Hawaii--Final Day

Sigh! We were very sad to wake up this morning knowing it was our last day here, but we dragged ourselves out of bed and went downstairs to finally partake of the $28/person breakfast buffet. We also noticed that overnight, a new mountain appeared just off to the south of our hotel. Magically, on our last day here, my hives also disappeared. Yes, the winds shifted and blew the vog away revealing the Hualalai volcano and taking away the source of my rash.

After breakfast we decided to head out to the beach. We weren't able to get a Waipio Valley horseback riding reservation today so we decided to just relax and enjoy the beach one more day. The waves were a pretty rough, but the beach was fairly empty. We found some huge black crabs of some sort crawling all over the rocks on the beach so that was pretty exciting. We also saw a Japanese chick get rescued by a lifeguard approximately 90 seconds after she'd gone tromping down the beach & into the water with fins, mask, & snorkel on. Our final excitement for the day happened right before we headed in when a college-age looking guy came strolling down the beach in swim trunks with a backpack on & as he walked toward us said "Bud for sale?" Hee! When we didn't say anything he just walked on toward some more Japanese tourists, but I guess decided the hassle of trying to overcome the language barrier just wasn't worth whatever money he may make.

Unfortunately, we will be bringing back an unexpected souvenir from Hawaii--a nasty sunburn. It should make the 13 hour or so trip back home really pleasant!

So anyway, now we're getting ready to check out & then we're headed back to the Four Seasons to eat dinner at Alan Wong's Hualalai restaurant. For those non-foodie readers out there, Alan Wong is the father of modern Hawaiian cuisine--he basically brought it back from the dead. Since I am a foodie dork, I'm really freakin' excited about eating dinner there tonight.

Somehow we have to kill time until we head to the airport for our 10:45pm (that's 4:45am to you easterners) flight back to the mainland. We'll be back in Atlanta around 5:00pm Thursday.

Hawaii Day 7

Hello and welcome to day 7 of Bill & Heather's Excellent Adventure, or fantastic voyage if that's what you prefer. If you've kept up with us this long, we would like to offer you our thanks and gratitude, along with our deepest heartfelt apologies. Don't you have something better to do? Perhaps not... but really, who doesn't love Coolio?


Not too many pix to post today because we went snorkeling and used waterproof disposable cameras that we need to drop off when we get home. It was my first time 'adult" snorkeling - that is to say more than just using a $3 mask and snorkel set from The Fair in the four foot deep water at Wallum lake.

The snorkel tour was about 3.5 hours and we enjoyed it despite the lack of sunshine and the pretty damn cold water temps. The guide said the water was 80, as a native New Englander, I can say bulls***.

After the snorkels, we visited Kona Brewing Company and walked around downtown Kona for a while. Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be hippies - the town was so thick with homeless ones that I wanted to buy a boombox and start playing Slayer. When you live in Atlanta and take note of another city's homeless population, that's saying something.



We're not sure what tomorrow holds but we'll do our best to update before we head back to the mainland. Mahalo...

Hawaii Day 6

Today was all about volcanoes with some sea turtles, black sand, and petroglyphs thrown in for good measure. We got off to an extremely early start this morning - even for you go-getters, you have to admit 5:45a on a non-work day is pretty early - and headed off towards Volcanoes National Park 3+ hours away. Hard to believe anything on an island can be that far away, but it's the truth.

For breakfast we stopped at a McDonalds in Kona that was inhabited by several chickens and a small herd of feral cats. We thought we might be able to get our breakfast without even going inside, but decided we weren't up for the chase and went in to the counter like everyone else.



We had planned to check out the green sand beach on the south side of the island, but realized that it was a pretty big time commitment, so we settled for visiting the southernmost point of the United States instead - imaginatively named South Point. It actually turned out to be much cooler than either of us expected with the jagged rocks and crashing waves all around.

Everyone has heard about the black sand beaches in Hawaii and of course we wanted to sink our toes into one, so we headed down the road to Punaluu. The black sand was amazing and again we were surrounded by pounding surf. We got an unexpected bonus (no, not the 2 busloads of japanese tourists - no surprise there) when we all but tripped over three hawksbill turtles resting on the beach. One might think that all the people surrounding them was a give away that something was there, but whatever. All told there were 6-7 of them on different parts of the beach. We saw another one that was stuck on its back between some rocks. Luckily it was finally able to flip itself over with the help of a good samaritan and a few waves.

We finally got to Volcanoes National Park around 1p. After a quick stop at the visitor's center, we walked across the street and got our first view of the Halema`uma`u crater of Kiluaea. Maybe I'm just easily impressed, but I thought it was amazing. We drove up one side of Crater Rim Drive and got a few closer glimpses of the crater before having to turn back at Jagger museum because the road had been closed due to recent and ongoing eruptions - in this case it has been mostly toxic fumes.

We were able to drive up around the other side of the crater and then down Chain of Craters Road, which is exactly what it sounds like - a road that runs alongside crater after crater and cuts through several lava flows, most of them from the 70s. We stopped off at a few of the flows and walked through a long lava tube before making our way down to yet another flow/lava field with where we hiked about 3/4 of a miles to some petroglyphs left by ancient Hawaiians (or their devious descendants).

