Big Island, Hawaii 2010

Beginning February 20 we stayed on the Big Island for two weeks. This was just the second time we have been to the Big Island. The first week we spent up in cowboy country at Paniolo Greens.

There was a grocery right around the corner so that was convenient. The resort is on a golf course and there was a nice clubhouse and pool.

We went to a small Baptist church for worship on Sunday morning.
We were entertained each morning by the turkeys outside our patio door.





We explored some places on the north side of the island since it was a closer drive. One was Laupahoehoe Point.



We went to the Hilo Farmer’s Market on Wednesday morning and bought some veggies and some Thai food. The phad thai and papaya salad were delicious. We even spoke in Thai to the lady selling and she was tickled that we had lived in Chiang Mai.



I love seeing the woven baskets.



We saw this statue of Kamehameha across from the harbor in Hilo.

The Liliuokalani Gardens was very beautiful as well as the harbor.







We went to two different macadamia nut farms one of which was Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa has 2,500 acres, approximately 250,000 trees and processes 35,000,000 raw macs each year. They had a factory viewing area set up with explanations and videos. The entire process was shown. We found that the cheapest place to purchase the nuts was at Long Drugs.



Waipio Lookout was a beauty. There is a canyon that can be explored with a 4-wheel drive or by horse back. We just took pictures from the lookout point.








The original statue of King Kamehameha I (1880) was up on the north end of the island. His birth date is unknown but thought to be around 1753 and he died in 1819.



Saturday morning the 27th we were to move to a resort down by Kona, but there was a tsunami warning and the low area was evacuated. We watched the live picture from Hilo harbor on the TV and got to see the water coming in and then receding. There was never a large wave but the water did come over some of the roads by the resorts in Kona. We checked out of our room and then just hung around the resort watching the TV and visiting until we finally went down to Kona after 6 pm. Of course our room was not ready at the Holua Resort because they couldn’t clean during the evacuation. It was about 7pm when we got into our condo. But it was well worth the wait. These building have an octagon shape and the condo was gorgeous.








We did our Shell update from here and went to a luau in Kona.











We enjoyed watching the birds here





and saw the goats who were wandering around on the golf course.


We always love the flowers.

Oahu and Kauai 2010

It was an eventful trip. We woke up to 3-4 inches of snow, drove to Deb’s and she took us to the airport. We left late because the plane had to be de-iced so we missed our connection in Houston. We were supposed to have a direct flight from Houston to Honolulu but instead we went from Houston to LAX, switched airlines and then flew from LAX to Honolulu. We got in 4 hours later than planned and I was feeling terrible. We checked into the Marriott Ko’Olina Timeshare. It is beautiful and we had a wonderful two bedroom unit but I was so sick that I went immediately to bed. I left the condo 3 times the entire week and one was to the doctor on Wednesday to find out that I had strep throat, something that I don’t think I have ever had before. The doctor prescribed medicine for both of us because I was so contagious. This is where I spent most of my time.

Bob was wonderful. He did the grocery shopping, cooked

and wandered around the resort. This is a view from our balcony.

There was a welcoming party that Bob went to.


They even climbed the tree barefoot to get the coconut.



After our week on Oahu we spent two weeks on Kauai at the Point at Poipu.

One of the first things I saw at the car rental was some of my favorite animals.
Actually since living in Thailand I have lost a lot of my fear of chickens.
I was getting better but didn’t have much energy and the weather was much cooler than the other times we have been here. I think I was only at the pool once. We drove to Kapaa one day and found a Mexican restaurant that had really good food. Another day we ate at the Ono Family Restaurant which was in Kapaa also. Of course we ate one evening at Keoki’s which is our favorite, especially the hula pie. We drove to Spouting Horn.


This is part of the path we took to and from the parking lot and our condo.

From the airport to the resort we always have to drive through the tree tunnel.

This sugar mill is no longer used but makes for a nice picture.

One evening we went to the Kauai Resort for a dinner and South Pacific. Most of our time was spent in the condo just relaxing and recouping.

By the end of our two weeks I had started to walk in the mornings and had a lot more energy.

January 17 – 30, 2010

We left Florida and drove back north staying one night north of Atlanta and then arriving at Wyndham Smoky Mountains in Sevierville, Tennessee on Monday. It was a week of resting as Bob got a terrible cold so we didn’t go anywhere. I did grocery shopping and also shopped at my favorite scrapbook store in Sevierville.

We went to the Wyndham Nashville on January 23. We spent the time visiting with Deb and getting ready to fly to Hawaii. The van got hit in the parking lot of the resort so we had to have it fixed at a later time. We got hair cuts and had our dentist appointments. Bob got over his cold and I started a sore throat the day before we left for Hawaii. Bummer!