We slept in this morning so we started the day late but after a late start we headed over to Gorgoza Park to go snow tubing. Everyone had a blast! I’ll let the pictures tell the story….

After snow tubing, the kids opted to go snowmobiling…..

After the winter activities, we intended to head over to the Dinosaur park in Lehi but the entire “Thanksgiving Point” center was CLOSED on Sunday! Can you believe that the place was closed on Sunday!

Instead and since we were in the area, we opted to head over to Uinta National Forest and drove through the scenic forest and mountain scape.

After our visit to Lehi and surrounding area, we drove back to Salt Lake City and headed for the hotel. While I took the kids to the indoor pool and jacuzzi, Marge headed for the spa to get a massage.

Categories: Salt Lake City
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What a busy day! We started the morning with “Breakfast with Santa” at the hotel. Santa came down and sat with us and after breakfast we took a few photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The kids loved it!

After breakfast, we drove over to the Utah State Capitol building and did a quick tour of the building. It is a fascinating building built on marble and granite. The dome has spectacular oil paintings adorning the inner dome.

Pictured above is the Utah State Capitol building and below is the partial inner dome.

After the State Capitol visit, we headed over to the Gateway shopping center where our first stop was the Clarke Planetarium. The kids had fun learning about the solar system and how much we would all weigh if we were standing on a neutron star. The kids got to touch a 4.5 billion year old rock and take photos of Bart and Lisa on Mars and the Moon.

We did a little shopping at the gift shops and headed for lunch over at AppleBees since that seemed to be the most agreeable place for everyone. The day was fairly cold with snow flurries starting and stopping randomly but the outdoor shopping mall has an amazing gas powered fireplace where people can stop by and warm up in between shopping.

After our shopping trip, we decided to go for a drive and opted to head over to Antelope Island State Park which is essentially a small island inside the Salt Lake. We managed to get spectacular photos and views of the mountain range and did manage to spot a few buffalo on the island. We drove the island and headed out before the sunset. It is the Park’s policy to close the bridge from the mainland to the island after sunset.

After our long day, we stopped for a quick dinner at McDonalds (for the kids) and then headed back to the hotel. We spent the evening in the heated indoor pool and jacuzzi before we turned in for bed.

Categories: Salt Lake City
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We woke up this morning fairly rested as the time difference gives us about an hour of extra sleep. We started the day with a hearty breakfast at the hotel. The buffet was somewhat pricey at $15 per person and $7 for kids but we were satiated and off to Brighton for a day of snowboarding.

The drive there was fairly smooth and it took about 45 minutes to get there from our hotel. Upon arriving at Brighton, we were warmly greeted by the many friendly people Salt Lake City has to offer. We booked double lessons, one for the morning and one for the afternoon, and proceeded to get our rental gear. The cost for everything was about $410 for lessons, boots and snowboard.

The kids learned rather quickly but us adults struggled quite a bit as each fall reverberated throughout our entire bodies. The change in altitude, cold weather and general lack of fitness quickly manifested itself in a relentless fatigue.

After spending the better part of the day there, we drove back around 4 p.m. but the heavy snow made the driving treacherous. Most cars were driving 10 to 20 mph all the way back from Brighton to Salt Lake City. There were numerous vehicular accidents throughout the roads when we turned on the tube to catch up on the news and weather so we considered ourselves lucky. I must confess, I did lose control of the car at least four times but quickly regained traction and control after occasionally hitting a snow bank at the edge of the road.

Because it took 2 hours to get back from Brighton, we opted for room service as we had tickets for the Nutcracker show here in Capitol Theatre which started at 7 p.m. The concierge at the hotel secured tickets for us while we were out snowboarding and the tickets had already been charged to our room.

After wolfing down the most overpriced room service we’ve had in a while ($80), we walked over to the theater to what the show. The theater is about four blocks from our hotel so we walked during a light snowfall all the way there! Unfortunately, there was some confusion about the tickets we purchased and we almost went in late to the show but a direct call to the concierge’s cell phone (she provided her cell phone) quickly resolved the matter.

We had an absolutely great time at the Nutcracker. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we had a great time watching the show.

Categories: Salt Lake City
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We flew in to Salt Lake City today on a quick winter vacation.   Our flight was packed but uneventful.   The trip from the airport to our hotel was fairly easy and upon arrival we were greeted by a warm staff and warm cookies by reception.   We’re staying in one of the city’s premier hotels and I’ll write a full review upon completion of our trip.

Because we spent part of the day traveling, we didn’t get much sunlight to visit too many sites.   We did stop at Temple Square and toured the famous church campus.    I was pretty amazed at the opulence of the structures and amazed at some of the oil painting sized about 8′ x 6′ all throughout the visitors center.  The campus did have amazing Christmas lights throughout the facility.   Of interesting note, the tabernacle has a demonstration where a pin is dropped into a bowl and the sound can be heard throughout the facility.  It’s pretty amazing!

