Throwback Thursday (Hawaii)

Hey guys!  Hope your weeks are going well out there wherever you are.
(Where are you, btw?  Lemme know if you comment!)

Welcome to another installment of Throwback Thursday :-)  
I did a guest/sponsor post recently (for Mish!) about our trip to Hawaii (and my unfortunate accident there).  I loved going through those pictures so much, I decided to put together a Throwback Thursday about it.  We visited Hawaii just a few years ago, 

but it was before I was blogging and I have a lot of pics to share!

We first went to the Big Island of Hawaii for 3 days, where my aunt lives. 

This is her coffee shop, which is attached to her restaurant,
where we ate delicious food for every meal. 

And we drove through and around lots of growing coffee.

 We drove all over the island in the time we were there.

While on Hawaii, we spent a day in Kona, drove to the volcano, and ate like kings!

Interesting fruits at the farmers market that my aunt hosts on the weekends. 

We saw this house being taken back by the jungle.

We went to the southern most point in the United States.

We drank out of coconuts.

We went to the Hawaiian Royal Palace.

Us on the sea wall behind palace.

Our last morning on Hawaii.....

Then we hopped over to Maui and spent 3 more days.  
 Maui from the sky...

 Upon settling into our rental car and heading toward the hotel, we saw a double rainbow. (Couldn't get a good pics of it though.)

These were some of the views from our hotel...

Ready to go on the volcano bike ride. 
(Nice cheeks.  Thanks helmets.)

We chased some cows. 
(Actually, he was just walking out into the grass so I could get a better picture, 
but I snapped this one at the right time!)

I crashed on the bike and had to spend the last 2 days crutching and wheelchair-ing around. 

In my wheelchair at the luau!

It was so much fun! 
Good food, good drinks, good entertainment, good table mates. :-)

We made some new friends at the luau. 
It wasn't so bad on my knee, what with the unlimited tropical drinks!  

Our last breakfast before coming home. 

Oh, and uh...this is what happened when I got home. 
Yep.  The volcano got me good.

Have you visited Hawaii?  What island?  

I.can.not.wait.to.go.back!! 

Throwback Thursday - Vancouver!

Couple of quick notes... 

1) I am being featured over on Ricci's blog today (along with her other lovely November sponsors)! Yay! She has been great to work with so far and a really sweet girl and a new aunt!! :-)

2) Also, I should be finding out about the Ornament Swap (button on my sidebar) with Erin at Living In Yellow today! Kind excited about that. 

 

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So, for today's post, I poached borrowed this idea from the lovely Erica at Mi Todo...Throwback Thursdays, a brilliant idea!   

It's basically a chance to document pre-blogging life.  Which, I think, is pretty smart! 

I've only been writing this blog for less than a year.  My food blog, maybe 3 years?  But I'm 36, and we've been together 18 years. So...that's a lot of stuff to reminisce about!  :-) 

These are a few pics from a trip I took to Vancouver, BC (Canada) in  September of 2009.  I've been visiting my grandparents in Vancouver since I was a kid.  I used to go every summer for a week or more, hang out with cousins, and tour the sites of the city. 

My favorite spot to visit always was (and still remains) Granville Island Market.  If you've never been, it's like a giant, permanent farmer's market.  Since Vancouver is a coastal city, there are a LOT OF FISH.  Tons of fruits and vegetables.  There are also many restaurants and shops in and around the market. You can find clothing, baked goods, jewelery, local art, toys, housewares, beads... (the bead store was always our favorite store when we were tweens!) And there are plenty of maple items.  Mmmmm, maple sugar candy! You can also usually find musicians, street performers, and artisans. I always like to check out the totem poles being carves by First Nation members. 

If you've ever visited my food blog (button on sidebar!) you may recognize the first picture.  It's one of my favorites, and taken at Granville. :-)

I always enjoy a full day of browsing, eating and spending too much money at Granville. 

Another fun attraction (in 2009 particularly) are the Winter Olympic sites in and around the city.  The speed skating rink was actually just a few miles down the road from my Nana's house!  This is also the location that all of the drug testing for athletes was performed.

Since I visited before the Olympics, we got the chance to take a tour of the facility.  It was much more interesting than I originally thought it would be.  A lot of thought and care was taken to build the structure, and there was a lot of symbolism and local artistic flair incorporated into the design and construction.  

Now that the Olympics are over the building is used as a gigantic gym! 

(It probably has other uses, too, but I thought the gym idea was cool.)

I spent a lot of the weekend just chatting with my Nana, going to dinner, and enjoying the city I've grown to love.  Just last year my Nana moved back east, to Toronto, and I'm sad knowing I won't be able to visit her in this lovely city again. 

I'll  just have to be a big girl, visit on our own, and get a hotel!  ;-)

Nana and I, in my blonder and longer hair days, at the market.  :-)   Until next time, Vancouver!

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When I harassed asked Erica about borrowing her idea, she said she has done it as a link up in the past.  We discussed working together on it, so you might see a link up soon.

 I think we should all participate!  It's fun to stroll down memory lane.  :-) 

Happy Thursday everybody!!