Hawaii

The last of the fifty states for us to visit was Hawaii

We went to the Big Island for a whole eight days and seven nights this past June of 2010.

The occasion was to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary

Hawaii is indeed one of the most beautiful places in the world that we have seen and

this was the perfect week

The Island itself is so very different from one side to the other

Black dominating rock and cactus almost like Arizona, Texas or New Mexico

Lush and green and humid and breezy and light and flowing and hilly

No in-between just one or the other and almost instantly

In the middle are two huge mountains both of which can be seen almost everywhere

If you draw a circle around the island, it is only 225 miles completely around it

We drove our rental car over 1173 miles in the time we were there

We saw as much and felt as much as was humanly possible

We landed in the black desert like rocks of Kona in an outdoor air port

We stayed on the Kona side with incredible sunsets and an ocean view from our lodging

We drove across the Island through Waimea to Hilo stopping to visit Akaka Falls

We saw homes with purple trees growing in their front yards

We saw trees that had lantern shaped flowers hanging from them,

unique like us, only more beautiful

We walked down and around the Botanical gardens just below Hilo

As we walked thrugh this Adam and Eve Garden, we could not help but realize how precious this time was and love was everywhere for us

We visited Volcano NP and continued to the black beaches and

then to South Point on to Kona

We visited coffee farms and macadamia nut plantations and Captain Cook's Inlet

We saw the sacred place where the King lived and

We waded among huge sea turtles

There were regular beaches, black beaches, rocky beaches and turtle beaches

Not so many surfers but many buggy board riders and a Luau for a King

We drove out to Pololu Point and saw the most glorious view

Including overlooking a lush green valley

Back to Kona we drove high on the hillside as rainbows were all about and ranches on one side between us and the ever present ocean

The ocean so blue as to make the sky seem lighter than blue

I think the helicopter ride to see real flowing lava was just beyond belief wonderful

We met, talked with and were actually honored by the warm loving attention we received form the native Hawaiians we met

We desperately tried to sea kayak and made it most of the way almost six miles in a friendly ocean

Still we ended up in the water and had to be taken out in a boat

The flowers, the smell of flowers, the touching flowers all around us all the time

There is a mysterious beautiful black sandy beach.

South Point – a place of high steep cliffs and unending views of the ocean

Hawaii is a place to return to no matter how long or how hard it is to get there

Hawaii certainly is one of the most visual places we have ever been and

yes we would love to return!