Dream Trip to Hawaii via Las Vegas and San Francisco

Now I’ve recovered storage space on this blog (by reducing image sizes), I’d like to record other trips we’ve done in previous years.

The first one I’ve chosen to look back on is our trip we did to Hawaii back in March 2013. Incredible to believe that’s 12 years ago, especially as I just wore one of the tops from this trip last week!

I haven’t included links to places because it is such a long time ago and I’ve noticed some places have changed names and some have closed. This record is mostly for my own memories but may offer ideas to readers if they are planning a trip and want some ideas of what they can do and see in the same timescales.

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Las Vegas

10th-11th March 2013

We flew from London Gatwick to Las Vegas and stayed in the Monte Carlo Resort for two nights. We went to see the Blue Man Group, had Frozen Hot Chocolates at Serendipity 3 (a favourite from our time in New York). We saw the fountains and beautiful glass display in the Bellagio by Dale Chihuly. (I’ve written about my love of Dale’s work elsewhere on this blog.) How much did we gamble whilst we were in Las Vegas? A total of $3 between us! I guess we don’t need to worry about becoming an addict.

Hawaii – Big Island

12th March 2013

We flew to Hawaii via Los Angeles and stayed at the Sheraton Kona (which is now the Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa) for one night and had dinner at Rays on the Bay. Kona is on the west coast of the main island.

13th March 2013

The next morning, we headed clockwise around the coast stopping at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic site. We had lunch in the pretty town of Waimea and then continued around the island and stopped at ‘Akaka Falls State Park and Kahūnā Falls.

Finally, we reached Hilo on the east coast and stayed for two nights at the Castle Hilo Hawaiian Hotel (now just called Hilo Hawaiian Hotel…this is what happens when you write a blog post about a trip that happened 12 years ago!😉) Our room looked out across Coconut Island and we had a wander around the island before dinner.

14th March 2013

A quick stop at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Visitor Centre, to do their free self-guided tour, try samples and buy some. We then headed to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

We walked 6 miles from the visitor centre on the Crater Rim Trail. This took us past Kīlauea crater and then to the far side of Kilauea Iki crater, where you drop down to the crater floor and walk across Kilauea Iki’s crust! This last erupted in 1959 so we felt fairly safe.

My husband and I both love anything volcano related. We saw a lot on our trip to the Pacific Northwest but they were all dormant or extinct, so seeing an active one was exciting.

There were lots of different types of lava, plants and some bushes growing in the cracks. Luckily it wasn’t too sunny so we weren’t too hot walking. We stood by a steam vent and you could really feel the heat from it. We then walked back to car so the full walk took just under 4 hours.

We drove to the Steam Vents, then Kilauea overlook, the Volcano Observatory and Thomas A Jagger Museum. Finally, we drove down Chain of Craters road as it was almost sunset and we heard we may see a glow of the lava going in the water. A ranger walked along the closed road with us. He shone a torch so we could walk over the lava that had covered the road and we took a photo of the buried road closed sign (but its terrible photo so not included).

We drove back up the hill and went back to the volcano observatory deck and it was so we could see the glow from the caldera well.

It was an absolutely amazing day and I am so glad we got to do it, and even more glad that Kilauea, next door, wasn’t as active as it has been in recent years. We were so tired when we got back to the hotel, we skipped dinner! That rarely happens!

15th March 2013

It was time to head back towards Kona to catch our flight, but we had time to see Mauna Kea volcano and drove up towards Onizuka Centre for International Astronomy. You couldn’t see the telescopes but we watched a video. Then it was off to the airport to catch our flight to Maui. It said it is a 30-minute flight but we were only airborne for 16 minutes!

Maui

Once we had picked up our hire car from Kahului airport, we headed south, stopping at the Humpback Whale viewing spot, and we did indeed see some splashing in the distance.

Heading north along the coast we arrived at Kapalua Villas to find they didn’t have a record of our booking. Luckily, they managed to sort things out and we had the most amazing 2 storey villa to stay in, I did wonder if it was a higher standard than we had booked. We had dinner at The Plantation as a delayed treat to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

16th March 2013

The priority was to hire snorkel & masks, get lunch and buy some food supplies, which we did in Lahaina*.

*Many of the places in Lahaina that we visited were destroyed by the massive wildfires in August 2023. It is very sad as it was a lovely town that we went to a lot for dinner and ice creams. Visiting Hawaiian Islands obviously comes with risks.

After that it was catching the resorts little shuttle down to the Kapalua Bay beach. We saw a turtle pop its head out of the water and some distant humpback whales breaching.

17th March 2013

This was the day I had the Best Experience of my Life (and that’s not been topped in the last 12 years).

We were snorkelling when I saw a turtle resting underneath me by some coral. It then came up for air right next to me and looked at me straight on. It then edged a little closer to me and it touched my upper arm. It then went back under the water; I put my face back under and with the faintest of wafts of its flippers whoosh it was gone. It was amazing, still makes me smile thinking about it.

18th March 2013

The next morning, we walked through the Ritz-Carlton hotel (next door) and walked along the coastal trail. The water was way rougher and we were very glad our little Kapalua Bay was so sheltered. We went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for dinner (photo above).

19th March 2013

Our morning was more snorkelling but did manage to drag ourselves away from the beach and went to see the Ioa Needle Valley Nature Reserve and visited a free garden that was a little run down.

20th March 2013

We did a whale watching tour which lasted a couple of hours and we saw so many humpbacks, including one with a baby. Over and over, they were jumping and we were really lucky to experience it. We had lunch at Kimo’s in Lahaina and I had the delicious hula pie for dessert (picture above).

