Post-Trip: Waikiki, Big Island, Aulani, oh my! - Updated

heybets30

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
:rotfl2:Wow. First - I would read everyone's post-trip reports and think, why does it take everyone so long to type up their post-trip reports?? Well, we've been back in Chicagoland since October 11, and I am just now even holding a place for my Post-Trip report! Between working F-T, Swim team practices, cub scouts, PTA volunteering, and other activities for the kids, I have no idea where the last 2 months went!!

In short:
Waikiki - a one-night stay at Outrigger Reef on the Beach - lovely hotel, would recommend it except for the kinda sucky pool for anyone under 4-1/2 feet tall! Lovely service too.
Big Island - we were ruined by staying at the Fairmont Orchid on the Gold floor before staying at Aulani. We would RUN, SWIM, BIKE back here if given the chance. Absolutely amazing 3-night stay that we should've made longer. This is where I will be waxing euphoric about our vacation. Amazing. Relaxing. Beautiful grounds. We felt a TON of aloha here. LOVE the Big Island!!! And, the random food places we ate at via TripAdvisor recommendations were spot-on delicious. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful few days.
Aulani - well, so much to say. Not all great, not all bad. Lovely room, impeccably clean grounds, kids (6 & 8 at the time) had the time of their lives here. Me & Hubby? Well, so-so. We left with an overall feeling of deceptive advertising, but thrilled that the kids had so much fun & we had Aunty's so we could safely have alone time. And, this, of course comes after staying at the Fairmont on the Gold Floor, which would ruin any visit anywhere else afterwards, Aulani's grounds are much smaller than it looks in the advertising - print/dvd/tv ads. Seriously - I look back at my photos vs. the advertising ones, and they really do try to hide that each and every outdoor amenity is right on top of each other. Next time you see pictures or tv ads, take a look - almost none are done straight on, they are all shot with upward angles. Aulani is Disneyland, just in the tropics with all water attractions. I kid you not. We had some not-so-wonderful Aloha mojo from some CMs, which also left us kinda wishy-washy. But again, Kids are BEGGING to go back for our 13th anniversary (this was our 10th), rather than wait for our 20th so that they can both still be young enough for Aunty's. We went for the kids, they had an amazing time, so our job was done.

That's the 2 minute write-up of our trip. I will be ever-so-more detailed when I can get more than 5 minutes at a computer to write-up the full trip!! I LOVE writing detailed trip stuff - hopefully others will learn from what we experienced - good, bad, and indifferent!

And, to compound things, we just decided to head to Disneyland in February, so now we're in planning mode for that - Virgin America & American have flights from ORD to LAX for $285 - cant resist!! Where does time go!!!! (I keep reminding myself that Marie Curie was left a single mother with 2 kids, and she still had time to go out to rule the scientific world & get nominated & win a Nobel Prize, so really, I should be able to type up a Post-trip report :rotfl2:)!!!

So, more to come soon!
 
Look forward to reading more :) We are big fans of the Big Island (only Island we have visited) but keep saying we will try other islands. Yay for a DL trip!
 
Big Island is the best kept secret! The diversity is incredible and it is indeed a totally different feeling. We love it for all those reasons plus we got married there too! The Fairmont Orchid is in such a lovely spot, we really enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Browns Beach House a few years ago and afterwards wandered around the lagoon, it almost felt like you were at the end of the earth when looking out to the ocean...We found the opposite about Aulani, I went very jaded thinking it would be too Disneyfied for me (and I am a Disnut!) but having been a regular visitor to the islands for years now and having stayed at all types of accommodations, I just wasnt sure if I would like Aulani. WE thought we had better do it once tho and now we are going back-I was shocked at how much we all enjoyed ourselves! I do agree with your assessment of the advertising and how they make it look so spread out, I do think it is deceptively shown in many of the pictures they use.
 
