This post covers our three-day trip to Las Vegas to see Billy Idol for Cindy’s birthday. The obvious question here is why we would fly halfway across the country to see a concert we could easily drive to from Los Angeles. The answer is because we had tried to see Billy Idol three other times and each time, it fell through. The first time we tried to see him was in Las Vegas in March of 2020 right before the covid lock down. Our concert was cancelled because he had a sore throat. Then we had tickets to see him open for Elton John in Dallas, Texas. On the day of that concert, it was cancelled because Elton John had been exposed to covid. Son of a gun if covid didn’t get us again. The third time was in Kansas City when he was supposed to open for Journey and had to cancel. We were starting to take this personal. When the chance to see this concert presented itself, we were going whether it was by driving, flying, or taking the space shuttle.
On Tuesday morning in late October, we got up to a cloudy and rainy day in St. Joseph, Missouri and headed off to Kansas City International Airport. Several hours later, we landed in sunny Las Vegas.
We took a cab to our hotel and as luck would have it, we had the 90-year-old cab driver driving the worse cab I have ever seen on my life. I had to load the suitcases into the cab that was in pretty bad shape. Since this was Cindy’s birthday trip, we just laughed and enjoyed our ride.
In short order, we were at our hotel, where I also unloaded the suitcases. We stayed at the Hilton Polo Towers on the strip. I chose this hotel because it was part of our Hilton group, was on the strip, and was across the street from the Cosmopolitan Hotel where the concert was. This would allow us to walk to the concert.
We freshened up and got dressed up for our special dinner at Lawry’s The Prime Rib. If you have never eaten at Lawry’s, you have missed a great meal. They have three locations, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, and Dallas. We have eaten at the Las Vegas and Beverly Hills locations. We took an Uber to Lawry’s and were seated in a giant booth.
They have the famous spinning Ceasar’s salad where the server spins a metal bowl of salad while slowly pouring the dressing into the salad. Then the giant metal meat cart comes around and you order your prime rib and sides. The prime rib is hand carved tableside.
The prime rib, Yorkshire pudding (a type of bread), and sides are the absolute best.
Lawry’s is hands down one of our all-time favorite restaurants. Of course there is a link at the end of this post. Use it unless you are a vegan. We walked back to our hotel to try and walk off some of the amazing meal we had. On the way back, we saw the new sphere. It is a giant dome with concerts and events inside and a light show on the outside. Here is what it looks like from the street level and a picture of us in front of a Las Vegas sign.
Back at our room, we could also see the sphere. It was fun to watch until it started to watch us.
After watching the sphere watch us, we got some sleep. The next day, we walked around the strip, which was not as easy as usual with the pending Indy car race and all of the construction and preparation for it.
We had dinner before the concert at Cafe Hollywood inside Planet Hollywood. I started with a delicious Manhattan.
We looked at our neighbors table and they had some sort of appetizer sampler that was on a Ferris wheel. It looked fun and delicious.
We had to order it and did. It was called the High Roller Sampler and came with; their World Famous Chicken Crunch, Texas Tostadas, Buffalo Wings, Five Cheese Dip, and Tempura Jumbo Shrimp.
It was delicious and even though the food was above average at best, it was just fun enough to earn a link. After our fun meal, it was off to the concert. We arrived a few minutes before the doors opened.
Once the doors opened, we took our seats. Here we are in our seats and our view of the stage.
We watched these two “interesting” women walk around and take selfies until security put a stop to their shenanigans.
The pictures are slightly blurry because of the lighting and distance. Then it was show time.
Billy Idol really put on a great show, playing most of his hit songs and a few of his new ones as well. It was worth the wait. We walked back to our hotel and got some sleep. On our final day, we had some time before our evening flight home, so we took an Uber to my favorite place, the Pinball Hall of Fame. It is located on the south end of the strip very close to the official “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.
Not only do they have hundreds of pinball machines from around the 1930s to modern day, they have video and table games from the last 100+ years. Table hockey and Joust were a few of the more recent ones and a couple of my favorites.
As in the past, we had a blast at the Pinball Hall of Fame, so of course there is a link below. After we had our fill of nostalgic fun, we walked down the strip, had some lunch, rode the monorail and got ready to fly back to Kansas City. We took an uber to the airport with a reasonably aged driver this time. We made it through the airport smoothly, and our flight was event free. We got into Kansas City after midnight and made it back to our place safely.
You can bet the next post will be about our stay in Branson, Missouri. Until then, don’t let out too many “Rebel Yells!”
This was the second half of our Hawaiian trip. So without further delay……..
Day 5
We scheduled an all day waterfall tour that picked us up first thing in the morning at our condo. We were the last to be picked up, so Cindy sat in the second row and I sat in the front next to the driver. Not an ideal situation, but we made the best of it. Our first stop was at Mauna Kea State Recreation Area for a bathroom break and to look at the snow tipped Mauna Kea Mountain. It was surreal to be in Hawaii, known for its beautiful beaches, and to see snow tipped mountains. Here are a few pictures of the mountain and our tour van.
