Summer vacation for my wife Christina, and me, began with a weekend in Reno to see comedian Jim Jeffries
While staying at “The Row,” we had a great dinner at Roxy and I ordered escargot, giving Christina her first chance to try snails
She chickened out
First thing Monday morning we arrived at the SAC airport to begin our long journey to Hawaii’s big island
Airplane food, even in first class, just ain’t what it used to be
During our layover in Honolulu, this guy walked up to me and said “Rob?” He’s been a listener for 20 years, including the last 10 while living in Hawaii! He was so excited he even tracked down his kids and got pictures with them as well. He was super cool
While landing on the big island, the flight crew was totally inept at using the in flight intercom and serenaded us with ear piercing feedback. I couldn’t hide my disdain
We arrived at our hotel by 5:30PM local time and immediately made our way to the beach to take in one of the many gorgeous Hawaii sunsets
I won’t bore you with endless sunset photos, but this sight just never gets old
For our first meal, after a long day of traveling, we stayed at the resort and chowed down on some Italian food
Not a lot of people equate Hawaii and Italian food, but we had some surprisingly good experiences
On our first full day, one of the must-do’s was grabbing the local snack favorite Spam Masubi. Basically, spam with rice wrapped in seaweed. This idea was not as exciting by the end of the week when Christina projectile vomited some
Time to snorkel!
We just laughed when we arrived at “two step,” described as one of the hidden snorkeling spots on the Hawaii. As my wife and I were driving there I pointed out “how hidden can it be if it’s listed on the internet?”
How was the snorkeling, you ask? Look at how clear the water is and gorgeous the fish are from above! It was amazing
As we mad our way back to the car, I wondered “hey…were the Brandons here before us?”
Now that we were all wet, we had to hide and change into dry clothes…I have the best versions. This is all you get
Time for lunch and our first taste of the trip of Poke!
When it’s 85 degrees with 65% humidity, an ice cold beer is always a good choice
And when you’re on the big island, you drink Kona Brewing Company beer!
Upon leaving, my wife realized there must have been gum stuck to the table bottom where we were sitting. Gross.
This picture is funny solely because of the conversation we had…I said “babe! A rainbow get a picture,” to which she said “oh right like it’s the only one we’re going to see while we’re here.” It was.
As day 2 ended, another sunset on the beach
One of the must-haves in Hawaii is Loco Moco for breakfast (I think I had 4 in a week)…burger patty, gravy, rice, deliciousness
Breakfasts in Hawaii are unique…this was eggs benedict with ham my wife got…which came with an entire steak as well. What are we doing here?
Time for a 3 hour helicopter ride over the island!
Christina is all strapped in and ready to go
Like sunsets, I could bore you to death with endless photos of the shoreline, but instead I’ll just give you a taste
Obviously, there’s endless beauty looking along the shore
The truth is, though, that most of the big Island looks much more like this; lots and lots of black lava residue
Lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of black lava
Obviously the lava is courtesy of the 5 different volcanoes on the island, including this one whose crater we got super close to
I thought he was going to fly inside for a minute
As much as we love the helicopter tours, this one, after a while got a little repetitive and old. Partly because the island is so big, but also because so much of it is trees and lava…it was this picture when Christina said to me “now it just looks like we’re flying over Sacramento”
Back at the resort, here’s something I just don’t get…lying by the pool in Hawaii…
…When the ocean is LITERALLY right there! And people are lying by the pool with their backs to the ocean not even looking at its’ beauty!
Meanwhile, we walked about 200 steps past the pool and found easy access to a gorgeous beach setting
And because people are lame and stupid and would rather lay by the pool, we literally had an entire beach to ourselves!
That’s just the start, of course! Next week, we have pics from our ATV tour, a few ocean front dinners and our dogs after an 11 day stay at Dog-woods resort