jill's 27th

a few nights ago we were able to go out to dinner to celebrate the life of my little sister!

we love great food, and we love when we can recommend places for others to eat.
we hit this place up for dave's birthday last month...and were thoroughly impressed the second time around.
its a must.

happy birthday jill, may all your dreams and aspirations for this next year of life come true!

hawaii, part 3. black sand and coffee.

while on a day trip we went to a black sand beach
rumor has it, there are a ton of turtles on this beach, but when we went they were all hiding.


one thing the big island has are all kinds of different beaches.
black sand, white sand, green sand, grey sand. all kinds.
i loved the different feel to each beach and specifically to the elements that created the beaches (lava vs. coral)



along the road there are a lot of local farms selling and highlighting their livelihood.
we stopped in Ka'u for a local coffee and macadamia nut tasting



we were informed that there is a co-op of farmers from Ka'u who have just recently sold their coffee to starbucks.
we also were informed that there was a beetle roaming around kona eating all the coffee trees, which significantly reduced it's crop this year.
(so either the prices are going to increase even more, or there will be much less kona coffee)
which by the way, kona coffee is in my top 3 favorite coffees of all time!
here is DB in the corner of this road side coffee/nut tasting stand :)

hawaii, part 2. in search for a beach.

after DB and i hiked all around the volcanos and the craters, we made our way back up north to kona where we were staying.
but along the way we decided to stop at a few beaches just for fun.
our google maps app was guiding us to a green sand beach

but this is what the road looked like

we decided that calling a tow truck and spend a significant time stuck in the mud wasn't on our top 10 things to do while on vacation; so we carefully (and maybe slightly got stuck, but no town truck was needed) backed up and out of this muddy-really-not-a-real-road...and then back to the highway on our way to another beach.

the next beach was known to be secluded and the guide book said to park next to the yellow church...the road off the highway luckily was paved, and well traveled by the locals who lived in this little fishing village....this was our sign of caution

our guide book told us to walk to the south side of the church and take the fork to the right not to the left and then follow the path.


(yup...thats the kind of guide books we love...the adventurous ones!)
it was a 20 minute hike/walk/duck under the trees/follow the yellow arrow hike; that lead to an amazing lagoon with palm trees and not a single soul around!

(note: the yellow paint on the tree above, those were the markers along the way)
so much fun. worth the hike and not knowing where we were going!

there is a lot of lava rock on the big island

i wish we had packed a picnic and planned to stay for an entire day there...
that would have been amazing (next time!)

just lovely


we stayed just until sunset, as we wanted to have some sunlight to help guide us back to the parking lot...as we weren't entirely sure how to get back to our car.

one of the many things i love and appreciate about DB is his willingness to be adventurous, to seek out the road less traveled, to see where the locals truly live and to enjoy the journey along the way.
he makes traveling truly enjoyable and a lot of fun!

thanksgiving 2011

oh the food....it was delicious.

the day started out by sleeping in till 8am. :)

and then DB took me to starbucks...and i had my first soy latte of the season in a red cup!!
i serve these red cups every day by the case, but seriously, my first not-at-work purchased latte tasted delicious on thanksgiving in a red cup...oh holiday love!


as thanksgiving tradition has it...we went golfing.
sad story, the course was too wet to get a cart (lame!)
so i walked the links with my MIL
(whom i had convinced to join in on the golfing tradition, and to ride in the cart with me...but since we couldn't get a cart, we walked and talked the 9 holes together...then sat in the car with a bag of m&m's while the boys finished!)


while on the golf course, these ducks made me laugh


the day after thanksgiving i had to work.
but DB chose to cook his own thanksgiving meal so we could have mad leftovers
(he roasted a 14 pound turkey for the 2 of us!)
DB did an amazing job with the meal...i might never have to cook a turkey in my life as he has proven master chef of our kitchen!

luckily shannon was in town, for our annual christmas tree shopping extravaganza!
and joined in on our 2nd thanksgiving meal of the season!
(she ate her 1/8 pound of turkey, so we have a few pounds still left over!)



this is what i look forward to this holiday season...
warm apartment, red stockings on the wall, warm beverages, good food, relaxing evenings, and our friends lounging on our big brown couch!

thanksgiving eve

it all started thanksgiving eve, november 2005.
good thing he randomly chose to get out of the bay area and come visit me and annie in LA.

hawaii volcano national park

one of the day trips dave and i took was to the southern side of hawaii.
to the volcano national park.
due to the time change, and our inability to sleep in; the first few days on vacation we were up before 5am....crazy i know...but its true. the weather was warm, and the first few days there were crazy rain pouring down at 3am which woke me up it was so loud.
(here is my attempt to photograph the rain as we were getting into the car to leave)

due to our crazy sleep schedule, or lack thereof, we decided to take off before 6am for the volcano national park.
we even caught the sunrise

it was a beautiful drive



we were able to see much more of hawaii than just the touristy beaches and touristy downtown.

the drive took approximately 2 hours.

by the time we got to the craters, i was starving.
luckily along the way we stopped at a deli for some sandwiches.
so why not have lunch at 10am.



we decided to take a 4ish mile hike around the perimeter of the crater which takes you through a rain forest and into the dried up crater lake.

$2 for the self guided tour...and the good looking tour guide, well he is mine.


we knew there was a storm coming in, so we had to finish the tour/hike in less than 2 hours...so we booked it.


along the trail were numbered markers, which associated with the tour book, so my guide stopped and read to me all i was supposed to learn about what i was looking at.

i totally was paying attention.

the contrast from the rain forest to the bottom of the dried up lava lake was night and day....incredible.





we passed a few groups of tourists...and ohmyword...seriously, they bought these garbage ponchos, which were whipping in the wind, you could hear them from a mile away; all the while the local tour guide was in his shorts and shirt (probably laughing at them, but thankful for the mad profit he made off their plastic poncho purchase)

i digress.

the craters, the rain forest.

in the middle of the dried up lake were these cracked craters emitting steam and sulfur...definitely hot, but not too smelly.



we made it in less than 2 hours...the rain didn't pour, but it was misty and we were a little wet, but it was fun!


across the street from where we parked were the lava tubes.
which are caves that were created from when the volcano erupted and lava was spilling out with no place to go.

the caves were wet from the rain and the fact they were located under the rain forest.
nonetheless, amazing.

this is the view looking out of the lava tube


after the lava tubes we started the drive back up north, stopping along the way for a black sand beach, almost getting stuck in the muddy road on our trek to a green sand beach....those pictures next.