DAY 21 IN HAWAII: COMPLETING THE CIRCLE TOUR

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Aloha!

What a 48 hours we have had!

We were totally exhausted last night but had a lot of fun getting exhausted.

We travelled half way around the Island to see Hawaii National Volcano Park the day before yesterday, stayed overnight in an area know as "Hilo" and then drove the other half way around the island to get back to our condo. We completed what is know as the Big Island Circle Tour...a drive around the entire island. We saw so many great sights along the way.

I promise not to make this an on-going thing but before I tell you about yesterday I wanted to let you know that Finn, the boy I am running the Chicago Marathon for MDA for, has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Please send your positive thoughts, vibes, prayers, for a safe recovery.


























If you haven't donated to my run I really hope you will consider doing so. I believe in this so much:

Donate to Alan's run for Finn by clicking this link

The day started off well:














Then I decided to conquer a fear and jump off this:

To be honest the jump wasn't the scary part. It was climbing up this vertical wall to get to the top. I thought I would fall backwards and break my neck. It didn't stop me from jumping three times though :-)

We haven't had a kitchen for the past 48 hours so we ate out a lot.

Breakfast is what it is.



Lunch was not worth the picture. We had a tuna sandwich left over from the day prior so we each had half a sandwich. We had fruit enroute...and ok...I will admit it... we each had a Macadamia Nut Shake (with the nuts coming direct from a Macadamia Nut Farm onsite). It just looked soooooo good. I wish I could have resisted but I didn't.







































My friend Amanda (my Lawrence Park WW friends will know Amanda) told us about this amazing restaurant called The Merriman - Waimea. It was literally on our drive home and we were hitting it at about dinner time so we made reservations the day prior and OMG it was good. It isn't a cheap restaurant but is totally a "worth it" dinner.

We shared an appetizer. It was raw fish (I don't know what kind) with avocado and sweet potato crisps. So good!








































You can choose two entrees and get half portions of each so I chose the fresh fish of the day (red snapper) and grain fed beef. Jamie had the fresh fish and Lamb

Alan's:



Jamie's:



For dessert I had a Chocolate Purse with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (made on site) with Caramel Sauce and Jamie had some kind of Mousse with Macadamia Nut Shortbread cookies (I was too busy enjoying mine to care what he was eating) :-)

Alan's:









Jamie's:

I was in my happy place (two glasses of wine helped) :-)






























Below are more pictures of our awesome day yesterday:

Mickey Mouse

The Akaka Falls are twice the height of Niagara Falls.

Yep...this describes me (and also reminds me of Jamie's home country Singapore where everyone keeps saying "Same Same". :-)

The Sarong pictures are for Wendy Watson :-)

The drive home at the end of the day was frickin scary. Jamie was driving but we were both a little freaked. The highway was dark, there are very few spots where there are street lights, the road is bendy and the divider lines are hardly visible.

By the time we got home I HAD TO HAVE a glass of wine.

I am considering today a bit of a rest day. Back to normal eating (we have a kitchen again) and although I will still allow myself indulgences, I don't need Milkshakes, chips, etc. The indulgences have to REALLY be worth it. Like the dessert at The Merriman restaurant...that was worth it :-)

We survived.

Aloha

Alan