Wow. What a trip. I was so blessed to have a friend, Rachel Skeen, invite me to go on a girls trip to her home land where she grew up--on the Big Island of Hawaii. She grew up in Kona until she left for college at BYU. I was also so blessed that I have a husband who said, "Yes! Go!"
This was an adventure trip for sure. We spent some time on the beach relaxing and playing but mostly we did lots of adventuring.
The first full day we went to the beach in the morning, then the Mauna Kea Fish Ponds. We had a really nice dinner at the Lava Lava Beach Club. At night we played a favorite things game and got to know each other a little more. Most of the ladies were Rachel's friends from different parts of her life (volleyball at BYU, roommates, neighbors, etc.) but Rach also let two of my best friends come--Alyssa Folker and Kat Swan. It was so fun to have them with me!
The 2nd day we went to Polohu Beach to hike to and walk along the black sand beaches. In the afternoon we went on a zipline adventure that was SUPER fun! In the evening we went to get Malasadas at a restaurant. We were SO tired by 8:00 pm because of the fun in the sun!
The 3rd full day we started with breakfast at the Coffee Shack with a gorgeous view! Then we went Kayaking and Snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay. It was a good distance to Kayak over to the coral reef. The fish were incredible and there were lots of them! Then after a couple hours we kayaked back in the pouring rain. We briefly stopped at a local Honey Farm and did some taste testing and they had the BEST honey ice cream I have ever tasted. At night...we swam with manta rays...at NIGHT...in the OCEAN! I can't really believe that I did that...totally out of my comfort zone but it ended up being really cool and a once in a lifetime experience. I did get sea sick towards the end from bobbing up and down in the water so much.
The next day we played at the Waikaloa Hilton Resort. We went down some water slides and played volleyball in the water for a while. My favorite was watching dolphins for a very long time. I LOVE those animals!!!
We went to bed earlier that night and woke up at 2:00 pm on Sunday. We drove to see the volcano and see if there was any activity (it was supposed to erupt that week we were there. It erupts about every 2ish weeks. It was super pretty but not a lot was happening. Some flow and a little spewing. When it was lighter we drove around and stopped at diffenrce view points, walked through some lava tubes and had fun. We then drove to eat breakfast and went on a gorgeous waterfall hike (Akaka Falls) in the POURING rain. We were all freezing cold. But then Rachel got word from her Dad that the volcano started erupting!!! A couple girls were okay not going to see if but the rest of us really wanted to go back! And since we were already more than half way there, we were able to get in to the park quickly and find one of the last parking spots. It was such a cool experience!!! To see a real volcano erupting! I had no idea that when a volcano erupts that people flock to it, not run away from it. Because this particular volcano erupts consistently and there is an actual visitors center right next to the volcano. Crazy! As we were leaving the park there were SOOOO many people and so many cars the line to get in to the park was MILES long. And the volcano stopped erupting only an hour after we left. It was so cool to see.
I got to know some new people and made new friends. I was so grateful to Cade for allowing me to have that time. I love God's creations and this beautiful world!
