The Big Island, Hawaii
I love traveling. In fact, traveling is probably the one thing that I’m the most grateful for. You know, besides the health and happiness of my family and friends, of course. I’ve had the amazing opportunity to travel pretty extensively and I get giddy every time I get to go somewhere new. I love the whole process of traveling – planning, packing, flying, etc. The only thing I hate is coming home.
Last fall my parents called and invited my brother, my sister-in-law, and I on a trip to the Big Island in February. We jumped at the chance to see a new island and spend a little QT with the family. My Godmother, Juli, and my college roommate, Beth (AKA my Oregon Coast travel buddies) were extended the invite as well.
The whole crew is pictured below. Photo courtesy of the GoPro/selfie stick combo!
We spent 7 glorious days laying on the beach, swimming with sea turtles, checking out the volcano, hiking to a black sand beach, searching for waterfalls, drinking Pina Coladas, and eating lots and lots of poke.
Aside from the poke and the fresh fish we picked up to cook at home I wasn’t crazy impressed with the food. I think this can be attributed to the fact that we stayed in the town of Waikoloa which was pretty touristy. The best meal we had was at a little hole in the called Local Dish in the town of Hawi. Everything we had was phenonenal – like, no joke, some of the best fish I’ve ever eaten. Hawi, in general, was very charming. It’s essentially one strip of shops, restaurants, and art galleries – old Hawaii at it’s finest.
All in all, the Big Island was a great place for our little family vacation. There really is something for everyone and despite “the incident of the stolen backpack” we had a really nice time.
Now to start planning our next adventure…
Portland + The Oregon Coast
The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy and so grateful for all of the amazing people in my life. One of the people who I’m the most grateful for is my former college roommate, Beth. We were randomly paired together freshman year and have been close ever since. In recent years she has become the person who I talk to about the important stuff. She has the ability to see the big picture and ALWAYS gives me new things to think about. She’s actually the one who pushed me towards this little project.
Three years ago Beth invited me to join her on her annual NYE trip to the Oregon Coast. I jumped at the chance to dump my NYE hangover for the quiet therapy of a few days at the beach. BEST DECISION EVER! We walk on the beach, cook delicious food, drink good red wine, have serious talks, and get ourselves centered for the new year. There’s nothing like it and this trip has become one of the things I look forward to the most every year.
Beth lives in Portland – one of my favorite cities in the US and someplace I’ve actually considered relocating to. In the name of blog research I decided to spend a few extra days in Portland eating and drinking my way through the city. Here are some highlights:
Blue Star Donuts – Holy hell thank goodness this place isn’t in the Bay Area. Best apple fritter I’ve ever had and I love how interesting all of the donuts are.
Saint Honore Bakery – Loved this spot. Great coffee, beautiful pastries, AND they have an open kitchen so you can watch everything being made. Make sure to try the chouquettes, they’re fantastic. I’ll be attempting to recreate them in the very near future.
Trifecta – What a cool little restaurant. VERY Portland chic. The cauliflower salad and the ham & hot rolls (who would have guessed it?!) were insanely good.
TeSoAria Winery – Mmmmmm wine. And this wine was fabulous. Well worth a visit if you’re in the PDX area. AND they have free pizza on Tuesday nights!
After we ate everything in sight we headed to the Coast. This year we stayed in the town of Florence on Heceta Beach and as an added bonus my Godmother, Juli, joined us. We had a lovely NYE dinner at little seafood place called The Waterfront Depot.
Such a lovely trip – the Oregon Coast never disappoints! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Happy 2016!