I think we both wish we had more time to spend in VNP, it seems like there is some good hiking and a lot of things to discover. Maybe next time we're in the neighborhood...

Hawaii Day 5

So we're a day behind but I'm going to try to catch up now. Yesterday, we spent the morning on the beach before we had to meet up with our guide from Hawaii Forest & Trail for our Mauna Kea Summit & Stars tour.

At about 3:30pm, we began our slow climb up a very rough Saddle Road. They call it Saddle Rd. because it's between the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa so the valley in between is like a saddle. We stopped about halfway at an old sheep camp, which looked like the perfect setting for a slasher film. We spent about an hour there eating dinner and getting a little more used to the altitude--we were at about 8,000 or so feet.

Finally we began our even slower climb up an even rougher road to the summit of Mauna Kea at about 13,796 ft. above sea level. Our guide had armed us with giant parkas in expectation of below freezing temperatures with even more severe wind chills at the top. The summit of Mauna Kea hosts many different telescopes from all over the world. Scientists determined that the darkness, dry air, and the nearness to the equator made this the most perfect location in the world for stargazing.

We reached our destination about 20 minutes before sunset and had time to visit a very cold port-o-potty and practice our high altitude breathing. We found a perfect spot and watched the most amazingly beautiful sunset and tried to take some decent pictures in spite of the fact that we were shivering and our hands were completely numb. I'm sure the pictures can't compare to how stunning it was in person.

Frozen to the bone, we headed back down to about 10,000 ft. for the astronomy portion of the night--complete with hot cocoa and cookies. First of all, I have never seen so many stars in my life. Second, our guide was really great and knew so much about the constellations and where to point things out. I learned about finding the ecliptic--which is the path all planets in our solar system travel and got to see some constellations I've never seen before. Apparently we enjoyed a rare treat--we saw both the North Star and the Southern Cross at the same time. We also got to see Mars & Saturn (complete with rings) through the guide's telescope.

All in all, it was a great experience and I'd highly recommend it. Just be sure to bring gloves and maybe some long johns & wool socks if you ever do.

Hawaii Day 4

Yesterday we decided to have a relaxing beach day. It was gorgeous and sunny, but pleasant--not like in Florida where you're on the beach sweating to death. The water was a bit chilly at first, but nice after you get used to it. They had red flag warnings out because there was a dangerous shorebreak about every 10-15 minutes. I found out what they meant when I got pounded by 2 waves back-to-back and accidentally flashed a Japanese tourist when I didn't realize my top had rolled down with the waves.

We had lunch at the Beach Bar here at the hotel and drank fruity tropical drinks. The afternoon turned cloudy with thunder so we headed back to the room only to find that, yet again, our keys wouldn't work. All the same guys from the day before were dispatched to our room again only to scratch their heads as to why this brand new lock wasn't working. Finally they decided to move us to a new room (luckily only 3 over from where we were) and give us a $50 resort credit for our trouble. Woo hoo more fruity drinks!

Last night we went to dinner at the Hilton down the road a bit. It's kind of cool going to all these other resorts to eat because you get to check out a different place and see what it's like. We had actually considered the Hilton at one point, but ruled it out because it didn't have a beach. After seeing it last night, we were glad we did. It was like Disney World & Epcot Center mixed with a hotel. They had a tram and a boat that would take people between all the different buildings. It was kind of a cool looking place, but not some place I'd want to stay. There were SO many people everywhere. The restaurant we were trying to go to was closed--on a Saturday night!!!! We ended up going to an Italian place next door that wasn't very good. Oh, the other thing about the Hilton and perhaps the whole Island of Hawaii is that there are feral cats everywhere--we've seen some here too.

Oh yeah, did I mention, I STILL HAVE HIVES!!!!!

We realized we hadn't posted any pics of our hotel so thought we'd do that now.

Wedding Day Update

So not much happened today--except that we got married!!!

We managed to sleep a little later this morning until 6:45, then we got up and started our day with a run on the treadmills in the fitness center overlooking the resort. We basically just needed to kill the day until time to get ready for the ceremony so we checked out some of the shops nearby.

We had a nice lunch outside where, much to my horror, several types of birds were swarming around us in hopes of getting some food. I think Hawaii would be a much more awesome place if there weren't so many birds.

At 2pm I went to get my hair & makeup done while Bill went to the beach. The salon here did an awesome job. A guy named Francois did my hair and his accent kinda reminded me of Angelique on Rock of Love 2. I kept imagining subtitles spelled out phonetically. After I was finished I headed back to the room only to find that my key card didn't work. I headed to the reception desk but met up with Bill on his way back with the manager. Apparently, the lock on our door was completely broken. We had to stand outside several minutes waiting for security to come with an actual key to let us in--all with the clock ticking down & time running out for us to get ready.

Luckily we made it to our location in time. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life and I'm so glad we chose it. Our wedding officiant, photographer & videographer could not have been nicer and we feel sure that we're going to have some really great photos & an awesome video for you guys.