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Day 1 – Thursday, October 1, 2015

FINALLY getting to writing up our trip report!! Again – our family is me (44 at the time!); Hubby (52) – HUGE, GIGANTIC Cubs fan, which comes into play during the trip; Allison (8-5/6 at the time of the trip - I guess I could say "almost 9"); and Andrew (6-1/2). We live about 25 miles NW of Chicago, and my kids are very seasoned travelers, with 15 trips to Disneyland, and about 10 to Houston for family visits, they’ve each had about 50 flight legs under their belts, and decently long ones too – especially to SoCal. This trip was to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. We were married 10/1/2005, and landed in Hawaii on our honeymoon on 10/3/2005. There’s more about us in my pre-trip report if anyone really cares to find out more about us ;-) Now what you really want to read about … the trip.

How come, that leaving for vacation – nothing can just go super-smoothly?? I got to work at 6am the morning of our flight so that I could wrap up about 8 huge projects that just kept getting delayed for all kinds of stupid reasons – our printers wouldn’t work, my computer was slow at processing data. Unfortunately, I left with one project unfinished, but with a colleague kind enough to see that it got wrapped up. I headed home at noon, got the house vacation-ready, packed the car, grabbed the kids early from school, husband got home, changed, & loaded into the car, and we headed back to my office (up until Nov 1, I worked about ½ mile from O’Hare and 13 miles from home – our office is now 5 miles from my house, but 10 from O’Hare) to get a ride to the airport. We got back to my office when naturally, I realized I forgot to do something, so everyone got to hang out while I wrapped up one LAST task. Finally at O’Hare, checked in to Seattle, we had enough time to grab a sit-down dinner at Macaroni Grill. This was our 10th anniversary evening, so we even splurged with a cocktail. And, in the “it’s a small world” category, one of my best friends happened to see us go through TSA as she was on her way to LA so she chased us down. I was so busy planning our vaca, I must’ve missed that we’d be at the airport the same day, the same time. She joined us for a bit while we ate, so it was entertaining actually having one of my bridesmaids from 2005 join us for our “10-year anniversary dinner” at the airport!

Our flights from Chicago to Honolulu were split into 2 legs. We flew American, using the lowest value of 35,000 miles per person – one bonus of booking 11 months out! Our flight was originally supposed to leave at 8pm; however, the time kept changing and landed at 5pm. This is only important because we ultimately had over a 12-hour stopover in Seattle – not allowing us to check our bags straight through on Hawaiian Airlines. Oh well. The flight over was on a remodeled AA plane – seat back entertainment systems for all. Made the 4 hour, 25 minute flight go pretty quickly with the kids.

We had pre-booked the evening at the Cedarbrook Lodge at SeaTac for the one-night stay. I used my Chase Ultimate Rewards points for booking this room, so again, FREE (well, I won’t mention what I had to spend on my Sapphire Preferred card to earn that money back!). What an absolutely LOVELY hotel. Since we arrived at 8 pm-ish local time, we ended up walking around the hotel grounds to stretch our legs. The hotel has “living rooms” with help-yourself Haagan-Daz Ice Cream cuplets, string cheese, yogurts, bottled water, fruit, and they have a malted milk ball bar. This was a very welcoming hotel. We would definitely stay there again if in the area. I HIGHLY recommend it!!
 


Me & kids at the Pali Lookout ... WINDY!!!!


View from Pali Lookout - beautiful - what a wonderful first stop tourist visit!!


Bydo-In Temple! - you can see the overall grayness of the sky. It was certainly HOT, HUMID, and gray.
 
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Day 2 – October 2- 2015

I got ahead of myself posting pictures from Day 2 before I posted the events of Day 2!! Given I packed for the quick one-nighter, we had minimal luggage to open to get what we needed – jammies and toiletries, and clothes for the flight to honoulu. The Cedarbrook Lodge also has an included breakfast that had salmon, bagels, eggs, muffins, pastries, coffees, juices, well worth the effort to get up early enough to eat before our 9am flight. Oh – their shuttle was super easy to get to & from SeaTac. Took all of 8 minutes from pick-up to the hotel, same for drop-off in the morning.

