I thought about dividing this recap into two different posts to avoid photo overload but I decided just to go for it.
On the airplane on our way! The plane was not full so I booked one window seat and one edge seat in hopes that no one would choose the seat between us. My plan worked so we had a little extra space, which was very nice.
We took the obligatory "Yay, we are in Hawaii" photo before heading to baggage claim. If you have never been to the Kona airport it is the kind of airport that you have to go down a set of stairs and then walk across the runway to get to the terminal. Another fun fact is that since the Kona side of the island gets little to no rain the airport has no walls. Just a bunch of "huts" make up the airport.
The Hilton Waikoloa Village (where we stayed) is a long skinny resort set along the water so there are two modes of transportation to get you around the resort if you don't feel like walking. The tram runs most often and runs all day so if we didn't walk this is usually what we took if we were not walking.
There is also a boat the runs in the afternoon and evenings. Here is the whole family on the boat one evening on our way to dinner.
This is the view standing in the lobby looking out to the lagoon.
The hotel has multiple pools and a lagoon for swimming in. I didn't manage to get my camera out to take a picture of the pools but there is a big slide at one of the pools that we spend lots of time going down.
The lagoon is ocean fed and has fishies and turtles in. We did lots snorkeling and looking at the fish along with lots of lounging, reading and drinking in our lounge chairs.
We were lucky enough to have a view of the ocean from our room too but this is the view from my sisters' room
Since it is only fair here is the view from our balcony too! The view was so pretty that I didn't even bother to take any pictures of the inside of the room but take my word for it, it was very nice. We slept every night with our balcony door open so we could fall asleep and wake up to the sounds of the ocean.
A good chunk of our time at the resort was spent at the pool or lagoon so it only fitting that I took quite a few pictures of us heading to the pool. My sunglasses got quite the workout on this trip.
One of the big reasons for our trip was to celebrate my mom's birthday so Sunday night we went out to a special dinner to celebrate.
I have no visual proof of this fact but the food at KPC (not to be confused with KFC) is fabulous. My family goes this place just for the onion tower and drinks though I have to say the ahi poke was also quite impressive.
The signature reason to go to KPC is the fabulous view of the sunset. They even have a signature tropical drink called 180 seconds since that is how long it takes the sun to set from the time it hits the horizon.
On our last night in Hawaii we made the 2 hour drive to Volcano National Park to see the lava. The best time to see the lava is at night but this doesn't make for the best photos.
We thought we might only be able to see a red glow since for safety reasons we had to view it from quite far away but we could actually see the lava bubbling and sputtering away in the caldera.
Our last day we woke up to a text message (and an email) from the airline saying that our flight was delayed an hour and a half. My sisters and my parents were on a different flight that was scheduled to leave an hour before our original flight time so we were going to be in for a long day at the airport. Remember this airport has no walls which means no AC. When we looked a bit later and discovered our flight was delayed another hour and a half my parents convinced us to just get a late checkout from the hotel and take a taxi to the airport later.
We used our extra time to have one last tropical meal and an ice cream cone before heading to the airport.
I leave you with one last photo of me with a beautiful view in the background.
Linking up my Friday Favorites
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