We took as many photos as light permitted then headed back to our hotel where we ate dinner then headed to the indoor heated pool and spa inside the hotel.   The kids had a great time.  From snowball fights to kicking the “ice” puck all around the sidewalks as we walked around.

Tags: Salt Lake City
Categories: Salt Lake City
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The Good – The hotel has a great location near many great sites. Waterfalls, black beaches, snorkeling coves, Observatory and other activities are nearby via car. This hotel also features onsite laundry if you need to wash clothes. The hotel staff were VERY friendly and accessible.

The Bad – The hotel is a bit dated with a desperately needed refresh of the decor. It is a hotel that we’ve stayed in a while that actually had the old key/lock system instead of magnetic card reader . The restaurant buffets were less than stellar although a few good items were on the menu. The swimming pool was a bit small but the island park across the street made up for it. There are various areas in the park to swim and play in even for small kids.

The Damage – The final bill was close to $450 for 3 nights and this was one of the better hotels in Hilo. The restaurant buffet will run you about $30 per person and the hotel did have limited spa services.

The Recommendation – This was one of the better hotels in Hilo and the location was fairly good as it was close to shopping, beaches, and other activities. Our plan called for staying a few brief nights in Hilo and this hotel worked fine for our situation but I wouldn’t stay longer than a couple of nights here until the hotel gets a good remodeling.

Hotel Website.

Categories: Hawaii, Hotels
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The Good – The hotel has a great beach and excellent pools for young kids, heated spas for adults and even has a slide for both. The room we stayed in had a spectacular view of the ocean, lagoon and sunset. There were many great activities available at the resort including canoing, snorkeling adventures, Luau show (Wed & Sat), water biking, and more. We were concerned that the hotel would be over run by drunk spring breakers but it finally dawned on us that Hawaii is a state with a legal drinking age of 21 so there weren’t any spring breakers to be found. There were many families with young children (infant to 14) here at the resort but no drunken disorderliness. This hotel is located about 15 miles from town and is fairly isolated but there are nearby shops and a convenience store (expensive) to buy various food items. The nearby restaurants are moderately expensive but the food is good.

The Bad – Finding a waiter to fetch a drink at this hotel is impossible. The mandatory $20 resort fee is ridiculous, if it is mandatory then it should simply be rolled into the price of the hotel room per night. Why charge separately?

Unfortunately, our room was prone with problems: The room fridge was not working so it had to be replaced. The A/C needed to be repaired with a replacement filter but we were unaware of a magnetic “lock” on the sliding glass door window that needed to be close enough to activate the A/C. Evidently our door was ever so slightly open that the sensor never activated to turn the A/C on.

The Damage – The final bill was close to $2200 for 5 nights and this included a $300 Luau fee for Wednesday night. Dining & drinking at the hotel is expensive and we opted (like so many others) to shop at nearby Wal-mart in town and load up on beer, wine, snacks and fruit rather than spend money at the resort. Food (and other things) in Hawaii in general are expensive. Expect to pay $6 for a box of cereal and $4 for a gallon of gas (March 2008).

The Recommendation – We liked the hotel and would stay here again but I would highly recommend you rent a car to view the rest of Big Island during your stay. If you have kids, love the beach & pools and outdoor activities then this is the place for you!

Hotel Website.

Categories: Hawaii, Hotels
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Aloha,

I’m at the airport as I write this and it is 8:31 p.m. here in Kona. Our final day was a pretty good day. We got up early to take flight on Blue Hawaiian Helicopter rescheduled from Monday. Our 45 minute flight was well worth the $700 price tag as we soared over Big Island, flew by lava flows and the volcano crater itself! We then proceeded to the sea where lava met ocean in a spectacular array of colors attributed to the sulfur and other elements hitting the sea.

After our aerial escapade we drove back from Hilo to Kona and stopped at the Botanical Gardens along the way and I took over 100 photos of different fauna and waterfalls.

After our visit to the gardens we headed back to Kona and stopped at a few small towns along the way including Hawi, a small town inhabited by Hawaiian artist community, and Mahukona Beach Park where the kids played chicken with the ocean waves crashing upon the rocky coast.

Unfortunately, I can’t post any photos today as my laptop battery is running low, I’m charging my cell phone and don’t have any spare ports on the computer to do it all simultaneously.

Our flight leaves at 10:45 p.m. and we’ll be home sometime tomorrow around 4:00 p.m. I’ll post reviews of the hotels and our overall trip over the next day or two.

