Around 18 weeks into my pregnancy, my husband and I decided to ditch the snow in NYC for a warm-weather Babymoon. We’ve been married for 6 years, and have been traveling together for even longer. For vacations, we’re more city-slickers as oppose to beachcombers; yet, Hawaii was a welcomed change of pace.

I found this amazing listing on AirBnb for “The Tiny Jungle House on the Big Island”. The host warned in the listing that if you’re “afraid of nature or its creatures”, this may not be the ideal listing for you. Indeed nature and it’s creatures were a huge part of our experience—one evening during one of my many bathroom runs, I’m pregnant after all, to my delight, I saw a little red frog crawling near the shower head!

In the house, we were, for the most part, off-the-grid. No WiFi, and barely any electricity. When we grew restless, we drove into town—we even made a Target run where we bought all the goods for Sean’s big barbecue night, the only night we didn’t eat out.

The best highlight of this trip, honestly, was our visit to Discovery Antiques and Ice Cream where I discovered two McDonald’s Flintstone’s glass mugs. We paid $14 for both, there is currently a set of four going for $200 on Etsy.com. I had one of these McDonal’s Flintstone’s mugs as a kids in the 90s so much nostalgia and excitement rushed over me when I a saw these on a shelf kitchen things for sale.

Kealakekua Bay Snorkel Cruise operated by Fair Winds, a certified Sustainable Tourism company. We snorkeled by the Captain Cook monument swimming near a pod of dolphins and seeing other marine life up close—of course, without touching or disturbing anything and respecting the coral reef.

Places we enjoyed on our visit:

Lava Shack (Karoke!)

Discovery Antiques and Ice Cream

Pineapples Restaurant (Very commercial, but tasty & fun)

The Rim at Volcano House (Dinner)

Star of the Sea Painted Church

Green Sand Beach (3-mile Hike)

South Point (The Most Southern Point of the United States)

Carlsmith Beach

Punalu‘U Black Sand Beach (Huge Turtles)