On the road: Big Island, Hawaii

I’m on a semi-bumpy ride back home from a vacation in Florida (we did a loop from Orlando to St. Pete to The Keys and back to Orlando again), and it got me thinking about our trip to Hawaii a few months ago. What is it about vacations that make it much easier for me to blog? Ah, what I wouldn’t trade for a few extra hours in the day — my main reason for moving closer to work next year.

But that’s neither here nor there.

Enjoying the view

When I mentioned our last trip to Hawaii, someone said, “Aren’t you always in Hawaii?” I’m not entirely sure what it is about the aloha spirit that keeps me going back time and again. Sunsets, spas, comfortable beds, and room service factor in, though.

I felt pretty awful going into this trip. Other than a few short trips (local), a long weekend in San Diego, and a few business trips (dicey at best), this was our first real vacation since the anxiety set in. So after I had secured our exit-row seats (thank you, MVP status), booked a hotel and a rental car, I didn’t do what I normally did, which is plan each day or at least obsessively scan through the guidebook to see what I wanted to do.

[Okay, confession: I did plan some little things for his birthday. This was, after all, the 30th birthday trip. I packed a bunch of 30-themed decorations and worked with the hotel to get him a vegan cake. He was surprised!]

That’s because I was going for an entirely different sort of trip for my entirely different travel partner — entirely different in that Sergio and I have the opposite travel personalities. He is so go-with-the-flow — his ideal vacation is, I now know, eating some nice food and wandering around and taking a thousand artistic photos. My loving boyfriend who struggles to drag out of bed without coffee got up before the sun rose to go take pictures of turtles. 

Perhaps the life lesson for me in all of this is simply that being open to possibilities and what might happen and letting go of what I want to happen will result in more realistic expectations and a more present experience.

So that is what I wanted to focus on as I share about this trip — the little moments that were spontaneous and unplanned and fun and wonderful. 

Scandinavian Shaved Ice

We joked this week while we were in Florida about the lack of shaved ice in Seattle. It’d never succeed, I said. It’s not foodie enough, and who wants to eat shaved ice in the rain? 

We sort of stumbled upon this place, and it was hot and humid for our whole stay, we had to make a few trips to indulge in some amazing shave ice! When you visit Kailea-Kona, do yourself a favor and stop here. And take their advice and get the snow cap (it’s sweetened condensed milk on top of the your ice). I have never been a fan of shaved ice but I couldn’t eat it fast enough. It was melting. I had to be quick.

Sergio with his shave ice

This was amazing.

Roadside photos

I’m thankful that Sergio isn’t one of those guys who is afraid to let me drive — I’m always surprised when men feel emasculated if they’re not behind the wheel. For us, though, it’s practical. S loves to look for photo opportunities, and more than once (a trip) I’ll have to remind him that when he drives, he gets to drive and I get to look at things.

I spent most of the time behind the wheel this time and whenever it was safe to do so, if he said, “Photo! Photo!” I would pull over to the shoulder and get comfortable with my book while he ran off and took photos. Sometimes it’s best for me not to know what rules he is breaking. Actually, all of the time.

But the photos? My God, the photos.

Just an average roadside photo. I was relaxing in the car :)

Song dedication

I booked a birthday dinner at Brown's Beach House to coincide with the sunset (yes, planning). We settled into our chairs and enjoyed the food. There was a gentleman playing guitar — mainly Hawaiian classics. There was a moment that he asked if anyone had any requests, so I jumped up without thinking much and asked him if he knew my favorite Hawaiian song, “White Sandy Beach of Hawaii." He did. And he let me dedicate it as a birthday song to my guy.

Sunset birthday dinner at Brown's. Paradise! 

Mexican Connection

We had a bit of a sad trip to Volcanoes National Park — when I say sad, I mean it was a huge disappointment. We had a long drive back to our hotel. It is the big island, after all. We found a restaurant in Hilo and parked in front of it to find out it was closed. Hungry — hangry in my case — S spotted a legit-enough looking Mexican restaurant across the street called Lucy's Taqueria.

Waiting for my food with Fernando (and Sergio). 

As we stood in line waiting to order, I thought that it felt familiar. Hadn’t I seen little pinatas like this somewhere before? Wait, was there a prawn fajita quesadilla on the menu? We ordered and then I had to ask — “Have you ever been to Gordito’s in Seattle? Because your restaurant reminds me of it so much.”

We ended up talking with one of the owners — she and her husband opened Gordito’s and then eventually sold it to move back to Hawaii (her home state) to retire. Except they were talked into opening another restaurant by a family member. And so she’s retired and working at a restaurant again (and, from what I could tell, loving it). 

I didn’t realize how much I needed a prawn fajita quesadilla until I had one. 

Playing in the ocean

Our Florida vacation opened with a stay at St. Pete Beach on Florida’s western coast. As we were getting ready to leave, we took a walk by the beach. S commented that it’s ironic that we spend so much time at beaches. We’re not beach people. Not at all. We don’t go swim in the ocean and— with my pale skin — we certainly don’t sit in the sun and tan. The same goes for pools, actually. We never got in our hotel pool in Hawaii.

But Sergio had heard about a beautiful beach on the Big Island, so we went down to visit. It was full of locals — not many tourists — and I actually took off my shoes and went in the water a little bit. S, of course, took photos. Candids.

For whatever reason, I could just enjoy it. Love it. Not worry about getting sand in the rental car or getting wet (but never fear — Planner Sarah had beach towels in the car). I just enjoyed wading in a little bit. It was nice. It was… normal.

Working on my tan.

Playing in the sand.

Candidly...
We also like taking photos of one another on the sly. I think S's impulsive impishness rubs off on me and I'll end up doing really silly things for the camera. Actually, I hammed it up for the camera as a kid -- we both did, really -- but together we will egg each other on. We have scores of videos that we take on the sly, as well as lots of candid or "Hey, smile!" photos. Those are always my faves.

This was a spur-of-the-moment pose.

My pro behind the lens.

I was rubbing the horse's nose when I heard, "Smile!"

Rico Suave comes out with a drink or two.

Last Christmas, Sergio and I did a 12 Days of Christmas for one another — 12 small presents, one to be opened each day, the final being on Christmas morning. My 12th present for him was a promise to work hard at worrying less and being more free.

This was the first trip that I felt I really cashed in on this one. Our list of must-dos was short. I had my low moments — traveling is a new adjustment for me again. Most of the time I panic a little bit before I get on a plane now. But there wasn’t some list I was trying to check off.

We went. We enjoyed. We lived. We loved.

And we can’t wait to go back. 

xo,

Sarah

P.S. I have to give major credit where credit is due. We loved our stay at the Fairmont Orchid. The service was full of the aloha spirit — we felt loved and pampered. The room was beautiful and the bed was heavenly. We really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere and the spa was fantastic. We’ll be back when we return to the Big Island and I can’t recommend it enough if you are headed that way.  

P.S. Okay, not everything was spontaneous. And Sergio spends hours and hours editing his raw photos to create what I share with you. I don’t want to leave out a few of my favorite photos that weren’t quite as spontaneous. Here they are.

At the Place of Refuge at sunset.

Stopping on our drive over Kohala Mountain.

We loved the honu (turtles).