Sometime between the wedding and the new year we ran off to Hawaii. Not because we have money oozing from our pores and an excess of leave or anything. But because I have friends who live on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Like half way between Australia and Hawaii. 8 degrees north. They don't leave the island often. Like once a year. While I strongly desire to go visit them, it's more expensive than going to Hawaii and they have limited passes to allow visitors. Which I now realize sounds like they are imprisoned. Which they are not.
Somewhere in the planning of the this trip I learned that the man had never actually been to Hawaii. Which part of my brain understands. And part can. not. quite. comprehend. I love taking a picture whenever I leave Alaska, to remind me of some of the many reasons I live here. Look at those mountains!
This is not Alaska. It's one of the many reasons that I love to visit Hawaii. Our beaches do not look like this and you do not visit them wearing shorts and flip flops.
These are some very cool people. Note the baby. She is very young and the reason they were off island. To skip a lot of the details - they had to fly home to her family, on the east coast, to have the baby. Its a long journey and they stopped off in Hawaii for a couple days to adjust/recover before continuing on to their tropical home. It was lovely, lovely, lovely to see them. I hope to see them again before their sweet girl can drive.
After they flew away, we fled to the big island. I have not properly explored the big island. I had a little taste when I took a cruise there a couple years ago. The main theme is lava.
Ah, palm trees. So different to anything else. I still remember the first time I saw them, in California, when I was a kid. It was like being in a movie. It's a relaxing sight, every time.
Since we were short on time for this initial exploration visit, we rented a car and drove around. Not a lot of planning went on. We were a little planned out after the wedding and the move, etc. So we just went places that looked interesting and saw cool stuff. Like a pond by the beach with Hawaiian ducks. Or geese. Probably I should actually know the difference.
At that particular beach we got to see evidence of classic American stupidity. Or at least I assume the majority of these humans are American. Or as I like to think of them - Merikin. There's a turtle at the edge of the water and a rocked off area with lots of signs telling you to back the f**k off and give them room to do their thing. The animal was cool. The humans - very not.
And then....the giant hole in the ground. Even that has to be fenced off. Definitely worthy of national park status. Access to the other side of the volcano where the lava was flowing into town and destroying stuff was sensibly restricted to locals. So we settled for the cool exhibits and camping nearby.
Which meant that we could walk the half mile back on the trail once the sun went down. Now that was even cooler.
More cool lava stuff - lava tubes. Think caves. Where lava is the walls and floors. I never really understood how many different kinds of lava there are. It totally makes sense when the science side of my brain actually kicks in. And the plants! Amazing.
We didn't have time to properly explore the observatories and stare at the stars, but we did take the time to drive near the top of the volcanoes. Surprised how lush and flatish it was. I understand a little better how there is agriculture here. Mountains are all different shapes. Pretty sure my art teacher tried to tell me that in 5th grade. I'm a little slow sometimes.
We only had two nights - so of course we caught the sunset by the ocean. But then were terrified by the crowds at the campground - absolutely no room there, so we had to flee and find a B&B. We got seriously lucky. This is the view from the deck. We stayed in the old coffee plantation processing room. probably will be back there again if I have any say in the matter. Local fruits and nuts and coffee galore. Delicious and amazing. Listened to frogs all night and birds all morning.
Until it was time to flee to the airport again. Can't wait to go back and see more. Thanks for the breather Hawaii.
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