Finally Hawaii!! (It's Long)

What a trip! This post has taken me FOREVER because I had so many pictures to go through. Seriously over 2000. I narrowed it down quite a bit. Here it is. The post you have all been waiting for! Well all 2 of you. P.S. Be prepared for quite a few typos and grammatical errors. I didn't want to proof read it. I just wanted to get this post over with. It took me forever!

Day 1
The Arrival

The arrival started a little rough. We left late. When we got to the shuttle stop that would take us to LAX we barely had made it by like 7 minutes. It was getting ready to leave. Once we got to the airport and in line to check our bags, my dad realized his phone had fallen out of his pocket on the shuttle. (It was recovered and picked up by my brother, all is fine now.) When my parents finally arrived in Kona (we were on separate flights) we thought my parents luggage had gotten lost in the midst of their layover. (Those were recovered as well) Needless to say we were relieved and thrilled to finally get to our condo. We had been nervous about the condo because the deal seemed too good to be true. We got this place for 9 days for only $625!! Yay for Hotwire! Later that night we were all starving so we headed to this little Thai restaurant. It was called the Thai Royal or something like that? It was amazing. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

The room was incredible. It was huge! We had a garage and everything!

The grounds of the resort were really nice too. We walked around and looked at the grounds and saw this gigantic spider!! It's huge, and we actually ended up seeing these all over the place. The spiders were always in the web though we never saw one just wandering around. The white thing going across the middle was always there too. At first we thought it was just something caught in the web but it was in all of them. I am not sure what kind of spider it was but look at it. It's ginormous!

This is the golf course right next to the resort. So pretty!

Flowers are everywhere there. I obviously wasn't going to be around all those pretty flowers and NOT take pictures. So I did. Here are some of them.

Day 2

Puuhonua o Honaunau

The second day we woke up had breakfast and headed out for who knows what. We stopped at a little beach not far from our resort and wandered there for a little bit and then decided we would head to the City of Refuge. This place was so cool. "Historically, Puuhonua o Honaunau was a place of refuge for defeated warriors or people accused of breaking a Kapu (Hawaiian law)." These people just had to swim to the shore before they were caught and then they could be exonerated by a priest. The location is sacred so they ask you to be respectful obviously. It was so peaceful there. We then took a 2 mile hike from there to these cliffs where a village used to be located. There isn't anything there anymore aside from an amazing view! By the end we were starving. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now dinner time. We headed back up to Kona for dinner at Bubba Gumps. It is a fun restaurant. My food was amazing. Aaron loved his too. My parents said theirs was eh but it was still very fun!

Day 3

We started the day with South Point Beach, it is a "green sand" beach. It actually looks more like gold. It's a 4 mile hike in there unless you have 4-wheel drive. We didn't so we started walking. It was a long walk, and there weren't any signs so we didn't even know if we were going in the right direction. We saw a truck driving up behind us so Aaron flagged him down and asked if we were headed in the right direction. We were so he asked how much farther. We weren't even half way. He offered to drive us the rest of the way and we gladly accepted! We hopped in the back of his old truck. The bed was made of wood. It was amazing. Anyway we got our ride the last half and even if we had hiked it the whole way, it would have been completely worth it! It was so incredibly beautiful. The water is SO blue. The sand was sparkly. The most amazing part was that after we were finished at that beach we started walking back up to hike out of there, only to find Alfred our local taxi man waiting for us to finish before he drove back. He waited for us so he could drive us back!!! How nice is that! So pretty but I got a sunburn on my legs worse than I have ever had. I totally put sunscreen on too. By the end of the day I was in tears and could barely walk because my legs hurt so bad!

My parents and Aaron with Alfred, you can kind of see his truck behind them. So awesome! He told us we have "Aloha hearts" because we were very friendly and happy to be there!

Old awesome windmills.

The black sand beach. It was really cool, the sand is just broken up lava rock so that's why it's black. There was a guy sitting in the back of his truck weaving hats and such out of leaves. It was so cool!

We ended the day at the Volcano National Park. The big island is basically just two big volcanoes. We hiked around there for a while. We hiked the Sulphur Banks trail and the Steam Vents trail. It was a really pretty little hike. We hiked about a mile and then hit up the art museums and some other scenic views around the park. Then we headed back to the condo!

My mom and dad decided to fashion things out of the leaves there. After a failed attempt at a leg wrap to cool my legs (it actually worked for a second) my mom made a bracelet, and my dad made a hat?

He's 12.

Hey Lost watchers... can't you imagine one of the others coming at you from this staircase? I sure could. I waited here alone while the other three we down this lava tube....

Day 4

Hapuna Swim

I can't believe it but it took us 4 days to get into the water!

Day 4 was our first really lazy day. We went to the beach and went swimming. Now, normally I am anti-beach. Well not really anti, it's just never my first choice. EVER. However, this beach-Hapuna Beach, makes me crave it. It wasn't super windy, the water was so warm, and so clean! You know when you are in the ocean and you come up for air and then a little salt water gets in your mouth and you want to gag because it tastes disgusting?? Never happened. It just tastes like salt. Not fishy yucky brown salt water, just salt. It was a nice relaxing day. Later in the evening we headed the the Hilton resort to take some family pictures for the bride's family and the groom's family. The resort is on a white coral beach. It isn't very fun to walk on, but I thought it was really pretty. My parents waited on the beach while we took pictures. When we were finished we all watched the sun set.

Aaron underwater at Hapuna

It was also Kylee's birthday, so my mom and dad made a sign for her while they were waiting for us. You see "Kohala Coast Graffiti" everywhere around this part of the island. This is where most of the white coral beaches are and the black lava rock creates a perfect canvas!

