The Big Island...

In case you didn't know, Sarah and I recently took a big vacation to Hawaii. We stayed on the Big Island for our entire trip and put over 1000 miles on the rental car during our stay. The Big Island (also known as Hawaii) is the bigger than all of the rest of the Hawaiian Islands combined. Considering we took over 700 photos (thank you $20 2GB Memory card) and probably 25 videos, I think a photo tour across the island is in order:


1) We started at my Aunt and Uncle's house, a nice one-story house in the town of Waimea. It was great having a home base and expert advise on everything we did; this greatly outweighed having to put in a few nights getting used to the air mattress (plus no lodging expenses!!). In a testament to Hawaii's near perfect climate the house had neither a heating or cooling system (other than opening windows).

2) The Luau at Mauna Kea resort was a lot of fun. Think of a big buffet of Hawaiian food, including an entire pig that had been roasting underground all day, plus a Hula show and fire dancers. And yes fellas, the dancers were wearing coconut bras.

3) Hiking to Pololu Valley. Our first hike to the Pacific Ocean was pretty cool. We started in green covered valley and steadily descended to a black-sand beach. The views were breathtaking, including a few authentic surfers taking advantage of the rough surf.

4) Rainbow Falls - This aptly named waterfall, although not exceedingly tall, is located in a near perfect backdrop of exotic plant life, and it gets its name from the readily visible rainbow created from its mist.

5) Helicopter ride to Kilauea - The helicopter ride was actually fairly disappointing; especially compared with other more enjoyable, less expensive alternatives. Our flight was canceled in the morning due to cloudy/rainy conditions and even though it was rescheduled, you guessed it, it was still cloudy and rainy. Viewing steam rising from lava flowing (unfortunately the lava flow was entirely underground during our stay) into the ocean was impressive...flying through thick clouds isn't really.

6) The walk across the Kilauea Caldera - One of the most unique experiences I've ever undertaken; we did two 3.5 mile hikes across the two main craters of the most active volcano in the world. The trails were marked by piles of rock, sulphuric steam was rising all around us, and if you wandered too far off the trail the ground seemed a little unstable (and I did get us somewhat lost at one point). The terrain itself had an eerie fascination, especially since the non-overlook trails were basically devoid of people.

7) Super Bowl Sunday at the Hilton - We spent one night in the fancy Hilton resort to get a real bed and some alone time. This also happened to be the day of the big game, so we actually ended up watching bits and pieces of it while downing island drinks at different outdoor bars. We ended up having a nice romantic dinner of fresh Ono (also better known as Wahoo!) and finally got a nice Hawaiian sunset pic.