We had to go through the check-in line at Hawaiian Airlines because of the greater-than-12-hours rule. This line was a bit longer and took some waiting for me to get through while my hubby waited with the kids. This was the only time we had to pay full price for 1 checked bag. The other bag had a booster seat in it, nothing else (we filled it to the brim on the way back, though), and HA was kind enough to check that through at no cost – even though it was a gigantic rolling duffle bag, it did have ONLY a booster seat inside it.

Ok, I’m sure SeaTac is a LOVELY airport. However, what I didn’t know, is that there is a monorail. We had to wait in a pretty long line for TSA – and “oh, you’ll need to take the train to get to the HA terminal”. Um, what?? We ended up scrambling and arriving at the gate maybe 10 minutes before they began boarding. And, we were in a corner of the terminal, the restrooms were on the WAY FAR other end of the terminal. We all broke a sweat running to & from. From hotel shuttle drop-off to the gate was almost a full 2 hours. It was TIRING. Good thing we had a 5-hour flight to relax … HA!

The Hawaiian Airlines flight was lovely. Seriously no complaints. Except that you need to ask for soda – they do not bring it around. For a non-coffee drinker, this is NEEDED for me. They were kind enough to let me grab one the few times I went to the back of the plane. Breakfast was included, a hot egg sandwich which had mushrooms & peppers, so my kids only ate the fruit. Glad we ate at the hotel to fill them up! Seat-back entertainment was top-notch. I purchased & watched The Grand Budapest Hotel, so in between getting interrupted by the kids, I was entertained for the 5-hour flight over. We GLADLY paid for each of us to have seat-back entertainment !! We got our seats 4-in-a-row in the middle section so we could all be together and landlock the kids in the row, so no chance of getting a glimpse of Aulani out any window.

We disembarked from the plane, headed to baggage claim. It took us 15 minutes, I kid you not, to walk to Baggage claim. It was high 80s when we arrived – we were sweaty, hot, tired, cranky after that long, long walk (bogged down by carryons) to get to baggage claim. It took a good 3 Alamo buses to pass us (completely full) before we could get on one to get the rental car. Fairly straightforward rental. Though – the cars are pretty beat up. We got a minivan, full of scratches, dents. Basically – they give you a sheet with a wide circle. Scratches, bumps smaller than that circle won’t get marked as damage. We grabbed our minivan and were on our way! We decided to check into the Outrigger Reef hotel before we did any sightseeing. We were switched from an island view room to ocean view! It was lovely. 16th floor, overlooking the pool and the ocean. It took a few minutes to get a front desk clerk to get us checked in, but they were absolutely lovely, and we got our bags upstairs, changed, grabbed gear to go touring! Again, I booked this hotel only because I was able to use reduced Chase Ultimate Rewards points, again, glad to use “freebies” to book one night at a hotel!

First stop on my checklist was the Pali Lookout. WOW was it windy!! I remember that from our honeymoon, but I didn’t remember it being that windy! The weather for the most part was hot and overcast. We did get spectacular views, and kids enjoyed the view too. Though my 6-year old was sure he was going to get blown over. Parking was $3. Super easy, pay at a machine with credit card & put ticket in car.

The next stop, as one of my I-will-do-this-or-else list items, was the Byodo-In temple. So, I’m dating myself by saying the first time I saw this place was on an Hart to Hart episode back in the 80s (mind you, I mentioned this to a colleague, her reaction … what is Hart to Hart?). An episode takes place where the Harts attend a memorial at the temple after a murder occurs at a croquet club. We didn’t rent a car on our honeymoon for the Honolulu days, so we didn’t get to go visit it. The drive from the Pali Lookout wasn’t long in mileage, but man-oh-man was traffic horrific!! Lots of 1-lane, local roads. When we arrived, it was overcast, but still SPECTACULAR. This is just an unbelievable setting. The kids loved feeding the koi, and ringing the gong. We spent about an hour walking around. The kids also loved all the ferel cats living there. Cats EVERYWHERE! They kept asking if we could grab one and take it home with us. Um, No.

