching, ching, ching.
Anyway, tomorrow we are checking out of KMC and doing the long scenic drive around the island (Lord help us) and staying the next three nights over in Waikoloa.
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