Big Island

So while Kim was here visiting we went to the Big Island of Hawaii over Valentine's and President's Day. We had a bit of trauma prior to arriving since prior plans with some other friends going on the trip fell though 2 days before and we found out that every car on the island was sold out and rooms were slim...yikes! But thanks to Craigslist we were able to find someone willing to rent us their car and we got a nice hostel that could accommodate all 5 of us for a very reasonable price. Then the morning of our flight our ride flaked on us! But we still made it to the gate with 15 minutes to spare :)  Luckily for us it was smooth sailing from there! We picked up our car at the airport, it was an awesome Jimmy 4x4 that smelled like a mixture of ashtray, weed, and air freshener, but hey it was a car and we would have been stranded without it! We met up with my friends Kat, Aly, and Tom in Kona, grabbed some breakfast and let the adventure begin. Tom was pimping it with 4 dates for Valentine's Day, I'm sure that was rough haha. We started off by going to the southern most point in the United States, it was the windiest place I have ever been! After that we went to the black sand beach which was super neat. There was a turtle on the beach that everyone was gawking at, unfortunately I think that he seen better days :(  We continued on down the road toward the Volcanoes National Park, making a brief stop at the Punalu'u bakery for a yummy plate lunch. After going up 4000 ft. in elevation we reached the summit of the volcano. It was FREEZING! We were definitely not prepared in our shorts and t-shirts and the rain and wind didn't help either haha. But we sucked it up and got to see the steam vents, lava tube, and crater. Due to the bad weather we did not get to see the glow of lava dumping into the ocean at night...maybe next time. 

The next day we went to church and it turned out to be stake conference so that took a little longer than we had planned but it was good.  Next we went to Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park and did a short little hike to a really nice beach, then we drove inland a bit to get a better look and Mauna Kea and the SNOW! Before I moved here I had no idea that there was snow on Hawaii...it was so surreal to look one way and see the beach then look the other and see snow, crazy! After that we dropped off Tom at the airport, and us girls headed to the temple for some pictures and relaxation. Then we went in to  Kona and walked around downtown and got some huge shaved ices and enjoyed the sunset. Later that night we met a lot of cool people staying at the hostel and played some great hands of texas hold 'em (no money involved of course). 

Monday one of our new friends from the hostel named Patrick joined us on our trip over to Hilo. We saw several water falls including 442 ft. Akaka Falls and the appropriately named Rainbow falls. We ate at a great little Italian restaurant for lunch then headed back toward the airport. We attempted to see the lava dump into the ocean but it was too light so all we could see was steam, oh well it was still cool. Then it was back to the airport...we went all the way around the island in one day...i'm so glad Kat offered to drive part of the time or I would have gone crazy!  They aren't kidding when they say it is the big island! All in all I think we had a great time and crammed a lot into 3 days. I had thousand of pictures, literally, but here is what I could narrow it down to. I did a slide show for each day enjoy!

                                        Saturday 2-14-09

                                     Sunday 2-15-09

                                           Monday 2-16-09

There was so much to see and do I wish we had more time there! But I'm so glad we were able to go while Kim was here. It was so great having her visit. I can't believe she really moved to Tennessee, Utah will miss her forever!!  

Oh and I also wanted to let everyone know that I have decided to move back to Utah at the end of the school year, at least for the summer :) So if you wanted to come visit Hawaii you have until the 3rd week of June.  Aloha!