Trina's page of Blogginess

ahhhhh............. It's been a wonderful week here in Paradise!

I just love coming to Hawaii on vacation. It's so relaxing. It's so beautiful. And all we do is lay around in the sun, and play in the water. It just doesn't get better than this.

Turns out, the weather was absolutely gorgeous all week. We had a few minor sprinkles on Sunday, but other than that, It's been sunny and warm/hot all week! We were very pleased with this, as we had read weather reports before we left and the forecast called for rain all week!

Surprisingly enough, we've managed to wake up between 7:00 - 7:30 all week, and have made our way down to the gym each morning to work out! Whoa! What a great way to start the day. There's something about wearing a bikini all day that gives you incentive to work out in the morning.

I think one of Dick's favorite parts of the resort has been the water slide. It's pretty cool. It took me a long time to muster up the guts to try it out, but once I did, I have to admit that I enjoyed it, too. Reminds me of being a kid, and growing up in Fresno when we used to go to the waterslide park.

I also managed to overcome some of my fears of the ocean yesterday, and swam out to snorkle in the coral reef near the hotel. It wasn't terribly far out, but it was a pretty big deal that I went out at all! The snorkle conditions were really great - the best I've seen so far. (we had snorkled in a cove on the Big Island last year, and also snorkled from a boat in Kauai. Yesterday was the first time that I walked out into the ocean, and swam out to snorkle. Anyhow, the visibility was really good, and we saw some very nice coral reefs and colorful fish. No sea turtles, though. We might go out again this morning to see if we can find any.

(edit)I just remembered that I have a photo of what I believe is my first encounter with the ocean in 1971. My parents took my sister and I to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I had just told Dick about this photo when he was trying to get me into the ocean this week. See that look of terror on my face? Some things never change ;)

We did leave the resort and drove around the island a bit earlier this week. We didn't go far, but we did drive to the north-west part of the island, which was gorgeous. I have some great photos, but I'm afraid that I can't share them yet. I gave my sister the adapter cable to our camera, so I don't have it with me. We also made our way to Lahaina. It was fun, because we got to see the annual canoe festival.

Did I mention that our resort has Penguins? Who knew? Okay, my Mom knew. :)

Our resort is situated along the beach. We can walk along a 1-mile path that connects about 5 other resorts, as well as the Whaler's Village Shopping Center. We've been strolling along the path almost every day, as it's a beautiful walk. When we first past Whaler's Village, it reminded me that I had come here years ago with my parents, on my very first trip to Hawaii. I think I was 11 years old. I was also reminded that my Dad and I had taken a very sweet photo there that I've always loved. And wouldn't you know it, I have it on my computer to share with you:


Me and my Dad. circa 1981 ("hi, dad!")

So, today is our last day here. We leave on the red-eye flight tonight, which will get us home early tomorrow morning.
It's been a wonderful trip, but I have to admit that I'll be happy to be home with our kitties again!