YOU DON'T TRUST ME???

if all my readership thinks this is the end, then maybe it should be?

thanks for following the blog and our Hawai'ian adventures. 

whether this is the end of blogging till next trip, I can't say;  maybe there's stuff in my everyday life worth sharing.

but the last days in Hawai'i were grand.

Sunday evening attended the luau from 5:30 till about 9:30.  was a history of the islands - actually all of Polynesia - mostly with hula dance and other dances.  really well done.  the meal comes first - after they open the luau pit and pull out the pig;  then the salads come - you get a wonderful smattering of island foods here, also;  then the main course - pig and beef and fish, and taro and yams, and ribs and everything else. plus the drinks - all well-done.  went home sated and looking forward to the next day.

started Monday early morning with a couple's massage at the spa.  well worth the time and expenditure.  especially after last night's luau.  about one hour of pure relaxation and bliss.  plus sit came at a great time in the trip.

after the spa we traveled down the road some 40 minutes to meet up with our whale-watching boat.  though the pictures are small, it was really fun to see the humpbacks doing their thing.  The dolphins also were traveling with our boat on and off.  We were on a 36 footer with a top deck that held 14 people; the skipper, Captain Dan McSweeny is a whale researcher for some 40 years.  really interesting.  As you can see, we saw whales - they look a whole lot bigger when there in person!  fascinating!  the tails of the whales are their identification system - it's actually more accurate than satellite telemetry.  The markings are for life.  you can take a picture of one in Alaska and a picture of the same one in the winter in Hawai'i!  

we got back to the Hilton - why not Hilton people, you ask?  way too organized.  way too expensive.  way too clean.  way too immaculate.  everything is beautiful, to be sure, but it's all show.  was afraid to touch anything for fear there would be a cost for breakage. or breathing.  everything was too "perfect."  plus one spends a fairly good amount of money for the lodging and there is nothing that is included - all the extra's are "extra" - $15 a night for parking.  12.95 per day to use the internet.  no coupons to visit a restaurant - not even $10 off a second meal - and meals were about $18-45 each.  I guess ya pay for luxury - but we're not luxury people.  To swim with the dolphins - $200.00 each for ten minutes - though they do take you picture and I'm sure charge you probably $38 to purchase the picture when you're done.  maybe I'm a miser at heart.  we thoroughly enjoyed the B&B and cost wise were close to the same per day.  the B&B folks make you feel like family.  would I go back? you bet!  it is a gorgeous place!  and a wonderful place to relax!

Had Valentine's Dinner at the "Sand Trap" - an eatery on one of the golf courses in the Waikoloa area.  Karina had seafood platter, I had a 16 ounce rib-eye and they were tasty meals!  YUM!

rose early on Tuesday to make the airport and say farewell to Hawai'i.  Had a great flight home - nearly finished the book I began reading on vacation "Foreign Body" by Robin Cook - actually finished the 50 page in bed in Portland.  had a really bumpy flight from Seattle to Portland - the only unfavorable part of the trip.  then woke up this morning to SNOW!!!  can you believe that?  why didn't it snow while we were gone, so we could have felt really smug!  oh well, such is life.

that's about it for now.

thanks for joining us on the trip.

love ya.

Karina and Dan