December 1st
Sarah’s Entry
Got a late start but it was very easy getting the rental car. Not so easy finding Mountain Thunder coffee. I found their website on my phone and got the directions to get up there. Upon reading the directions “past the third Hao road” we understand the confusion.
When we arrived there really wasn’t any one out to greet us. A girl did come out and make us our coffee which was the best I had ever had. Judy our guide arrived at 10. She was running late and didn’t really seem in any real hurry to get started. She was really sweet though so we worked on our patience and waited. It was well worth it once she began her talk she had planted some trees up near the road so they would be more accessible to people who couldn’t get around well. She talked about being organic, about the growing cycle of the beans(cherries). About the new found benefits in the antioxidents in the cherries themselves and of Hawaiian red tea.
After that we went in and learned the whole roasting and sorting methods and then we actually watched while she roasted at medium roast. She said it is actually better to wait 3-4 days for the flavors to finish developing before drinking.
We bought our coffee and headed toward cook monument and the painted church.
Better research could have gone into this… the painted church was ok, but I didn’t know you had to kayak out to cooks….ooops. So back on the windy roads we go to bind Kona brewing co. The brewing company was good, we had a coupon for free breadsticks if you bought a beer sampler which Derek wanted anyway. I tried the lava red which I didn’t like. We also ordered nachos with pulled pork, very good. We found out they had wifi so Derek can back to the car for the netbook and we tried a video chat with the kids, but the microphone wasn’t working on the laptop at home. It was still good to see their faces.
Back on the ship we went to the Honeymoon/Anniversary champagne and cake reception, only four couples showed up so we ended up having four glasses a piece. For dinner we headed back to the Liberty for beef Wellington, glad we didn’t miss that. After dinner we headed to the hot tub before showering and getting ready for the White Hot Dance Party, of course we hit the martini bar for happy hour first. My dress was way to big and kept slipping so I ended up changing an going back. It was a goodtime and the dancing was fun. Back to sleep!
Derek’s Entry
Got to sleep in a little bit today, off to find a coffee plantation to make my brother happy. Have to come home with some Kona coffee. After quite a bit of driving we made it to Mountain Thunder plantation. Got there too early for the tour, but they offered us a fresh cup of coffee, that was amazing. I drank it black and it was so smooth. Learned a lot about coffee and after spending $70 on coffee we hopped back in the car in search of cook’s monument and the painted church. More long windy road driving.
After driving for about 45 minutes we found the painted church. I was expecting amazing. It was a cute little church with a painted ceiling. There is historical significance behind it, plus it is still a functioning catholic church. If I were catholic, I probably would have enjoyed it more. Next up, Cook Monument. When Cook landed on the island by accident the first time he was accepted as a god. He left and landed there again and the natives killed him. The monument marks where he was killed. The only way to the monument is by kayaking or boat, since we didn’t have either we took a picture from a long way away. Without a doubt it was my most disappointing day in Hawaii, but that is our own faults for not researching Kona well, plus it was still better than being home at work.
Back to the ship for the Honeymooners/anniversary reception in the Lanai bar. They had glasses of champagne poured out from 5 bottles, well only 4 couples showed up. Had 4 glasses a piece and a piece of cake that wasn’t worth eating. Off to check on what is for dinner in the main dining room(Liberty). Noticed Beef Wellington on the menu which is one of my faves and oh yeah, we are in! Got to finish it up with some Crème Brulee and I was one happy cruiser! Afterwards off to the White Hot Party. Mostly everyone wore white and we had a good time. Danced some of our food away and had a couple more drinks. On the way back to the room we walked through one of the closed restaurants as a shortcut back to the room. More on that tomorrow
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Kona-Big Island Pics
Thunder Mountain Coffee Plantation |
Coffee Cherries |
Coffee Bean sorter |
The Roaster in action |
Beans just in the roaster |
Popping has begun and now at a light roast |
Medium roast, perfect for a great cup of coffee |
Coffee Done |
Painted church, at the top of a long hilly drive |
Pretty church |
Cook Monument in the background, had to canoe to get there, poor planning on our part. |
Just because.. |
Lunch and beer, Yay!! |
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Hilo-Big Island
Link to all Photos
November 30th
Sarah’s Entry
Up at 6:10 this morning in extreme pain. Went up to the gym and warmed up for 30 mins before doing another 30 min of stretches.
