After visiting Haleakala National Park, our tour guide Gavin drove us to lunch in the small town of Makawao.  Our destination for the afternoon was the Iao Valley State Monument but it was on the other side of the island.  First, we ate a buffet Italian lunch at Casanova’s.  It was good, but seemed an …

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I mentioned last week that we took two shore excursions while we were on Oahu.  We went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, but we also took an evening excursion to Germaines Luau. Germaines Luau is billed as a backyard, family luau.  A luau is a traditional Hawaiian style party with lots of food, music, and …

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Our second port of call in Hawaii was the most populated island, Oahu.  The ship docked close to the Aloha tower, just a few blocks from downtown Honolulu.  Tom and I had two very busy days on Oahu.  We took two shore excursions one one day and a long hike and shopping on another.  The …

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After six days at sea, we finally spotted land:  Hawaii, the Big Island, straight ahead!  The state of Hawaii encompasses hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles. At the southeastern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, the eight main islands are – in order from northwest to southeast – Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lānai, Kahoolawe, Maui, and the the Big Island of Hawaii. A volcanic hot …

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Most cruise ships have excellent entertainment on board.  Some have Broadway quality singing and dancing.  One cruise we took had some wonderful family-friendly comedians.  Holland America continued this excellent entertainment in their Lincoln Center venue. The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Holland America created a partnership where top drawer classical music is available …

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Tom and I love learning new things.  The main point of traveling is broadening our horizons by learning about the culture and history of a place.  Six years ago we took a cruise on Carnival Cruise Line and there weren’t any enrichment experiences at all.  No books about our destination.  No classes or lectures.  In …

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One of the great things about taking a cruise is exploring the ship.  As soon as we get aboard, Tom and I start walking level by level getting oriented.  The Eurodam, one of Holland America‘s ships, has 2,000 passengers, 800 crew, and 11 stories so there was plenty to explore.  The Eurodam is nine years …

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Tom and I recently returned from a 17-day cruise to Hawaii on the Holland America ship Eurodam.  We had a fantastic vacation and I will be writing about it for at least the next three weeks. Several people asked what we did with our RV while we were on our cruise, so I am going …

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The day after we went to Mt. Rainier, we headed to Mount St Helens National Monument.  The two mountains are very similar in size and composition, but their recent history makes them look very different.  Mt. Rainier is a National Park in the Department of the Interior but Mount St Helens is administered by the …

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As we explored southwestern Washington, we made a quick dip into Oregon to go the Powells City of Books.  Powells bills itself as the largest bookstore in the galaxy and it may well be.  It covers an entire city block and has four stories filled with over a million new and used books. Tom has …

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