Our next stop was at Kaumana Caves State Park, on the east side of the island near Hilo. Kaumana Caves aren’t really caves, they are a lava tube that was discovered when the road was built through the area. We got to hike down into the lava tube and it was well worth the time. Here we are going down into the lava tube.
And here we are inside the lava tube.
If you are interested in learning more about Kaumana Caves State Park, there is a link at the end of this post.
Our next stop was at the Wailuku River State Park to see Rainbow Falls. The falls are a merging of two rivers that created a beautiful waterfall that caused rainbows to form in the mist. The rainbows we saw were light and did not photograph well. There is a small rainbow in the below picture. If you see it, you can make a wish that will come true after you sent me $40.
And here are a few more pictures, sans the rainbows.
Check the link at the end of this post for more information about Wailuku River State Park and Rainbow Falls.
We were off and our next stop was for lunch, viewing a private waterfall, and a possible dip in the pond beneath the waterfall, at the Inn at Kulaniapia Falls. We had a decent box lunch of teriyaki chicken and rice on a balcony with a view of the river and falls.
After lunch, we hiked down to the pond at the based of the waterfall. Cindy was brave enough to go in. I was not.
After her refreshing dip, we walked back up to the main lodge to wait for the van. While we waited, we were watching the koi in the man made pond at the entrance. Cindy realized there was food on the rail and helped a few of our older tour companions feed the fish. Young or old, people just love to feed fish.
I have included a link at the end of this post to the Inn at Kulaniapia Falls. Before you book a room there, read the reviews. We found the place to be interesting, but off of the beaten path. If you want to visit, I would not stay for any more than 2 days unless you really want to get away and do very little.
Our next stop was at Akaka Falls State Park. There was a less than 1/2 mile round trip walk to see this over 400 foot water fall. It was really beautiful. Want to learn more? Check out the link at the end of this post.
Our final stop was to take a ride into the Waipio Valley, located on the northeast side of the island. We had visited the Waipio Valley lookout on Sunday, but did not go into the valley. On the drive to the valley, it rained so hard, it was hard to see the road a few times. Luckily for us, the rain stopped the second we arrived for our Waipio Valley tour. For this tour, we got into a very sketchy van that looked like it was in poor condition. Had we known how steep and poorly maintained the road into the valley was, we may not have gotten into the van. I tried to get a picture of the van without offending our driver, who was a local. I was not successful so there is no picture. But here is a picture looking through the front window going down the steep road.
The yellow “Falling Rock” sign on the left side of the picture is only about 20 feet down the road, yet the entire post is out of view. Once we safely reached the valley floor and could stop praying, we stopped for some wild horses that were pretty friendly. I was finally able to get a picture of our van. It is the white windowless van below.
We continued through the valley and son of a gun if the sketchy van didn’t drive through a river that was at least two feet deep.
We survived that too. Here are a few pictures from the coast and within the valley.
We drove back up the crazy road and returned to our much safer van. It turns out that 9 days later, the city closed the road due to….. “A recently released geotechnical assessment outlining the rockfall and landslide risks associated with traveling along Waipio Valley Road has led the County of Hawaii’s to close Waipio Valley Road to visitors until further notice.” Wow. There is a link to the Waipio Valley at the end of this post.
Our tour driver returned us to our condo. We cleaned up, went out for dinner at a local restaurant that was fine, but nothing special, and returned to our condo where we called it a day.
Day 6
How do you possibly top a day looking at beautiful waterfalls? How about touring a seahorse farm and breeding facility. And that is what we did. But first we had to stop for Cindy’s morning coffee. When she got her cup, we had to laugh at how badly they messed up her the name. It definitely was not CINDY.
So Sydney and I headed off for our Seahorse adventure.
Our tour started with viewing the tanks used to breed and grow the smaller seahorses.
Next, we saw the tanks they used to grow a type of seaweed they used to feed the seahorses and sold to other companies. Cindy tried it and said it tasted salty and a lot like the ocean. Not too surprising.
Next we actually got to have a seahorse hold on to our hands. Now that was really cool.
The tour ended with checking out some more seahorses in tanks.
Once the tour was over, we walked around the beach next to the seahorse farm.
If you are visiting the Big Island, the Seahorse Farm and tour is an absolute must visit. There is a link at the end of this post.
We headed south down the main road and ended up at St Benedict Catholic Church, also known as “the Painted Church.” This is a practicing church that is famous for all of its old paintings. From their website (link at the end of this post): “This present church was erected in 1899 by Father John Velghe. Without any professional training and using house paint on ordinary wood, he beautified the church with his paintings. In those days few Hawaiians could read and so he taught with pictures-most successfully. ” Here are some pictures of the grounds.
