Somewhere in Hilo

So, I know, you most are sick of hearing about our Hawaii adventures, but I'm doing this mostly for my rememberance. So, you'll have to bear with me until I get to the happennings of the present. :) I had to post these pictures because it's proof of my adventurous spirit. I wanted so desperately to take an amazing hike and find a secluded lagoon and go skinny dip..ooops I mean...swimming. Well, here it is. Our tour book said it would be a 10 minute stroll. It ending up being a 30-45 minute treacherous, muddy, slippery, bug-infested, yet thrilling yike. I managed to get 5 or 6 mosquito bites, slip on some branches and bruised my tailbone, neck and back and just missed falling more than 50 ft. to my death. The hike took us to the top of the waterfall instead of to the bottom and because of all the rain it was so incredibly dangerous. I had no idea where we were going but it was exciting and so beautiful. So, I got my hike...but no swimming. And, I found out later Heath wasn't even planning on going in with me because he was wary of what was in the water. But, I bet I could've seduced him if we found the perfect spot. Guess we'll have to wait for our next exotic trip in 15 years or so.

Lot of Splaining To Do

....in Ricky Ricardo's words

I know. I haven't been up with the blogging world lately. I wanted to post some Hawaii pictures for you all to enjoy but I didn't get to post anything about the trip so, here it goes. Well, yah, of course it was AMAZING...the best trip I've ever been on besides my honeymoon. First off, I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. My boss surprised me with the trip as a going away gift and needless to say, I was floored! We originally were going to bring Jace and a babysitter, but after a lot of thought...we knew it should be just Heath and I! Can I just tell you that the 6 hr plane ride itself was enough for me to not bring him. I can remember just thanking my lucky stars that I didn't. And oh, the plane ride: you can imagine anyone would get a little nervous when your captain says, "Please stay in your seats and keep your seatbelt fastened, as we are going to experience SEVERE turbulance and you will fly out of your seat." Yikes! I'm not too bad on plane flights, but with the bumbing and the bouncing, I got nausea for a bit but all was well in the end. :)

HAWAII, itself. Okay, the second we walk off the plane, I know for sure we are somewhere I've never been. The humidity was so thick and the air so damp. It was different but all very exciting. We flew into Kailua-Kona and the airport is made up of little huts. It was dark when we landed so I couldn't see much of the coast and mostly saw lots of black rock lava everywhere so far.

The Condo - Cute little cozy condo...it wasn't anything luxurious but it was perfect. One bedroom, one kitchen, one family room and everything provided for! It WAS perfect. It was next to our two pools, a fountain/grassy patio area and then a minute walk down to the cliffs of the beach. It's not what I expected but it still was beautiful. Every morning, we would walk down and watch the sunrise and drink our "coffee" (hot chocolate) with the other tenants. No one knew what was in our cups, but if they did, they would think we are crazy...considering this is the island of KONA Coffee and people talked so much about how wonderful it was! The families next to us were so kind and helpful. Everyone thought we were on our honeymoon. I loved it! It felt like we were a little bit. People told us where to go and what was worth it and where to eat and such.

Back to the Beach - I thought there would be sandy beaches everwhere, but the Big Island has a lot of rocky areas from the lava flows and hasn't had as much time to create sandy areas...there are some gems but you have to travel to and hike a bit.

to be continued...gotta go. :)

Amazing Views

Kona Temple

Lush Rain Forest

Kileau Crater--Volcano Adventures

Black Sand Beach .... more info to come.

Heath and I saw the Black Sand Beach on our way to the Volcano, which was a 2 hr drive. It was beautiful and the waves were so big. I couldn't believe the range of ecosystems during the drive. At one point we're driving through rolling hills, steep cliffs along the coast, then rocky black lava areas, next amazing rain forests! It was so incredible to see the variety all within a few hours. When we got to the Volcano...it was FREEZING!! We were up 4000 ft. and yeah, we forgot it would be cold and had to purchase sweatshirts. It was pouring rain nearly the whole time. We also had a chance to walk through a LAVA TUBE. To get there, we walked down the most amazing rain forest. I wish I could capture the beauty on a camera but it's nearly impossible. The other impossible thing was that there were no bugs. I thought there would be bugs everywhere...guess I was wrong, which I'm glad about.

I know, cute toes huh? Not really, but I thought it looked cool on the black sand. :)