Aloha means Welcome

Recently (okay in early February), we went to Hawaii. After 12 days of working in Las Vegas we really were looking for an opportunity to stop the world and unwind. We chose to return to the Hapuna Beach Prince on the Big Island because we've been there before and we've done everything we can think of. We go there to be bored.

Our room was on the left. Ocean front for sight and especially at night, sound.

We knew we'd been there before, but we were surprised to find out after asking the front desk, that this was our fifth stay! Our first trip was in 1997. We seem to average every other year. As a frequent guest, we were pleased to accept a complimentary upgrade to an ocean front suite. The room was huge and almost embarrassing for just the two of us, but my favorite part, two bathrooms and a much larger closet! Yes, 4 days in Hawaii and we brought 3 suitcases.

A sign that will give you pause. Note the water in the background.

A sign to welcome you back to the top of the hill. Note the trees in the background.

We had a rental car and after going snorkeling the first day, we decided to drive the 40 minutes to Hawi. Lyle had a mission. There is the Kohala Coffee Mill that serves Hawaiian coffee and Macadamian nut ice cream. His mission was to repeat his triumphant discovery of combining the coffee and the ice cream together for a taste treat he (obviously) had to repeat!

Over Lyle's shoulder, bags of locally grown coffee. We bought 4.

As we were lying around the pool one day Lyle said, "Oh my god, I think that's a whale..." And I replied without opening my eyes, "Ha, ha, ha very funny. How fat is he?" Then I heard all sorts of commotion and thought maybe this man was seriously fat AND trying to get into the pool at which point I sat up and was STUNNED to see a sight much like this in the ocean in front of our hotel:

Of course I didn't have my camera. I was at the pool! So we spent the rest of our vacation taking seriously bad photos like this one trying to capture what we had missed that first day.

This was the best one.

On the bright side, it took up many hours just sitting around on the beach.