Tonight we leave the Hawaiian islands and return to Grand Junction. Our flight leaves Kona at 9:45pm and we'll get into Salt Lake City at 9:07am on Sunday morning. I hope we can get some sleep on the flight!
Yesterday we explored Volcano National Park. Kilauea is still an active volcano. We got to see the top of the volcano, with steam pouring out of it. We also walked through a lava tube - sort of like a cave but it's formed from dried lava. We walked around in the lava fields a bit but never did see any hot lava flowing. Michael was disappointed. It was chilly up there - the volcano is at 4000 ft. above sea level - very windy and rainy. We also traveled to South Point, the southern most point in Hawaii, which is also the southern most point in the United States. This is where the first Polynesians settled in Hawaii. It's very windy but I guess the fishing is great and that is what sustained the first settlers here. We've done a lot of driving on the Big Island.
We went to dinner last night at the Kona Inn Restaurant. It was the best dinner we've had on this island! Michael had steak and lobster and I had shrimp scampi - the shrimp were HUGE. The Kona Inn Restaurant was one of the first in this area, built 30 years ago, and they still have the original belt system to operate their fans.
This morning we are trying to shove all of our stuff back in the suitcases (plus the stuff we bought while on the islands) and have a couples' massage at 10am. See you all soon!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Last Days
Our luau on Wednesday night was entertaining and fun . . . probably something we wouldn't do again but glad we did. It actually grossed me out to see them un-bury the pig and then serve it but they had some really yummy fish, so I ate that instead. The dancers were neat, and we learned some more about Hawaiian history.
Yesterday we traveled to the east side of the Big Island, to a town called Hilo. Michael read online about a Hilo Art Museum so we went on a wild goose chase trying to find it. Apparently they have been in several different locations and we ended up getting a bunch of different opinions on where they might be and some locals didn't even know the art museum existed, which is strange in such a small town. Hilo reminded us a little of San Franscisco. It is, obviously, right by the ocean so it's very humid, and it's a hilly little town. We went to a couple waterfalls, one named Akaka Falls that was very spectacular and one named Rainbow Falls, where we hiked up to the overlook at the top of the waterfall. We shared a pizza at a little Italian place in Hilo and headed home on Saddle Road. Saddle Road is the shortest distance between Kona and Hilo, but it was built by the military out of neccessity and isn't the best road. It's like a roller coaster for the car. It was a fun drive, and it goes between the two mountains on this island, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Yesterday we went from 71 degrees in Hilo, to 48 degrees by Mauna Kea, and back to the 80s in Kona. We stopped at the Mauna Kea visitor's information and observatory building but didn't go up to the summit. We also saw some military vehicles off Saddle Road, including some huge black helicopters. After arriving back in Kona, we ate dinner at the Kona Brewing Company brewpub. They name beers based on Hawaiian landmarks, such as Wailea Falls in Maui (on the Road to Hana). It was a fun atmosphere and the food was good. We had pizza with macadamia nuts, among other things.
Today is our last full day here. We are headed to Volcano National Park to explore. We decided against the helicopter trip . . . the woman we were working with was giving us prices based on one person and we were under the impression it was for 2, so the actually price to do it was double what we were expecting . . . and it's not cheap!! So we are exploring by car and foot today.
We fly out of Kona tomorrow night at 9:50pm Hawaiian, 12:50am Colorado time. We get back to Salt Lake City at 9am on Sunday morning. It will be a long night! We've had a great vacation but we talked yesterday about how we are ready to head home, stop living out of suitcases and hotel rooms, and see our families.
Yesterday we traveled to the east side of the Big Island, to a town called Hilo. Michael read online about a Hilo Art Museum so we went on a wild goose chase trying to find it. Apparently they have been in several different locations and we ended up getting a bunch of different opinions on where they might be and some locals didn't even know the art museum existed, which is strange in such a small town. Hilo reminded us a little of San Franscisco. It is, obviously, right by the ocean so it's very humid, and it's a hilly little town. We went to a couple waterfalls, one named Akaka Falls that was very spectacular and one named Rainbow Falls, where we hiked up to the overlook at the top of the waterfall. We shared a pizza at a little Italian place in Hilo and headed home on Saddle Road. Saddle Road is the shortest distance between Kona and Hilo, but it was built by the military out of neccessity and isn't the best road. It's like a roller coaster for the car. It was a fun drive, and it goes between the two mountains on this island, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Yesterday we went from 71 degrees in Hilo, to 48 degrees by Mauna Kea, and back to the 80s in Kona. We stopped at the Mauna Kea visitor's information and observatory building but didn't go up to the summit. We also saw some military vehicles off Saddle Road, including some huge black helicopters. After arriving back in Kona, we ate dinner at the Kona Brewing Company brewpub. They name beers based on Hawaiian landmarks, such as Wailea Falls in Maui (on the Road to Hana). It was a fun atmosphere and the food was good. We had pizza with macadamia nuts, among other things.
