Back on the mainland

Posted on | March 28, 2007 | 4 Comments

I’m back on the mainland after a lovely 10 day Hawaiian vacation with my darling husband, Dave. We had such a relaxing time and Hawaii always puts us on the “aloha” mood. We spent five days on The Big Island in Kona and then 5 days on Kauai. Living in Phoenix, we have direct flights to and from these destinations. It’s a long flight, but it’s worth it!

When we got to Hawaii’s Big Island, I was a bit under the weather. I usually have to take about a day to recover from the flight. It took two full days. We stayed at the resort most of the time during those days (Image to the left above is from the resort in HI, it’s the view of the sunset from our oceanfront hotel room!) and then we did some exploring. We spent one day driving up the western (left) side of the island and taking a ride down the west coast of Hawaii. The colors, the foliage, the water, the landscapes – just breathtaking! The most exciting part of the Big Island visit we did up to Volcanoes National Park. Before we got there (2.5 hours from our hotel), we stopped along the way at some coffee plantations; at South Point, the point furthest south in the US; and, at the Place of Refuge. That’s what this picture at the right is from. I really loved seeing this place. The totems have been there for so long and it’s a protected and spiritual space.

From there, we went to the black sand beach. It was so windy, but my husband did try to take my photo (left) even though I was busy holding my hair out of my face! It always amazes me to see these black sand beaches in Hawaii. They are absolutely incredible. The winds were so strong, though, that we didn’t go down and dip our feet in. We had a mission: Lunch and then Volcanoes!

We finally made our way to Volcanoes National Park. We went there knowing we’d not be able to see the lava flow (that requires a helicopter or a long hike, neither of which was happening! LOL). We did, however, get to see the major sites. Despite some of my vertigo issues, we were able take a short hike to the largest crater. I was so excited and proud of myself for being able to get there. I used my cane and my husband’s arm to get there. We took photos. To the right is a photo of me standing in front of a rock pile that had been collected over a steam hole. You can’t see the steam in the picture, but it is there! This was near the edge of the crater. From there, we went to the lava tube, where walked down a very steep path in what looked like a tropical jungle (left) and ended up in this tube that was created by water going through some of a lava. It’s a huge tunnel. Nothing grows inside of it, but it’s amazing how on both sides of it, just outside of it, it looks like a tropical jungle (see image left). We’re glad we went, and it was a huge celebration for us that I was able to make that hike.
We enjoyed our trip, and other photos from this trip can be found at my flickr set “Hawaii 2007″.

When we left The Big Island, we went to Kauai. It was a full day of travel, since we had to stop in Honolulu to change planes and there was about a 1.5 hour layover. It was OK. They had Starbucks at the airport.

We got to Kauai around 6:00 p.m., but it took over an hour to get our car from Hertz. I am really not happy with the service we didn’t get there. And, yes I’ll be complaining… On to better things. We stayed at the Marriott Resort & Beach Club. It was AMAZING! The view from our window (right) was stunning to say the least. We could see all the beauty of the island – a lovely mountain, a beach, and the wonderful waters. We absolutely loved the resort. It was quite relaxing. We spent a lot of time at the pool and I even snapped a photo of us lying by the pool in a cabana. (left)

While we were on Kauai, I did take a few hours to meet up with a friend from one of my art groups, Connie Williams. She treated me to sushi, sashimi and some tempura and then we went to Starbucks. We talked non-stop for the time we were together. She’s so down to earth! Connie has had work in Phoenix in the past (before we’d met) and hopes to have another job here in January. I hope she does and that we’ll get some time to play! Thanks, Connie for an awesome day.

And it was an awesome vacation. Completely relaxing and we will definitely go back. The only thing that went wrong was getting airsick. I seem to get airsick on the flight home every time we fly from HI. But, you know, I think it’s well worth it. It’s so good to be home. I got to see Angie today. We talked for about four hours straight and always have more to say to each other.

Tomorrow I’ll write more. For now, please enjoy the photos! It’s good to be home!

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