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!