21st March 2013

Out on another boat trip, this time heading out to Lānaʻi, a small island off the coast of Maui.

On the way to Lānaʻi we stopped at the first snorkel site and we saw lots of fish and a turtle swam nearby, but didn’t get as close as the other I mentioned above. Moving on, we then snorkelled at a coral pinnacle. We had lunch on the boat, amazingly I don’t remember being sea sick. Spinner dolphins followed our boat and, on our return, we saw humpbacks, another wonderful wildlife packed day.

Back on land we drove to a blowhole near Kahakuloa Bay but I didn’t bother going to see it, as it was a long walk down. We stopped at Honolua Bay on the way back but it was pebbles and rocks so didn’t go in the water. Finally, back at the apartment it was time to get ready to go to the Lūʻau at the Hyatt Hotel.

There were songs and dances from Polynesian countries including New Zealand’s haka. The meal was a buffet; our table was VIP seating which gets you nearer the stage. I still have that top I am wearing and wore it last Friday!

22nd March 2013

After a fabulous week in Maui, the next morning it was time to drop off our snorkel gear and car and fly on to Kauaʻi.

Kauaʻi

When we arrived in Kauaʻi we were offered an upgrade to our car for 50% the normal price, we declined. When we got outside we got a free upgrade!😁 (We had a free car upgrade on Maui too.)

Our accommodation was the Outrigger Waipouli Beach Resort in
Līhuʻe, on the east coast of the island. Another apartment with the same rating as our one on Maui, nice but not quite as impressive. Having an apartment with a kitchen at both places was really useful and kept costs for things like breakfasts down.

23rd March 2013

The next morning, some of our neighbours gave us lots of their food, as they were flying out and didn’t want to waste it. Having spent a lot of our time on Maui relaxing it was time to get busy with activities!

We were due to take a flight over the island, but they cancelled as visibility was poor. Instead, a visit to the Kilohana Plantation for some rum tasting, then a visit to Old Koloa Town where we tried and bought lots of macadamia nuts, after choosing our favourite flavours…more on those later.

After that we drove down to Poʻipū (on the south coast). A walk around the town and then dinner in Tortilla Republic, was followed by a drive to the beach where we saw a large turtle and monk seal. Talking of animals, Kauai had zillions of chickens and roosters! They were everywhere from the airport to the car parks up in the hills.

24th March 2013

We drove up to see Waimea Canyon State Park and views over the Nā Pali Coast State Wilderness Park. There are various viewpoints you can stop off at as you head there and everywhere was stunning. They had items for sale that were dyed using the red earth there. On our way back my husband sampled some coffees at the Kauai Coffee Co. visitor centre.

25th March 2013

We had a relaxing morning and did some laundry in the apartment. We then headed to Wailua Kayaks and did a kayak/hike trip to a ‘secret waterfall’. I love being in a kayak, especially if there is someone behind me doing 95% of the paddling. We had a picnic at the falls before hiking/kayaking back. I got in the water to wash off the mud from where I’d slipped over. It was drizzling but we were getting used to it being much damper than Maui.

26th March 2013

Our rescheduled flight went ahead, thanks to improved visibility.

Our operator was Wings Over Kauai; the plane was tiny! We saw Ben Stiller’s plane near ours…significantly bigger, we also flew over his home. They were so well organised and played various tunes through our headphones as we flew over the island and saw the filming spots from various TV shows and movies, Hawaii 5-0, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Arc and The Descendants.

During the last 30 minutes I started to feel a bit queasy but they had ginger sweets and frozen flannels/wash cloths to help and I managed not to be sick.

A coastal drive, lighthouse viewing, lava cave and mini golf in the botanical gardens rounded off our very full day.

27th March 2013

We were on a ‘go slow’ and watched too much TV and then really ran out of time to get ourselves to the airport comfortably. It was last minute packing and we left all our macadamia nuts that we’d so carefully picked out for ourselves and for gifts. There was a ton of traffic, we got to the airport and one of us dropped the bags and the other the hire car, it was really frantic and the closest I think I’ve been to missing a flight.

San Francisco

By the time we arrived in San Francisco it was pretty late, so just time for dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack and checking in the Holiday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf.

28th March 2013

It was time to cram in as much sightseeing as we possibly could in one day! We bought a day pass for the cable car/bus etc and saw Lombard Street, Macy’s Union Square, Chinatown. Lunch was at Boudins in Fisherman’s Wharf, soup/chowder in sourdough bowls.

We went from Pier 43 to Alcatraz and did a tour there. I’d been before but it was my husband’s first time.

We took a tram along the front, a bus up to Golden Gate Park, walked through Haight Ashbury, went to the Science Centre and then caught a bus downtown and went to dinner. On our way to dinner, we walked past an open door and a guy started chatting to my husband, I looked up and saw it was a Scientology place so dragged him away. A jam-packed day! The day pass transport ticket is really worth getting to maximise what you can see.

29th March 2013

A much more relaxing last day of our trip. We walked along the front to the Maritime History area, walked to Ghirardelli and my husband sampled some chocolates. (I don’t like American chocolate, too much butyric acid for me.) I had a ginormous ice cream sundae in Coldstone Creamery and then it was time to catch the shuttle to the airport.

It was an overnight flight back to Heathrow, bus to Luton and then flight back to Inverness…finally getting home the afternoon of the 30th.

It was a fantastic trip and the memories still live strong, even as I write this 12 years later. My grandad left me some inheritance that paid for this trip. He will forever be linked to my dream holiday and the best moment of my life.