Down for breakfast at the skyline dining room. Was much better than the Cadilac. Bigger menu but faster service, everything tasted great!
Down off the ship to meet Safari helicopters in the Aloha room which was at the end of the terminal building. It was a nice room with chairs, cool air and things to look at on the walls. Driver arrived right on time and gave us current updates on volcano activity and info on our pilot.
Weigh-in went ok. I weighed in 232.6 with camera and Derek was 213.3 with the big camera. 4.1 pounds to spare! Job well done.
The helicopter ride itself was an amazing way to see the volcano. To be able fly right around the crater and see the sides glow and watch the lava inside shimmer. Followed the stream to follow the lava tube, we did see active flow albeit slow, and an open hole. Once back at the terminal we asked the driver to drop us at the car rental place at the airpad and he did so it was a painless segue into our ford fusion. 30 min later we entered volcano national park at 12:30.
We turned right and stopped at the steam vents and the Jagger museum. The road closed after the museum so out we went back the other way to stop at Kilauea Iki crater to get some more cools shots of the plume. Then off to Thurston lava tubes which was every bit as fun as I had hoped. We took our flash light and walked quite far into the part of the tube that hasn’t been lit up. Next we are off on Chain of Craters Road descending 3,200 ft over 18 miles to the ocean. No cellphone signals and no radio stations come in seeing Holei Arch was worth the drive. Then we spent a good half hour climbing on the lava that cut across the road in 1986 and continued through 2006. It was quite a walk from the parking lot to the end of the road. We had a beautiful day today considering Hilo is the second wettest city in the U.S.
Back on the ship to get changed to go to the murder mystery dinner at the Jefferson’s Bistro featuring Second City. It was a funny show and our tablemate’s were interesting to talk to. After they had a special at the bar outside and you could chat with the performers.
We went back to the room to work on picture and wait for the sail bye. I have no pictures of the lava sail bye but may buy some from the ship photographer. Looking through the binoculers we could see some cool flow in. We walked back in to hurry to the martini happy hour and found out we narrowly missed getting drenched. Had a nice relaxing chat with a couple from B.C. Canada.
Derek's entry
Can I sleep in just one day? Up early again to head off to a helicopter ride. Got off the ship no problem and got picked up at the pier by Safari Helicopter. They took us right to the helipad and gave us a quick briefing to get us ready to go. The helicopter ride was amazing. We saw several waterfalls from the sky. My favorite part though was the flowing lava, and watching some lava spill into the ocean. So cool!! After landing the drive dropped us off at the Thrifty rental desk so we could pick up our car.
Next up was a drive to Volcano National Park. There we saw some steam vents and got a good view of the cone. We also got to do one of the things I looked most forward to in the trip….Walking through a lava tube. It was great, especially walking into the tube that didn’t have lights put in it. There just is no good way to describe how dark it was. We had a flashlight that lights up the bathroom really well, but didn’t do much to help out there. Kinda creepy.
From there we headed down Chain of Craters road, more windy curvy downhill driving for me. Yippee!! It was actually a very scenic drive, got to see lots of different lava flows throughout the years. The greatest part was getting to the end of what was drivable because lava had flown across the road. After spending some time there it was back to the ship.
Tonight we opted for the Murder mystery at Le bistro. First time we had done one. It was pretty funny, though I think it would have been better with a more active audience. Had fun meeting a few of the cast members after the show at the coffee bar. I had myself a Couvasier after the show since it was on special and I like it on the rocks. Then onto the starboard side for the lava sail by.
The lava sail by wasn’t very good because of some more active lava flow higher up the mountain. There aren’t any pictures because it was a small dot of red on the horizon to the naked eye. So glad I bought some binoculars for this though. It provided a decent view of lava spilling into the ocean. I would have been really disappointed in this if it hadn’t been for the helicopter and the binoculars. Just as we decided to head back in to catch happy hour at Lanai Bar(ends at 10, we walked in at 9:58) it started to rain. Had a nice chat with a couple who got soaked that came in 3 minutes behind us. Then off to bed.
