After a hearty breakfast, we started walking the south end of the strip and ended up at one of the merchant plazas along the strip.  Christina and Tony had gotten 4-week tattoos the day before and it didn’t take much convincing for us to do the same.  Bethany had a design with an intricate cross, with a heart in the middle.

I went with a more contemporary design on my arm:

We walked back up the strip and stopped at the Coca-Cola store for one of Las Vegas’ best values.  If you go upstairs you can order a Float Sampler, which gives you 8 ice cream floats for $8.  The four of us could barely finish four of the floats, let alone 8 of them. This was a very refreshing treat for a very hot day.

We went back to the Palazzo to spend some time at the pool. Unfortunately pretty much every other guest at the Palazzo had the same thing in mind, as the pool was completely full.  We managed to finally snag some lawn chairs and enjoyed a nice cool swim.  The temperature was over 100 degrees, and we had a schedule to keep, so we headed back up to the room to get ready to head down to Fremont Street and dinner at Hugo’s Cellar.

Hugo’s Cellar is a five-star restaurant located in the basement at the Four Queens Hotel.  This is one our favorite Vegas traditions, one that we’ve been looking forward to for months.  We definitely weren’t disappointed.  One of our favorite things there is that they have a guy that comes around with a salad cart and prepares each salad right in front of you, asking each person what ingredients went on each salad  I asked them to be generous on the anchovies, and they gave Bethany a hard time about whether she knew I liked anchovies this much when she married me.  The staff at Hugo’s caught wind that we were on our honeymoon, and prepared Bethany and I a special surprise:

We enjoyed the White Chocolate Moose cake and all of the other good food. 

We gambled a little bit on Fremont, then headed back to the Palazzo to get in position to watch the fireworks over Caesar’s Palace.  We staked out a spot right in front of Harrah’s where we also got a view of the Mirage’s volcano going off:

The fireworks kicked off a little after 9:00pm, and while they were not the caliber of fireworks we’ve enjoyed at Coors Field for the last 4 years, we definitely saw some great sights:

After raving about the gondola ride at the Venetian, Christina and Tony were interested in taking the ride.  The four of us bought tickets and managed to get on the same gondola rower that Bethany and I had, Santo.  He treated us to more beautiful songs as we went under the “Tunnel of Love”.

We headed back to our room to refuel on beverages, and caught another Mirage Volcano eruption from our 22nd story view of the Strip.  We ended the 4th by playing slot machines down in the Palazzo casino, turning in at 1am.  Before we pulled out of Vegas on Sunday, the four of us shared our last Vegas meal at the Monte Carlo’s brunch buffet.

Thus this brings the official end to our Honeymoon.  We are currently en route back to Colorado and both of us are scheduled to be back at work on Monday.  Our adventure in Las Vegas and Hawaii may be over, but we are excited to go home to continue our adventure in our new marriage.

We stopped for an early lunch at a restaurant at an old sugar plantation called Gaylords.  We took advantage of our last opportunities to have fresh fish and enjoyed the outdoor scenery.  Kauai is crawling with roosters, they’re actually considered a pretty big pest on the islands.  During lunch we watched the roosters roam around the courtyard, looking to be fed.  It was astonishing (in a bit of a sad way) just how little fear they have of people.

We debated going golfing for the afternoon, but Bethany also wanted to take me out for a birthday dinner.  The timing of driving up to the course and playing 9 holes would have left us pretty rushed to have dinner before our flight, so we decided to shop for the afternoon instead.  Unfortunately the dinner plans didn’t pan out as well as we had hoped.  Bethany wanted to treat me to a nice place, but all of the nice places didn’t open until 5:00pm.  We had to turn our car into the rental place by 5:30, so we decided to skip the formal dinner and eat at a beach-side bar called JJ’s.  We enjoyed mixed drinks and watched people enjoying the ocean.

After a quick trip to Wal Mart to pick up some cheap pillows for the flight home, we returned the rental car and got onto the plane with no problems.  Our first flight to Honolulu was short, leaving us with a 2 hour layover.  As sat in the terminal it seemed like over half our flight was made up with families with young kids – all of them being fussy.  At point two kids cried at opposite ends of the terminals in the exact same pitch, we swore it was stereo!  Luckily the kids fell asleep on the flight ,and we touched down in Las Vegas at about 6:30am.

We were very sad to have left Hawaii, but were ready to join Christina and Tony in Vegas.

Notice the bags under Jeromey’s eyes?

The sunrise arrived, on schedule, and while it wasn’t as spectacular as the Beach House sunset (on the first night we arrived), the view was worth the early morning rise:

We were surprised at the number of people who actually were up that early, but that didn’t stop us from immediately going back to bed and sleeping in.  We woke up a few hours later, had a few bowls of cereal and made our way to the beach for what turned out to be the last time on the trip.  We swam in Ship-wreck Beach and ended up doing some boogie-boarding.  The waves were nasty, and we ended up getting our butts handed to us.  We had a ton of fun and got the week’s usage out of our boogie boards and were looking to give them away.  Bethany went up to the first person next to us to offer the boogie boards, and it turns out that she and her family are actually from Fort Collins as well.  We spent a little while talking about home, Hawaii, weddings and other various things, then wished them well with their new boogie boards.

