Of all the places I have visited on vacation (and wished I could live there someday) this is where I truely belong. I think God was having a good joke when he thought I should be raised in Wyoming. Don't get me wrong, I really loved my little farm in Wheatland, but my heart belongs in Hawaii!
Now I know why some people go to Hawaii every year for vacation. Where else can you go tropical, everyone speak English, and you don't feel scared that the drug lords will kidnap you, but you still feel you can experience a new culture?
I'm sure Hawaii has her faults (don't we all?), but if you don't like something about it, just drive an hour to somewhere else on the island and everything changes. 11 climates in one island!!! Amazing!!!
So now you know our vacation must have been wonderful. Here are a few details.
Saturday April 23, 2011
We got up at 5am to start out journey. Nothing event full there, nearly froze to death on the airplane(stupid airconditioning). But it was here I had my first kiss of POG(sigh.....) Passion- Orange- Guava juice, the true nectar of the gods. Over the next week we would drink 2 gallon jugs and 12 -6 packs of some combination of this juice. We were all in love.
I was so excited when we finally got off the plane in Hilo I took off, not one, but two jackets and my gloves!!!!
Yahoo for warm weather!
We picked up our soft-top Jeep (aka MoJo), stopped at the grocery store for food and POG, and drove 45 minutes to our rental house at Kapoho Tide pools. It was like a little jungle retreat. The geckos on the walls freaked us out at first, but we soon got use to them. (The big beetle freaked me out though). That night we were serenaded to sleep (or so we thought we would sleep) by all kinds of sounds from I don't know what kinds of creatures. It was amazing, but we did toss and turn alot and it was a long night.
Here is a little video tour of the house with the sound of the nightlife.
our rental house
a cool palm in the front yard of your rental house.
Cruising in the jeep with the windows down, jamming to Hawaiian radio tunes, and drinking POG.
Tracy wants a new Jeep!
Sunday April 24, 2011
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
We went snorkeling in the morning at the tide pools(I will write more about that later), then went to hike the Kilauea Iki Crater trail.
The trail was really fun and diverse. The first mile is through the forest along the crater rim.
Then you hike down about 400 feet to the crater floor.
Josh would not let us stop to snack till we made it to the crater floor. Here is Erica and Josh waiting for us to catch up, mmm... warm, soft, Swedish fish. This was also the last bit of shade before embarking across the barren crater floor.
Doing what we do best (aka goofing off). These rocks are so big, look how strong we are!
Erica found a heart rock.
We all had to have pictures with the heart rock. Behind us is the main lava vent that erupted 17 times in 1959.
More goofing off.
Steam escaping from a vent. Rain water percolates down to hot rock below the surface and then vaporizes. At least that is what the trail guide says.
Crossing the crater floor.
We made it! 1.5 miles across. Now we just have to hike back up.
At the top of the crater is the Thurston Lava Tube. Here is Megan and I at the entrance.
Josh and Erica
Josh and Erica crawled to touch the VERY end of the tube.
A rare lava tube cave monster caught on film.
Family picture opportunity.
Another great view of the crater we just hiked across
. The steam cloud between Megan and Tracy is from the distant Halema'uma'u Crater. Home of Madame Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess.
This is a picture of the elusive "Hawaiian chicken bird"!
(We actually have know idea what it's official name is)
We made it. Here we are with our COOL Jeep, Mo'o(Lizard) Kahuna(aka MoJo).
That's it for day one!