November 30th
Sarah’s Entry
Up at 6:10 this morning in extreme pain. Went up to the gym and warmed up for 30 mins before doing another 30 min of stretches.
Down for breakfast at the skyline dining room. Was much better than the Cadilac. Bigger menu but faster service, everything tasted great!
Down off the ship to meet Safari helicopters in the Aloha room which was at the end of the terminal building. It was a nice room with chairs, cool air and things to look at on the walls. Driver arrived right on time and gave us current updates on volcano activity and info on our pilot.
Weigh-in went ok. I weighed in 232.6 with camera and Derek was 213.3 with the big camera. 4.1 pounds to spare! Job well done.
The helicopter ride itself was an amazing way to see the volcano. To be able fly right around the crater and see the sides glow and watch the lava inside shimmer. Followed the stream to follow the lava tube, we did see active flow albeit slow, and an open hole. Once back at the terminal we asked the driver to drop us at the car rental place at the airpad and he did so it was a painless segue into our ford fusion. 30 min later we entered volcano national park at 12:30.
We turned right and stopped at the steam vents and the Jagger museum. The road closed after the museum so out we went back the other way to stop at Kilauea Iki crater to get some more cools shots of the plume. Then off to Thurston lava tubes which was every bit as fun as I had hoped. We took our flash light and walked quite far into the part of the tube that hasn’t been lit up. Next we are off on Chain of Craters Road descending 3,200 ft over 18 miles to the ocean. No cellphone signals and no radio stations come in seeing Holei Arch was worth the drive. Then we spent a good half hour climbing on the lava that cut across the road in 1986 and continued through 2006. It was quite a walk from the parking lot to the end of the road. We had a beautiful day today considering Hilo is the second wettest city in the U.S.
Back on the ship to get changed to go to the murder mystery dinner at the Jefferson’s Bistro featuring Second City. It was a funny show and our tablemate’s were interesting to talk to. After they had a special at the bar outside and you could chat with the performers.
We went back to the room to work on picture and wait for the sail bye. I have no pictures of the lava sail bye but may buy some from the ship photographer. Looking through the binoculers we could see some cool flow in. We walked back in to hurry to the martini happy hour and found out we narrowly missed getting drenched. Had a nice relaxing chat with a couple from B.C. Canada.
Derek's entry
Can I sleep in just one day? Up early again to head off to a helicopter ride. Got off the ship no problem and got picked up at the pier by Safari Helicopter. They took us right to the helipad and gave us a quick briefing to get us ready to go. The helicopter ride was amazing. We saw several waterfalls from the sky. My favorite part though was the flowing lava, and watching some lava spill into the ocean. So cool!! After landing the drive dropped us off at the Thrifty rental desk so we could pick up our car.
Next up was a drive to Volcano National Park. There we saw some steam vents and got a good view of the cone. We also got to do one of the things I looked most forward to in the trip….Walking through a lava tube. It was great, especially walking into the tube that didn’t have lights put in it. There just is no good way to describe how dark it was. We had a flashlight that lights up the bathroom really well, but didn’t do much to help out there. Kinda creepy.
From there we headed down Chain of Craters road, more windy curvy downhill driving for me. Yippee!! It was actually a very scenic drive, got to see lots of different lava flows throughout the years. The greatest part was getting to the end of what was drivable because lava had flown across the road. After spending some time there it was back to the ship.
Tonight we opted for the Murder mystery at Le bistro. First time we had done one. It was pretty funny, though I think it would have been better with a more active audience. Had fun meeting a few of the cast members after the show at the coffee bar. I had myself a Couvasier after the show since it was on special and I like it on the rocks. Then onto the starboard side for the lava sail by.
The lava sail by wasn’t very good because of some more active lava flow higher up the mountain. There aren’t any pictures because it was a small dot of red on the horizon to the naked eye. So glad I bought some binoculars for this though. It provided a decent view of lava spilling into the ocean. I would have been really disappointed in this if it hadn’t been for the helicopter and the binoculars. Just as we decided to head back in to catch happy hour at Lanai Bar(ends at 10, we walked in at 9:58) it started to rain. Had a nice chat with a couple who got soaked that came in 3 minutes behind us. Then off to bed.
Volcano national park
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