Travels in 2008 (Part 1) of a 3 part series
Revised (new Pictures found and added)

Well, here I sit. 95 degrees outside / 82 degrees inside (too lazy to turn on the air, I suppose); trying to think up some really cleaver title for our first of the year (2008) travels and simply can't think of a thing. So, I guess I'll just get started with what we've done so far.

FEBRUARY - Pismo Beach/Shell Beach/Arroyo Grande and Arizona

Valentines

Normally we start the first of each year off in Napa or San Francisco (wine country) for Jim's birthday in January. It's one of our favorite places to visit. This year we changed our plans. I can't really say why? Not that I don't want to say why. It just didn't seem to work into our plans.

We sort of made up for it (the wine tasting part of the trip, at least) when we visited one of my favorite wineries in Northern California (Arroyo Grande), "Laetitia Winery". I was introduced to Laetitia by a friend in our old bible study group. Laetitia produces some of the best reds I've ever had. And because I belong to the wine club, Jim surprised me by taking me the weekend before Valentine's to a Wine / Appetizers pairing for members.

It was a quick trip. Too quick, if you ask me. We drove up late Saturday morning. Checked into this amazing resort in Shell Beach "Dolphin Bay Resort". I would highly recommend it. Of course, off season prices are a little more realistic.

This view / photo reminded me of Hawaii and how soon we would be there.

Our room was bigger than our condo. It had full Ocean view. The evening event was enjoyable. We met some really nice folks and brought back some great bottles of wine.

Next time we plan on staying longer.

Arizona

A few weeks later we took a weekend (over the President's Day Holiday) to visit my girlfriend, Chris and her husband, Brian in Goodyear, Arizona. It's always nice to spend time with them.

The boys went golfing during the day and Chris and I managed to squeeze some shopping in (go figure).

Saturday evening found us at this (pretty impressive) multi-plex event center in Glendale; including theatre, restaurants/shops. And while the boys went to watch a Coyote's Hockey game, Chris and I went to the movies. This picture taken of a giant hockey player gives a whole new meaning to blow-up doll.

It was a fun weekend (almost a blur - it went by so fast). We're looking forward to our next visit (hopefully in May for Chris' birthday).

MARCH - Hawaii/Kauai

Our original plans were to fly out at 9 a.m. from LAX. I changed our flight to Sunday 9 a.m. out of OC.

Why? Because my dear husband, Jim went to MV Hospital ER on Friday night (9 p.m.) for his heart; he spent the night there and was released late Saturday morning (after his treadmill test ruled out his heart - thank goodness).

I got home Saturday morning around 2 a.m. from the hospital; woke up around 6 a.m., and started working on changing our travel rearrangements. Needless to say Hawaii was very nice but way too short. But on the plus side it could have been shorter; and Jim could have been sicker. So in retrospect, it was a perfect ending to our Friday night event.

We flew into Kona on Sunday (instead of Sat.) and got in around 2 p.m. We spent the afternoon with our friends driving up one side of the island towards Waimea. Stopping to visit the birthplace of King Kamehameha. And then back down to Kona where we had a nice dinner in town before heading to their home just outside of Captain Cook. They live about 45 mins from Kona.

If you've never been to the island of Hawaii, I've included maps of both islands so you can get a better idea of where we traveled.

Picture taken under a waterfall walkway with our friends - Karen & Marc

Monday our friends had to work so Jim and I relaxed down by the cove (at the bottom of their hill). It was a beautiful cove with mostly black rocks (not sand). I found this picture of the black rocks on the beach and one white rock. It was so pretty and just stood out from all the other rocks.

This little critter was outside Karen's home - usually they are inside (like that's not unusal).

This next video is of my girlfriend's lanai (view). It was so "relaxing" to sit and listen to the breeze blow the windchimes and just rest and take in the beauty.

We ended up going back down to Kona to meet our friends in the late afternoon and spent time shopping, etc.

Tuesday we woke up leisurely and flew out of Kona around 1 p.m. We had massages that I had scheduled as a surprise on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the resort we stayed at in Kauai and we relaxed the rest of the day.

Wednesday we drove the entire island of Kauai. Yes - I said entire. If you don't know it by now we Black's don't do anything half ass. And we do try to squeeze in as much as we can in as little time as we have.

We first drove down the northshore to Princeville (where we saw whales breaching all over the place) and Hanalei Bay; and then back up the other direction to Waimea Canyon (which resembles our Grand Canyon ), sort of.

It made for a long day of driving but it was fun nonetheless. Of course, it helped that it's not a very big island.

Historic Kilauea Lighthouse

At this lookout point we spent almost an hour at viewing the whales. I took this picture with my friend Chris in mind, because she likes lighthouses.

I then took this picture with my husband in mind - Ha! And to prove we were actually here. Have you ever seen vacation pictures without the vacationers in the pictures? How do you know if they were actually there?

