Hilo:Day 3

Day Day 3 of our vacation was in Hilo, Hawaii. Each morning on our cruise we would eat our breakfast out on the deck of the boat and listen to a lecture on the sights of that port by a Hawaiin woman named Malu. She did a very good job an gave us some good insight. I must say that Robert and I were very prepared beforehand. We spent the weeks preceding our cruise scowering our travel guides, so we pretty much knew what we were doing. At each port we had a car reserved for us to go and do our own thing.

Hilo is on The Big Island". For those of you not too familiar with Hawaii, the big island is not where Honolulu is. This island is mostly famous for Kilauea Volcano and Volcanoes National Park. It is also famous for black sand beaches. I am a sand collector. I love sand. I want sand from all over the world, so visiting unique beaches was what I wanted to do. We made Hilo our volcano day and our black sand beach day.



This is me in front of the Thurston Lava tube. It was a cave/tube created long ago by....... lava! We were able to walk through and explore it. It reminded us very much of the caved we toured in KY.




This is Robert in front of one of the steam vents in Volcanoes national park. The pressure builds up under the earth and then creates these vents of steam all over.




I can't remember the name of these flowers, but they were all over Hilo.



This is an active eruption at Volcanoes National park. The air smelled so badly of sulfer that I couldn't stand to be outside for more than a few minutes. Standing there overlooking that enormous crater was one of those life moment where you just know Heavanly Father exists. It was amazing to see such a powerful creation.



Me and Robert on Panalu'u Black sand beach. The water was chilly on top, warm underneath.



What a hunk!


While we were at the beach. Seven sea turtles swam up on shore! No I did not touch them!



Me on deck talking to my girls.



For those who are interested here is a picture of two of the swimming pools and two hot tubs. We didn't go swimming in the pools, but we enjoyed the hot tubs several times.

That night we ate in the fancy dinning room. MMMM. After dinner we went to a comedy show and then strait to bed.

Hawaii Days 1&2: Oahu

Here we are three weeks after our return from Hawaii. My tan has faded, but I am still basking in the joy of our vacation. It made it a lot easier to return home to the start of a gorgeous Alaskan summer. We have already been in the 70's several days and it is still May!

I will be writing about our trip in increments. It is mainly for my record, but you are welcome to enjoy my pictures as well.

We arrived in Oahu on May 1st in the evening. We enjoyed our first Hawaiian sunset on a shuttle to our hotel! We checked in and immediately changed clothes and headed out to enjoy the evening. We strolled along Waikiki Beach and enjoyed beautiful fireworks. It really felt like we were in another world. I was so grateful to be there with my husband of almost 10 years. It couldn't have been a better start to our vacation.

We asked the hotel clerk for some suggestions of good Asian food. He recommended a Korean restaurant close to our hotel....it was like it was meant to be! It was the best Korean restaurant I have ever been to. I had my fill of Bul-Go-Gi. MMMMMM. After dinner we headed home--exhauseted from the long flight.


The next morning we had some time to kill before we boared our cruise, so we headed out on the town. We walked and walked. Then we strolled several miles down Waikiki Beach. We stopped a couple of times to get in the water... a little chilly but very nice. The sun was shining and it was about 80 dgrees---perfect!



We headed back to the hotel and packed our stuff while we watched the Kentucky Derby on TV. Then it was off to the cruise ship via a taxi limo!



The Pride of America was even bigger than I imagined! There were 11 restraunts on board. Wow!



Robert and I were both pleasently surprised by our room. We got the cheapest one available and were expecting to be seriously cramped, but it wasn't too bad at all. It had pleantly of storage room, but the tiniest shower ever!

That night we enjoyed dinner in the Liberty dining room. I was enjoying fresh fish and a shrip cocktail as we took of from Oahu. Destination---Hilo.