Hawaii Part 2

Tuesday October 27th
Today we're at Hilo on the Big Island. We went to the Rainbow falls to start with. They were pretty, but there was more dirt in the water than I thought there'd be. I can't believe how green and pretty it is here.




We stopped at an Orchid farm and all I can say is WOW! I knew I was fascinated by them, but you know...in Utah we just don't have the same types of flowers. I didn't take pictures of me with them, but here are a couple of the flowers.





The Mauna Loa nut factory was fun. They wanted to keep Jeff because he's such a nut (as you can see I tried to look like one, but didn't).




I was able to talk them in to letting me take him home with me...it was a close one though :)

Volcano National Park was cool. There were lava fields everywhere that we got to wander around in. I was fascinated by the holes that the lava created and so of course Jeff started making fun of me taking pictures of the holes.



We did go to the top of one of the craters and there was a steam pot, but it's not active lava.


The tour guide kept saying things about a virgin sacrifice and that we should try that, but lucky for us EVERYONE kept thinking that Jeff and I were on our Honeymoon. Yup, people thought I was married to my stinky little brother. It was pretty funny and I would just say that he was my brother and that even though we're from Utah we don't marry our siblings anymore...cousins maybe...but not siblings...LOL! (the cousins thing is an inside joke...Jeff will get a kick out of it...ask him for the details)

There was an awesome lava tube that we got to walk through. Lava tubes are underground and they are canals for lava flow. This is one of the longest ones available to walk through...it was fun to wander through.



May I just add that Jeff was chillin on the deck and this is what I saw...


Please note that he scared EVERYONE off....hmmmm.....
That night we stayed up way late (ok, so it was only like 2 in the morning, but I'm getting old) to see the lava flow. There are sometimes that it isn't flowing and luckily not only was it flowing, but it was REALLY active! The mountain was dotted with orange and red and then where it met the ocean was this huge cloud of red and orange. We didn't get any pictures to do it justice, but we tried.

Wed October 28th
Kona - Big Island
Today we had to tender in to shore. I'm glad that this is the only port we have to do this at. It's not horrible, but it's just soooo much more convenient to be at the dock and be able to walk on and off as you want. Kona is much more dry than Hilo was. It's the dry side of the island and essentially it's a lot of dry lava fields with random resorts popping up in the middle. We went to the Waikola Beach by the Marriot Hotel today. It was actually pretty fun. The beach was pretty and we found a coconut just laying there.


There were some cool trees



We went shopping and grabbed some lunch. There was a sign that said "Please don't feed the birds mahalo" Lucky for us I was eating french fries not mahalo so I shared one with a bird.

Ok, so Mahalo means thank you...we knew that, but thought we'd be silly. Actually the bird scared me because I put my hand down to drop the french fry and the little bugger jumped out and grabbed it right out of my fingers. It was a daring little bird for sure.


We did spend some time and walk to an area with petroglyphs. They were really cool to look at, but it was hot and wandering across black lava on a hot day is even more hot.





It was mostly a shopping and wandering day. We stayed on the coast until the last minute and were sitting in one of the shops common areas for a while. I picked up my backpack and something landed on my foot (I had my flip flops on) and started to move. It was a lizard. I squealed and Jeff laughed. I don't mind lizards, but I didn't know what it was a first because it was pretty small and at first I thought it was a spider.


Thursday October 29th - Nawiliwili Kua'i
Kua'i has the wettest spot in the world on the island and I can see why. It was raining for a lot of the first day we were there. The thing is that it wasn't a downpour it was more of a light mist of a rain. We got wet, but not soaked so it was still fun. When I scheduled the tour I didn't realize that it was a "romantic" river ride...oops...next time I'll read the fine print. Oh well...everyone thought Jeff and I were on our honeymoon, so why not go on a romantic river ride. We hopped on the boat and they played the Hawaiian wedding song and danced and then wondered why Jeff and I weren't all cuddly together. We walked through this beautiful jungle path to this grato (which is actually a lava tube), but was still cool.




Friday October 30th - Nawiliwili Kua'i
Botanical Gardens, shopping, Jeff motion sick, sleeping, cliffs
We didn't go on an excursion today, but believe me we still had adventures. We went to the botanical gardens at the Marriott to start with. The koi were out of control...holy cow! They would come right up next to the sidewalk to get food.


The gardens were really pretty though and it was fun walking through them.



We did walk along the beach for a bit, but there was so much to see that we didn't spend much time swimming. We walked through a shopping center and there was a collectible toy store. We were walking through and there was a stripper pole doll that when you'd push the button, she'd move up and down the pole, the lights would flash, she would sing and ooo and ahhh and spin. I about died of laughter! Jeff has a video of it, but I didn't dare post it on the blog. It was right next to a little kids toy that was a stuffed parrot that would repeat what you said...so funny!

There was a hurricane in Kua'i in 1991 (I think it was) and it released a bunch of the domestic chickens. The weather is perfect for chickens and they started breeding like crazy. They were everywhere! I tried to act like a chicken to get in closer, but it didn't work.


We left port a little early so we could go to the Napali coast line. It was really pretty. Jeff got motion sick that night for some reason so he wasn't feeling the best, but it was fun to be up on deck.


Saturday October 31st - Honolulu
It's bitter sweet that it's our last day. It's sad that our vacation is over, but I missed Norman more than I thought I would so it will definitely be nice to be home. I was pretty good, but I did spend quite a bit of time texting and calling him...


We went on a Waikiki tour in the morning. It was good, but I'm not a fan of Waikiki...it's too crowded and lots of high rise buildings everywhere. Pearl Harbor was really neat though. We rented the headsets (which I recommend to everyone) and they were very informative and helpful. We could have spent more time there, but we did survive and get to see quite a bit.






If I were to do it again I would have rented a car that final day and then just driven around. I wasn't sure how all that worked at the time though. The car rental places really want your business so they actually will come right to the pier and pick you up if you prearrange it with them. Oh well...live and learn. Good to be home, but the trip was well worth it :)