It's Not That Far

Famous. Last. Words.  We'll get to the "not that far" part in a couple of minutes.  Thursday was one of my favorite days in Hawaii.  We did so much that day and got to do so many things we had never done before and will probably never get to do again.  We started our day at the Pana'ewa Zoo.  The zoo itself was beautiful and we had a lot of fun walking around and avoiding the peacock in the middle of the sidewalk.  At one point it jumped over a ledge and scared me to the point of nearly having a heart attack.  Well played, peacock.

After the zoo we went to Volcano Winery for a wine tasting.  $5 for a wine tasting?  Sign me up!  Unfortunately I'm more of a $5.99 per bottle super sweet wine girl, so I wasn't a fan of many of the types they had, but Paul liked them and we still had fun.  We met a couple there that moved to the island a couple of years ago and told us about a bunch of great places to visit.  Unfortunately they were talking so fast we didn't remember most of them.

Volcano National Park was our next stop.  The park has a bunch of awesome little trails you can hike along to see different views of the volcano.  Since you drive from trail to trail we stuck to the shorter trails {surprise, surprise} so we had more time to see more of the park.  The view of the volcano was amazing and I wish we had taken our other camera with us so we could have taken a panoramic picture of the whole thing.  Lesson learned - don't rely on the expensive camera for all picture taking needs.  One of the trails led to a lava tube.  I'd put this at the top of the list of things we did on our trip.  It was just so cool to see this giant tunnel in the ground created by a bunch of hot lava right in the middle of a rainforest.

It was just a little windy that day - check out that flying hair!

We stopped at a black sand beach in hopes of finding some sea turtles.  Finally, luck!  There were a whole bunch of them just hanging out on the beach!  Another one of my favorites.

Remember the couple we met at the winery?  One of the places they told us about was the green sand beach.  This wasn't even on our radar of places to go, but apparently there are only four in the entire world so we thought the slight detour was worth it.  We had been warned that the 3ish mile hike takes a long time because of the winds and the rough ground.  Paul and I took one look at the couple, decided we were in much better physical shape, and would have no problem reaching the beach in the hour we had to get there and back before the sun set for the night and we were left in the middle of nowhere with no light.  This is where the Famous. Last. Words. part comes in.  

I can't even describe the sandy, hilly, eroded-away mess we were walking through.  {um...jogging...running out of daylight...go faster...this sucks!}  The people at the winery told us that the local people will offer you a ride in their trucks because the pot-holes are too deep to be able to drive a car through.  About 30 minutes in I was demanding we flag someone down for a ride because there was no way we were going to make it before sunset.  I was imagining become a Dateline special about people being lost in the desert.  Every person we kept meeting would give us a sad look and say "It's still really far."  Well, that's encouraging.  

So, we flagged down a stranger.  And rode in their truck.  {Yes, my mom's voice was flying through my head - "Don't talk to strangers.  Don't get IN the stranger's vehicle!  You did WHAT?!?!?  What the HELL were you thinking???"}  Luckily, Alfred was very nice, didn't steal me, and even offered to take our picture!  The green sand beach turned out to be totally worth it since the sand really is green and so different from any other beach I've ever seen.  There was a sign that said stealing the sand is a $500 fine.  Alfred didn't tell us until on the way back that a local person put the sign up and there's actually no fine.  Shoot.

The top of the ridge above the beach.

The picture doesn't really do it justice, but that sand really is green!

Near the green sand beach is the southern-most point in the United States.  South of that?  Antarctica.  Think about how cool THAT is!  It was nearly dark so we took some really quick pictures, and none of ourselves, but it was still pretty amazing.

We just got our pictures back and put into a photo album.  {My scrap-booking mom and mother-in-law are shaming me right now!}  It's been so much fun looking back on our trip and all of the fun times we had!  Can't wait to share more soon!

Toes in the Sand

Time for part 2 of our trip to Hawaii.  I left off on Wednesday - Christmas.  We started our day going to a beach where we had been promised by some people at the pool that we'd see some sea turtles swimming around.  There were 3 things on my to-see list for Hawaii - sea turtles, dolphins, and whales.  I had seen the whale the night before, so had high hopes for the turtles at this beach.  We got there and the waves were HUGE.  We decided it was no big deal.  We started walking into the water and realized the entire area was full of rocks.  No, not rocks.  Freaking boulders.  And those giant waves and the wind were crashing me into them.  I panicked and decided today was not my day to see the turtles and those waves actually were a big deal.  My fearless husband on the other hand tried as hard as he could to {literally - and unsuccessfully} drag me into the water then went swimming on his own.  Not even 5 minutes later the life guard was announcing that there was a high tide warning and the beach was closed.  I KNEW those waves were too big and ferocious!  

