Hawaii

Eric had a conference in Honolulu, HI, so I decided it was high time I accompanied him to a conference.  We spent 5 days on Waikiki, then flew to the Big Island where we spent 6 days on the Kona side, and 3 days on the Hilo side.  We took a little over 1,000 pictures, but I will try to just share a few of the favorites!  If I just cut out most of the pictures of birds, fish, lizards, and flowers, there won't be too many pics left. We were so amazed by everything we saw, it was all new. Special thanks go out to our parents for taking excellent care of the kids while we were away.

 Here is Eric on Waikiki beach, waiting for the perfect wave... That's Diamond Head Crater in the background, which we hiked up that afternoon (in the heat of the day).

This is the view of Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head.  In the center is a small looking pink hotel, the Royal Hawaiian.  We stayed at the Sheraton Waikiki, the behemoth just left of the pink one.  It was mind-boggling huge.  It was considerable exercise just to walk from our room (at the VERY END of the hallway) to the elevators in the middle, and out the other side.  It was super fun being so close to the beach though.

We didn't have a car, so we relied on The Bus.  We took it to Hanauma Bay for our first snorkeling adventure, first time snorkeling for me. Loved it!

 Another day we took The Bus to the North Shore of Oahu and hiked around Waimea Valley Botanical Garden.  At the end of the hike there is a waterfall with a 30 foot deep pool you can swim in.

 This is a picture I took of us sitting in the waterfall getting a waterfall massage.  It was so great!  We felt so peaceful and relaxed as we hiked down through the tropical flora.

 Another day we visited Pearl Harbor and toured a submarine there.  This is Eric at the end of the super skinny hallway.  There was definitely a special spirit at the memorial as everyone took time to pay respect to the people who died there.

Our hotel had a swimming pool that was built so that when you are in it, you feel like it is part of the ocean.  Here are my feet in that pool, ocean behind, and Diamond Head beyond that.  It was a fun place. But after a few days I was very ready to leave behind crazy tourist packed Waikiki and big city Honolulu for the more serene Big Island.

One of the swimming pools had a slide that was kind of fun.  We went in the morning before it was overrun with other hotel guests.

 A regular visitor to our rented cottage in Captain Cook, Hawaii were these little gold dust day geckos.  Super cute!

 I had a lot of fun photographing the sunset from Pu'uhonua o Hanaunau, or the Place of Refuge.  This was also a good place for snorkeling, and just a couple miles from our cottage, so we came a few times.

 I just kept thinking that I was living in a post card!

 Our cottage came with lots of ocean toys to play with while we were there, including sea kayaks and boogie boards.  We kayaked at Ho'okena beach and boogie boarded at Hapuna beach.

 It seems that in Hawaii, the end of the rainbow is right where you are!

 On our drive to the other side of the island, we went to South Point, the southern most point in the USA, further south than the Florida Keys.  It was quite windy and the ocean seemed immense and powerful there, I didn't tire of sitting there watching the enormous waves crash again and again.

This is at Punalu'u beach, the turtles like to come onto the black sand and bask.

 We visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and hiked the Kilauea Iki Crater trail that takes you along the top edge of the crater which is tropical jungle like, with giant ferns which I love...

 ...and then down the edge into the crater and across the hardened lava lake bed inside the crater.

 We went to the Jagger Museum which is situated to safely keep an eye on the current eruption.  You could only see the noxious steam arising from the crater.

 We opted to take a guided tour over 2 1/2 miles of lava to see the current flow.  This lava covers what used to be a little community and the most popular black sand beach until it was over taken around 1990 and the road and homes and beach all became just a memory.  It was a thoughtful hike, knowing that you were hiking over what used to be people's homes.  Our tour guide Jo-Jo and his family used to live here, now the only thing their land is good for is taking tourists out to see the lava flow.  It reminded me of the saying, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

 We got to get super close to the lava, as close as you could stand the heat.  It moved really slowly, just crept along, filling crevices, making new land.

I was surprised how tough it was when I poked it with a stick.  The stick immediately burst into flame.

 One guy in our group brought marshmallows to roast, and generously allowed the rest of us to take a turn roasting marshmallows over the lava.

 That was surface flow, then we went on to where the lava flowed into the ocean.  It was incredible, I can't really say more.  The waves would crash in and cool the lava, but the lava is relentless in forming new coastline.

 We stayed as it got darker and the lava glowed brighter.

It was just amazing.  Then we hiked back with flash lights through the night.

 Isn't this the cutest tiny gecko??

I'll end with some more snorkeling, of which we did a ton! This is Hawaii's state fish, one of my favorite.

 And one of my happiest times was coming face to face with a curious turtle.  This is not zoomed in, he really came right up to me, it was awesome!!

I love turtles!  I reflected as we flew home that I could really learn from those turtles.  Despite whatever currents swirl around them and whatever waves crash over them, they just patiently keep at their job.  They stay focused on what really matters and stay relaxed, never ruffled by chaos.  They are solid amidst turmoil.  I want to be more like a turtle.  I want to be less bothered by the hectic details of life, and remember what's really important.  I want to be solid and patient in the chaos of motherhood.