I had wanted to go to the Lanikai Beach. Didn’t happen. With all the traffic, kids getting TIRED (it was ~4pm local time, so 9pm Chicago time) hungry and cranky, we decided to head back to the hotel to go to the beach & get something to eat. I had reservations at Duke’s for 4:45. We skipped it.

Changed & headed downstairs, we literally stepped out the back of the hotel onto Waikiki beach. We were there right at Sunset. It was lovely for a first night in Honolulu. Kids played in the sand for a good 30 minutes (we brought our own buckets), the current was getting pretty strong, so I was not liking my kids in the water more than arms’ length away from me. Kids asked if they could go to the pool. Well, sure, why not. Here’s where I was scratching my head. The pool, very small, STARTED at 48” DEEP!!!! My son couldn’t swim in it given he is just 48” tall. Who designs that for a hotel pool??? That was my main gripe about the hotel. Pool sucks for smaller, non-swimmers. We went up to change for dinner, and went down to the Kani Ka Paila Grill. There was live music, and it was relaxing, and everything that a first night in Waikiki should be. Hubby and I split dishes … the pork quesadilla was pretty decent. My son enjoyed his burger. My daughter’s chicken tenders were grilled, not fried, but they didn’t have much flavor and were a bit dry. As sodas were like $4 per beverage, we opted to walk to the ABC store 2 minutes down the road to get Diet Pepsi for the room. The kids got a few small souvenirs, then we headed back to the hotel and CRASHED from being so tired.
 
Day 3 – October 3, 2015 Honolulu to Kona

Up at dawn, we walked over to Denny’s. We knew the kids would be able to get whatever they liked before our flight to Kona. And, my hubby got a kick out of seeing me use my AARP card (spousal privileges on his account, I made sure to let the cashier know!!) Sure enough – we stuffed ourselves before the flight. We returned the rental car to Alamo, hopped the shuttle, then got to the airport for the inter-island flight to Kona. We signed up for HA mileage program before the trip – our interisland flight checked baggage was only $15 per bag as a perk. The HA inter-island planes are sparse 727s, to say the least. They all look brand new, but man, are they low-frills! Super-clean, but barely padded seats, trays that are about 6x10 inches. Not an issue for a 40-minute flight. Landing at Kona is very fun for the kids. Walk off the plane onto the tarmac. Baggage claim was right there, the Alamo bus was by quickly, piled into the minivan, and we were on our way to find TJs by the Beach for lunch. Mind you, I had read about this place on TripAdvisor for months. I was so excited to get there to try it. Then … I started getting a migraine. On our vacation. It totally sucked. Our nav AND my iphone (we brought our new Garmin, and I plugged details into my iphone as backup) kept telling us to turn left – away from the ocean to get to this place, when we finally decided to follow it, it took us to this outdoor venue, which at best looks like a small flea market from the parking lot.

Husband was SUPER skeptical. We found the place – it is a tiny little hut, there was a gentleman sitting behind the counter. “Are you TJ,” I asked. He said he was the “T” in TJs, that “J” was his wife. Cool. My migraine wasn’t full-blown, but I had the nausea aspect which was really putting a damper on me eating this food that I had been waiting SO LONG to try!! From TA advice, we ordered a cowboy burger, the ribs, and burgers for the kids. What I could barely try of the cowboy burger, it was divine. Seriously good. My husband said the ribs were probably the 2nd best he had had (can’t remember where the first ones were from). Kids loved their burgers too (theirs were just plain burgers). The food was amazing. I could barely eat – and I didn’t want to eat too much so I wouldn’t get sick, but I tried every single remedy I had to get rid of my migraine. We walked around a bit – I sat – kids looked at souvenirs with husband. They had a Shave ice place at one end, so kids got that. I sat massaging my temples, and slowly, the migraine dissipated. Glad it didn’t turn into a full-blown one, that could’ve put me under for a good 8-9 hours. There was a really cute little hand-painted glass stand that had some great one-of-a-kind souvenirs. The couple was painting as we were there, so we knew they were “really made in Hawaii”. We each picked out a little $5 2-in square painted glass for a souvenir. Super cute.