Today is our last full day here. We are headed to Volcano National Park to explore. We decided against the helicopter trip . . . the woman we were working with was giving us prices based on one person and we were under the impression it was for 2, so the actually price to do it was double what we were expecting . . . and it's not cheap!! So we are exploring by car and foot today.
We fly out of Kona tomorrow night at 9:50pm Hawaiian, 12:50am Colorado time. We get back to Salt Lake City at 9am on Sunday morning. It will be a long night! We've had a great vacation but we talked yesterday about how we are ready to head home, stop living out of suitcases and hotel rooms, and see our families.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
A couple more photos
I've almost hit my limit for Flickr, but I added a couple more photos to the beginning of the slideshow. Follow the link below.
The Big Island
We hopped over the ocean on Monday to the Big Island. The plane was very small - only 9 passengers and I thought the flight was a little scary. Our hotel is right on the coast on Kailua-Kona and within walking distance to most of the restaurants and shopping centers. Strangely enough, they also charge an arm and a leg for wifi access but we couldn't find anywhere else to get it and Michael had to send his timesheet in. When we got here, it was about 3:30pm and we were starving so we walked across the street and had late lunch at LuLu's with pretty view of the bay right by our hotel. We ended up at Bongo Ben's Island Cafe for the rest of the evening.
We ended up staying out a little too late at Bongo Ben's and took it easy on Tuesday, as neither one of us was feeling great. We took a walk around Kailua-Kona and had dinner at the Kona Canoe Club. They have an extensive menu of hamburgers, including the champagne cheeseburger. For only $245, you can get your cheeseburger with a bottle of Dom Perignon. We passed on that one. We had an early night and got lots of good sleep.
Today we explored the coast to the south and did some snorkeling on our own. We even saw a sea turtle ("honu" in Hawaiian)! We stopped at a couple beaches on the way back from snorkeling and had lunch. Tonight we are going to the Royal Kona Resort Luau and then more snorkeling early in the morning.
We ended up staying out a little too late at Bongo Ben's and took it easy on Tuesday, as neither one of us was feeling great. We took a walk around Kailua-Kona and had dinner at the Kona Canoe Club. They have an extensive menu of hamburgers, including the champagne cheeseburger. For only $245, you can get your cheeseburger with a bottle of Dom Perignon. We passed on that one. We had an early night and got lots of good sleep.
Today we explored the coast to the south and did some snorkeling on our own. We even saw a sea turtle ("honu" in Hawaiian)! We stopped at a couple beaches on the way back from snorkeling and had lunch. Tonight we are going to the Royal Kona Resort Luau and then more snorkeling early in the morning.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Island Hopping
This afternoon we are leaving Maui for the Big Island. We take a flight for about 45 minutes and jump right over the ocean. You can see the Big Island off in the distance from the north coast of Maui.
We've had a busy couple of days. On Saturday, we wondered around Whaler's Village and ate breakfast. Whaler's Village is a shopping center right off of Ka'anapali Beach. They have a real sperm whale's skeleton on display. Then we went on the Terilani 3, snorkeling and whale watching. We were both a little nervous to snorkel at first. Michael has never snorkeled before and I haven't for quite awhile. It's hard to get used to the breathing apparatus. Once we got used to it, we had a lot of fun cruising around out there together. We didn't see much, a lot of colorful coral and some fish. I really wanted to see a turtle, but we didn't. We did hear whales talking to each other while we were snorkeling though, so that was neat. We got back on the boat and had a great lunch with some mai tais and then went whale watching. This was the best part of the day and for me, probably the best part of our stay on Maui. We saw a lot of whales, most of them in the distance. They come up and kind of slide through the water, sometime blow water up out of their hole, and sometimes flip their tail up so you can see it. Almost at the end of our trip, we were about 20 feet away from a mom and baby whale playing together. They splish splashed around for a long time and we got a good sense of how large they really are. It was so neat to see them up close! As up close as you can get to them, anyway. (It's illegal to try and swim towards them or disturb them.) It was also cool to see a baby. Michael and I were really amazed! At one point, the whales were so close to our boat, that you could stick your head down in the hull and hear them talk really clearly. It was a great way to spend the afternoon! Despite applying sunscreen 3 different times during the boat trip, I still got sunburned. That night we watched the sun set from the Hard Rock Cafe on Front Street and then ate at a Mexican restaurant called Santa Fe Cantina.
