Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tuesday

Ouch - all night long I was feeling that workout from yesterday. I knew I wasn't in great shape but add that to a class that I think a fit person would find difficult, you'll find yourself hurting. We arrived at the airport around 10:00 am to fly to Oahu. After the security check in point you had the option to hang out and listen to these guys play their hawaiian music.



Kathy and Michael were on a flight that was supposed to leave an hour earlier than us but their plane was having some technical difficulties so they took our flight with us. Rob's family doesn't like to have everyone fly together "just in case." Here is a picture I took in the air of Kauai.



An hour later We arrived at the Halekulani Hotel which is one of my in-laws favorite hotels. The views from our room did not disappoint. It is spectactular. We also found in our room fresh fruits and chocolates from the hotel, and flowers from the Wagner's good friend's the Meindls.







A cool feature of the room is when you pull back the doors on the closet on both sides, you can have an awesome view while taking a bath. Rob told me our honeymoon suite at the Highlands Inn had this too but I didn't notice.



After settling in for a bit, we went to check out the gym, spa and the hotel's boutiques. Later we met Rob's parents at a little restaurant and bar in the hotel called "The House without a Key" for cocktails and to watch former Miss Hawaii dance (she dances 5 or 6 nights a week at this hotel). I think this woman and her dance is one of the reasons why this is one of Lou's favorite places. :)








We ate a nice dinner at the Orchid which is located in the hotel.

Rob and I now have food coma and are getting ready for bed.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Monday

Rob and I had breakfast at the same place this morning but we got downgraded on our view of the koi pond. Booo! After breakfast, Rob and I went to the gym. Rob did his normal workout and I did a fitness class. After the gym, Justin, I mean Tom, picked us up at the hotel to do more site seeing. This time Kathy and Michael decided to do their own thing. Below are some of the highlights from our day.

First stop was at the Wailmea Falls. It was neat because we were at the same level as the top of the falls.



Next we drove through the "Coco Palms" hotel where Rob's dad stayed when he was in his 20's. The movie Blue Hawaii with Elvis Presley was filmed at this hotel. The hotel is not running anymore and is in pretty bad shape. They are planning on demolishing it and putting in a park.




After visiting the hotel, we ate at Scotty's. Scotty's is an ocean front casual restaurant. The backside of the restaruant has garage doors so during business they are up so half the restaurant is outside and you can see the view of the ocean.






Next we made a stop at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge where they had a lot of birds (Jen would have LOVED this place), a lighthouse and pretty views. Oh, and a great sign.








We stopped at a beach where they seem to not welcome guests with open arms. We stayed inside the car.




We made a last stop to see another waterfall.





Goodbye Kauai!

Sunday

Sunday morning Rob and I went down for breakfast at this outdoor buffet place at the restaurant. We have free breakfast vouchers so we figured we would save money by going down there rather than having room service where the menu is the same and quantities are smaller. They seated us on the outer parimeter where we had a view of the koi pond similar to last night's dinner. After breakfast, Rob worked out and I went down to the spa for a massage. I was told to get there at 8:00 (massage started at 8:30). After the tour of the facility, I spent probaby 10-15 mins in the steam room. I then went to the locker room showers and took a shower in their really cool showers. Each individual shower's back wall was this black rock with flowers and plants cascading down. It felt like you were taking a shower under a waterfall. After the shower, I had my massage which was really good. The only part that was kind of weird was the blanket was a little slippery so the lady had to keep pulling it up after each time I mooned her. Other than that it was great! I think taking pictures in the spa facilities is frowned upon so you will just have to use your imagination.

The six of us had a driver pick us up around 11:00 to do some sight seeing. I get a little ADD on tours like this so I'll just tell you what we saw but I can't totally tell you the history.

First we went to the Russian Fort where the Russians had a fort. :)





Next stop was the Waimea Canyon Lookout. We actually went to 2 lookouts (that was stop #3). The views were really pretty.





We were getting hungry and the tour guide (aka) Justin Timberlake in his early years:




told us about this great place that serves "local food". We ended up here:





I was kind of thinking some pork dishes or something but to be honest, I think I would have liked this place better than what I thought we were going to eat.

We then went to see the "spouting horn" which is a lava formation where as the lava hit the water, it cooled and created channel so now when water hits it, it shoots up like a geyser and makes a horn sound.



We attempted to see something else (can't remember what) but it was too foggy.

After the sight seeing, we came back to the hotel and relaxed. For dinner, we went to the "Beach House" down the street where they have amazing sunsets. We agreed the food was pretty good but the sunset was better.







One more full day in Kauai and we are off to Oahu!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Aloha!

The day has finally come: we are in Hawaii! We flew out of SFO at 9:30 PST and had a direct flight to Kaua'i. We are missing Buddy a lot and Rob said it best this morning "the worst thing about traveling is we have to leave Buddy." We miss you Buddy but know you are in good hands!

This picture doesn't have to do with anything, but I liked it (from the SFO airport).



We waited a bit in the aiport after we landed to wait for Kathy and Michael because they were landing an hour after us.



While waiting, I noticed a man wearing short shorts and it reminded me of a game Rob and I played when we were on our honeymoon in Europe. It was called: find a man wearing super short shorts and take a picture of him. We started this game a little late on our trip so we only have 2 pictures - one of a man in Rome at the Colesseum and one of a man outside a museum in Athens. Anywho, here is "that guy" from our Hawaii trip:



The shorts don't look THAT bad in the photo, but they are a bit too short donchathink?

As we were walking to the rental car place, I noticed this awesome sign. Caution: Jazz Hands! It's awesome. Thanks to this sign, I now know I'm not the only one who has the desire to throw up my jazz hands the moment I feel my feet slipping on pavement - and that makes me feel good inside.



At last, we made it to the Grand Hyatt. Oooh la la is this place nice! As soon as you walk "in" you realize the lobby is kind-a sort of outside. Just look at the ocean view from the lobby.





Tonight we had dinner at Tidepools which is a restaurant at our hotel. The restaurant is a bunch of Hawaiian thatched roof huts set on a koi pond and surrounded by waterfalls (I stole that description off the brochure, can't you tell?).





On the way back from dinner, I found this sign (what is up with these crazy Hawaiian signs?!) I heart them.



I'm about to retire for the night when I got a note from our friends and Buddy watchers. These pictures of Buddy and his girlfriend Hannah were too cute not to post.




I'm exhausted - good night!