My Favorite City

 (A sunset picture just down from our house in Waikiki, Oahu)

My favorite city in all of Hawaii is Lahaina on Maui.  It is a beautiful, oceanfront touristy town.  They have the coolest little stores with everything you can think of: from flip-flops to jewelry to a variety of foods.  There are the little stores, then sidewalk, road and ocean is right there!  It is beautiful to drive down the road, but getting out and walking down there is breathtaking, especially during sunset hours.  My husband and I would walk down the street, shopping here and there and just enjoying the scenery.  Our favorite place to eat was a little pizzeria that overlooked the road and ocean.  Besides being busy in there, it was a great place to just hang out and relax.  We bought my wedding ring there in one of the stores and that made it even more special.

 (One of my other favorite places-Waipio Valley Lookout on the Big Island-that looks like a fake backdrop but it's real!)

One thing that stands out in my mind is when we had gone to Maui to do some concert shows and we took a couple extra days to explore the island.  It was Superbowl weekend and we were at some little restaurant watching the game and eating a quick bite before flying out in a few hours.  At halftime, the game didn't seem to be going anywhere, so we decided to.  There is a famous highway called the "Road to Hana".  It is a very windy road that goes up the side of this mountain and has a great view from the top.  Well, we had wanted to drive up it but were running out of time.  My husband said, "Oh, we have plenty of time to get up there and back before our flight".  I agreed to go, but soon my stomach was turning!  Going up the road wouldn't have been that bad except we had just eaten, we were in a hurry and I get carsick as it is!  Well, we made it over halfway up when we decided to turn around to make sure we met our flight.  I couldn't have been more relieved!  I made it through without throwing any chunks, but as beautiful as it was, I was happy to get out of there!
I have lots of great memories in Hawaii, but some of my favorite ones happened in Lahaina.  Just special moments and adventures my honey and I shared.

Swimming with the Turtles

This adventure may not seem like much, but it is an experience that remains vivid in my mind.  Once we moved to Waikiki on the island of Oahu, Shawn went back to work in the concert business.  He designs lighting and set up and takes down the shows/tours.  Usually when an artist comes to the islands to perform, they have concerts on several islands.  Shawn's boss would fly us out to do the shows wherever they were at.  Whenever we would go somewhere, we would take a couple extra days off at the end of the show to explore the island.  It was great, we'd rent a Jeep Wrangler (and try to get a different color every time) and we'd cruise!
This one time we had flown over to Maui to do a concert with Jimmy Buffett-which was so much fun.  We even got to eat dinner with him and his staff before the show.  He was making paper airplanes and throwing them at the caterers.  He seemed like a pretty relaxed and laid back guy.  Anyway, that is another story in itself.

What I remember best is what happened in the few days after that.  We went snorkeling down by Wailea Bay, south of Kihei.  It was a beautiful day as usual, optimum temperature of around 80 degrees, so the water, although cool, felt great.  The currents were really strong, so we didn't stay in the water long because, honestly, it was a little scary!  At one point the current came up suddenly and swept me sideways into some rocks.  But before that, Shawn and I were snorkeling around looking at the various, colorful fish.  I was floating around and glanced over to my right to where I thought Shawn was.  But it wasn't him, it was a huge turtle!

He was just floating there like it was not big deal that he was within my reach.  The general rule is that you are not suppose to touch them, but he was close enough that if I wanted to I could have.  It was really cool seeing him in his natural environment and swimming there with him.  He totally reminded me of Crush in Finding Nemo....relaxed and just chillin'.  He even smiled for the camera! (top picture)

 Puffer fish

Mauna Kea Trip

Our day started out like any other.  Shawn was busy doing jobs around the hostel and I was earning my room and board there by laundering the sheets and various other things.  Shawn got word that he would need to drive some professors up to the observatories for a tour from the people that run them at the top of Mauna Kea.  Now this was a pretty big deal since you can drive up there, but the general public doesn't actually get to go into the observatories.

Here’s some background on Mauna Kea.  At 13,796 feet, it is actually the tallest mountain in the world, although Mt Everest is the tallest mountain above sea level.  The peak of Mauna Kea is about 30,000 feet above the ocean floor (where its base is).

If my memory severs me correctly, we were in a group of 3 vans-4x4, 15 passenger vans.  You have to have 4x4 to get to the top of the mountain; it’s a rough, gravelly road.  You have to stop at the visitors information center at around 9,000 feet to acclimate yourself so you don't get sick.  There is information there about the mountain, maps, souvenirs and even hot chocolate and coffee.  The drinks are a lifesaver up there, it's really cold and they hit the spot.

Once we acclimated 30 minutes-1 hour later, we headed up to the top.  There are 5 or 6 observatories up there, with major telescopes to view the stars and do research with, etc.  Everything is huge up there (Texas has no idea!).  The buildings are big, the telescopes are huge, all the equipment is state of the art and viewing the stars from up there is indescribable.  Not to mention the general view-vast openness, overlooking the other mountains and ocean.  We walked with the group as they got a tour of the main observatory.  At one point we walked past an area where they clean some of the mirrors from the telescopes.  I took a picture of one, which we called our million dollar picture-the mirror cost 1 million dollars! It was about 6 feet tall and about 4 feet wide.  You definitely don't want to slip and bump one of those!  I wish I could find those pictures.

