Celebrating a 60th Wedding Anniversary—Early Morning and Ready to Go

Posted 30 August 2016 by
Global Marketing
Back to blog


It’s Tuesday. I’m wide awake by 4:30 a.m. Kevin is sleeping peacefully, so I quietly get up and get ready to meet the rest of my family downstairs for breakfast. We agreed the night before to meet at 6 am. Sure enough, as I walk in to the lobby, Mom, Dad, Cindy, and Terri are there and ready to go. I think yet again that I need to travel with my family more. Everyone is so easy to be around. There is no drama either. So nice!

We are all ready to get our day started with a nice breakfast. The problem is that nothing is open—it’s too early. Cindy remembers there is a Starbucks close by, so we ask the valet for the car, load up, and take the very short ride over. The day has begun, and I am so excited to be here with my family.

Starbucks as it turns out is the place to be this early in Hawaii. It’s hopping, and we are lucky to find a table. Mom, Dad, and Terri take a seat while Cindy and I order food for all of us. Food arrives, and we all talk quietly while the place continues to fill up with other early risers unable to find anyplace else to eat. We have a fun day ahead, and I want to make sure it starts off right, so we eat and then head back to the car to pick up Kevin back at the hotel.

Today I have chartered a boat to take just the six of us out to sea to spot, hopefully, a few dolphins and then go snorkeling. Mom and Dad are not so sure about getting on a boat and at one point were going to stay behind until I let Dad know that I chartered this boat just for us.

After reading lots of Yelp reviews, I finally found what sounds like the perfect company: Endless Summer Charters. While it is a bit of a drive out to our pick-up location, we don’t really care. We are in Hawaii! The water glistens on our left as we head north up the Big Island. We drive into the parking lot of the Blue Dragon Restaurant, where we are to meet Captain Bryan. We are early, and again I’m thankful that all is going so well on our trip. The restaurant is closed. It is still too early for most people. There is a shave ice stand and an outdoor market (both closed at the moment) on the edges of the parking lot. Since we have time, I look up on Yelp the shave ice stand—Original Big Island Shave Ice—and learn that it has five stars. I’m thinking we will definitely visit after our boat trip.

If you want to read more about my Hawaiian family vacation, check out the previous blogs in this series:

 

Tags