Universal Studios Hollywood

As part of the GSK trip we were allowed to select 2 excursions. Shane and I selected a day at Universal Studios Hollywood. Yeah, yeah, yeah...they have a Universal Studios in Orlando, but that park doesn't have the studio tour. We met up with the group at 8am, connected with new friends Joe and Stacy from Ohio and headed north towards Hollywood. Our tour guide, Maureen, was awesome at narrating the sights along the way. After arriving at US we set off to explore Hollywood's most famous backlot in the worlds' largest working movie studio. The tour is about 45 minutes long and travels through various lots with a few attractions along the way. Our tour guide, along with Jimmy Fallon, narrates the history of the studio. It was sooo cool to see sets for Depperate Housewives, the courthouse scene from Back to the Future, Psycho & The Great Outdoors to name a few. Attractions along wht way include: King Kong 3D, plane crash from War of the Worlds, cars from The Fast and the Furious & Jaws. After the studio tour we saw Shrek in 3D, ate a Pinks hot dog, watched the Waterworld show, Special Effects Stage and the Terminator in 3D. Whew, it was a action packed day! We had sooo much fun hangin' out with our new friends Joe and Stacy! We headed back to the resort, where I crashed and Shane went to dinner. While Shane was at dinner, GSK dropped off some fun little goodies. Another fun day comes to an end!

Fun, Sun, Shades and Shrek!

On Friday the 1st order of business for the day was to get fitted for some Maui Jim sunglasses, courtesy of GSK. This was so much fun. Shane got some sleek shades and I got some funky ones. After picking out our shades we went to hang out at the pool. The resort had 2 pools, a very large pool for all ages and a smaller, hip adult pool. Bet you can guess the pool we hung out at! They played cool music, had nice lounge chairs and cabanas at the adult pool. It was very Vegas! We spent a few hours catching rays and then headed in to get ready for the show. Shane and I drove up to Hollywood for the evening.

The night began with dinner at Providence LA located off Melrose Ave. For starters they brought us a trio of small bites including a white jumbo prawn, pastry puff with smoked salmon and creme fraiche, and a chilled carrot puree soup with passion fruit flavoring and seaweed foccacia bread. Next, we ordered the Dungeness Crab & salt roasted Santa Barbara spot prawns. The production for the prawns was rather impressive! The take live prawns, salt roast them and serve tableside. Our entrees included the striped sea bass and John Dory (a verrrry yummy fish). Delicious meal!!!

After our amazing dinner at Providence we headed over to the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood to watch

Shrek the Musical. The theatre opened in 1930, the decor is very art deco...definitely old Hollywood! We had fantastic seats on the 3rd row to the right of the stage on the end, almost center stage. Once the show began I was smiling, ear to ear THE WHOLE TIME!! Oh my wow, it was sooo magical! The actors were spot on with their depictions of the characters! What a fantastic night! 

California Dreamin'

Our latest adventure takes us out to the west coast to the beautiful Terranea resort resort about 25 miles south of Los Angeles, California. The trip is a result of supersalesman Shane's accomplishments at work. In April he recieved the Silver award for being in the top 10% of the company in 2010. Our plane landed at LAX, picked up our rental car and headed south to the resort. We took the Pacific Coast Hwy, it was an incredible drive down the coast! Once we arrived at the resort we were greeted by friendly hostesses who directed us to a fabulous hospitality suite they had set up for the winners. We picked up our room keys,  a few other wonderful items provided by GSK and headed to our room. Our room was beautiful and the view was spectacular, overlooking the Pacific oceam. This trip was off to a great start!

After settling in we ventured out to see the resort and then got cleaned up for the company dinner. The dinner was held on the lawn of the resort and was amazing! We ate beef tenderloin, salmon, risotto and a delicious spinich salad. They had a band set up, it was wonderful!

Driving north until the road ends

Shane and I set out from the resort, with the Jeep top down, north to see the sights along the way. 1st stop was to see the beautiful Wailua Falls, an 80 ft waterfall that feeds into the Wailua River. The falls were featured in the opening scene from Fantasy Island.

Next stop was another waterfall, Opaekaa Falls. Across the road from the falls is a beautiful view of the Wailua River. From this overlook you can get a view of where movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park and Outbreak were filmed.

After the falls we stopped off at Kilauea Lighthouse, it is one of the most photographed spots in Kauai. Nearby is the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refugee, home to a wide variety of bird species. It is also a great spot to see spinner dolphins and when in season humpback whales.

As we continue our journey we stopped off to see some spectacular beaches along the way and visited the surfer town of Hanalei. This area was soooo neat! We ate at the Dolphin restaurant (it is the 1st and last spot in Hanalei). Both Shane & I had tuna steak sandwiches and shared a dolphin ice cream pie. The ice cream pie was layered with 3 flavors of banana coconut & macadamia nut ice cream, over an oreo cookie crust with chocolate sauce and whipped cream OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS!! Next was Tunnels beach where the water was so clear it looked just like a swimming pool (this was the most beautiful beach I have EVER seen!) and finally to Ke'e Beach, this is where the road ends and the Napali Coast begins. It was really neat to see this, we were able to see this amazing coastline from several different view point. The Kalalu trail (the trail that traverses the Napali Coast) begins at Ke'e beach. It is a 11 mile trail, takes an entire day to hike it. I'm sure it is a incredible experience...for those REALLY adventurous folks!

                               

We ate dinner at the Beach House restaurant. This is where we were supposed to eat on our anniversary, but I was sick. It was very beautiful and delicious! Our table was outside by the beach. Shane and I shared a crab cake and watermelon salad. I ate the Wasabi Crusted Monchong with Lilikoi Lemongrass Beurre Blanc, Shane had the Macadamia Buttered Mahi Mahi with Citrus Aka Miso Beurre Blanc.

We let housekeeping turn down the bed the last night we were there (all the other nights I went to bed early LOL). How nice! They left a beautiful orchid, macadamia nut Hersey kiss and a neat wooden Hawaii post card.

Aloha Hawaii,

Mahalo for a wonderful trip! Hope to see you again soon!

Stacey & Shane

Grand Canyon of the Pacific

On Easter Sunday our adventures took us to the west side of Kauai towards Waimea Canyon. Waimea Canyon aka the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is a large canyon about 10 miles long and in areas up to 3,000 deep. It bears a strong resemblance to the Grand Canyon in Arizona...just on a smaller scale. The drive around the perimeter is about 20 miles, windy miles I must add, some spots along the road with drop offs that are a couple thousand feet and NO GUARD RAIL. Along the way there are several lookout points: Waimea Canyon lookout, Pu u ka pele lookout, Puu Hinahina lookout, & Kalalau lookout. Kalalau was my favorite spot, it was AMAZING!!!

On the way back from our journey we stopped at Jojo's Shave Ice for a icy Hawaiian treat and then  by the Spouting Horn, which is located in Koloa...not far from our resort. Spouting horn is a blowhole, water rushes under a lava shelf and bursts through a small opening in the the surface. The bigger the waves...the bigger the burst. Again...there were roosters everywhere at the park. We saw a momma rooster with her babies. Shane got a Puka Dog for dinner, my tummy was just not up to it...