So, we headed up the coast to a few other beaches we had found on a moped tour website.  One included a trail to a bunch of petroglyphs - pictures and symbols carved into the rocks.  There were a few at the beginning of the trail and only a few minutes into our 1 mile hike we decided we had seen what we wanted to see at the beginning of the trail and were too lazy to continue on the rest of the way.  Don't judge.  We were on vacation.  The next beach had much calmer waters and the perfect spot for us to relax side by side in our beach chairs.  Me in the shade of the shelter building and Paul right next to me in full sun!  I wish I had taken a picture as I'm sure we looked completely ridiculous.  But, for as much as seeing a sea turtle was on my to-do list for our vacation, so was not becoming completely fried by the sun.

We headed to a luau that night that was a short walk from the condo we were staying at.  It was open bar until 7 and we were determined to take full advantage.  They only let you take 2 drinks at a time so we took turns going to grab drinks.  4 drinks in I was deciding that I REALLY like Mai Tais, but couldn't figure out why Paul's were so much stronger than mine.  When you got the drinks you had to scoop them out of a giant punch-like bowl.  There were 3 bowls and I couldn't figure out why they would make one of those bowls so much stronger than the rest.  I asked Paul about it, he laughed, and told me that after scooping the JUICE into your cup you have to ask the bartender to put the rum in.  Oops.  So, it turns out, I really like Mai Tai juice.

Just as they were about to start serving dinner a giant rainstorm rolled in.  Keep in mind that it doesn't rain often on this side of the island, and December is not "rainy season".  So, this 20 minute downpour caused them to have to cancel our luau.  BUMMER!  Luckily we were refunded our money and were able to reschedule for another night so it worked out.  We headed back to the condo to clean up then drove to go get dinner.  It turns out my rumless Mai Tais were a good thing since one of us was no longer able to drive.

Too happy about the free drinks and that it's raining instead of snowing to be upset about a rainstorm!

Aloha!

Happy New Year everyone!  2013 was a year of some major change and excitement in our lives and as cliche as it sounds, I'm really not sure how 2014 is going to top it, but we're ready and waiting with open arms!  The completion of Paul's grad school classes, my new job, and of course our wedding and the weddings of some of our very closest friends and family were our major hi-lights of the year.  We ended 2013 with a delayed week-long honeymoon to Hawaii and had an absolutely amazing time.  Since I want to be able to re-read this for years to come and remember our vacation I'm going to split it into a few {probably very long} posts.  So, you're stuck with Hawaii memories for the next few posts.  Try not to hate us as the temperature in Wisconsin hovers slightly above and mostly below zero!

So, here it goes.  Hawaii trip part 1.  We left on a Monday and though we didn't have to leave the house until 5:30 at the very latest I was wide awake at 2:30.  Talk about a long day. Paul's aunt and uncle gave us the great idea to take a picture next to the sign at the bank that displays the temperature.  We both decided that 14 degrees was too darn cold to get out of the car that early in the morning.  Little did we know it would be even colder when we got home!

Without shame I pulled out the "We're on our honeymoon are there any upgrades you can give us?" line at the check-in counter.  The lady laughed at me and said that no, that doesn't actually happen in real life.  Bummer.  Our flights to Hawaii went absolutely perfectly.  Everything was on time which is almost unheard of whenever I travel.  Our only issue happened in Madison as we were hardly even through security when Paul realized he had lost 2 of his 3 boarding passes.  I'd just like to point out that this was after I offered to put them in my purse for safe keeping not even 5 minutes earlier.  He was confident he could keep track of them without any problems...famous last words.  No worries, we found them and were on our way.  We flew to Chicago, then to Honolulu, and finally to Kona.

We arrived at night once it was already dark which was kind of a bummer.  Neither of us were expecting it to get dark so early and we were both tired and kind of crabby at that point so the lack of ocean view didn't help.  Then we started driving down the hi-way with the glowing yellow street lights.  My husband is color blind.  Yellow lights are not helpful.  I seriously thought we were going to crash as he was telling me over and over that he really couldn't see very well.  I was in charge of giving directions to turn onto streets that I couldn't pronounce.  So, I made them up.  Made total sense to me!  Paul on the other hand was NOT amused.  Apparently Khaki, Kiwi, and Queen Latifah are NOT the same as Kuakini, Kaiwi, and Queen Kaahumanu.  My bad.

Tuesday was brew day.  We went to the Kona Brewing Company for a tour and lunch.  Fun fact - any Kona beer that you drink from a bottle is actually bottled on the mainland, not on the island.  

After the brewery we went to the Greenwell Coffee Farm.  It turns out there's A LOT of work that goes into making coffee.  Definitely not a job I'd want.  The lady giving the tour made a point to tell us that they get snow in Hawaii after we told her we're from Wisconsin.  This is something they're pretty proud of since we heard that fact multiple times on our trip.  Paul and I just secretly laughed each time they'd tell us they get up to 12 inches a year at the top of just one mountain and it all melts within an hour.  Sorry Hawaii, you don't know what snow is.

Original coffee bean tree on the farm

Pointsettia TREES

We spent a good majority of the afternoon planning out the rest of our week then went to Huggo's on the Rocks for dinner.  It was a restaurant that faced the ocean and most of the seating was in beach chairs in the sand.  My kind of dining!  We saw a whale jumping out of the ocean and though we only saw its tail, it was still pretty awesome.