One of the downsides of swimming in the ocean is all of the sand that your body accumulates.  After our sand-rinsing showers, the bathroom wasn’t a pretty sight!  We cleaned up as much as we could and freshened up for the dinner cruise.

We stopped for lunch at Brick Oven Pizza, the place that was closed on Monday, and had some amazing salads and shared a small “UltiMEAT” Pizza.  I was particularly excited because I got to order anchovies on my Caesar Salad.

Finally after lunch we boarded the Spirit of Kauai for the dinner cruise and set sail.

I’m not sure if it was the Dramamine we took before the cruise, or the stomach full of Brick Oven Pizza, but as the ship slowed down my stomach started to speed up.  I didn’t get sick, but I definitely wasn’t feeling well for part of the cruise.  I managed to recover just in time for dinner, where we enjoyed a great chicken salad, steak strips, rice, bread, and vegetables.  Everything was excellent!

The cruise went up and down the Napali Coast, and showed beautiful scenery of waterfalls, island caves and of course beaches.  The scenery we saw has been shown in many different movies – namely the “opening island” sequence of Jurassic Park, as well as Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Sunset Dinner Cruise if we didn’t witness a sunset:

We safely docked and made our way home, but not before stopping one last time at Lappert’s Ice Cream.

Next Up: Our last day in Hawaii

Access the Pictures on Flickr

We started of by eating breakfast at Joe’s on the Green.  We ate outside, and while we enjoyed the view we noticed that there was smoke coming off in the distance.  The best guess by everyone there was a house fire.  We were hoping everything was ok, but all we could do was say a prayer and look at the smoke in the distance:

We set off towards the North Shore of Kauai. Bethany went through our guidebook to find some prime destinations for our exploration.  First up was a boogie boarding beach.  We drove the beautiful drive along the coast, only to find that the beach had signs that said “no swimming” all over it.  We saw people surfing along the coast, and a few boogie-boarders, but we didn’t want to be one of those Darwin award recipients – the ones you read about missing after swimming in the “No Swimming” beach, so we drove on.

The book described this beautiful lava-formed pool called “Queen’s Bath”.  We set out looking for it and found it by driving through a neighborhood.  The book mentioned that a small parking lot was created to accommodate the number of visitors, but it didn’t mention just how small this lot was.   There were only about 10 spots, all of which were full (and a few were even double-parked).  We tried to find alternative parking, but with no success we were forced to head back.  When then drove and found a snorkeling beach and got in our beach time for the day.

Hungry for a late lunch, we tried the coveted Ono Burger which we’ve heard so much.  Bethany ordered a Swiss Burger, while I ordered a Teriyaki, Pineapple & Swiss burger.  Both were really good, but still paled in comparison to Five Guys back at home.  We ate our burgers along the original boogie-board beach, then made our way back to Lihue.

We spent some time at Starbucks to upload pictures to Flickr, then made our way back to get ready for our dinner reservation at Tide Pools, a restaurant at the Hyatt next door.  The restaurant was very good, but we were one of the few unfortunates that weren’t seated by the water.  We enjoyed our dinner nonetheless, and made our way back to our room where we once again turned in early.

Next Up: Sunrise, Sunset…

We were both lead to our respective spa areas (they had guys & girls sections), each which had their own set of amenities.  After our tours and changing into our robes, we met back up at this relaxation room that had comfy chairs overlooking the beautiful scenery.  While we sipped our tea and waters, our masseuses greeted us and led us back to our own hut where we would receive our massages.  Bethany chose a relaxing massage, while I asked for one that helped relieve knots.  After about an hour of being massaged, we headed back to the spa to enjoy the other amenities for the rest of the afternoon.  We both enjoyed the Jacuzzi, as well as the private pool (for spa folks only).  We swam a little then laid out in the sun and relaxed.  We even ordered lunch to be brought to the spa.  After enjoying our lunch and more relaxation, we both went to our respective areas and used the sauna, steam room, and the twelve-headed shower.  We left the spa relaxed, refreshed and clean!

This was basically our only night in Hawaii where we didn’t have a dinner reservation, so we took this as an opportunity to grill out.  We stopped at the fish market and grabbed some Ahi, then went to the other local market and grabbed some steaks.  We picked up a nice Malbec from the Wine Shop, as well as some seasoning for the meat.  While we waited for the dry rub to season, we took a stroll to the ocean rocks down by the ocean and took some pictures.   While we were watching the waves come in, we actually saw a sea turtle by the shore (we unfortunately did not get a good photo of the turtle).

The grill was located by the hot tub pool, so in between meat flips we enjoyed the hot tub.  We ate well and drank well, then grew tired from our long day of relaxation and turned in early.