There was so much whale activity. We saw whales breaching, slapping their tales and fins on the surface of the ocean. It was breathtaking. Even though our original plan was to go out on a boat to whale watch, this certainly made up for that. I've attached two videos links. Simply click on the blue underlined words above. Also, I believe if you click on the pictures, it will enlarge them so you can get a better view of the whales.

Lookout over Princeville Resort

Waimea Canyon

This picture doesn't do the canyon justice; but hopefully the videos will. Click on the word Canyon in green to view a video and also see the video below.

Why did the chicken cross the road? Who cares!!! What I want to know is why are there so many frickin' chickens and roosters in Kauai? It's like there's an epidemic there. Is it the state bird?!? Check out the birds in the video and pic. I suppose that will be something I remember most (besides the whales). We awoke each morning at 4:30 a.m. to the call of the wild rooster. Where's my earplugs when I need them!

Thursday we lounged around our resort until our flight out of Lihue at 2:45 p.m. (This is a view from our room.)

We got into OC at 10:20 p.m. (because of the time difference) So it was accurate to say that each day we flew/played/flew/played/flew (in that exact order).

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We're going back to Hawaii (for my birthday) in July to spend more time with my friend, Karen and her husband (I can't wait!). If our plans don't change (Lord willing) I'll be in Hawaii for 5 days and Jim will be there for 4 days (as he'll follow a day later). Annually we go to Vegas for my birthday; but this year it changes. Yippee! Or should I say ALOHA!

APRIL - Orlando, Florida

So, here's our trip to Orlando in a nutshell. We flew into Orlando on Thursday.

Orlando Airport / Kennedy Air Force Base Store at the airport

This is as close to space as I could get. We didn't have time to go to the actual base, but I found this store and took a look around. An actual space suit used on one of the missions to the moon.



Friday we found ourselves at Disney World. I've never been and wouldn't have wanted to miss a chance at going. We drove our car into the parking area for the Magic Kingdom. We then took a tram to the ticket area. From there we took the monorail to the front of the park. Talk about a 1/2 hour process just to get to the gates. And though it was humid, we were able to ride every ride we'd hope to - Space Mountain (which is more fun there than here); Country Bear Jamboree (which really isn't a ride, but we don't have it here anymore and it's one of my faves); Splash Mountain (slightly different, but a lot of fun); ThunderMountain (about the same); Haunted Mansion (again slightly different, but fun); and Pirates (not nearly as good as ours). All in all it was a fun way to spend the day.

Friday - Front of Walt Disney World

Front of the Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's Castle

Entrance to Tomorrowland

Space Mountain

Country Bear Jamboree

Haunted Mansion

Splash Mountain

Pirates of the Caribbean

Saturday we had lots of time before the wedding at 6 p.m. that night; so we spent the day with Jim's brother, Jerry and his wife (our SIL) Jill. We drove to downtown Orlando and were hoping to find some cool shopping area; but couldn't find a whole lot going on.

We accidentally came across a street fair and that killed some time. It seemed more humid than Friday and it felt great when we found a restaurant with air conditioning.

Saturday - Downtown Orlando

If I ever get this bad with my dogs - SLAP ME!

We headed back to our hotel around 3:00 p.m. It was a good thing, because a few minutes after we arrived in our rooms there was a major down pour. Something I've never seen before. It was so bad, as we looked out onto the parking lot, we couldn't even see the cars. And that's not the worse part, it poured for almost 3:30 hours. You do the math.

The wedding was delayed half an hour. Poor Diana was not the happiest of brides. I couldn't even imagine not having a "back up" plan just in case it rained. I suppose the restaurant could stick all 37 of us in the kitchen and we could watch Diana & Pat get married next to the stove?

But "The blessing" came about 6:35 when the clouds parted, the rain stopped and if you look closely you can see the rainbow directly above the bride-to-be and father of the bride. We all ran down to the lake and watched the ceremony. They had just about enough time to have pictures taken and then the rain returned. Mostly off and on throughout the evening. But it was definitely a wedding we won't soon forget.






So there you have it. Our first quarter vacations in review. And it only took me one week to complete it. That's right. As I type this closing paragraph it now is Sunday, April 20 at 8:30 p.m. in the evening. And there is a chill in the air. Nothing like the heat wave we had last weekend.

And why do I tell you this? Because it will appear as if it took me a day to load all the picures and videos (NOT!).

Hey! I just thought of a title for this blog "Monkey OFF my back!"

Hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we did.

Oh heck! And while I'm at it; I've uploaded one last video that was taken with my cell phone while we drove in Thursday night from the airport to our hotel just outside of Orlando. It was the most amazing and nerve wracking drive as the lightening lit up the sky for miles. As soon as we got to the hotel I immediately ordered a bottle of wine!

The End (for now)