Tummies full, migraine dissipated to very manageable headache, we decided to head to Hula daddy Coffee Plantation for a tour. My kids LOVE coffee. Hubby and I don’t, but my kids do – go figure! Again, I thought we’d try top TripAdvisor recommendations. This one too did NOT disappoint! Wow, it was fantastic. We got there right as a tour was beginning. The guide, Talexi, was super young (I didn’t want to ask her age, I’d put her at early college at most!). She was VERY knowledgeable about coffee, the growing process, and the industry in general. The kids had a BLAST. The best part was the samples! Talexi was super-sweet to my kids, she offered them coffee candy samples too – sort of malted milk chocolates with coffee centers. After the other 6 people on our tour departed, they asked us if we wanted to go back into their “kitchen” to learn about teas too! Hubby loved the teas & we brought some of those home with us. We learned so much about the coffee selection/designation process, the kids were even asking at restaurants – mind you, they are 6 & 8 – whether the restaurant was serving 100% Kona blend, or Kona coffee. They learned there’s a HUGE difference !! On our honeymoon, we visited the Holualoa Coffee Plantation and loved it too – they are still open for tours. We even still order coffee from them 10 years later!!

From there, we began the 30-minute drive to the Fairmont Orchid. The drive went quickly, there were TONS of runners/bikers out getting ready for the Kona Ironman Triathlon taking place one week later. Kids thought it was funny that we were passing so many people on the side of the highway. The “Donkey Crossing” signs are also fun for the kids to keep an eye out for. The Fairmont is a good mile & a half off the highway. Driving up to it, it isn’t that impressive. We pulled up, were immediately greeted with nut leis, asked our name, and then told we’d be brought upstairs for private concierge check-in as we were staying on the Gold Floor. Our bags were put on the cart by the Valet, and our car checked in for the night. We headed up to the Gold floor – the hotel grounds were gorgeous as we passed by – getting glimpses of our home for the next few days as we walked between buildings.

The Gold Floor is a dedicated concierge-level floor, the room key allows entry to the 6th floor using an elevator keypad. The concierge, Keisha, was lovely. She asked if I was the one who mentioned on their FB page months ago that we would be spending our 10-year wedding anniversary there. Yes, yes I am that person. She gave us a tour of the Gold Lounge – a fridge stocked with waters, sodas, juices that we were welcome to anytime the lounge was open. They offered light breakfast, snacks throughout the day, coffee, tea, cookies in the afternoon, and a light hors d’oeuvres “supper”. We arrived around 4pm, so we decided to check out the room and head straight to the pool. We were room 2627. When we opened the door, we found a bottle of champagne on ice, 2 glasses, with a “Happy 10-year Anniversary” Note. Wonderful. Our view was overlooking the golf course, and wonderful ocean view from the lanai. The beds were just right, lots of pillows for our use, and the bathroom was just wonderful – bath, stand-up separate shower, double sinks, toilet closet. There were too many amenities to even remember – basic toiletries, slippers, robes, hair stuff.

We made our way down to the pool. I only had one and a half minor complaints about the Fairmont. Here’s my first … the elevators are not air conditioned. It was hot out. The elevators were stifling. Not a make-or-break stay point and would absolutely NOT dock a star for it, but just odd, in a first-class hotel. Anyway, the pool was large, well laid out, and was an average of 36-48-inches deep. Just deep enough that my 48” son needed to be watched every second he was in the pool (can’t swim on his own), and not deep enough that my almost 5’ daughter couldn’t go explore on her own (she’s on a competitive swim team at home, so she can swim very well). The water was the PERFECT temperature to lull us into staying in the water longer. And, the pool was open 24 hours. Even better. It was far enough from the rooms that it wouldn’t be a bother to anyone – even if the kids became rowdy. The view was spectacular at sunset. We brought our own innertubes, and it was no issue playing in and around the pool with all our pool toys. We could be near other people if we wanted, or keep that end of the pool to ourselves. It was lovely. We spent about 2 hours at the pool, then went to change to check out the hors d’oevres in the Gold Floor Lounge. This was more like a modest dinner than nibblings! It was lovely – kebabs, fruit, dip, breads, spreads, cheese, crackers, sushi … a total of 3 hot dishes, and about 2 cold ones. Hubby and I had plenty to fill up, kids wanted “real” food, so we headed down to the poolside restaurant. Kids had pizza and chicken tenders. The fries were delicious, so was the pizza. I promised my daughter a non-alcoholic Lava Flow, and she loved it. From there, it was clearly time to get the kids to bed as our 6-year old was beginning to LOSE it. (He gets super cranky when overtired).

