Volcanic vacation given glowing review

By Christine Haines and Chris Sikes

Photos by Chris Sikes

All in all, who you spend Valentine’s Day with is more important than where you spend it, but face it, there’s something to be said for a romantic location. And Hawaii is near the top of the list when it comes to romance.

Last week my friend Chris Sikes shared his experiences on Oahu. Today we’ll explore the Big Island with him:

Hawaii (the Big Island) - more area than all the other Hawaiian Islands combined. While we were there we had to visit Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world.  We didn’t know if or when we’d be back, so we spent 24 hours there, staying overnight at Volcano House, a hotel on top of Kilauea, overlooking the Halemauma’u crater (the big one on top, but not the active crater.)  Driving and hiking around to see the crater and surrounding areas was great.  All around the crater, but especially on Devastation Trail, the site of a 1959 eruption of Kilauea Iki crater, was a very interesting contrast of the destruction from eruptions and the rebirth of new life: ferns, flowers, birds, etc.  You wouldn’t expect a rain forest with bright orange flowers on top of an active volcano. 

Hands-down our two most memorable things from The Big Island:

1. Chain of Craters Road that goes down the crater to the ocean, then along the shore back towards Hilo.  Over the past 20 years eruptions have been flowing over the road.  We hiked over these cooled flows with active flows only dozens of feet below us and could feel the heat radiating through the lava rock underneath us.  We saw glowing lava flowing into the ocean, steam billowing from the sea, cooled black lava rock, and new land forming just yards away from us, and a rainbow arcing above it all.  It almost didn’t seem real. As we hiked back that evening and it got darker, we could see the slopes of the volcano light up with orange glowing lava that we could not see during the light of day.  If you go to Hawaii, this is an absolute MUST-DO.

2. Helicopter from Hilo airport over and around Kilauea and southeastern part of the island.  We flow over and around Pu’u O’o, the currently active vent and source of active lava flows. This was well worth the several hundred dollars for a one-hour flight.

  Again, don’t forget Chris’s tips from last week: don’t try to see the whole state on one trip, pick one or two islands to explore. You may also want to pick up a copy of The Big Island Revealed from Wizard Publications to help with your island exploration. 

    

Out of the Box

By Christine Haines

Photos courtesy of Forsyth County, NC

I hate staying in hotels. They’re good for business trips, get-away weekends and overnight stays while on the road, but for a vacation, I’d much rather rent a house, or at least stay in a suite.

Everyone staying in a hotel room has to be on the same sleep schedule. Face it, it’s nearly impossible to sleep if someone sitting on the bed beside you has the light on to read or is watching television, or if the shower is running just a few feet away.

And, of course, the proximity of the shower and television applies to the rooms to either side of you, as well as to those above and below, unless the hotel is really upscale and somewhat soundproofed, so you can also be at the mercy of strangers.

All in all, I’d rather rent a house or at least a suite. It’s nice to be able to go into another room if you’re going to be staying somewhere for a week or so. It keeps nerves from getting frayed.

If you’ve been following my columns, you know that I’m basically cheap so spending tons of money on an upscale hotel suite or pricy vacation rental really isn’t on my agenda, so finding the right place to stay can take some effort. But sometimes you can find a real gem.

One of our best finds has been Tanglewood Park in North Carolina. My sister, who lives in North Carolina, found it for us when we were planning our trip that include Old Salem and a professional bull riding event at the Jerome Davis Ranch. Tanglewood is less than a half hour away from Winston-Salem, and not much more than an hour from both the Davis Ranch and my sister’s house. Those were very acceptable travel distances for us.

We didn’t have much planned for most of the week — visiting Old Salem (see “Four Museums, One Great Vacation), visiting with my sister and heading to the bull-riding event at the end of the week — so Tanglewood ended up being perfect for us.

