Me, Jen and Nani (Nani fell asleep and Jen has the best baby carrier ever, and she just tucked her away like a bug in a rug).
After the beach with Jen and Nani, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The PCC was really neat. We went to a lot of the different islands and enjoyed the shows. At the Figiian hut we got to use these fun sticks to pound into the ground for beats to the music.
That night we went to a luau and had a really good time and ate a lot of food. The traditional pig baked in the dirt (I forget the name of cooking process).
We also stopped by the Lei Temple. They give out plumerias when you arrive! The actual temple has been closed all year, so we weren't able to get up close, but it was still beautiful. 
We spent all day on Saturday with Todd and Jen up on Northshore in Oahu. It was so much fun!! Not only to spend time with the fabulous Jensens but to also do and see so many cool things. We went to sharks cove and snorkeled.
We went to Turtle Beach and loved it. There were turtles on the actual beach and there were tons of turtles in the water. Aaron and I spent a good 30 minutes chillin with the turtles in the water. We were totally dorky and excited about the turtles. :)
We went to Tedd's Bakery for lunch (not pictured here). It's a little bit of a legend on Northshore. Then we went to Matsumoto's for shaved ice (which a bit of legend everywhere it seems- I get comments on my Matsumoto shirt fairly frequently).
Sunday we chilled with Jen and Todd and watched cute Nadine smile. Monday morning we flew to the Big Island and start doing our touristy thing right away. We drove to Punaluu- the black sands beach. It was gorgeous. The black sand did fantastic things to the water! It was pretty easy to find and you didn't have to hike at all (unlike the green sands beach). 
The sand was soft, but definitely coarse.
Isn't it beautiful?? We stayed there a while just looking at the water.
We walked around a bit more than the average tourist and found our very own turtle!!
After Punaluu we set out for the green sands beach, which was an adventure. We weren't sure exactly where to go, but we got there eventually. We parked at these beautiful cliffs and people big game fish from and cliff dive (or so we were told- we never actually saw anyone, though a couple at the end of our day said they just did it twice).
Apparently, you can swim to this blow hole from the ocean and it will carry you up if the water is in the right mood. It wasn't that day.
The hike to the green sands beach was actually beautiful (let us know if you want to find the beach, because we went the long way, and if you're in a hurry you need 4 wheel drive). The southern end of the island was very dry and deserty. It made for beautiful ocean though. The water was such an amazing deep blue!
So that's a goat in the middle of the picture. When we first walked into this scene, the goat and dog were both playing in the water. I wanted to snap a picture right then, but I thought the people might through sand at us or something.
The actual green sands beach!!! It was quite the walk, but really cool. Aaron went swimming. He found a turtle in the ocean (he was a turtle magnet, every beach we went to on all the islands of Hawaii, he saw at least one turtle).
The sand was very very soft.
At the bottom of the Kilawea crater there were still hot spots where steam would come out.
The Thurston lava tube (there were tons of people ahead of us and I wanted to kill them all because they were slow).
We went to an orchid garden/flower shop (the Big Island is apparently the largest producer of orchids). And, yes they had an orchid that was $20,000. It was perfectly symmetrical and especially bred or something like that.
Cool park by our hotel in Hilo.
This was the best picture of the lava. I know, pretty anticlimactic, no? We had to walk about a mile to get to the spot to see the red lights of lava in the distance. There was a lot of dried lava covering the ground, so mainly we just had bad timing. (I have always heard stories of walking up to a river of magma or watching it flow into the ocean, so I was hoping for more, but I still enjoyed the Volcanoes national park a lot).
Taken while ziplining (it was one of the only ones I took that actually came out).
I think of myself as a fairly daring person, but walking across this bridge freaked me out pretty good (it was about 100 feet in the air and the boards were about a foot apart). I had to take a picture of nonchalance just to prove I'm tough. :)
After Punaluu we set out for the green sands beach, which was an adventure. We weren't sure exactly where to go, but we got there eventually. We parked at these beautiful cliffs and people big game fish from and cliff dive (or so we were told- we never actually saw anyone, though a couple at the end of our day said they just did it twice).
Apparently, you can swim to this blow hole from the ocean and it will carry you up if the water is in the right mood. It wasn't that day.
The hike to the green sands beach was actually beautiful (let us know if you want to find the beach, because we went the long way, and if you're in a hurry you need 4 wheel drive). The southern end of the island was very dry and deserty. It made for beautiful ocean though. The water was such an amazing deep blue!
So that's a goat in the middle of the picture. When we first walked into this scene, the goat and dog were both playing in the water. I wanted to snap a picture right then, but I thought the people might through sand at us or something.
The actual green sands beach!!! It was quite the walk, but really cool. Aaron went swimming. He found a turtle in the ocean (he was a turtle magnet, every beach we went to on all the islands of Hawaii, he saw at least one turtle).
The sand was very very soft.It was a pretty small beach and you had to walk down a very steep incline after going the grueling 4 wheel drive road (we hitched a ride from some random girls about 3/4 of the way there and then just walked it back after). We stunk so bad after and I was very tempted to jump from those cliffs. I really wish I had actually. :(
The next day we went to Volcanoes National Park. This is a view of the Caldera (a swillering pool of magma- every time I write magma, you must read it in Dr Evil's voice). There were toxic fumes in the air and other things that might harm tourists' lungs, so this is the closest you could get.
Me at the bottom of the Kilawea (sp?) crater. I am being desolate. We did a nice hike around the crater rim that led down into the crater itself. It was very neat.