While the others crawled into bed, I stayed up to organize our stuff for the day-trip we had planned for the following day.
 


Our view from the Outrigger Reef Hotel Waikiki - Halekulani on the left ... where we stayed on our honeymoon 1 day short of 10 years to the day exactly!


At Hula Daddy Coffee Plantation - learning about all the beans! Andrew decided this trip that he would attempt to make karate chopping noises and poses with each picture he was in. I think I got maybe 5 good pictures of him NOT in this pose.



The Fairmont Orchid. One of the LOVELIEST hotels I've visited. Peaceful and just wonderful. The pool is WAAAAAY bigger than these pictures show.



And, the partial ocean view room - overlooked the golf course, the ocean, and a volcano. You know, just a regular, plain old, everyday view. Oh, and a bonus shot? A rainbow!!

 
Day 4 – October 4, 2015 Hilo, Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii Tropical Botanic Gardens.

I forced everyone to wake up at 6:00 – which wasn’t hard, since our bodies weren’t quite ready to adjust to HI time. We headed to the Gold Lounge, where there were eggs, pancakes, fruit, bagels, malasadas, muffins, everything we needed for a full breakfast. And, plenty of POG! My 6-year old decided it was the best drink in the world while we were vacationing!! Nice touch too – they had to-go cups near the juice & coffee.

Filled up with a hearty breakfast, we headed to the car & were making our way to Hawaii Tropical Botanic Gardens. Quite possibly one of the most stunning places I have ever visited. The ride there was marred a bit by tons of fog and a bit of rain going over the volcano. There were one or two spots where we had to go slowly as there were obvious fresh rock falls. Not a white-knuckle drive, but just a reminder how mother nature changes things up on the Big Island crossing one side to the other!

For a family of 4, it was only $5 more to get an annual pass than regular admission. Plus, we’d get 10% off any gift shop purchases, and I was already eyeing a few gifts for myself! We each had a camera (no joke), our backpack, water, and sturdy shoes. You start out on a little hill, then you descend by walking down steep trails into one of the most spectacular botanic gardens. It was as stunning as I remember it back in 2005. I must’ve taken 1000 pictures, just of all the different flowers and plants. Once you get down to the bottom of the hill, you are met with awesome views of the ocean. We spent about 2 hours total exploring. The walk up, however, is the least favorite part of this outing. Wow. It really hit hubby and I hard how out of shape we are by that climb up the hill! There are plenty of benches where one can sit & enjoy the views along the way up. For $5 you can pay them to drive you up in a golf cart if you think you can’t make it. Next time, I’ll splurge the $5 ;-)

I work for an educational consulting firm. We have clients on the Big Island. I had reached out before our trip, and asked if there were any Hilo restaurant recommendations – given it would be a Sunday. Lucy’s Taqueria was the one mentioned. So, we though – why the heck not! We made our way from the botanical garden to Lucy’s. Along the drive, we crossed many cute little shops that would’ve been fun to explore. But, being Sunday, everything was closed. Right across the street from Lucy’s was Island Scrapbooking. I was SO BUMMED they weren’t open. I don’t scrapbook per se, I just love buying lots of papers & stickers and letting them accumulate in my house. I justify it as crafts for the kids. Yet, there it all still sits. Lucy’s is in a tiny strip mall – maybe 3 other stores with it. Very unassuming. We walked into Lucy’s, and asked for a menu. Immediately, the cashier (a young, college-age girl), said we must not be from around here – given we were asking for a menu! Their schtick is a burrito as big as a newborn baby – they have the photo on their counter to prove it! And, we saw about 4 of these footlong+ burritos go past us as we waited for our order. I had chicken enchiladas with red sauce, kids each had quesadillas, we got chips, hubby got guac (hated by the rest of us), salsa, and Hubby got a carne asada combo of some kind.

