Moving On

We left Maui. I should have a frown on my face because I was really sad to be leaving.

But it wasn't time to go home yet. Back, months ago, when Greg asked if we could plan this trip (he said he needed something to look forward to knowing Claire was headed off to college), we would have been headed home today but as it turned out, a month or so ago he realized he would have some business on the Big Island. So we tacked it onto the end of our "Empty Nest Consulation" trip. Greg's vacation really did kind of come to an end as he spent most of the day with his eyes and fingers on his phone, arranging things for his business in Kona. But, it wasn't going to be all about work. We were going to see the volcano! And we did!

It was cold up top Kilauea. With clouds all around, while driving up and getting to the visitor center, it rained. Further up the road is the volcano site. It was misty on and off and it grew cooler as the sunset approached. We were torn what to do (I will explain later) but we opted to hang out until it got dark so we could see the glow of the volcano. It being chilly, for two people dressed for warm sun, we decided to sit in the car for awhile.

Once the sunset and the night grew darker the glow of the volcano became stronger. It was so cool! And really very beautiful. I think with the extra cloud cover it added more red glow.

A story for future Big Island travelers - There is a difference between seeing the Volcano and seeing Lava. They are in two different places. To see each, is 3 hours of traveling time. Knowing what we do now, we would have done things differently. We would have gone to the lava flow first. That site lets the last car in at 8pm. It gets dark between 6:30 and 7. We would have been able to see the lava in the dark and still had time to get up to the volcano site and see it glow at night - it is open until 10pm. It would have made for a late night getting to our hotel in Kona, on the opposite side of the island, but we would have been able to see both at night. (Granted, you may not always be able to see lava - they call it the Lava Lottery). What we ended up doing, based on good information, was to go up to the volcano first - with all intentions of leaving there to get back to the lava to see it in the dark. Two information people in Hilo had made it sound like the lava was the better site. And I guess they and us were under the impression we didn't have time to do both - in the dark. We had been encouraged, however, to ask at the volcano visitor center if the lava was visible because sometimes you just can't see it. So if we found out we wouldn't be able to see lava we would just hang out around the volcano longer. As it turned out, the ranger we talked to told us about the Lava Lottery and said that we'd get the biggest wow factor from seeing the volcano at night. So we decided to stay up at the volcano. We were there for a couple hours. Thus why we opted to hang out in the car to keep warm while we waited for it to get dark. Also - had we opted to do it differently we would have had time to drive around Hilo and "the wet side" of the island. We've not done that before.

Sand, Sun and Wind

Back to the beach today. When we get down there, we just can't bring ourselves to leave. Ocean and sand - we love it. We started the day with an early snorkeling swim. It was a sunnier morning thus the fish were brighter. Was very pretty. And lots of turtles! The weather pattern everyday for the most part is fairly calm in the morning and then in the afternoon the wind picks ups, sometimes very very strong winds, and after sunset it totally calms down. We have had clouds in the skies everyday, mostly fluffy white but in the afternoon darker clouds creep closer coming down from the mountains. The mountians are almost always surrounded by clouds. I took these pictures at the same time from under the same umbrella. This has been typical afternoon weather but was an extra windy afternoon.

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant on the hotel grounds. Was delicious and the view was lovely.

Sunday

What to do on a Sunday? Go to church of course. There is a ward meets very near here. We had 9am starting time. We went for a short drive afterward and then set up camp in our room for the most part. Left-overs from last night for lunch.

Fabulous sunset.

In the evening we went on an audio tour of the art in the hotel. Getting around to the various art pieces proved to be confusing but the art was interesting.

When ever we go somewhere, Greg is in the habit of asking if there are any complimentary upgrades. He's been doing this for years and years. And so often we are given the upgrade! I know - why? I don't know. Anyway, this trip being no different than any other, he asked for a complimentary upgrade and at the time there were none available. A couple days later someone called to say that they still were not able to arrange the upgrade. I was thinking we were fine where we are so no worries. But tonight - we arrived to our room and there was a card and a pretty box -

In the card was an apology that they were not able to arrange for the upgrade. In the box -

Taking it Easy

Snorkeling and lounging won out today. We were tired from yesterday. We snorkeled off the beach where we're staying. We saw lots of fish and a couple turtles. No underwater camera, so this is a picture of our gear - in carrying bags. I know it doesn't look it but we really did go snorkeling.

