After our few days of wedding festivities in Seattle, we hopped on another plane and continued our journey west, to Hawaii. We flew directly to Kona International Airport on the west side of the easternmost island, Hawaii, AKA the Big Island. A quick walk through the all-outdoor airport, then we picked up our rental silver Altima (which appeared to be the official rental car of the Big Island), and we were off to the resort!
By the time we hit the halfway mark in our trip, the weather turned from record-breaking cold into something much nicer. The morning started with really appreciating the view from our room (and its small—but existent!—balcony), the blue skies, the sun, and the fact that we no longer had to worry about wearing layers. I’d tweaked our FastPass and dining reservations several times for the first weekday, and while things weren’t exactly ideal, we were happy to at least have a plan in place.
Wednesday was probably the only day we had with no real plans other than dining reservations. Given that our first reservation was for the Rose & Crown Pub in EPCOT—and that Gina and I had only been to that park briefly so far this visit—we decided that’d be the best place to start our day. So, fairly early in the a.m., we headed out to the boat dock to get to the Magic Kingdom area, where we’d pick up the first of two monorails that’d allow us to reach EPCOT.
We’ve been back for several days now, and I’m nearly readjusted to the time change. Overall, this was an incredible trip, and I can only hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I’m going to enjoy recalling the last few days (and going back and reading this in the future). So, settle in, and read on to hear about the latter half of our Alaska cruise!
Four or five years ago, Gina and I took our first vacation together, to Williamsburg, Virginia, where my parents loaned us their timeshare for a week. We’re here for a mere half a week this time—our fourth (perhaps fifth?) return trip—but back in the same location as the timeshare for the first time. Our trip, however, really started much closer to home.
One of the first things that attracted us to the Western Caribbean cruise was a stop in Cozumel. Not for Cozumel itself, mind you, though it holds a certain weirdly connected appeal (the trumpet on the linked tune is played by yours truly, tune by my friend Jim Balcerek). No, what we were intrigued by were the Mayan ruins on the mainland at Tulum, to which a shore excursion was offered … which we booked at least a month before the cruise. Continue reading »
Okay, I lied on Facebook … looks like I’m updating this again sooner than I thought. Just had myself a cruller from Tim Horton’s for breakfast, we’ve got Strange Brew on the TV, and I’m finishing up my coffee.
Toronto’s been a beauty, eh. Continue reading »
I’m departing from my usual morning posts since we’re fairly tuckered out tonight. It’s a “chill at the hotel” kinda night, preceded by a vacation blog post, and postceded, we hope, by a good night’s sleep.
Meantime, it’s so far, so good on the trip! Continue reading »
So we’ve been in Texas since Saturday, mostly visiting with family. Yesterday, we hopped into the rental (a Chevy Cobalt, which is surprisingly not at all bad) and took the 3–4 hour drive out to Austin. But of course, we haven’t just been sitting around since then. Continue reading »
So here we are, already Friday, and it kinda feels like we’ve hardly started our vacation … yet we’re about halfway through!
Sure, we have our tickets to everything already. Sure, we’ve had some lovely dinners and some good times with my parents (who are in the area till Sunday). Sure, I’ve been showered with birthday gifts. But we haven’t really gone to Colonial Williamsburg yet, nor have we gone to Busch Gardens. Continue reading »