Me at the bottom of the Kilawea (sp?) crater. I am being desolate. We did a nice hike around the crater rim that led down into the crater itself. It was very neat.
At the bottom of the Kilawea crater there were still hot spots where steam would come out.
The Thurston lava tube (there were tons of people ahead of us and I wanted to kill them all because they were slow).
We went to an orchid garden/flower shop (the Big Island is apparently the largest producer of orchids). And, yes they had an orchid that was $20,000. It was perfectly symmetrical and especially bred or something like that.
Cool park by our hotel in Hilo.
This was the best picture of the lava. I know, pretty anticlimactic, no? We had to walk about a mile to get to the spot to see the red lights of lava in the distance. There was a lot of dried lava covering the ground, so mainly we just had bad timing. (I have always heard stories of walking up to a river of magma or watching it flow into the ocean, so I was hoping for more, but I still enjoyed the Volcanoes national park a lot). 
Our final day on the Big Island we drove a little north of Hilo to enjoy Nature. My favorite part of the Island was Akaka falls. The walk down was absolutely beautiful- truly a walk through a rain forest with all sorts of beautiful flowers and wonderfully huge trees.
Here's the actual falls.
After the falls, we drove to the World Botanical Garden, which turned out to be rather large and very neat. They had a few cool waterfalls to look at (couldn't get close though). Random FYI- that was the day of the unfortunate contact solution disaster of 2010 and Lindsay had to wear glasses.
They had really neat flowers . This orchid is growing on a tree!!!!!
My favorite flower of Hawaii.
There was a cool Autograph Tree that many others had signed, so Aaron decided to leave our mark as well (it took a while to find an open leaf).
There was a cool Autograph Tree that many others had signed, so Aaron decided to leave our mark as well (it took a while to find an open leaf).
There was a maze inside the botanical gardens. It was actually fairly tough and the only one I've ever been through. That's Aaron's head in the left of the picture. 
More cool plant life from the garden. Don't they look like like some nefarious Tolkien tree?
That ended our Big Island adverentures. We flew to Kauai Wednesday night. On Thursday, we went zipling. It was so much fun!
Taken while ziplining (it was one of the only ones I took that actually came out).
I think of myself as a fairly daring person, but walking across this bridge freaked me out pretty good (it was about 100 feet in the air and the boards were about a foot apart). I had to take a picture of nonchalance just to prove I'm tough. :)
A group of college students in our ziplining group was all into taking jumping pictures, so we joined the bandwagon.
The moon was full the entire time we were in Kauai. This picture was taken from the back door of our hotel room (Aaron's grandma totally hooked us up and we stayed in this fantastic room that literally opened up to the beach. Thanks Grandma Schwitters!)
The next day we kayaked the Na Pali coast (18 miles altogether!). It was beautiful. The water was GORGEOUS and the actual coastline was breathtaking (it reminded me of the Andes Mountains with an ocean painted into the picture). We went with a tour of 12 people (including 2 guides), it was tough, but we were still alive at the end of the day (we got up at 5am and got back to kayak place at 7:30). We went into several caves. I don't have many pictures because we kept our digital camera in a dry bag. We did get some decent pics with a water proof cheapie camera.
This is the beach we landed in after kayaking. We crash landed big time coming into the beach. The kayak flipped and landed on top of Lindsay, whacking her in the head and her leg. I still have some nice leg bruises. Still all so worth it.
The moon was full the entire time we were in Kauai. This picture was taken from the back door of our hotel room (Aaron's grandma totally hooked us up and we stayed in this fantastic room that literally opened up to the beach. Thanks Grandma Schwitters!)
The next day we kayaked the Na Pali coast (18 miles altogether!). It was beautiful. The water was GORGEOUS and the actual coastline was breathtaking (it reminded me of the Andes Mountains with an ocean painted into the picture). We went with a tour of 12 people (including 2 guides), it was tough, but we were still alive at the end of the day (we got up at 5am and got back to kayak place at 7:30). We went into several caves. I don't have many pictures because we kept our digital camera in a dry bag. We did get some decent pics with a water proof cheapie camera. This is the beach we landed in after kayaking. We crash landed big time coming into the beach. The kayak flipped and landed on top of Lindsay, whacking her in the head and her leg. I still have some nice leg bruises. Still all so worth it.The Saturday we flew back to LV we had a 7 hour layover, so Todd was so nice to come pick us up and we all went to Pearl Harbor. We went out to the USS Arizona and it was really neat. I'm glad we were able to make it out there. It was a great finish to a fabulous vacation.
If you made it to the end of this post I grant you permission to quote Austin Powers as much as your heart desires. :p
6 comments:
Oh man! It looks and sounds like you had a blast!!! I am so stinkin' jealous! I would love to go to the main land and see the volcanoes - it sounds like there is so much to see and do there. I can't wait to go there with Mark...someday. I still can't believe there is a $20,000 orchid -that is nuts!!
Yippee, a new post! I didn't hear about the contact disaster-o-sadness. Poor Lupe.
Your pictures are beautiful. I'm so glad you guys enjoyed your vacation, especially the awesome hotel on Kauai. That picture with the full moon is so cool.
Yea for kidless vacations! :)
Wow! That sounds like an awesome trip! I can't believe how much cool stuff you got to do and see in just a few days. I love all the turtle pics - Dennis & I are just as big of dorks about turtles as you guys are. :-)
Thanks for the fun virtual tour of Hawaii! What fun memories for you; time with Jen and Todd, turtles, sand, etc. The full moon shot really is gorgeous.
LOVE IT!!! You guys look like you had so much fun!!!
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