Great day for sledding in the Columbia River Gorge town of Carson, WA last weekend. Carson received almost two feet of snow which is pretty much unprecedented now days. We were going to head further into the mountains but after talking to some locals we found this spot. This was at steep street in the middle of town.
1 comment February 4th, 2008
Travel day home… certainly the least favorite day of any vacation unless you’re a four year old boy who misses his toys.
We woke up at 7am Hawaii time and I went to drop off the snorkel gear as Mommy got the kids ready for breakfast. Since we packed last night we only had a few last minute items to pack this morning.
We ate breakfast at Kai which serves buffet style, my least favorite style of food delivery. I much prefer cook to order food over precooked, multiple human contact and possible germ contamination via less then steril patrons. I ate boxed cereal, tofu, potatoes and rice. Fairly safe. The kids ate pancakes, eggs, bacon and cereal between them. Mommy ate eggs, bacon, potatoes and fruit.
After breakfast we played some billards and foosball. By then it was time to check out and head to the airport. Dropped off the rental car, hopped in the shuttle. Ate a $30 lunch that looked and tasted like cardboard at the Kona airport.
In Maui we ordered Aiden a cheeseburger for the flight which took for too long to have served. Then back on the plane for the long flight to Portland. The kids were really good on the plane, I was very pleased. Aiden was ready to land with about 30 minutes to go but I entertained him with paddy cake and tickles.
We grabbed a towncar for a nice ride home and now it’s time for bed. Another excellent vacation in Hawai’i completed.
Add comment August 29th, 2007
Today is our last full day on the Big Island. It also happens to be Autumn’s 11th birthday today. To celebrate Autumn and I went snorkeling at A’Bay early this morning. The water was a little murky but an abundance of turtles more than made up for it. While we were snorkeling Mommy and Aiden had a nice breakfast at Kai in the Sheraton.
After returning back at the hotel we all piled into the car and headed for Kahalu’u Beach. Mommy and Autumn started out snorkeling first and saw lots of turtles. I played with AJ on the beach, making animal shapes out of sand for him to destroy. I then went snorkeling and saw a ton of turtles as well. I even ran into a kei triggerfish that was nipping at my flippers. After awhile Autumn joined me in the water.
The afternoon had us finish up our shopping in downtown Kona then back to hotel for our last dip in the pool. The waterslide is still just as fun as the first time.We’re now finishing dinner at Kai while everyone but me has dessert, typical 
Happy 11th Birthday Autumn, I hope you had a great day in paradise.
Add comment August 27th, 2007
Today started slowly as we’re getting tired. I was up at 6am ready to snorkel but Autumn said she was too tired so we went back to bed. Aiden woke up not feeling well due to being hungry and not drinking enough fuilds. Around 10am he started feeling better so we started the trek to Anaeho’omalu Bay (A’Bay) for hopefully some turtles basking in the sun.
We arrived near 11:30am and were initally greeted to five turtles feeding offshore. As we moved down the southern side of the sandy and lava rocked beach we came across a pair of green sea turtles sunning themselves. Jackpot. I took numerous photos 
Walking a little further we happened upon a solo turtle sunning on the sand. He noticed us right away and on the next large wave made a b-line for the water. The one thing about A’Bay was that it’s extremely hot in the sun. After about an hour everyone was baking hot.
Returning to the car we left for the Waikoloa food court for lunch. Eating Subway and pizza so Aiden will eat. Driving back towards Kona we stopped at a beach off the highway down a dirt road. Sadly it looked better from the highway.
Back in town we did some shopping and I then took a short snorkel in Keauhou Bay. Now we’re eating dinner at Crystal Blue watching the sunset.
Tomorrow is our last full day on the Big Island. So far the early plan is to snorkel A’Bay in the morning then its a toss up afterwards.
Add comment August 26th, 2007
Lacking internet at the hotel now as I refuse to pay $11/day for crap, this will be a short post about today’s activities.
Autumn and I got up at sunrise and snorkled Kahulu’u Beach Park before the crowds arrived. The water clarity was good and we spotted five different turtles feeding on the reef.
The kids returned to Keiki Club for a morning session as the parents went to the spa for side by side massages on the ocean front balcony. Krista also got treated to a full facial while I hung out poolside and ate gelato.
The afternoon saw us shopping downtown in Kona. We ate dinner at Outback again and watched the sunset at the bay.