While we were waiting, I mentioned to the cashier girl that this place was recommended as we were visiting from Chicago, she asked for the name of the guy, I mentioned who made the recommendation. She knew him! She told me all about him and how her family knows him and she just saw him that morning at church. Hilo just seemed like that kind of place – everyone knows everyone. There were lots of people saying “hi” to each other as they walked in. We got there right at the right time … after ordering, I turned around and there must’ve been 20 people behind us in line! We took ours to go, as we had about a 30 minute drive to Volcanoes National Park. We wanted to eat along the way so we wouldn’t lose any time.

Wow, Wow, and Wow. The food was FANTASTIC!! Seriously, if you find yourself in Hilo, and you like Mexican food, do yourself a favor and eat at Lucy’s. Super fresh, wonderful flavor, totally unexpected. But, hubby and I agree some of the absolute best Mexican food we’ve ever eaten (this coming from eating plenty of Mexican food in Chicago, eating Mexican food often in LA, and also eating tons of Mexican food on our visits to Houston). This meal was hard to beat. Their refried pinto beans that come on the side – my kids agreed – best we’ve ever had. Allison asked if we could go back and get more. Sadly, all in the wrong direction.

Volcanoes National park. Well. I was extremely excited to be able to offer my kids the unique opportunity of visiting a botanic garden in the morning, and then a volcano in the afternoon. They were combination super excited, but not quite understanding that it was safe to go visit a volcano. So, they were there under duress, at best, I would say. Lots of trepidation. When they realized there were buildings, cars parked on it, I think it lessened the fact we were on an active volcano. We stopped at the visitor center, got the overview. Then, we drove to the crater viewing area. When we were there in 2005, it wasn’t opened, so this was new to us. Kids were getting goofy by now about the Sulphur smells. Goofy = really irritating to everyone around us. Andrew wouldn’t hold still for a picture, and Allison was all about it being way too hot outside. We drove down to the Thurston Lava Tube, and walked through it. They weren’t as excited by it as I was. They thought it was cool for 10 minutes, then wanted to know if we could go back to the pool. So, we skipped driving the Chain of Craters Road, knowing it would take a full hour round trip, and decided to head back to the Fairmont.

We stopped to get gas, and there were plenty of Subways, so we grabbed the kids a footlong to split in case the light supper in the gold lounge wasn’t anything they would eat. We took the Saddle Road route back to the Fairmont. There was about a 5-mile stretch where you couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of the car. Seriously dense fog. It was kinda creepy, to be honest. It took about 2 hours total to get back to the hotel. Kids were tired, cranky, and just wanted to get in the pool. We let them change, we grabbed nibbles in the lounge – again, enough for dinner! – and headed to the pool where we lounged for 2 hours. Hubby took the camera to try to capture the sunset best as he could. We headed back to the room around 9pm knowing it had been a full day. Tomorrow was the scheduled day of relaxation, with only a local 15-minute drive/trip planned from the hotel for lunch.
 
And, more pics - Hawaii Tropical Botanic Gardens. We were there early enough, that there was still mist - the sun hadn't quite broken through yet at 9:45 am. This is an extremely dense wooded area. The one issue we had? Our good Canon DLSR - completely fogged up. Nothing we could do. Sadly, lots of our pictures have haze around them due to this. But, never fear, we had 3 other cameras with us - 2 waterproof - which also helped keep out fog!!





And, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The Caldera:



The Lava Tube entrance:


The obligatory photo which I really wish would've come out better. Oh well. That's what I get for taking the photo looking into bright sunshine!
 

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