And here is the inside.
This was an interesting and enjoyable stop. We highly recommend it when on the big island.
Our next stop was at the Bay View Farm for some shopping and coffee. They had a nice view from their patio.
We drove on the road closest to the coastline and really enjoyed the views. We passed Magic Sands Beach, and I had to stop. First off, the sand was not magic and was actually pretty plain. And it seemed like there were more lava rocks than sand. The beach was only OK, but it was still Hawaii.
After a full day, we were pretty worn out. We stopped at the local market and got some premade food, and headed back to the condo.
Day 7
This was our day to visit Volcanos National Park, near the south side of the island. Instead of taking the shorter route through the center of the island, we decided to take the scenic drive along the coast and around the southern tip of the island. Our first stop was at the southernmost bakery in the United States, Punalu’u Bake Shop.
We had three jelly donuts and a piece of bread pudding. The donuts were fine, but nothing special. The bread pudding was pretty darn good.
For those interested, there is a link at the end of this post.
Our next stop was Punalu’u Beach, known for its famous black sand beach and supposedly the fact giant sea turtles have been known to sun bathe at this beach. Look at this beautiful beach and jet black sand.
But what would be the odds of seeing any giant sea turtles? 100%.
Now that was well worth the stop! There is a link to this beach at the end of this post.
We continued on to the Volcanos National Park (link at the end of this post). Our first stop was to see Mt. Kilauea’s caldera. Even though there is no active eruption, the caldera still is quite active with smoke and steam. Many people told us if you go at night, you can still see some lava. We decided to keep to daytime viewing.
Next we saw some steam vents near the caldera.
We walked along a few of the walking trails, and the views were really nice.
At one overlook, we could see the volcano monitoring equipment.
Our last stop was at the Nahuku – Thurston Lava Tube. This is a really well maintained, and lit, lava tube that involves a short 1.5 mile hike. It is around 500 years old, and well worth the stop and hike. And guess what, there is a link at the end of this post.
After our lava tube hike, it was after 1:30 PM and we were getting very hungry. We headed off to grab some lunch at the historic Kilauea Lodge and Restaurant. The lodge was built in1938, has rooms available, and the restaurant is highly rated. Here is the entrance, grounds, and a plaque.
The lobby is home to the famous “International Fireplace of Friendship,” whatever the heck that means.
After checking out the fireplace, we walked over to the restaurant that closed at 2 PM. It was now 2 PM. And we were getting very hungry. So we quickly drove down the street to the Eagles Lighthouse Cafe. It was very good local food.
Our second to last stop on this adventure was at the Volcano Winery. We stopped in to do some wine tasting.
The wines were average at best, but they had a mead that was very good. It was a fun stop we can recommend for both wine lovers and non-wine lovers. If you attend AA, pass on this stop. There is a link to the winery’s website at the end of this post.
On the way back to our condo, we stopped for dinner at the Seafood Bar and Grill. Once again, a nice meal at a fun place.
Day 8
After a week in paradise, it was time to return home to California. Since our flight left later in the day, we started with some shopping at the Kona Farmer’s Market. We always love walking around different farmer’s markets, and this was enjoyable as well. Our last lunch on the island was at the Pine Tree Cafe, where we were able to eat on the patio overlooking the ocean. Check out these views.
After a delicious lunch, it was off to the airport. Our airport terminal was outdoors. Check this out.
Only in Hawaii.
Before I end this post, here is some information we learned about lava. There are two distinct looks with lava. The smooth, billowy looking lava, and the rough, jagged looking lava. They are each created by different conditions. When the lava is very slow moving, it dries as it moves and is called Pahoehoe. It looks like this.
The fast moving lava flows create a jagged type of lava called A’a. It looks like this.
There are two additional interesting types of lava we learned about. One is called Pele’s Hair, which are long glassy strands of lava created when thin amounts of lava are ejected from an eruption and spread thin by the wind.
The other is a Volcanic Bomb, a hard rock created when a blob of lava is ejected from an eruption and dries and hardens before it hits the ground.
Our last lesson I still cannot understand. There are five, yes five, oil refinery facilities that refine oil into gasoline in Southern California, an hour or less drive from our house in California. So follow this interesting trail. Freshly made gasoline can be made in California and get put on two tankers. One tanker drives one hour and puts the gas into the underground holding tanks at my corner gas station where I can put it into my car. Here are the prices for that gas.
The second tanker is placed on a ship where it sails several days across the Pacific Ocean and then gets placed into the underground storage tanks for tourists like me to put into our rental cars. Her are the prices for that gas.
So the gas that only takes an hour to ship to my house is more expensive than the gas that gets shipped across the ocean to an island? Crazy is all I can say.
Enough learning for one post. We arrived home safe and sound just after midnight and got some much needed rest.
Our next trip is 6 weeks at our Missouri house. This trip we are taking the dog, so that should be interesting. See ya then!
