Hawaii, Part 2

Hawaii, Part 2
April 10-11

Day 4

This was a big, long day.  We decided to drive around the whole island, and just stop when we saw things we wanted to see.  It was so fun to just have the freedom to pull off and explore, and not worry about how that would set off our two little people in the backseat!  We made it around all of the island, except for the very northern side.  We left really early, around 6:00 or so, which wasn't too hard since our schedule was going to bed early and waking up early since that was what our bodies were used to with Utah time.  We had breakfast with the locals in Waimea at the Hawaiian Style Cafe.  Some of our stops were:

• Laupahoehoe, a scenic point 
• Kalopa State Park
• Akaka Falls State Park
• Hilo, the other main city in Hawaii, it was much greener, but also much more suburban with big box stores, lots of houses, etc.  We flew into the other side of the island, Kona.
• Rainbow Falls
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park-  This was disappointing because the lava has been flowing pretty constantly for years, and then stopped last month.  We just missed getting to see lava.  Plus it was overcast, rainy, and cold so we couldn't see much at the lookouts and it was not fun to hike in.  The most unique and worthwhile thing we saw there was a lava arch and lava that had covered an end of road sign.  We drove through the park and jumped out at different areas to look around anyway.  We even attempted a hike to see some steam, but I was kind of cold, wet and grumpy about it, and Matt decided after we'd hiked for awhile that we weren't going to be able to see through the fog anyway, so we turned around.  The pitch dark lava tubes were pretty neat too.
• Punalu'u Black Sand Beach- the water was too rough so we couldn't snorkel, but we just sat and enjoyed the view, played with the lava sand, and admired the beached resting turtles.  We both love sea turtles, and before on trips to Hawaii we've only swam with them, we've never seen them beach themselves and just hang out on the shore.
• We passed Ka Lae, South Point, but we didn't stop, we were both exhausted and ready to get back by this point.

State Park

Akaka Falls

Rainbow Falls

Lava Tubes

Me hiking and trying to have a good attitude in the less than ideal conditions on the volcano.

Lava on the road!

Sea Arch, it was formed by lava flowing into the water, and then cooling, pretty amazing.

You can't get too close, so we tried to keep our distance, while still admiring our turtle friends.

Black sand beach, our feet and the turtles

Matt getting a little too close to the edge!

Day 5

After a few big days in a row we decided to slow it down and have a beach day.  My legs were pretty angry from all the mosquito bites and Matt's were pretty burned, plus we were tired, so it was a perfect day to do it.  I enjoyed lounging and reading, but Matt only last a few minutes.  He snorkeled at our beach, swam, and walked around the tide pools.  We had lunch at the pool and then headed over to check out the macadamia nut factory.  They taste even better when you crack them yourself!  Then we got snowies, and ate them on the beach.  We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the surf at the Hapuna State Park Beach, enjoying the water while the sun and rain took turns appearing.

 Here is the view from our hotel room.