Hawaii- Jan 24

An early rise-and-shine. Today was the big day I've been waiting for! We get to go zip-lining! Since we were on the west (desert)side of Hawaii (Kona) we had to drive to the lush east side to find things like zip-lining. We were told that due to construction to give ourselves 3 hours. So, we were on the road by 7:30 for our 10:30 appointment. On the way, we saw some great scenery and Hawaii's Observatory on the top of Mauna Kea. This is where the world's largest telescopes can be found. (there must be some amazing star gazing from there too)







When, we arrived (45 min early) after two scenic point stops. We got to walk around the spider-web-filled Botanical Gardens. It wasn't much to look at except a few highly poisonous plants (that are potentially what gave me a skin rash). But, the ziping was fun! It wasn't all that I had cracked it up to be, but know I can say I've done it and know what it is like!








Following our "zipping" adventure, we went to a couple of scenic parks- Boiling Pots and Rainbow Falls, they were both fabulous sites. At boiling pots, we met a pet pig wandering around in a "no pet" area!






We stopped for lunch and shopping in downtown Hilo. We ate at a bar where I was shocked when Rose ordered a half-pound hamburger. The atmosphere of the bar was nice because the windows where open letting the breeze in. There were a few jewelry shops in the area and I had a mission to find a cute Hawaiian necklace for a friend, mission success!!

We headed off in the afternoon for a black sand beach. We went to the more populated one because the other had a "treacherous" road to it that required a four wheel drive car to get to it!












After the black sand beach, we were off to find red hot lava from Kilauea's recent eruption. Long story short, turns out that it erupted on Thursday, Jan 20th and it was cooled by the time we made it there on Monday. But we could see it in the distance and we were told by a local that a house was standing there Thursday but it had been burned down. The drive back was a bit scary for me, but Chris loved it. The roads would twist and turn and bob up and down. But, at one point, we saw what we thought were fireworks but turned out to be lava spewing out the side of the volcano. It was such a neat site! And, when we looked up, the stars were so numerous- NOTHING THAT I HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE! All in all, it was a WONDERFUL DAY!

Jan.23- Luau

I have to say, this luau food wasn't my "cup of tea" so to speak. They had a whole hog that they roast and then shredded the meat inside and you just scooped it right out of the pig. (Food not pictured) They explained a lot of their food and how it was so delicious. I got brave enough to put a lot of it on my plate, but a lot of it just couldn't go in my mouth... looked too gross (octopus, beef wrapped in tea leaves). But, we had 2 drinks included and we all discovered Hawaii's lava flow drink which we really liked! Jim especially- see! ;-)



After dinner, the breeze picked up and so did the show. Chris got invited up to stage... as did I!






See some clips of the night's festivities below.

Hawaii- Jan 23

Sunday Beautiful Sunday!

Again, I was up before 8am and ready to face this wonderful day. How do I prep for the day? With sunscreen and swim suit on hand of course! We took a few shots of the resort on the walk to the pool check it out!










We stayed poolside for about 2-3 hours and then when Rose and Jim came back, we went of to the Hilton Lagoon. It was beautiful and Jim and I got to make a new friend!







Here is where we spotted a few whales (poolside) hanging in the Pacific. I stayed a little longer than others to watch and got to see one come completely out of the water, it's tale curled under it's side! So COOL! If you look close enough- you can see water spouting from- that's right, whales!!




While we were there, Jim and I decided that we must try the water-slide out. And, BRRR that water was very cold!!!




We came back from the Hilton pool/lagoon/beach combo early like 4 so we could get cleaned up for our Luau. I'll post more about the Luau in my next entry!

Hawaii- Jan 22

I woke up promptly at 7:30. Wow, that is a record for me right? Ha, that is because my body still thought it was 11:30. I stepped outside and saw our landscaping. The first words out of my mouth were, "What is up with all the 'mud-clumps' they must be renovating?" Rose laughed and told me that it was lava.


See how I could get this confused? I had to venture up it to see what it is all about, it is tough to climb old lava in flip-flops. But, we had a great view of a golf course and mountains.

So, after exploring our backyard, we checked out our hotel pool. It was amazing! Complete with water volleyball, children's sand beach, waterfalls, adult pool, a hammock, two hot tubs and a bar. I could've stayed there the whole vacay, but I'm glad we got to explore too!


We made a short drive to this beach!


We continued along and stopped at this point that was marked on the road- scenic point.


We continued driving towards Captain Cook's bay and stumbled across a state park sign. We followed it since there seemed to be a lot of traffic. However, this was ONE BUMPY, car-SHAKING, drive.


But, alas, it was worth it! AHHHHH!


At some point on this trip, Jim thought that the perfect thing to do on the trip was to get a stick and be close enough to hot lava to throw it in and watch it burn. So, thus this pose with 200 year old lava.



We drove some more with our poor complimentary maps and we were aiming for Captain Cook's expecting to see a beach. We found some local shopping and businesses and stopped for a bite to eat. We were back on our way when we drove past markets and beaches (that were closed thanks to high tide). We drove around a mountain and the rain clouds were coming in and we got further and further from sea level. We saw some nice scenery and stopped for another picture.




At some point, we bumped into locals and asked them what there was to see at Captain's Cook and they said a monument. Well, we decided it wasn't worth making any more trips in that direction, so we turned around. We saw a few neat things on the way back, and stopped to get our book- "The Big Island Revealed"


We got back to the hotel and cleaned up to go out to dinner nearby at Ramano's Macaroni Grille- sad to say that only 2 out of 4 like their meal but it was still a nice outdoor atmosphere... when the wind wasn't knocking things over. We walked around the shopping center and headed back to call it a night. Great day!


Thanks Rose and Jim!!

Hawaii- Jan 21

Friday- January 21st: Leaving to go... Chris and I left Champaign around 8:30, arrived at Charleston to meet our traveling "furnishers" so-to-speak. We arrived at St. Louis airport before noon and had a nice lunch at Tequirela after going through security. We flew for nearly 4 hours and arrived in LAX airport, Los Angeles. There, I was pleased to find sunshine because it was nearly 6pm our time and we got more daylight. After walking the airport during our hour plus layover, we were back on the plane. This time for 5 hours. The flight actually ran a little short because the winds were with us. We sat next to a nice man from Hawaii, originally Washington DC. He gave us lots of good information including to buy the book "The Big Island Revealed" which turned out to be a wonderful tool that I would highly recommend if you are ever going to visit Hawaii's big island. We arrived to Hawaii's airport right at 8:30pm (12:30 our time) and we were greeted with a warm humid breeze and a nice open airport with only poles and roofs, no walls. It was a nice change already. When we got to our resort, I was estactic at how much attention to detail they had. Everything was modern and beautiful. I immediately began unpacking for the week. We were all settled into bed by 10:30pm (2:30 am our time) that night after our long day of traveling.


This is us leaving for St. Louis in the -11 degree temperatures


This is our resort lobby where the temperature was 70 plus degrees at night! ;-)