My Hawaii Top 10 - Reflections from our trip

My Hawaii Top Ten

Reflections from our 11 nights in Hawaii - some new experiences and some thoughts that have surfaced due to our extended vacation:

10 – Volcano lava crossing the road. What a crazy sight to see – I can only imagine being able to actually witness it, and only a few years ago. You read about it in books, and in my case actually teach about it (in third and fifth grade) and to see it in person. Wow!!

9 – Learning about new historical/mythological figures! Yes, I am a teacher geek, but I love to find new things that interest me and learn. King Kamehameha was the warrior that united the Hawaiian islands. Prior to him, each island has different leaders and really didn’t get along. He came along and created a unified Hawaii. I actually bought a book about him. Then there’s Pele – the goddess of fire. I had heard of her before, but never really thought much about her story.

8 – Being able to snorkel this time! I’ve snorkeled in Belize, the Bahamas and Florida and failed miserably each time. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get the breathing through the tube thing going and I would panic, so…no snorkeling. This time I was determined, especially because Katie was doing so well. I think I also was worried about wearing my contacts and flooding my mask. I did it!! Snorkeling off the reef on our boat trip on the Big Island was wonderful and so much to see. Yay!!

7 – Staying at a great resort! Yes, I am a hotel snob and I admit it. We save our money to stay at great places, and I do research to find the best within our means. The Hilton Waikoloa Village was beautiful, and not too “Tacky Tourist.” Yes, the waterfalls were artificial and the Nene (Hawaii’s endangered state bird) was in a cage for all to see, but it was still beautiful. I can’t complain about our free upgrade on our return visit either. What a great way to spend our last night in Hawaii – in a crazy, big suite – the bathroom had five different light switches!

6- Getting to spend quality time with relatives that we don’t get to see very often! I can’t begin to say how much fun I have with Barb and Edgar. They are two of the neatest people that I know, and I am so lucky to be part of their family! J I have been lucky enough to stay with them for spring break at their house outside of New York City in high school, spend spring break with them at their house in Key West when I was a single, young teacher and now spend a wonderful week sharing their hospitality with my family, in Maui!! Their way of sharing their surroundings is so low key and relaxing! You don’t feel the need to entertain or be entertained, yet you want to because they are so laid back!! Thank you!!!!!!!

5- Traveling!!! I am so lucky to have the life and experiences that I’ve had for the past 41 years. I spent my younger years as an Air Force Brat and traveled throughout the US and Europe with my mom, dad and sister. I then backpacked through Europe for 3 weeks with 4 friends after graduating from college. Then my first 9 years teaching were spent “Spring Breaking” (in the quiet, conservative way) with a group of teacher friends to the Bahamas, LA, Cancun to name a few places. Then I found Don, my best friend who loves to travel as much as I do. We took 4 years off to raise two toddlers, but once they were old enough…off we went and we haven’t stopped yet.

4 – Being able to provide new opportunities for my girls and experience it through their eyes! Snorkeling, Zip-Lining, Volcano Climbing, High Dive Jumping, Wind Surfing…just to name a few. I am so happy that they are able to have some of the same experiences that I have had growing up, and more.

3- Planning another successful trip! I spend a year researching and figuring out the best places, adventures and itineraries and then cross my fingers, and hope for the best. I think we have unlimited, long distance phone calling on our Purcellville phone for this reason. I spent many minutes calling places in Hawaii and San Fransisco and asking questions to a real voice. I love the research and the feeling of having a vision of a location or activity before we get there. Control freak? You betcha!!!

2 – Having raised two daughters that are well mannered, and get along with each other!! We are so lucky that our girls are friends and enjoy our family time together. We laugh a lot and create our own fun. Sometimes, I just like to sit back and watch them interact with each other and Don. It makes me so happy to know that we can travel and they will behave and respect the areas where we are, but at the same time – create fun and memories. I think back to the many, many great memories I have with my mom, dad and my sister as we had our travel adventures growing up…and I can only hope that I can continue to create that atmosphere for my family. One fun memory is of my sister and I (around ages 18 and 22) on our trip to Hawaii up in Haleakala, at the crater just playing and posing like models while my dad took pics!! Hopefully, we’ll still be taking family trips and our girls will still want to come when they are that age. A happy moment: Carleigh laughing on our last night and saying,”We have such a fun family, I love us!!” Now that’s success!!

