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.