Hawaii-Day 4

We lounged at the beautiful hotel pool all morning and then drove into Kona for the afternoon.  We tried snorkeling for the first time.  I couldn't get used to the mask (I kind of have a thing with a mask on my face), but Christopher finally got a little accustomed to it and was able to see beautiful fish in a local snorkeling spot.  I did get to hang out with a sea turtle who was feeding on the algae close to shore.  We became buds and had a good, long talk.

And what a way to end the night.  Afterwards, we sat in our favorite blue chaise lounges on the property, read, and drank Miller Lites into the night.

Hawaii-Day 3, Part 2

After loading up on local fruit (like lychees, apple bananas, rose apples, and white pineapple) at the roadside North Kona Fruit Stand, we reached South Point, or Ka Lae. This is the southern most tip of the island, and the southern most tip of the Unite States (not the Florida Keys!). It is very windy at the southern tip, which makes a good spot for Kamoa Wind Farm. There were lots of locals hanging out at Ka Lae, mainly fishing and cliff jumping. We were not among those cliff jumping, mainly because OMG, do you see how high those cliffs are? and holy cow, the water there was really rough.

 

The southern most tip is at the spot where you see the two fishing poles.

And then we had the bright idea to hike A MILLION MILES to see Green Sand Beach. We asked a local how to get to this isolated beach that boasts green sand. His answer was, "Go to the boat ramp, turn left, and then walk your ass off." Yep, that pretty much summed it up. It was an amazing site and a great adventure.

When walking on terrain like this, one mile feels like 10.  It was about a 5-mile hike that took about 2 hours, but good gracious it felt like forever.

We had to pull on the side of the road to catch the nightly show.  Again, it did not disappoint.

And our reward at the end of a very tiring, action-packed day? A delicious beer from Kona Brewery.

Hawaii-Day 3, Part 1

On the third day, we headed south to visit the southern most tip of Hawaii...and the southern most tip of the United States! On the way there, we made a few pit stops. The first was at Greenwell Coffee Farm. We took a tour of the farm and learned all about the coffee-making process. I like a little coffee with my creamer, however, I sampled many different Kona coffees BLACK and loved them!

We saw Captain Cook's monument, where he was said to be killed by the Hawaiians in the Kealakekua Bay. Apparently spinner dolphins are said to frequent this area but we weren't lucky enough to see any. Further south, we visited the Place of Refuge; such a beautiful spot and rich in history. This place was used by defeated warriors, noncombatants in time of war, and people who violated sacred laws (like stepping in the chief's footsteps or letting their shadow fall on sacred ground!). We even had our first, but not last, encounters with the endangered monk seal and honu, Hawaiian sea turtle.

The Painted Church - oh, what a sweet, little church. A charming little church dating back to the 1800s where everything from hell to the Temptation of Christ is hand-painted on the inside walls and ceiling. I felt honored and humbled to stand in such a place.

Flower In My Hair



In Hawaii, the women commonly wear a flower in their hair; on the left side if taken and on the right if available.  I miss wearing an orchid or plumeria bloom in my hair every day.

Can you spot our Hawaiian friend?

Hawaii--Day Two, Part 2

We continued exploring the north coast which led us to our hunt for the "haiku." Not really a haiku, the poem...but Christopher and I coined the term due to our lack of ability to pronounce Hawaiian words. Heiaus, or temples, are scattered all over the island and were associated with King Kamehameha (we call him King K). After passing a windmill farm and gorgeous coastline, we walked around for a while trying to find this haiku which was supposed to be King K's birthplace. Instead of finding the haiku, we found a couple who had thought their Jeep was 4WD, but wasn't, and had gotten majorly stuck in a mud hole. One thing that Hawaii is lacking in are proper roads. The mud was up to the bottom of their door! Christopher tried to help him for almost an hour. After giving it the good college effort, they called AAA and we left seeing the haiku in the distance but too dang tired at that point to walk to it! No need to worry...there were many more haikus seen on this trip.

