Bubs and I returned from Hawaii late last week. We had a relaxing time despite spending far too much time in the damn car. We basically drove the entire perimeter of the Big Island. And just a side note: never again will we use Alamo rental car. Jesus Christ! We’re fed up with their deceptive tactics at their self check-in kiosks. Complete bullshit with their crap interface that pre-selects ALL the options (i.e. added costs) even though I had already refused every single one of them at the time of booking. So freaking annoying. Plus, I had booked a zippy compact. When we arrived, apparently all of them were rented already (what was the point of the reservation then??). We ended up with a full-size grampa car: the Chevy Impala. Yup, a total old geezer boat of a car.

But back to the trip. Despite these minor irritations, the vacay was a pleasant getaway. We even met up and hung with my former FMF web buds. How random was that? We hadn’t seen each other in years.

Overall, our trip consisted of checking out several beaches (white sand and black sand), although “beach” is somewhat of a stretch– the shores are more like narrow strips of sand but whatever. We also hiked in the Volcano National Park (unfortunately, no lava sightings), stayed at a really cool B&B in Volcano Village, toured some beautiful waterfalls north of Hilo, and snorkeled the last day in resort lagoons. The Priceline booking actually worked out well: we got a decent unit at the Big Island Disney (aka the Hilton compound in Waikoloa). Not too shabby. And the coolest part of the trip? John and I swam with 4 sea turtles in the lagoon! I almost ran into one, and man, those guys are surprisingly fast! A few times I looked away for just a couple seconds, and when I looked back, they were gone. Snorkeling was awesome! Especially for crappy swimmers like Bubs and me, the shallow waters of the lagoon were perfect.

I wrote a ton of Yelp reviews for Hawaii– yes, I wrote them WHILE on vacation. What else was I to do when Bubbey knocked out at 9pm every night? Shrug.

On our flight home, John and I hoped that time had abated the skunk stench. We got our answer as soon as the front door swung open, and that god-awful air swooshed its way into the pits of our lungs. Ugh! Damn bastard skunk! Fucking idiot dogs.

I know, bad attitude. But hey, it only lasted a minute: my babies were excited to see us! In the end, who could resist their cute wet noses and happy tails? Yeah, I got sucked in pretty easily. Was definitely good to be home.