The park has a rich history, going back to the 1750’s. An 18-room Manor House was built in 1859 and it was expanded to 28 rooms in 1921 and the estate was enlarged to 1,100 acres when it was purchased by William Neal Reynolds, the brother of tobacco entrepreneur R.J. Reynolds. The property was willed to Forsyth County in 1951 and now serves as a county park with riding stables, a golf course, public swimming pool, bike trails, fishing and boating lakes and numerous gardens and other amenities.

The Manor House is now a 10-room bed and breakfast, with each room having its own bath. The nearby Guest House sleeps 7 and can be rented by the week, as can three cottages set along Mallard Lake. We opted for the less expensive, more secluded cottages when we stayed there. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was clean and comfortable, air conditioned (very important in North Carolina in the summer) and very reasonably priced.

Cottage makes these structures sound like small huts in the woods. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are sprawling 2-3 bedroom single-story houses with large, fully equipped, eat-in kitchens and huge living room/dining room combos with a fireplace, television, and lots of comfy couches and chairs.

It was wonderful. We lounged around, read, played card games and board games, went horseback riding and enjoyed watching other people riding the Aqua-cycles on the lake. We could have gone golfing (if we golfed) or mountain biking (if we biked). The swimming pool, which is well used by the county recreation program, was within walking distance, and the gardens were absolutely beautiful. The horses were well trained and the trail was well groomed, but mostly, we enjoyed the solitude. It was nice to vacation outside of the box.

For more information about Tanglewood, log onto http://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/tanglewood/.

Share your travels by e-mailing Chris@howyouspinit.com.

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Virtual vacation deals that aren’t for the birds

 By Christine Haines

Whether you want to visit Pennsylvania Dutch country, go skiing in the Laurel Highlands or Poconos, or explore the Pennsylvania countryside, www.visitpa.com is one of the best places to start.

This state-government sponsored tourism Website provides plenty of tools for planning a trip to any section of the state. More importantly, it has declared January “Cabin Fever” month and it lists hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts that offer stay one night/get one free deals good in January only.

As I’ve noted in previous columns, I hate traveling in the winter because of questionable road conditions. But I also love a bargain and a quick weekend get-away is always welcome.

One year my husband and I decided to head to Pittsburgh for a weekend, instead of just taking a quick day trip. Our hotel (remember, one night free) offered a swimming pool and free cocktails (non-alcoholic options available) and a fitness center among its amenities. It was also close to one of our favorite restaurants, which, not coincidentally, offers discount coupons on www.restaurant.com.

We spent the next day at the National Aviary on Pittsburgh’s North Shore (it was just the Pittsburgh Aviary on the North Side when I was growing up.) It was great. The weather that year really wasn’t that cold for January, but it was still January, with the colorless landscape that an area filled with deciduous trees has in the winter.

That wasn’t the case inside the aviary. We quickly shed our coats and cleaned the fog from our glasses as we entered room after room of tropical treasures. Exotic birds and lush green plants surrounded us and the dreariness of winter in a northern state disappeared. We also had a chance to see some of our favorite raptors up close.

 

I’m not sure which Cabin Fever discount site we’ll select this year, if any, but there are some wonderful options,  like the Inne at Watson’s Choice, with an in-depth tour of Fallingwater, or Angelspring Farm Wellness Center, with it’s massage therapy options.

It could be a great opportunity to stay at some of the more unusual offerings in the state at deeply discounted prices, such as the Artist’s Inn and Gallery and a tour of nearby Amish quilt shops or the Lancaster Arts Hotel, which each room has been decorated by a different artist.

At the Dog and Pony Inn in Crawford County you can even bring your own dogs or horses for a modest fee (we have neither, but like both.) There are also numerous bed and breakfasts located on Pennsylvania farms among the Cabin Fever offerings. It could be a tough choice this year.

Send me your favorite vacation experiences and photos by e-mailing chris@howyouspinit.com.

Check all the area entertainment options at  www.howyouspinit.com.

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