Hawaii - April 2011

A two-week business trip for IST turned into a mini-vacation. On Friday afternoon, April 1st, we drove to LAX to spend the night on a Park 'N Fly package at the Airport Hilton. Saturday morning we caught out flight to Honilulu.

Arriving in Honolul, we rented our car and headed for a condoat the Pacific Monarch, in the Waikiki area. This photo was taken from the balcony off the living room of our 30th floor corner unit. We enjoyed a week in Waikiki as Rex worked in Honolulu and Pearl City. See the slideshow below.

Today we packed up and flew to Hilo for the next leg of our journey. Our lodging was on the 7th floor of the Mauna Shores, a seven story condo unit. This particular unit overlooked a small park and a beautiful lagoon. While there, we had the pleasue od swiming in the lagoon with giant sea turtles. This picture was taken from the livingroom patio of the condo.

Rex only works Monday and Tuesday at this location but we enjoyed driving aroundthe local area and taking walks along the beach. We realliy enjoyed the fresh fruit and vegitables we picked up at a local farmers market. See the slideshow below of some of our Hilio highlights.

Having enjoyed four days and nights in Hilo, alas, yet another move was in store for us. This morning we threw everything in the car for the trip to Kona on the other side of the island. As we made the drive, we experienced dense rain forests, coastal byways, a Hawaiian desert (Yes, Hawaii has its desert areas), and back to the coast as we neared Kona. Entering Knona we stopped at Hugo's, a beachside restaurant, for lunch before checking into our final condo experince of the trip. This condo, at the Kona Reef, was a third floor unit overlooking a beautiful stretch of beach.

While in Kona Rex had a couple days of work as Donna enjoyed walking into town, experiencing the culture of this beautiful Hawaiian city. Being centrally located we spent our evening walking into town and strolling along the breakwater while witnessing some beautiful sunsets.

Stretching our time in the islands as long as possible, we didn't have a flight back to Los Angeles until 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 17th. It was a wonderful trip with many memorable experiences.

See the slideshow below for some final pictures of our Hawaii trip.