Yesterday was the Road to Hana! The Road to Hana is a 68-mile stretch of highway on the north coast of Hawaii. It's pretty narrow and has a lot of one-lane bridges (nothing like the Road to Death though). Getting to Hana is not actually the point of the drive - it's all the stops along the way. We left the hotel about 6:30am and ate breakfast in Pa'ia, the base point of the drive. We also grabbed some sack lunches to have along the way, as there aren't very many towns or restaurants on the Road to Hana. We bought a CD with narration to guide us through the Road to Hana and let us know where and when we should stop. We stopped along the way to see different waterfalls, the most spectacular being Wailua Falls. If you go a couple miles past Hana, you can visit the Seven Sacred Pools. Legend has it that if you swim in all 7 pools from the bottom up, you will get into heaven. Michael swam in 2 of them, and I thought it was too windy and chilly to get in. We also got see a couple of caves in the Waianapanapa State Park, along with a black sand beach. Waianapanapa State Park is made up of a lot of black lava rock. It makes up a lot of the coast on the north side of the island. There are 2 volcanoes on Maui. They are both dormant right now but can at any time start erupting again. The ocean on the north side of the island is pretty rough and dangerous, so they advise people not to get in. On the way back, we stopped at an arboretum where all the plant species that grow in Hawaii were planted on a 6 acre lot of land. We saw the "painted eucalyptus" tree - its bark looks like it has paint just randomly thrown on it. There are lots of bamboo forests on the Road to Hana, and you can smell the eucalyptus trees as you drive. We did get some great pictures of our trip. Even though the road isn't very long, it's very slow-going and so we had a long day in the car. We didn't make it back to our hotel until about 6:30pm! It was great seeing another part of the island. We think we covered a lot of the island in the 4 days we were here.
We are planning on doing more snorkeling on the Big Island, as well as taking a helicopter tour of the volcanoes. The volcanoes on the Big Island are pretty active and most of the time, you can see them in action. Maui was really great, but now we're looking forward to exploring another island!
We've had a busy couple of days. On Saturday, we wondered around Whaler's Village and ate breakfast. Whaler's Village is a shopping center right off of Ka'anapali Beach. They have a real sperm whale's skeleton on display. Then we went on the Terilani 3, snorkeling and whale watching. We were both a little nervous to snorkel at first. Michael has never snorkeled before and I haven't for quite awhile. It's hard to get used to the breathing apparatus. Once we got used to it, we had a lot of fun cruising around out there together. We didn't see much, a lot of colorful coral and some fish. I really wanted to see a turtle, but we didn't. We did hear whales talking to each other while we were snorkeling though, so that was neat. We got back on the boat and had a great lunch with some mai tais and then went whale watching. This was the best part of the day and for me, probably the best part of our stay on Maui. We saw a lot of whales, most of them in the distance. They come up and kind of slide through the water, sometime blow water up out of their hole, and sometimes flip their tail up so you can see it. Almost at the end of our trip, we were about 20 feet away from a mom and baby whale playing together. They splish splashed around for a long time and we got a good sense of how large they really are. It was so neat to see them up close! As up close as you can get to them, anyway. (It's illegal to try and swim towards them or disturb them.) It was also cool to see a baby. Michael and I were really amazed! At one point, the whales were so close to our boat, that you could stick your head down in the hull and hear them talk really clearly. It was a great way to spend the afternoon! Despite applying sunscreen 3 different times during the boat trip, I still got sunburned. That night we watched the sun set from the Hard Rock Cafe on Front Street and then ate at a Mexican restaurant called Santa Fe Cantina.
Yesterday was the Road to Hana! The Road to Hana is a 68-mile stretch of highway on the north coast of Hawaii. It's pretty narrow and has a lot of one-lane bridges (nothing like the Road to Death though). Getting to Hana is not actually the point of the drive - it's all the stops along the way. We left the hotel about 6:30am and ate breakfast in Pa'ia, the base point of the drive. We also grabbed some sack lunches to have along the way, as there aren't very many towns or restaurants on the Road to Hana. We bought a CD with narration to guide us through the Road to Hana and let us know where and when we should stop. We stopped along the way to see different waterfalls, the most spectacular being Wailua Falls. If you go a couple miles past Hana, you can visit the Seven Sacred Pools. Legend has it that if you swim in all 7 pools from the bottom up, you will get into heaven. Michael swam in 2 of them, and I thought it was too windy and chilly to get in. We also got see a couple of caves in the Waianapanapa State Park, along with a black sand beach. Waianapanapa State Park is made up of a lot of black lava rock. It makes up a lot of the coast on the north side of the island. There are 2 volcanoes on Maui. They are both dormant right now but can at any time start erupting again. The ocean on the north side of the island is pretty rough and dangerous, so they advise people not to get in. On the way back, we stopped at an arboretum where all the plant species that grow in Hawaii were planted on a 6 acre lot of land. We saw the "painted eucalyptus" tree - its bark looks like it has paint just randomly thrown on it. There are lots of bamboo forests on the Road to Hana, and you can smell the eucalyptus trees as you drive. We did get some great pictures of our trip. Even though the road isn't very long, it's very slow-going and so we had a long day in the car. We didn't make it back to our hotel until about 6:30pm! It was great seeing another part of the island. We think we covered a lot of the island in the 4 days we were here.
