Well, I am definitely back to reality- the test scores are out, my laundry bin is overflowing, the skies are cloudy and not a single person that rushed by me at “Manhattan pace” today wished me “Aloha!”. Sigh. Although, it was wonderful to sleep in my own bed last night, there really is nothing better than crawling into your own bed after a long day of travel. We are safely home after an incredible Hawaiian vacation. The memories of this trip will definitely carry me through as the weather gets colder and life becomes a little bit more stressful as summer ends…
Here are some of my favorite highlights from our trip. I hope you enjoy them.
Snorkeling
We had a blast going on our snorkeling adventure at Fair Wind Cruises. This was a fabulous trip for the whole family. The girls loved the snorkeling but I think they also spent an equal amount of time careening off the waterslides into the ocean. It was a great day for everyone and I especially enjoyed relaxing and swimming through the beautiful blue water being amazed and awed by the variety of ocean life.
Visiting the Volcano
Visting the Volcanoes National Park was truly a once in a lifetime experience. I mean it is not very often that you get to drive along Saddle Road between two volcanoes (Kilauea and Mauna Lao) into a national park that leads to lookouts, lava tubes, tropical rainforest conditions and steam vents. Our one regret was that we were not able to add a long hike to our visit, we will have to add that to our list for next time. It really was breathtakingly beautiful. Standing looking at and learning about these powerful earth monuments is mind blowing.
Beaches
I think it is safe to say that the girls have found my love of the ocean. Every time we stopped to explore a new beach or waterfront the girls wanted to dip their feet into the water. I could look at the waves crashing on to the shore all day. My dream is to have a little shack on the ocean where I could be lulled into sleep by the sound of the surf every night. What do you think Ron? We did seem some beautiful properties in Pauko Bay 😉
Traveling the Whole Island
One of the books we relied on when researching where to go, what to do, sights to see etc. was “Hawaii The Big Island Revealed- The Ultimate Guidebook”. I highly recommend this book if you are planning on visiting the Big Island. We used this book extensively while we were exploring. We accidentally flew into Hilo airport instead of Kona Airport which would have been much closer to our resort BUT instead of letting this bother us we decided to use it as a positive. If we hadn’t flown into Hilo we probably would not have had the chance to see the sights on that side of the island. The Hilo side is incredibly lush and beautiful with lots of stops that include beautiful waterfalls, black sand beaches, crashing surf, farming communities, the botanical gardens, winding roads through little towns, surfing spots and many other interesting things to see. During our stay we circled the Big Island and found many awesome things along the way. Here are a few pics…
Sunsets
I can’t imagine that you would ever get tired of watching the sunset over the ocean. There are “scenic points” all along the highways where you can pull your car over so that you will not miss these spectacular moments in time. I like to think that the locals cherish this time just as much as the tourists.
I really cannot say enough about our Hawaiian adventure. I am hoping that I can bask in the relaxing glow for as long as possible. Normally I am ready to come home by the time our vacation is ending, I can honestly say that this time I would have happily stayed for a few more days… It was so very easy to get lost in the magic of the Island. A hui hou, until we meet again. I know that we will be back.
P.S. As an aside, it is very hard to play the license plate game in Hawaii but that doesn’t mean we didn’t try 😉 Ron is the reigning champ at a whopping 7 out of state plates!
It's Always An Adventure 