Once we were done with the tour, we watched the sunset from the top of Mauna Kea.  It was beautiful to say the least.  As it got dark, we headed down the mountain back to the visitor's center where we looked at the stars.  All the lights in the cities below have amber street lights, so the light doesn't reflect up into the sky so you can see the stars better.  Other guides had brought up their small telescopes so you could get a closer look at the other planets and the moon.  Even with the naked eye, you could see the Milky Way in great detail.  It was unbelievable!  There were so many stars in the sky it was breathtaking.  It seemed like you were so close to them you could almost touch them.

Shawn and I only took one trip up there, but it was a trip well worth taking.  I would do it again in a minute.  When we were in Hawaii, we knew we weren't going to be there forever, so we made the most of our time and tried to do as many trips as we could without doubling anything-even though many of our trips were worth taking over and over again.

Lava Trip

One of the most memorable trips was venturing down to the lava beds in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Along with being the hostel's handyman, Shawn, was also the tour guide for the volcanoes and trips to Mauna Kea (that's another story in itself).  He was also my personal tour guide, as he would take me along with him when he had to take groups of people anywhere.  I loved spending time with him and it was so much fun exploring the island.  That was the case when we went to see the active lava.  We took several vans of people there and walked around.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 75 degrees.  Although standing amidst the lava, it was obviously a lot warmer!  The picture above is of Shawn and I standing next to a pool of Pahoehoe lava, and it was so hot that we could barely stand next to it long enough to take the picture. 
(Me next to the very hot Pahoehoe Lava)
We had hiked with the group for around an hour or so and then we took a little time to venture out on our own (since there was another guide, we were able to explore some).  We hiked up this cliff to get a better view of the A'a Lava (pronounced Ah, Ah Lava).  There are 2 distinct forms of Lava:  Common lava you would see flowing down the side of the hill is Pahoehoe Lava, it flows smoothly like molasses and appears bright red, orange and black.  A'a Lava is different in that it is small rocks clumped together and tumbles down the hill.  It has very Jagged, sharp edges and is also very hot though it usually only appears black and there's red in spots of it. 

(Shawn standing next to the A'a Lava)

So we are climbing up this cliff to get a better look at the A'a Lava, when we notice that there are small grass fires starting up here and there below us.  We could see our path we had come up on as our only way out, so the fires, as little as they may be, had us a little concerned.  We thought we better get back down the hill and as we did, more fires were igniting themselves.  We were moving just about as fast as we could, since we could see our pathway narrowing from the fires on either side.  Once we made it down the hill and past the fires, we were relieved to say the least!  We stopped to look back and could see the A'a Lava rolling down the hill where we had been standing and the little fires across the pathway.  That was enough excitement for one day for us!  We headed back to the vans and back home to Hilo.  On the way back, we stopped to pick some wild ginger flowers.  They are extremely fragrant-sweet smelling.  We took them back to the hostel and hung them up in front of the air conditioner and they made the room smell great!                                                                                      

That was a fun trip, not soon forgotten!

 A look at the tumbling A'a Lava

How It All Started

 (The first picture taken once I landed in Kona, my parents had ordered a lei for me).

How It All Started
I quit my dental assisting job after a long year and needed a break. I planned a 2 week vacation to Hawaii, but it turned into a yearlong adventure, I met my husband and we got married there. Here’s how it all unfolded:
One sunny afternoon, in the summer of 2003, I received a phone call. Upon answering it, I discovered it was my travel agency-they had priced my itinerary to Hawaii. However, the price was only good as long as the phone call, so I had to make my decision pretty quick on whether to go or not. I told her to book it. But little did I know that decision would change my life.
July 23, 2003 I landed in Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was a little disappointed as I flew in-Kona looked more like a dessert, not a tropical paradise I had envisioned. Once on the ground, I stepped off the plane and ran into a wall of humidity. The air was thick, but sweet from surrounding flowers.
I spent the night in Kona, my first experience at a hostel.

(The view at the end of the road from the hostel)

 The next morning, I got up early to catch the bus at 5 am to Hilo. This bus travels around the island. However, we took a slight detour about halfway to our destination when our bus broke down and we had to wait around for a replacement to come rescue us. We killed a couple hours window shopping at a nearby center filled with stuff from the locals.
As we traveled, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the island. We were going down this road, winding around through the lush forest. I loved seeing tropical flowers everywhere you looked....weird to see expensive flowers just placed along the side of the road.
We finally made it to Hilo and I was pleasantly surprised to find it a warm, tropical oasis; a picture of your typical Hawaiian setting. I was exhausted and welcomed my hostel room.
This guy; tall and a bit scruffy from camping out, was working as the hostel's handyman and tour guide. He walked by and said to help myself to some cans of orange juice he had in the fridge. I said thanks, but didn't think into it at all. Although I was single, I didn’t pay too much attention since I really wasn't looking for a relationship (of course that's when the right one finds you).

 (Shawn busy working away at the entertainment box he made)

However, over the next couple days, we started hanging out and talking while he was remodeling the hostel’s kitchen. At the end of the week he invited me to drive over to Kona with him to get supplies for the remodel. This would be a great way to spend some time together and see more of the island, but going to Home Depot to get tile ended up being our first date-not very romantic, but we had fun. We made up for it by topping the evening off with dinner at Roy’s; a very nice five star seafood restaurant. It was quite interesting since I was completely vegetarian at that time, but I made it through with a great salad. We drove back to Kona and after that day we were pretty much inseparable.
That’s when our adventures together started.