Add comment August 26th, 2007
There wasn’t a lot of energy to be had yesterday. This is partly why I’m writing the days events a day late. The day started out with us visiting “Magic” Sands or White Sands Beach. Aiden really want to play in “normal” sand, you know the kind, it sticks to you everywhere. Typically the sand on the Big Island is coarse and lava rockish. Nye impossible for making sand castles. The waves where very large making the snorkeling not so great nor the ability to swim. Aiden wasn’t interested in the “salt water” at all, Autumn found frolicking in the ocean to be entertaining. I did attempt snorkeling as we saw turtles near the shoreline. The water was very murky due to the sand being kicked up by the waves. Further out there wasn’t much to see other than fish that I’d seen before.
We left the beach after a few hours and headed back to the hotel for more swimming. Thursday felt more like an off day than anything due to everyone being tired. Autumn and Krista went out to the manta rays last night but unfortunately they didn’t see any. So they’ll have to reschedule for another night. Hopefully they’ll get James Wing, who was on my trip, as he is the resident and perhaps world expert on manta rays. Aiden and I hung out at the restaurant while we watched the sunset and Mommies boat out on the bay.
Today we’re planning on heading up north but we’ll see how far we actually get.
Add comment August 24th, 2007
Keikei Club. Krista and I decided we needed a true vacation day i.e. a day without kids while on vacation. So, thankfully, the Sheraton runs a “keikei” club for kids. The price isn’t “cheap” but it was totally worth it to be able to have a free day without kids. It felt a little strange to be away from the kids on vacation but it was nice to be able to feel like we were on vacation.
After dropping the kids off at the club we made our way down south a bit to “Two Steps” or City of Refugee. We saw the usual fish, nothing out of the ordinary. Then out of nowhere a little green sea turtle shows up. Krista and I were able to get some good photos of the turtle. Luckily another one showed up and we split off each taking pictures of a different turtle. I was surprised at the amount of people here. The method of entry is not easy for beginners, you need to push off a lava shelf into 10 feet deep water with waves breaking at you. We saw some people cutting their feet on less than ideal entry points. The parking was also lacking yet some local entrepreneurs had setup a pay lot nearby where we parked.
We started back towards Kona after finishing a light snack on the lava rocks at Two Steps. We were feeling up to snorkeling so we headed to the local organic food store for vegan wraps. Very yummy! Still haven’t quite yet got the bug for shopping yet but we did do a bit of shopping in downtown Kona.
On our way back to the hotel I got the urge to snorkel in Kahalu’u again. I’m glad I did because after about 5 minutes in the water Krista stopped a smaller turtle swimming about. And after while longer she discovered a much large turtle feeding on the coral floor. Since the bottom is only about 10 feet deep, we had an incredible view of the feeding turtle. He’d eat a bit then surface for air then dive back down and eat. All the while we were watching him and he didn’t seem to mind at all. I got some amazing close up shots due he very calm and relaxed nature. By this time it was getting late and we had to pick up the kids from keikei club I had to leave the turtle alone all by himself. It was really a treat to be able to spend about 30 minutes alone with a honu. Truly a one of a kind experience.
Tonight was also the manta ray snorkel trip. This was my third time in the water today and I can say at this point I’m really looking for a day off. Doubtful but I’m feeling water logged. However, the manta ray experience was not to be missed! When entering the water it’s very dark and almost a little scary as you look down into the dark abyss. There is one main light gleaming into the ocean from the boat but it’s certainly not bright enough for much distance. Autumn was pretty spooked getting into the water but that all changed once the manta rays showed up.
We were lucky enough to get two nice size manta rays. They both were very active and apparently very hungry. The underwater videographer, James Wing, was able to control them with his two very large underwater lights. He’d bring the manta rays right under us and they’d do backwards 360 loops for plankton. It was an awesome sight to see such graceful creatures underwater. They are truly beautiful and I’d due that trip again in a heartbeat even if I feel like the I’m still rocking on the boat afterwards.
That was a pretty long day and I’m beat. Goodnight Hawai’i and Mahalo for the wonderful day!
Add comment August 23rd, 2007
Early morning as we left on a snorkel cruise at 8:00am HST. After eating bagels, bananas and coffee in our room, we left for the boat ramp which is about a 1/2 mile from our hotel, sweet. We checked for the boat trip and found out that only 4 other people would be joining us for a total of 8 people. Excellent!