We also visited Lapakahi State Historical Park, which consisted of the remains of an old Hawaiian village.  We saw our first haiku there; Hawaiians still use these for worship and lay offerings. 

And of course, we made it back to the hotel in time for the nightly show.

Hawaii-Day Two, Part 1

On our second day in paradise, we drove up to the north end of the island, North Kohala, to the very end of the road.  As we made our way north and to a higher elevation, we could definitely see a change in the landscape almost immediately.  It went from deserty and dry (see the path of lava rock in the first picture) to lush and tropical.  The air was much cooler, and much wetter.

We arrived at the top of Pololu Valley Lookout.  We hiked about 20 minutes down a pretty slippery, treacherous slope (about 400 feet below) to Pololu Beach, a black sand beach.  This may have been my favorite spot of the whole trip. It was so serene and peaceful.  We could also take in the beautiful views of the valley.

The black sand didn't stick at all!  It would brush off of our hands and feet so easily.  Definitely not like NC beach sand.

I took a few quiet moments, sitting in a bed of lava rocks, to just soak in this beautiful spot.

When I think Hawaii, my mind always brings me back to this place.

Hawaii Wheels

See this little Jeep?  We put ONE THOUSAND miles on her driving in every nook and cranny of the island. 

*Big shout out to the "blue book."  If you ever plan trip to Hawaii, take the "[insert island name here] Revealed" by Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman with you.  It was wonderful and helped us to see the "real gems" of Hawaii.

Hawaii--Day One

Christopher and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary this past February and we wanted to celebrate with a very special trip.  We started saving for and planning our trip to "the big island" about 2 years ago.  I had very high expectations for this trip, and I can tell you that it did not let us down.

The boys stayed with my parents in VA for the first half of our trip, and then went to Christopher's parents for the second half. We woke up at 3 am on June 21, boarded a plane at 5:30 am, and landed in Kona, Hawaii 15 hours later (12 hours of flying time).

We literally landed on a runway in the middle of a lava field.  The airport consisted of open-air huts.  We stepped off of the plane onto the runway and walked over to the huts to get our bags.  I took in a deep breath and was instantly converted to island time.  I will say that Christopher and I embraced true island time; we didn't have a care in the world during our trip.  We came and went as we pleased.

As we entered the hut, we were greeted with leis (btw, they don't automatically do that; you must have that arranged ahead of time - thanks Elaine and Craig!) made of fresh orchids.

During the 30-minute drive north to our resort, we could see the beautiful Pacific ocean to our left and several mountains to our left.  We drove through old lava flows dating back to the early 1800s.  It is tradition in Hawaii and their form of graffiti to decorate the lava on the sides of the road with white coral.  All graffiti is loving and positive (see the "aloha").

Our resort was ah-mazing (again, a HUGE thanks to Elaine and Craig for selflessly giving us Hilton points for 6 nights!!!).  The resort was a horse-shoe shape with many buildings, pools, walkways, lagoon, etc. all next to a beautiful bay right on the Pacific Ocean.  From the lobby, we could walk 15 minutes or ride a boat or tram to our building.  We saw many beautiful animals and plants on the property like this beautiful bird who greeted us every morning when we walked out of our room and plants like this bird of paradise (did you think it was a bird?). 

This was taken from our lanai.  Not a bad view, eh?

See those blue chaise lounge/umbrella combos?  We sat in one every single night after sunset for a few hours looking at the stars, reading, listening to the ocean, and drinking beer.  That was my true paradise.

 

And the sunset over the Pacific Ocean every night.  Everyone stopped what they were doing, gathered round, and watched the show in awe.  I miss those Hawaii sunsets.

We were so exhausted that we fell asleep at 7:30 the first night.  We had been up since 3:30 am, and our bodies were thinking it was 1:30 am!  We stretched out in our king size bed (what a luxury for us double bed sleepers) and had a good first night's sleep in paradise.