Warm Beaches, Hot Volcanoes...And Cold Back Home!

lisab

Just got back home from the Kona side of Hawai'i. Wow. What a freakishly cool place that is!

Day one, snorkeling. Saw so many fish...blue, yellow, stripes, red, dots, skinny, long, buck-toothed, bug-eyed, orange, green,...wow. Just, wow.
Day two, long hike along beach. Admired the flowers and trees - Dr Seuss could not have come up with something more astounding than a Banyan Tree! Saw a giant sleeping turtle.
Day three, hiked down and around Waipi'o Valley. Thousand feet drop...easy there, knees, don't fail me now. Was accosted by 6 or 7 wild horses! They're killers!
Day four, drove up the coast a bit to a beautiful beach, met up with a hippy-chick who married me and my sweetie. Three turtles were in attendance! Wedding crashers! Went to a luau that evening...is there anything more beautiful than Polynesian dancing?
Day five, long drive to Volcano National Park. Hiked across a volcanic crater (Kilauea Iki Trail). Found something called "Pele's Hair" -- spun glass fibers resembling hair.
Day six, more snorkeling. Saw a Moray Eel !!!1!
Day seven, long trip back home.

Wow, what a planet we live on!

Will post pics soon, they're all still in the camera.

Drakkith

I was in Hawaii for about a day and a half in 2004 on the way to take a load of cruise missiles to Andersen AFB, Guam. Managed to make it to Wakiki beach or something like that while I was there. And I gotta say, it looks EXACTLY like the pictures of Hawaii paint it as. Just absolutely beautiful. If anyone ever gets the chance to go, TAKE IT!

berkeman

Yeah, Moray Eels can be a bit scary up close. But it's worse on night dives -- they get friendly when they are sleepy, and they come out of their holes and swim up to you wanting to figure out what you are!

Vagrant

Congratulations!!!

Ivan Seeking

Yes indeed. Hawaii is so hyped that I had a somewhat negative impression of the place until I went there the first time. But wow! In many ways it really is paradise. We spent time on the Kona coast and just loved it! Glad to hear you had just a great time.

When we visited Oahu, there was an old Japanese gentleman living across the street from our incredibly cool beach house. He and I spent a lot of time talking - he had watched as the zeroes bombed the harbor on that fateful day. He was imprisoned on the island and released after the war ended. And he never left. When I asked why, he responded, "Why would anyone want to live anywhere else?".

lisab

Thanks! The whole trip was dream-like, but that was definitely the highlight.

Ms Music

*total envy!* I love Kona, it is the best part of the island. Did you get to drive around the whole island? I was blown away to find out they had a desert region with cactus and ranches. Hilo is a nice sleepy town, but the water is too cold for me to snorkel.

I have even looked at buying property there, but it is so hard to move away from family.

Sweet pictures, you two look very happy! (and it is driving me nuts, he looks very familiar)

Congratulations!

turbo

Wish I could go! I love snorkeling, even cold Maine waters. Right in front of my wife's great-uncle's place there was deep water and a little island, and I could get up-close and personal with some very large trout. Nothing as pretty as reef-fish. Still I would like to have gotten to Hawaii. My eldest nephew was ported out of Honolulu until earlier this year, and he and his wife and daughter loved the place. Due to health problems related to fragrances, I can't fly anymore. Not much of a chance for a bridge, either.

You look so happy. I'm so glad you got to get out there in the warm weather.

Drakkith

Step 1: Build Raft.
Step 2: Build solar powered engine.
Step 3: Put solar power engine onto raft.
Step 4: Hire someone to ship you out to Hawaii on a real boat.

Evo

Welcome back lisab!!!

micromass

I'm so glad for you lisa!! You look so happy!

zoobyshoe

Sounds like an awesome trip!

Was the marriage for real or just a hippie sort of non-legal thingy?

dlgoff

What a beautiful pair. Thanks for sharing lisab.

Astronuc

or honeymoon-like.





You guys look married.

Welcome home.

lisab

Thanks everyone!

It's for real. We met the woman who does licenses at 10:00, and we were married by noon. So it was a hippy sort of legal thingy. Or maybe a legal sort of hippy thingy?

I like Serena

Congratulations!

Drakkith

Hopefully you knew the guy longer than that!