That night we went to Kona Taeng Thai restaurant. It was good, but not as good as the first spot. Well my dish wasn't as good, my mom and dad loved their dishes more than the first spot. You don't care really I'm sure...

Day 5

The Wedding

In this collage there are pictures from the wedding that I took, and then pictures from a church and the temple that my mom took while we were shooting the wedding....

During the wedding my mom and dad did more sight seeing. They even went to the temple sat on the grounds and relaxed. They went to dinner and just enjoyed Kona.

What the? Oh yeah, birds are EVERYWHERE! This picture was taken by my mom. This is at their table at Pancho and Lefty's where they went to dinner that night. The birds in Hawaii are not afraid of people. Every outdoor location that we ate, there were birds coming right up to us. It was insane!

Day 6

Day 6 we went back over to Hilo to see some of the waterfalls and just some of the sights.

Akaka Falls. It is amazing. The hike to this view is beautiful as well. Are you sick of me saying Hawaii is beautiful? Too bad because it is. Over on this side of the island everything is green.

This tree is next to the parking lot. Yes that is the ocean.

While you are hiking/walking there is water everywhere, just little streams or smaller waterfalls.

That little piece of land that you see has some sad history. It is now a memorial park. In memory of 20 students and 4 teachers that were killed by a tidal wave down there. We missed the turn to actually go down there and then decided this scenic view was good enough. I think whenever we go back, I will definitely want to go down to the park.

We saw so many sights. We ate delicious pizza from a little place called Lisa's Pizza. It was SO GOOD! We saw some farms, something my dad was wanting badly seeing as he's and Idaho farm boy. I loved the farmers hats.

Aaron nick-named this spot "Paradaise Cove". It was incredible, we were almost completely alone, there was one other couple that braved the little hike down there with us. The original plan was to go to the botanical gardens. When we got to the gate of the gardens we had missed the time cut off by 20 minutes. It was too late. So we explored a little around the area. This is what we found. Below is a collage of more pictures from this spot. It was beautiful! Seriously blue water!

Day 7
Snorkel Day

Most awesome canoe EVER!

We went snorkeling at Honaunau Bay. It's right next to the City of Refuge and apparently it is the best snorkeling in Hawaii and the 13th best in the world or something like that. My mom and dad didn't seem too fond of snorkeling at first. Even when we got my mom in the water, she kept saying she couldn't do it because it freaked her out to only be able to breathe through her mouth. When we finally got them snorkeling though.... it was hard to get them ut of the water. They were addicted!

Documentation was attempted. Don't worry that we might as well be from the 80's with the quality of these snorkeling pictures. We were using an underwater film camera that we got from wal-mart for like 10 bucks. I'm glad we were able to capture the experience. However, I am now seriously considering investing in a $1500 underwater case for my own camera. We saw SO MANY fish. All different kinds too! It really was incredible. Aaron and I went snorkeling on our honeymoon and it was cool, but no where near as cool as this! Someone had even written ALOHA at the bottom. We were in the water for a few hours and we all had burns all over our backs and legs. Worth it!

At Honaunau Bay in the parking lot there was a big party going on. It was a family putting on a fundraiser. They had food and music and information about the island, stuff like that. So we got lunch there and ate it while we listened to two sweet guys playing their guitars and singing!

From there we went to Honokohau Bay. My parents joked that it was a good thing we didn't go snorkeling until our trip was almost over, otherwise we wouldn't have done anything else. They were so into it! The water at Honokohau Bay was too cold for my liking, so I only went in for a while, but Aaron and my parents snorkeled in there for longer. It was beautiful. We were by a whole bunch of yachts so I went and took pictures of those! Then we went home and had L&Ls. There is one here in Provo and it is so good. We had to take my parents there! It is Hawaiin BBQ. It's even better in Hawaii than in Provo, imagine that. Hawaiian BBQ being better in Hawaii...

Day 8

Day 8 was Mother's Day. Aaron and my dad made breakfast for my mom and me and got us some leis made out of orchids. We went to church, which was fun. Every speaker would say Aloha and then the congregation would reply the same way. The building itself was really cool too. They had an open courtyard area right in the middle of the church. It wouldn't be so cool if it were raining, but it wasn't, hence it's coolness! The church is right next to the temple so I took a picture of it!

My mom and me after church.

We spent our last night in Kona in the most perfect way. Really this trip could not have gone better! We went to the Island Breeze Luau at the King Kamehameha Resort. It was SO fun and very relaxing. The show was incredible! Plus the location was right on the beach so it was even more beautiful!

The second most awesome canoe ever.

Sweet fire dance.

My mom and dad with the guy that danced with fire sticks.


Day 9
The Day of Departure

These are pictures from our last drive down Ali'i Dr. We drove it pretty much everyday and everyday I was awed at how beautiful it was. If you click on the collage it will get bigger and you can see a picture of a little blue and white chapel that I loved. The first night we were there we saw a bride and groom getting married in there. It's so cute. There are also some pictures of our last water trip. On our way to the airport we stopped back at the last place we had snorkeled on Saturday. We sat an looked out at the water for the last time in Hawaii before we left. While we were there a lady asked Aaron and me if we were there on our honeymoon. It was funny. She told us we looked too young to have been married for 5 years.... We were all very sad to leave but I think my dad was the saddest. He kept telling everyone we ran into that day how sad he was to leave, including the employees at the airport.

At the airport we had to wait for a little bit before our plane left. We were all very sad, very burned, very relaxed, but not very ready to come home. However, Aaron and I were beyond excited to get home to Kade. We missed him so much! The flight home was long, and when we got home the time change took a while to adjust to. I think I still am adjusting to it. It's always nice to be home, but the trip was amazing! Thanks Emily and Jordan for getting married!!

To see more pictures that AREN'T in collages click here for
Gallery 1 and here for Gallery 2