The Last Day in Paradise.

 We started the day sightseeing after breakfast, and sadly the Temple was just a photo stop since it was closed for maintenance the 4 days we were there.

 We also did a little strolling through town, this was the first Christian Church in Hawaii. I loved the way they used the natural building materials (lava rock). Inside was beautiful with the wood benches and stained glass.

 Their are a few banyan trees around the center of town, they are so interesting! We are standing on a 3 foot high lava wall and we still barely come up anything on the tree!

 After the little sightseeing we headed out to find another beach! We had to drive through a couple miles of lava fields to get to the beach. It was a bumpy ride!

 This one had a lot of lava rock but was beautiful!

 We had lunch on the beach! I could seriously live like this all the time!!

 This beach seemed to be used by more locals than tourists, there were younger guys who came in on kayaks who had been spear fishing and then this guy standing near the water was fishing with a net. And there were a few kids splashing in the waves.

 Dan was splashing too!

 I got a new shirt...hi!

 We went back to my funky restaurant one more time, the kava was wonderful for my travelers tummy!

 We spotted these bananas from the table, paradise I tell you!

 The plumaria trees everywhere are also amazingly wonderful...do I really have to leave?

Yes sadly. After a 5 hour delay waiting for the airplane to get to Hawaii I took off from my island paradise.

 And then the sun came up on a new day. I was so exhausted.

But not even exhaustion could prevent me from enjoying these smiles!

Aloha!

(and yes I am ready to go back and am already plotting my move!)

{this moment}

A couple moments from this week I will always savor!

Paradise Day 2 ~ Beach Hopping!

Friday in paradise we went strait from our pajamas to our bathing suits and stayed that way all day!!
We took our poi from the night before and our papaya and mango from the farmers market, grabbed some rice and headed to the beach for breakfast!

Seriously could it get any better! The sand here was crushed lava rock and sea shell bits.

We pretended to be kids in the tide pools and I got to show Dan a couple creatures we use to find at my grandma's beach growing up.

Mollusks in the lava rock grooves...

Sea slug...

Sea urchins.

So this was our first beach of the day!

We then went back to town and did some shopping at the farmers market, more fruit, kukui nut necklaces... Then we stopped by a local hamburger joint Dan loves and then headed north of town to another beach!

Our first try was closed but we scored on the second one!! 

 It was a little stormy but the onshore breeze kept it sunny on the beach!

We went out near the end of these rocks and got to see a sea turtle swimming around! Swimming with sea turtles!!!!

I picked up coral and some more tiny sea shells and found this funny seaweed. I called it grape seaweed!

One and a half more days worth of photos coming soon!

Aloha!

Hawaii Day 1 - Paradise!

5 hours in a plane all by myself...CRAZY! The sun was setting as we came into Kona.

 This is the view I woke up to with all the island birds singing.

When Dan picked me up from the airport he had a beautiful plumaria lei for me. It could not have smelled any sweeter!

 

 He also brought me this bunch of local flowers he bought at the farmers market. Amazing!

 After a breakfast called a Loco Moco which is a common Hawaiian breakfast we headed out of Kona but quickly had to stop when I spotted this local fabric shop!!! Yes I went fabric shopping in Hawaii!!

 It wasn't long before the lush plant life gave way to the lava fields.

 Our first (scheduled) stop was at South Point, the most southern point in the United States.

 It was a shelf and so (crazy) people were jumping off the cliff into the water. Here is a place just a few feet away from the cliff edge where the water comes through a tunnel.

 The black lava rock and the white coral contrast nicely! ;)

 It was so windy near south point that the trees grow like this!

 And then we made it! Our goal was Kilauea! It was foggy and rainy up there (45,000-ish feet elevation). This was one caldera that you can hike across with steam rising from some spots, we decided not to blow out my knees on the first day as you had to hike nearly strait down and up to get in and out.

 

 But we did hike around it through the giant fern tree forest and rain forest to the large lava tube in the park. It was awesome to walk through it!

 Next we stopped at the steam vents, where the earth is so hot that steam comes up from the ground. The ground is hot to the touch and so these wild orchids grow there!! Beautiful!!

 And then we made it! I STOOD ON A VOLCANO!!! I STOOD ON KILAUEA!!!!!

The different paintings portraying Madam Pele were one of my favorites in all the visitor centers. I wish I could have brought them all home! 

After driving all the way back to Kona (2+ hours) we stoped at a place I had scoped out before the trip. A place to eat traditional Hawaiian foods!

This is ono (fish), taro cooked in coconut milk, and purple sweet potatoes. To drink we had kava which does in fact make your lips and tongue feel a little tingly/numb. The food was AMAZINGLY yummy!!

We also had some poi which is taro root prepared a different way. We saved some for the next morning's breakfast...

stay tuned for the next instalment of photos!!