We headed off for Captain Cook’s Monument and within the first 10 minutes Autumn starting feeling sea sick. Then Mommy got a little queasy after taking Aiden into the galley to go potty. I personally usually always get queasy so I was trying to focus on the horizon. After about 45 minutes we arrived at Kealakekua Bay for our first snorkel. While the bay was beautiful I’d have to say that the snorkeling was just average. We didn’t spot anything we hadn’t seen before and no turtles, dolphins or even sharks in sight.
After spending about an hour at the site we moved on back to Keauhou Bay or so we thought. After about 30 minutes we stopped at another snorkel site. I can’t recall the name of the bay but this place had some excellent visibility and a nice selection of fish. The water was deep, about 40 feet so it was hard to get good pictures. However, Autumn and I did spot a small turtle gliding across the bottom of the ocean floor. We also saw some nice coral on the larger rock reefs.
After the boat trip we headed back out to the pool for more Manta Ray slide fun. Krista can sure scream down the water slide going faster than anyone we’ve seen so far. We were finally able to get the kids out of the pool for dinner where we ate in downtown Kona at the Outback. The kids had some ice cream cones after dinner and we did some light shopping.
Everyone is sunburnt and tired. Tomorrow will be an off day for the kids while the adults will attempt to snorkel in a more exclusive and private location. Autumn and I will also be attempting the night time manta ray snorkel right outside our hotel.
Add comment August 21st, 2007
Our first full day on the island started us off with figuring out what to do and where to go to do it. After waking up at 6:30am HST we didn’t leave the room till around 8:00am. We got a late start obviously. Then we drove to downtown Kona and drove around in circles looking for a hole in the wall bakery for breakfast. Wasn’t great, wasn’t terrible but no one ate much. Then we had to find a Starbucks for that hometown coffee with soy. By now it’s 9:00am and we don’t have any snorkel gear.
Where’s the Snorkel Bob’s? Thankfully not too far but after spending close to an hour in there it was too late to drive anywhere to far. So, we decided to make two more stops: one for cold drinks and the other for a beach umbrella and mats.
Now it’s 10:30am and we’ve found our first destination, Kahalu’u Beach Park in downtown Kona. This is a very popular beach with locals and tourists and since we got here kind of late, the water wasn’t very clear due to too many people in the water. However, all was not lost as we all saw multiple turtles! Even with average snorkeling the sight of turtles makes any spot awesome.
After exiting the water, Daddy thought it might be a good idea to get closer to nature and crash onto the lava rocks. I was down for quite a while as I needed to make sure I didn’t break anything. I even got some assistance from a lifeguard. At this point I’m feeling better but my right side of my body took a good beating from toe to right arm. After the fact we noticed a sign that stated that the rocks are slippery… perhaps I should have read that first?
Tonight we ate dinner at the Crystal Blue lounge within the hotel. Much better than the bar & grill at pool side. Nice selection of pupus and drinks. Kids enjoyed it as well and Aiden ate all his dinner for the first time on the trip. Hooray! We’re hitting the hay a bit early tonight as we have a snorkel cruise to Captain Cook’s Monument in the morning. Should be fun!
Add comment August 20th, 2007
Today was our travel day to The Big Island. The plane flights were pretty uneventful, thank goodness. Just a long day as we left for the Portland airport at 7:30am and arrived at our hotel at 6:45pm PST (3:45pm HST). That’s almost 12 hours of traveling. Not really fun. But hey, a small price to pay for visiting paradise.
The kids wanted to hit the pool the moment we arrived and hit it they did. The Sheraton Keauhou has a massive 200 foot waterslide called the “Manta Ray” (due to the nightly Manta Ray’s that feed off their shoreline). Now what kid or adult isn’t going to have fun with the slide? We all went down it multiple times and it was great fun. I’m fairly certain that we’ll be sliding down that again before our time is up here.
We then figured it was time to eat some real food since we hadn’t really ate anything since we left our house. Airplane food doesn’t really count since no one actually had more than a few bites. Absolutely nasty. The hotel’s bar and grill is ok, nothing fancy. The onion rings hit the spot plus the local Kona Brewing Company beer was top notch after a long day.
Uploading photos and videos is going to be a big pain. While the download speeds on the hotel’s network are nice and fast (usually), their upload rates are capped at 4kbps. If you’re lucky it will actually upload continuously but I’ve not had that happen often. I uploaded a bunch of pictures to Flickr and it took a LONG TIME. I also uploaded a video to Viddler, which took over 15 minutes for a 3mb file…
It was a long day and I’m heading to bed.
Add comment August 19th, 2007
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