1 – Sharing Hawaii with my best friend, my husband, my partner!! I had been before. My dad took our family 20 years ago to stay with Barb and Edgar in Maui. We did Haleakala, the beaches, the waterfalls and I said I didn’t need to go back. But when Don talked about going, I loved the idea of sharing it with him. I wanted to experience it with him, but I also wanted some of the unknown – so we added the Big Island. A new adventure for both of us. I look forward to the many hundreds or thousands of new adventures that await us as we live our life together!

Our Last Night in Hawaii - a perfect ending!!

Our last night!! A perfect ending!

We arrived back at the Hilton for our last night at around 3:00. The girls were excited to get checked in and head down to the pool. Well…our room wasn’t ready, but it was worth the wait. When I checked us in, I was told that we received a free upgrade for the night. We would be in a suite, with much more space and a clear, ocean view. We had had partial ocean view, King room with a pullout sofa for our first visit. It wouldn’t be ready for about 45 minutes. Carleigh was not happy with that, she was dying to go swimming, but oh well….

We got our key and WOW!! I think this is where the rich people stay!! It was a huge main room with dining area, living area, two big screen tv’s and a separate master suite with a king bed. The bathroom alone had a separate toilet room, separate shower room and a huge bathtub with his and hers sinks – and a lightswitch for each area.





We were still trying to figure out why we got this room, and figured that since we were there for only one night, they probably put us here instead of a cheaper room that they could book for a week or so. It was nice to live like the rich and famous for about 20 hours.

After getting settled we headed down to the poolside BBQ they were doing for the fourth and some swimming.



We then “forced” the girls to put on their Hawaiian dresses and pose for the standard pics. They weren’t thrilled, but Don’s comment, “Mommy planned this great trip for us, and she wants to take your pictures in your new dresses so you should probably do that,” worked great and guilted them into doing the photo shoot. Once they got into it, they had a ball.




Then we found fireworks in the front of the hotel. There was a show in a nearby marketplace that we could see from the hotel. A great night!


We woke up and found the breakfast buffet. We hadn’t done that before, and good thing, because it was VERY expensive…but good. And I knew the girls needed a good meal for our plane ride that afternoon.

Then back to water sports for one last adventure before showering and heading to the airport. Katie and Don did a two person kayak and Carleigh opted for snorkeling alone in the lagoon to see what she could find.




Success by all and then off to the airport.

Up, up and away!! San Fransisco here we come!



On our way out of Hawaiian airspace our pilot tells us that we are flying over the Haleakala crater on Maui. What a neat way to totally end our Hawaiian adventure. We started with Haleakala 12 days ago, and ended with it today!!

Hilo, Akaka and the Petroglyphs

Hilo, Akaka and Petroglyphs

The rest of our adventures on the Big Island:

(composed on the flight to San Fran – in a word document)

I had read about Hilo and also heard about it from Barb and Edgar, and knew it was a plalce that we wanted to visit. It is a small town about 30 minutes outside of Volcano Village. I had heard about the Farmer’s Market – a must see, according to Tripadvisor. It was open on Saturdays and Wednesdays from “dawn till it’s gone” So, on Saturday morning, we ate our wonderful breakfast at our lodge and headed into Hilo. We found the market and it was quite the experience, as expected.

We made one stop before getting to the market. We decided to stop at Hilo Hattie’s. It looked like one of those beach shops that you would see at the Outer Banks or something. Lots of souvenirs and “junk.” Well, it was that kind of shop, but much nicer than the ones at the beach.

In one corner, there was a very nice jewelry counter with “pick a pearl” settings. I wandered for about 20 minutes and then came back and with Don’s encouragement, decided to pick out my anniversary present. I picked a pearl and then chose a gold pendant setting for it. Very pretty and a nice piece of jewelry that will bring back memories of our 11th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. I love my husand!!

Then on to the Farmer’s Market. One side was mostly food products and flowers – here are some pics:



The guy chopping coconuts was fun to watch, Quite the show.



Across the street were the souvenir items – it reminded me of the Straw Market in Nassau, Bahamas if you’ve ever been there. Lots of local crafts and artisans peddling their wares.

The girls found quite a few treats, as did Don and I. 3 t-shirts for $20 was one of the deals that we took advantage of.

The Filthy Farmgirl people were really neat to talk to. They make their own soap in a town close to Hilo. We bought some for everyone. Lots of fun!!



We had an early lunch snack before leaving, probably the cheapest food on our trip and also…Katie would tell you, the best. BBQ pork or chicken on a stick - $2 a stick – from this nice man cooking out of his little trailor…..when you’re hungry, you really don’t care. It smelled good, so we tried it and it was REALLY good. A nice snack before we headed to the falls.



