Hawaii – Days 1 and 2

I know this is a fitness blog, but I'm going to trickle in a few posts about our Hawaiian vacation, complete with a race recap for the Seabee 10k run I did while I was there :)

February 4

We were up bright and early to head to the airport...we had a 10:50 a.m. flight to LAX where we would catch our connecting flight to Kona, Hawaii!

 

We picked up our luggage and rental car and headed to our hotel for the week, the King Kamehameha hotel.  We checked in and headed across the street to Splasher's Grill for some dinner.  When we travel, I do a lot of searching on TripAdvisor to find good places to eat, and this restaurant came highly recommended.  J had the fish tacos and I had a burger and fries, along with a couple of beers.  We enjoyed our dinner and asked to look at the breakfast menu...it didn't take us long to decide this would be our breakfast spot for the week.  We stayed up as long as we could and then went to bed.

February 5

Still not adjusted to the 5 hour time difference we were awake by 5 a.m.  I headed to the fitness center to get a run in (yes, I know I was in Hawaii but I didn't know where I could run, so I chose the safer route).  We headed back over to Splasher's for breakfast.  I had the Macadamia nut pancakes and J had the stuffed French toast.  Both were delicious!

           

We wanted to do a tour at the Kona Brewing Company, and it didn't open until 10:30, so we drove around until 10, thinking that we would still be able to get in.  Nope!  The sign up sheet was already full!  We hung around until that tour left, put our names on the list for the 2:00 tour, and headed out to explore.  We wanted to check out a coffee plantation, so we found Mountain Thunder Coffee and did a tour.  Their plantation is at an elevation of over 3200 feet, making it the highest coffee plantation on the island.  We went through and saw the whole process the coffee beans go through.

     

Afterward, we drove back down and had lunch at Pine Tree Cafe, a little place that J found on Yelp.  We had a tasty and cheap lunch!

Once lunch was over, we headed back to Kona Brewing Company for our tour.  We have eaten at the one on O’ahu before and wanted to check out the original location.  They handed out a page with their beer list as well as the brewing process on it.

 

Our guide took us through the facility and explained everything.  Did you know that the grain that was used to brew the beer is also used in their pizza crusts, as well as fed to pigs on farms around the island?  They are really making an effort to be green!

 

They are also using some wooden barrel to age some beer in.  I know J was bummed it wasn’t ready for us to try!

After the tour was over, it was time for everyone’s favorite part – FREE SAMPLES!!

 

J’s favorite was the Black Sand Porter…mine was the Wailua Wheat.

Once the tour was over, we headed back to the hotel to relax before heading out to find some dinner.  Our hotel is right in the heart of where the Ironman Kona triathlon starts and ends – this sign was by the small beach next door -

We walked along Alli Drive and came across the Fish Hopper Grill, so we decided to check it out.  To say we were underwhelmed would be an understatement.  I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone!  J had never seen purple sweet potatoes before…they were tasty!

Once we wrapped up dinner, we headed back to the hotel to head to bed – we were leaving SUPER early in the morning to head to Kilauea – Hawaii’s active volcano!

Do you research places to eat while on vacation or just fly by the seat of your pants?

Until next time,