We are planning on doing more snorkeling on the Big Island, as well as taking a helicopter tour of the volcanoes. The volcanoes on the Big Island are pretty active and most of the time, you can see them in action. Maui was really great, but now we're looking forward to exploring another island!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Photos
We finally uploaded some pictures. Follow this link to see pictures from Thursday's adventure:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35595202@N05/show/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35595202@N05/show/
Friday
Friday started off with a visit to the concierge, where we scheduled a snorkeling adventure for Saturday. We headed up to Napili and ate breakfast at a small restaurant called the Gazebo, located in a gazebo right off of Napili Bay. We shared a short stack of banana, pineapple, and macadamia nut pancakes with homemade whipped cream and coconut syrup. It was so good, we didn't want to stop eating! After that, we packed our hiking gear and headed back to Iao Valley State Park, with a stop at Maui Tropical Plantation. Coconuts, avocados, pineapples, guava, passion fruit, etc. are all grown at Maui Tropical Plantation. They also grow and roast coffee. We bought some coffee to make in our hotel room and some Macadamia flavored coffee to bring home. They also have some beautiful gardens that you can wander around in and a couple spider monkeys. We hiked around Iao Valley State Park for about an hour, and Michael took many pictures. The Iao Needle is a stunning mountain, and we learned more about the history of Hawaii. We also bought a couple of handmade necklaces from a pregnant woman who was selling them at the top of the hike.
In the afternoon, we made a stop at Ka'anapali Beach, probably the most famous beach in Maui. The sun was out but the wind was blowing like crazy. Michael got in and got beat up by the waves. I tried to get in but after getting knocked over a couple times I got back out. We walked up the beach and sat at the Hula Grill Barefoot Bar to have a cold drink. After getting showered, we headed to Maui Brewing Company for happy hour. It is a warehouse style building with empty beer kegs for light fixtures. Michael tried the Coconut Porter (I don't like dark beers, but it was yummy!) and I tried Maui Wowie Smoked Hemp Ale! It seemed to be more of a local hangout than a tourist-y place, and our waiter was really friendly. We left for dinner reservations at Kobe Steakhouse, which Uncle Kieth suggested. It was a fun place - Benihana style, where the chef cooks at your table. We shared a table for 8 with a group from Washington State. Michael had steak, scallops, and shrimp, and I tried some sushi. I had a Lahaina Roll - a California Roll with alfalfa sprouts. All of our food was very good. After dinner, we walked around Front Street in Lahaina and visited several local galleries, even meeting the artist in one.
Today we are going on a snorkeling cruise to Honolua Bay. It's a little north of where we are staying, and we're looking forward to seeing the island from a boat. Also hoping to see some whales. Right now is the best time for whale sightings. They migrate down to Hawaii during the winter months to mate and give birth. We have also heard the Honolua Bay is full of turtles! That's it for now - we are having trouble loading any pictures because of the weak wifi connections but we will try again!
In the afternoon, we made a stop at Ka'anapali Beach, probably the most famous beach in Maui. The sun was out but the wind was blowing like crazy. Michael got in and got beat up by the waves. I tried to get in but after getting knocked over a couple times I got back out. We walked up the beach and sat at the Hula Grill Barefoot Bar to have a cold drink. After getting showered, we headed to Maui Brewing Company for happy hour. It is a warehouse style building with empty beer kegs for light fixtures. Michael tried the Coconut Porter (I don't like dark beers, but it was yummy!) and I tried Maui Wowie Smoked Hemp Ale! It seemed to be more of a local hangout than a tourist-y place, and our waiter was really friendly. We left for dinner reservations at Kobe Steakhouse, which Uncle Kieth suggested. It was a fun place - Benihana style, where the chef cooks at your table. We shared a table for 8 with a group from Washington State. Michael had steak, scallops, and shrimp, and I tried some sushi. I had a Lahaina Roll - a California Roll with alfalfa sprouts. All of our food was very good. After dinner, we walked around Front Street in Lahaina and visited several local galleries, even meeting the artist in one.
Today we are going on a snorkeling cruise to Honolua Bay. It's a little north of where we are staying, and we're looking forward to seeing the island from a boat. Also hoping to see some whales. Right now is the best time for whale sightings. They migrate down to Hawaii during the winter months to mate and give birth. We have also heard the Honolua Bay is full of turtles! That's it for now - we are having trouble loading any pictures because of the weak wifi connections but we will try again!
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