Behind Greg is a station for renting various water craft. It's a very busy spot - the paddle boarding is very popular

Kind of cool - at all of the service booths around the pools and the beach here there is scented sunscreen lotion on tap (pumped out of big bottles) They offer spf 8, 15, 30. It came in handy as I did not put any sunscreen on my back and snorkeling without sunscreen can land you a bad burn.

We ate dinner at a nice restaurant with perfect sunset view.

Seven Roaring Waterfalls

We set out on an adventure today. When we were in Maui last year with all the kids we made the wild winding road trip to Hana, stopping at several falls and pools along the way. We did not set out early enough however to make it to the Seven Sacred Pools in the Haleakala National Park which is beyond Hana if you are going clock-wise around the island. So, Greg and I decided that this time around, we would try to make it to those pools. But, we did not want to drive that winding road another time! Greg has driven it twice already and so my suggestion to take a counter clock-wise path which is less traveled but shorter was appealing to him and to me. So we set out. But first things first. We did need to make a stop at Walmart for water type hiking shoes for Greg. After all, we were going to be hiking and swimming, swimming and hiking etc.

And the winner is...

Taking the road less traveled - the Piilani Highway - was really kind of treacherous in some places, (maps show it as a dotted line with warnings), but as he drove, Greg said he liked it better than the Hana Highway because Piilani didn't have the hairpin turn hugging cliffs like the Hana Highway. That was at first anyway. The road thinned to mostly one lane, with ups and downs so you couldn't tell if someone was coming from the opposite direction. We had read online that it was totally drivable - and it was (granted the weather was good) - it was just too often too narrow. And there were cars coming from the other direction, including tour vans. Many times we had to pull to the side to let cars by - and sometimes had to back up to get to a wide spot. Was mostly paved but several places it was dirt and some of the paved parts were so patch work type paved it was really really bumpy. So - it was an adventure! And very picturesque - going from one extreme in landscape to another - dry to wet - brown to green.

There's a goat out there - Greg loves goats.

In the midst of those clouds is the Big Island Hawaii - you can see it (just not easily in this photo) poking out mid clouds.

After a long 2 hours or so, we arrived to our destination - the Haleakala National Park. We were not sure if going the less traveled route was really all that time saving, or nerve saving. And sadly, we found out that the pools were closed to swimming! The water was too high meaning the falls were gushing - thus too risky to swim. Ugh! I was so disappointed. I really wanted to swim in those pools. But we'd made such an effort to get there, we continued on with our hike plans. We opted to do the 4 mile hike first that would take us past four of the pools and falls. Then we'd finish with a 20 min loop to the other three pools in the O'heo Gulch which ends at the ocean.

The falls were beautiful, the roar so loud. And yeah, they looked pretty dangerous.

The hike was easy enough. The flora changed as we hiked up. First it was trees and high grass and ferns. There was guava on the ground along the way, the air smelled like fruit salad.

There is a totally cool banyan tree -

Then the flora changed to bamboo. Was so cool.

Our reward - Waimoko Falls - 400 foot drop.

Pretty much the only water we touched. The trail went through the stream.

Once back down the trail we continued to the three lower pools.

Ocean view near the three sacred pools at O'heo Gulch.

Headed back - we don't always make the best decisions (never mind that we drove on a crazy road) but we opted to drive with the top down even though it had started to sprinkle just as we were getting back into the car. Sprinkles are not unusual, they often don't last. But this go around they did last and not just sprinkles. Oh well.

We followed these folks all the way back -

It was very nice having a car in front of us. We know that driving in the dark on these winding roads is easier than in the day time because you can see car lights before you can see a car. So we knew we'd be OK going back in the dark regardless. But it was nice to follow these people and they were not timid at all - we made it back to town in quite a bit less time than it had taken us in the day light. And it did stop raining, once we hit the dry side again - probably halfway back. We were pooped when we got back - tired legs and feet. It was a great day!

Ae!!

Pronounced "eye" - it means "yes" in Hawaiian and we were to say it enthusiastically to express we were ready to paddle the outrigger canoe.

It was a fun activity and better yet, it was free!

This is Rob. We followed his paddling lead and switched sides when he commanded us.

I just think this picture is funny.

Our lunch pool side.

A beautiful sunset to top off our day.

Aloha

So - the nest is really empty right now. Greg and I are in Maui. This is the view outside the room.

And this is the view in the room.

Complimentary cookies the best view of all. :-)