After the Farmer’s Market, we drove another 20 minutes to Akaka Falls. A beautiful state park with a towering 400 foot waterfall. It rained the whole time we were there, and not just Fairy Rain either!! We got pretty wet, but still enjoyed our time. As I’ve said before, my pics don’t do this justice.



When we finished the hike at Akaka Falls, we headed home with a side stop at What’s
Shakin’ Smoothies. This is a neat little roadside stand off the beaten path on the way back to Hilo. It was recommended as having great smoothies and good food. Yep…they were right.

We headed back to the Volcano Park and explored some more, then back to the lodge to enjoy a nice, quiet afternoon.

Then to our anniversary dinner. I had called ahead to make reservations at a nice restaurant that our lodge recommended.

It was very nice and the food was great. They had our table waiting for us with balloons – due to our celebrating our anniversary.

One of our last stops at the Volcano Park before heading back to the other side of the island was at the petroglyphs. This adventure was about a 1.5 mile hike round trip to an area of hardened, very old lava that had been found to have over 1,000 ancient petroglyphs carved into it from various native hawaiian cultures from history. It was very neat and the girls found it really interesting. Again, it rained for most of this tiny adventure.

Here are some pics of the petroglyphs:

We even found a hidden mickey – actually Katie found it. Hidden Mickey’s are mickey mouse heads that are disguised among other things. It’s a Disney World thing….and we play it at home all the time, sometimes even creating our own Hidden Mickey’s.


It was very neat to spend almost 3 days on the other side of the island. Most people just make a huge day trip and go to the National Park for a few hours and then head back to their resort. 3 hours each way. I am so glad that we decided to stay over there and have more time to leisurely explore.

Pele...We Aren't Scared of You!!

July 2-4 - Our 2 1/2 days at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

We arrived after a 3 hour drive across the island to Volcano Village Lodge.  I found this BandB on Tripadvisor.com and it definitely far exceeded all the reviews that I read.  It was beautiful. We stayed in Mauna Loa - there are 5 different little cabin/lodges and each is it's own building in the middle of the rain forest.  We were up at 4,000 feet and it basically raineed or misted (fairy rain as Barb and Edgar call it) the whole time. We had times of no rain, but it was still in the low 70's for our whole visit.  Vastly different from near 90 on the other, dry side of the island.

 Here are some shots of our lodge, Mauna Loa:

We then headed up to the Volcano Park - about 1 mile from our lodge.

I am posting pics from all 3 days and will try to explain some of it.  It was awesome and amazing.  The most recent active lava flow that we saw was from 2008 and went across the road.  We also went back at night and could see some of the glowing lava that is down in a lake in the middle of one of the craters.  It's not visible during the day, just looks like a big steam vent.  We also found ancient petroglyphs - 400-700 years old and created from the native Hawaiians.

Thurston Lava tube - lava hardened on top and continued to flow like a river through a tube towards the ocean.  This was discovered in 1913ish and you can now walk through the tube that the lava flowed through

.

see the sign....and notice where Don is......

He's the one far up on the hill  way beyond where the sign says you are allowed to go! :)

Devastation Trail - another area where lava flowed very fast and hardened in pumice like lava stones.  It was like big lava dunes - very sand-like....very cool!!  All the vegetation in this area was killed and is slowly starting to grow back.

That first evening we headed up to where we can see the glow of active lava:  

Here it is at night: (Don's pics are much better)

and the same spot during the day - notice the steam vent - that is the pool where the active lava is:

Just what the sign says.....

 Then we headed down towards the ocean to the most recent lava flow - it went right across the road towards the ocean in the 2000's - most recently in 2008.  Though there are some spots further down - not visible that were flowing actively in May (yes, just 2 months ago). Crazy!!

It's really neat, from far away it looks mushy...but obviously (from the pics) it's not!  Really neat!!  My pics don't do it justice.  Don's 1,000 or so will be amazing!!

We then walked back and found the sea arch made from lava entering the ocean.  Another neat phenomena...

I'm going to stop here and continue with the petroglyphs and our side trips to the Hilo Farmer's Market and Akaka Falls in the next post - maybe tomorrow or might not be until we get back to San Fransisco.
 

During this part of the trip, I became very interested in Pele, the goddess of fire.  Her picture is everywhere in the park and her story is really interesting.

My two new interests: King Kamehameha and Pele.


I hope I'm not boring anyone!! :)