Mahalo for being with us on our journey to the Big Island Hawaii.

Categories: Hawaii
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We started the day with a quick breakfast at Ken’s Famous House of Pancakes.  The food was OK but the coffee was horrible.

Today was Waterfall day and we stopped at three different waterfalls:  Rainbow, Boiling Pots and Other (don’t remember name).

The first was the most spectacular as it had a large drop off and scenic surrounding.

Boiling Pots was good too but to get the real beauty of this waterfall, you had to climb down a steep embankment to get a good cinematic view.

The third was just a plain old waterfall but good to look at nonetheless.

After the waterfall tour, we went for a brief time over to Robertson Park (black beach) where I did a little snorkeling for a couple of hours.  I took some more amazing photos of the aquatic life but they won’t be developed for a few days after we get back.

In the evening, we decided to drive up to the observatory.  A four wheel drive vehicle was needed to get to the actual summit so we got a high as we could to view the stars.  The welcome center had telescopes setup to view the stars above.  Unfortunately, we waited for two hours and the visibility was horrible due to low level clouds and they didn’t seem to show any chance of waning so we headed back down fairly disappointed.

Categories: Hawaii
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We started day seven of our Hawaii vacation eagerly anticipating we would be flying around in a helicopter taking an aerial look at Volcano island but unfortunately, our flight was canceled due to poor weather conditions.

Since we couldn’t see Volcano by air, we decided to drive and see Volcano by land. The park didn’t open until 2:00 p.m. so we had to kill some time and we decided to visit a nearby “black beach” given that name because the sand is pitch black. The sand is actually pulverized black volcanic rock that has been pounded by the sea over and over again to the point where the sand is fine grain.

After visiting the black beach, we headed over to the area of the beach where lava was freely flowing into the pacific ocean on the east side of the island. Despite the large plums of steam from the lava colliding with the ocean, we did manage to take a few shots of the actual lava pouring out of the rock.

We then headed to the top of Volcano Island where we drove up 3500 feet above sea level to check out the volcano’s craters. Unfortunately, because of a recent eruption (a couple of weeks ago) most of the roads were shut down and one was covered with molten rock (see picture). There was serious sulfur dioxide emissions coming from the volcano so most of the park was close. Add to it the poor rainy weather conditions and you’ll understand why we only managed to get a few good shots of the crater.

While at the park, we did manage to visit an old lava tube from the inside. This particular tube spanned about 300 yards underground and we managed to walk the whole thing without incident. The tube was dripping water from rain above, slippery and had quite a few puddles that needed to be navigated in near pitch black conditions.

After our Volcano Park visit, we headed back home. It took a while to drive from the beaches to the top of the mountain and back down again so much of our day was spent driving between locations and the drizzly weather didn’t help much either.

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We check out of the Waikoloa Marriot Beach Resort this morning and got on the car to head to Hilo. We made a few stops along the way to make the most of our trip. The drive was fairly scenic along the way. From our car we peered out at the mountain we’d be driving up and around and marveled as the clouds hugged the mountain top.

Our first stop was the Hapuna Beach Park.  A picture speak 1000 words.

Our second stop was a small little town nestled in the mountain. We drove by a farmer’s market and were stunned to see a sign reading “TAMALES” with an arrow pointing to the camp ground. We parked the car and looked around, bought some tamales and other knicknacks and headed out. We were fascinated to find that thousands of miles from the border over pacific ocean, we spotted Mexican food on a mountain top!

Our third stop was Laupahoehoe Point Park. This is a site of mass devastation when a tsunami rolled through here in 1946 killing many people. The view was amazing as the sea collided with the rock sewn about the beach head and in the far distance, you could see waterfalls from the cliff tops cascading down to the ocean.

Our fourth stop was Botanical Gardens. The fauna inside these gardens were beautiful! I photographed flowers I’d never seen before any where. The most amazing thing was the wide variety of flowers growing in different shapes, colors, and sizes.

Inside the Botanical Gardens, we stopped by an amazing three tiered waterfall called Umauma Falls. It was spectacular! We then walked along a tropical rain forest inside the gardens for a while. We spent a few hours here and the $36 admin fee (for 4) was well worth it!

Our fifth stop was Akaka Falls which featured an amazing 442-foot fall. Unfortunately, it was a hike to get to the falls and I didn’t take the wide angle lens. So I took high res photos with my 70-200mm Canon 4L lens and the shots came out great but I’ll need to stitch them together to get a final product. It also began to rain so we didn’t get a chance to take too many photos.

After the falls we stopped at the nearby town shops for a quick lunch. We ate some Ahi burgers and chips and quickly moved on to our final stop – the hotel in Hilo.

Categories: Hawaii
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