After the ceremony we headed over to the Pahu'ia restaurant at the Four Seasons for dinner. It may be the 2nd most beautiful place I've ever seen. It was completely open-air (as most structures seem to be here) and we had a table right on the ocean where we could watch & hear the waves crashing. They gave us complimentary champagne to congratulate us and we had one of the best meals ever.

All in all, this truly was an amazing day. I cannot imagine a better location or experience for our wedding.

Wedding Day & Quick Note

woo hoo, it's wedding day! we'll write more later, after the ceremony and whatnot, but for now we just wanted to pass along a quick note. a couple of people have mentioned that they would like to leave a comment but were unable/unwilling to do so because a Google ID was required. We thought that was pretty crappy and found out that we can allow anyone to comment - so now it's a free for all. Don't forget to leave your name if you want us to know who said what...

Hawaii Day 2

This morning we did our best to prove we weren't affected by the time difference by waking up at 5am. Around 7 we finally decided to give up and get our day started. It's a good thing we did, because a short time later we were serenaded by the sweet sounds of a very nearby helicopter, which had apparently landed on our balcony to airlift an in-heat female cat out of the bushes a few floors below.

So we got going and headed down highway 19 towards Hilo, with Heather dealing with the symptoms of her possibly vog related hives along the way. First stop was Umauma Falls and the World Botanical Garden.





I think the WBG might be suffering from delusions of grandeur with that name, but there were some cool giant trees and other strange/exotic plants. Heather was taken by the flowers, as she usually is. I'm pretty sure the ginormous peace lilies were her favorite. Umauma Falls is on the grounds of the WBG and has the distinction of being the only waterfall in the state that you have to pay admission to see. There's more to it than that of course and the three-tiered falls were worth checking out.

Next was Akaka Falls, a little further up 19 and a little closer to Hilo. Of the two falls we saw today, this one was definitely the best. Check out that 420 foot drop - good stuff! Akaka is probably the coolest waterfall I've seen and that has nothing (or very little) to do with the mongoose we saw running around the viewing area. Kahuna Falls is in the same area, but unfortunately the walking path was under construction so we didn't get to see it. Hard to believe it could be better than Akaka, so maybe it wasn't that big of a loss.



After a quick lunch stop @ the Woodshop Gallery and Cafe in Honomu (kickass mango chicken and tropical salad) we finally pulled into Hilo Airport for our helicopter tour and date with Pele.

If you know anyone who has been to Hawaii, especially the big island, they've probably raved about taking a helicopter tour around the island. After taking one this afternoon, we can see why many people consider it the best part of their trip. We flew up close to waterfalls, across huge black lava fields, over what was left of the Royal Gardens subdivision, and along the crater of the Pu'u 'o'o vent. Hard to pick one highlight, especially when we were fortunate enough to see lava in two separate areas, including one spot where it was flowing into the ocean and causing small explosions of water and solidified lava to blast into the air.

Did I mention we saw lava? And it was amazing? Ok - did I mention that we did all of this in a helicopter with no doors?





We heard that Volcanoes National Park was closed again today due to the toxic fumes spewing from Kilauea. Fingers are crossed that it will be open in the next few days so we can check it out. Heather also wanted me to mention the four pairs of hitch-hiking hippies we saw between Waimea and Hilo and the fact that there are not one, or even two reggae stations available on the big island. There are three - is there any other place outside of Jamaica that even has one?

Hawaii Day 1

After about 12 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Hawaii. Surprisingly, everything went completely smooth--no delays, no lost luggage, only minimal crying babies. I watched "PS I Love You" with Hillary Swank on the plane. I think it was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but it was actually kinda depressing & I kept wanting to cry about every 10 minutes. Not sure if I'd recommend it--I think I need more time to digest it.

We got here about 2:30pm local time (8:30pm Eastern time)--the airport here is really cool & is completely open-air. We went immediately to get our marriage license. Unfortunately due to some confusion with directions, we missed our turn. The directions they gave us said the highway would become 6 lanes, but really they meant that there would be 2 driving lanes, 2 turn lanes, and 2 breakdown lanes. Obviously, these people have never been to Atlanta or they would know the meaning of a 6 lane highway.

So we got our marriage license and immediately felt really old. I always thought getting married was something old people did, but here we are. Luckily, the place we had to go to for our license had a whole herd of wild goats roaming around, grazing on the golf course, which gave us some amusement. Plus, I kept noting how the old lava fields just look like poop. Furthermore, someone had made a coral graffiti (white coral on black lava) message that said "Clay Aiken Sucks" so all these things combined made us feel young-spirited again.

Our hotel is pretty cool. We had dinner at the restaurant here and watched the sunset. When we got back to the room, we had a bottle of chilled champagne and a note congratulating us on our upcoming marriage. Kinda cool.

Right now it is 3:00am Eastern time and I think we're just about running out of steam. Tomorrow we're driving over to Hilo via the northern route. We'll stop & see lots of waterfalls & sites along the way and then we're doing a helicopter tour of Kilauea! So excited!!

Please enjoy our pics.