Next Up: Long drives, tide pools

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If you’re getting your Honeymoon fill by simply sitting back and reading, that’s totally ok!  We just wanted to let you know we’re getting a little lonely out here…

With the full day open, we figured that Monday would be the best day to take the drive up to Waimea Canyon.  Waimea is known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”, as it measures to 10 miles in length and is over 3,000 feet deep.  Geological facts aside, the site is simply breathtaking:

We drove from the South Shore (where we’re staying), up to the west side of the island, then took the 18 miles road that took us up to the top of the canyon.  The drive was a sport in itself, especially in the convertible:

This was the easy part!  As we drove we encountered road construction, where Bethany made the comment “You can’t escape road construction, even in paradise.”

After a very steep and bumpy drive, we finally made it to the top.  Bethany assured me that that view would be well worth it, and my wife was definitely telling the truth:

Bethany put it best when she said that you can’t even tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins on the horizon.  We took a series of incredible pictures which we’ll post on Flickr, but we wanted to post proof that we made it to the top:

We drove our way back down the canyon (which Bethany documented in a video that we’ll be posting), taking the scenic route.  At this point we were very hungry and ready for lunch.  We hoped to stop by Brick Oven Pizza (as our guidebook lists it as the best pizza on the island), only to find that they were closed.  We went to a deli across the street and enjoyed a Mango Smoothie and turkey sandwiches.

The long drive with the top down took its toll on Bethany, and she napped in the afternoon to recover.  We enjoyed a swim in the resort pool, throwing a football around in the water.  We then freshened up for our dinner at Roy’s: a great restaurant that featured steak and various fish. We both enjoyed a four-course “sampler” meal, which offered very delicious – but modest – portions that left us satisfied.

Jeromey committed a Honeymoon No-No by forgetting to wear his wedding ring to dinner.  These late-afternoon showers throw off his routine.

We finished the night by taking in another movie (this time it was “Pure Country” featuring Bethany’s handsome cowboy George Straight) – along with some wine we snuck down to the hot tub in plastic kitchen cups (very classy…).

Next Up: Relaxation at the Spa, relaxation at the resort.

The late afternoon rolled around and we made our way over to the Hyatt (a rather pleasant walk down the coast-line) to check into our Luau.

We sat next to a couple that was out in Hawaii celebrating their anniversary and commenced consuming great music and Mai Tai’s.  For those that don’t know, a Luau is basically a party, filled with good food, drinking and dancing.  The Luau we participated in offered all-you-can eat & drink, and we definitely took advantage of that.

We of course had the slow-cooked pig, but also there were other great meats and fish, as well as many other great foods.  We once again repeated our honeymoon habit of eating far too much, but had some great entertainment while we digested.

The Luau also featured an amazing fire dancer:

We have many more pictures and even a short video from the Luau, but will post them when we have the bandwidth to post to Flickr.

At the end of the evening (and several Mai Tai’s later) we stumbled our way back to our resort and enjoyed a relaxing movie in our room.

Next Up: A day at the Waimea Canyon, and a fabulous dinner

“This flight wasn’t long""

it’s simply amazing how green everything is out here.  The weather is perfect, a little warm, but accompanied with a nice sea breeze.  We’re reveling in the experience of driving in Hawaii in a convertible, but it’s astonishing that every road here is the size of a Colorado back road. 

Driving through Kauai.

Our car rental shuttle driver recommended a place called “Dani’s” for breakfast.  Equipped with our sun hats and lei’s (from our lovely lei greeting), we were definitely the only tourists in there.  The food was a great value, and we were on our way to explore Kauai.

Driving in the convertible.

We scoped out our hotel location, but were far too early to check in.  We then did some shopping on the South Shore.  We found some really cute stores and had our first bout with Lappert’s Ice Cream (the first of many, we suspect).  We also found a cute store and got our sport bands (cheaper wedding bands that we can use while swimming and other sporting activities. Remember when Olympic Volleyball player Kerri Walsh lost her wedding ring?) that were perfect fits.  We were growing pretty tired from our sleep-deprived flight, so we pulled into the nearest beach under a tree and caught a nap in the convertible.

Lappert’s Ice Cream. 

We had lunch at the BBQ Inn, which ironically did not have very much BBQ – but good food nonetheless.  We then went to hotspot of commerce called K-Mart to pick up needed groceries and supplies for the week. Living in Colorado, it’s always baffling to walk down an aisle filled with hard liquor.

We’re staying at the Point at Poipu Resort, with a beautiful room that overlooks the Hot Tub, backing right up to a breathtaking ocean scenery.  We took much-needed showers and prepared for our dinner at the Beach House.

The experience at the Beach House can be best summarized with these pictures (from our table I might add):

As the crazy honeymooners that we are, we crashed at 9:15pm and slept until nearly 11:00am the next day.  That overnight flight didn’t take its toll on us at all.

Next Up: A day rest & relaxation, topped off with a luau.