Hawaii - July 2010

We had the fortunate opportunity to go to Hawaii's "Big Island" for 7 days and it was a great time! We went with Andy's parents and even brought Ryan along - I was a little nervous about how he'd do (especially for the long plane ride) and he did awesome! We had a wonderful time, relaxed plenty, played in the water, and saw ALOT!!! The weather was beautiful, a high of 82 and low of 72 everyday. The clouds rolled in every afternoon, but we rarely had rain. Sunny and beautiful for 7 straight days! Here's a "travel-log" of what we did, mostly for the memories:

Monday, July 12th
We flew out of Salt Lake Monday morning, got into Kona that evening, and had just enough time to get settled into our place and get some dinner and groceries before heading to bed. We stayed in a great 2 bedroom condo at the Holua Resort at Mauna Loa Village in Kona. I couldn't believe how beautiful the grounds were and how meticulously everything was maintained. There were tennis courts galore, and 8 different pools/hot tubs. One of the pools was right out our back door, so we went there often.

Tuesday, July 13th
After a long day of traveling and a 4 hour time difference, we decided to take our first day on the Island to just swim, relax and enjoy being on vacation!

Out for a walk with Grandma

Lunch at Drysdale's

Ryan's makeshift "highchair"

Wednesday, July 14th
Hawaii is the biggest of all the Hawaiian Islands, so there was a lot we wanted to see. On Wednesday, we took the day to drive all the way around the Island. There was so much to see, that after 12 hours in the car, we finally had to call it quits. Ryan did great for the first 10, but by the last 2, he was finished! If there's ever a next time, we'll break up all the sight seeing into 2 days.

Our first stop along the coast was a black sand beach, then onto Volcanoes National Park, then to the town of Hilo for lunch, shopping and the farmer's market, a quick view of Rainbow Falls, a stop at Hapuna Beach to stretch our legs and dip our feet in the water, and finally back home. Those were just the major stops - we had several detours along the way for scenic drives, a Painted Church, beaches and historical monuments.

Black Sand Beach

Volcanoes National Park

With all of the magma, lava, rocks, etc. Andy thought he'd died and gone to heaven! He loved seeing all the geological features of the Island, especially at the park.
After viewing the volcano, we went for a short hike through the rain forest to see some lava tubes.

Rainbow Falls
A beautiful waterfall right in the middle of the town of Hilo.

Hapuna Beach
Rated one of the top beaches on all of the Islands - it was gorgeous!

Thursday, July 15th
Thursday morning we headed to a beach just down the road for some snorkeling. The water was crystal clear, the fish were plentiful, and there was even a sea turtle. After an afternoon of relaxing, we headed to a beachfront luau. The food and entertainment were both awesome; Ryan especially enjoyed himself. He chowed down on all the eats, and jammed out to the music with all the dancers. He clapped along just like one of the adults :)

Snorkeling at Kahalu'u Beach Park
Unfortunately, we were so excited to snorkel, I didn't get any pictures of the snorkelers!

Island Breeze Luau on the Beachfront

Friday, July 16th

Friday morning Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to watch Ryan so that Andy and I could go to the temple. The Kona Temple is one of the small temples, beautiful as all the rest. After the temple, we headed to the beach to play in the sand and water, then enjoyed an evening of games at the condo.

Kona Hawaii Temple

B69 Beach

Saturday, July 17th
Saturday morning Tim & Sue went to the temple while we relaxed at the condo. When they got home, we all headed to lunch at Bubba Gump's, then did some souvenir shopping in Kona.

Sunday, July 18th
Sunday morning we attended church in Kona, came home for lunch, then went for a Sunday drive to see a few more sights on the Island. We stopped at Pu'ukohola Heiau National Park to see some historical sights, then drove along the coast to see the Captain Cook Monument.

Pu'ukohola Heiau National Park

Monday, July 19th
On Monday, it was time to pack up and head home. We spent the morning swimming and packing, but we still had the afternoon and evening before our flight left. So, once again, we hit the road and traveled along the coast to the town of Waimea. There we stopped for lunch and some window shopping, then headed back down the coast to stop at the beach. An hour later, we were headed to the airport.

This airport experience was not quite as smooth as the first one. We started out by waiting in the wrong line for about 30 minutes, then went to right line and got checked in, but (unbeknown to me) the Delta representative didn't check me in correctly. So we waited in another long line for security just to have TSA tell me that my boarding pass didn't have Ryan's name on it, and they wouldn't let me through security until I got it fixed. Andy ran back to Delta, got it changed, we got past TSA, then had to have our bags checked again, ran out to the tarmac and got on the plane just in time. Keep in mind that through all of this we're outside, it's hot, late and we've been in the car all day. Ryan didn't get an afternoon nap, and it was past his bedtime. So after all the hoop-la, he was not happy. By the time we got on the plane, he was pretty much hysterical. He cried good and hard for about the first hour of the plane ride, then finally calmed down, but wouldn't go to sleep. After about 2 hours, he finally fell asleep and we made it home :) Pheww!!!

All in all, we had an awesome trip and created some great memories. Thanks to Tim & Sue for being so hospitable! Here are a few more miscellaneous pictures of the trip.

Aloha!!!