Hawaii vacation part 1
11:56 PM
I have to write of our epic vacation before I forget it all! Besides our honeymoon, this was our first "real" couples vacation. It was our big 10 year anniversary and medical school graduation trip! We had been wanting to do the island cruise but it was all sold out but I'm kind of glad it didn't work out because I felt like we were able to see and do a ton---something that probably wouldn't happen on a cruise. My in laws were so awesome in coming out and staying with the kids for a week so we could enjoy the Big Island and Kauai.
Compared to Oahu, the Big island is actually very big! It is the youngest of the islands and the real name is Hawaii, although everyone calls it the Big Island. It was kind of hard for me to plan because I'm used to planning for things 30 min max in distance but the Big Island takes 6 hours to go all the way around, and everything is naturally so spread out but I think we did pretty good in hitting up "most" of the island.
Day 1:
we may or may not have chosen the EARLIEST flight of the day ;) But it made for an awesome sunrise!
I loved all the green rolling hills!
First stop was the black sand beach
and spotted some awesome turtles
This is the life!
okay these lily pads were so pretty!
The next stop was the green sand beach. I had heard that it was a hike to get there unless you had a 4WD. Most tourist don't have this type of vehicle and so the locals have been smart and made a business out of driving people out to the secluded beach. But not wanting to pay the 20 dollars we walked the 4 miles roundtrip. The best part was walking along the coast and seeing so many whales!
we both thought the sand would be more green but the secluded beach and view was amazing
Another famous spot is the southern most tip of the United States. A lot of people cliff jump off this. You jump in and the current takes you under the rocks out to where you climb up this dinky ladder, that just can't be safe ;) Of course it was the highlight of Bryan's trip!
this is the ladder
After, we drove up to snorkel at Capt Cook's memorial. We had heard awesome things about this snorkeling spot. But it was poor planning on my part when I didn't realize you could only access it by kayak or you have to hike 4 miles roundtrip to it. We had started the hike at 4pm and so we were trying to book it before sunset. We made it and we were the only ones there which was nice and also terrifying......here's why. Apparently I only like snorkeling when I know a lot of people are in the ocean. haha! ya know, other shark bait and not just me ;) I get in to snorkel and I get a few feet and LITERALLY there is this huge drop off to very deep water, I start to panic and swim away but the current is strong. I may or may not have hyperventilated in my mask. haha! It spooked both Bryan and I! It took me awhile to get up the guts to go back out and swim in a different direction away from that terrifying spot. ha!
After finally getting back to our car at 7:30pm we both were starving as we hadn't eaten all day! We stopped at Fish Hopper where we learned that they give military free appetizer and dessert! score! We also ran into a family who Bryan sees at the pediatric clinic. I guess he was their doctor when they learned that their daughter had diabetes. They were on the big island for a birthday celebration and Bryan mentioned it was his birthday too and right before they left they paid 50 dollars of our meal and wrote a really nice note to Bryan, thanking him for his help with their daughter! I was so shocked! People are so nice!
next morning we woke up to the cutest picture! My kids have never looked so good for church before. People made comments at church that "grandma must be in town"
After our church (which was comical---so many funny old people) we made our way to rainbow falls where we spent a lot of time on the top of the falls where you can walk around. It was so pretty and so green!
Ate at the Pineapples restaurant that was amazing!
Then we drove up to the Maunea Kea mountain. It's the largest mountain in Hawaii and even gets snow in the winter time. This was the sunset on our drive up there
We drove to the summit of the moutain and watched the sunset and then star gazed. Holy cow, I've never seen so many stars in my life! There were no city lights and so the view was incredible. Bryan and I did not bring enough warm clothes as it was FREEZING! We only lasted a few minutes outside before we star gazed from our car. haha!
Only to find out, it was 50 degrees outside. We are such wimps!
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