Big Island Adventures {2)
Another glorious day was had on the Big Island on Wednesday...and I'm up early once again today (Thursday) to detail a bit about our adventures yesterday before we hit up the beach one last time on this side of the island before making our way over to the Kona side for the rest of our trip!
I will say I was woken up at 1:30am by my phone going off -- apparently it was icy/snowy back home and the kids' school (both of them!) were called off for the day. I had NO CLUE the weather was so dicey back home as I've been in a 75 degree and sunny fog the past several days! HAHA! And it looks like Sunday there's gonna be up to 4 inches of snow in STL too...WOW. Hopefully it'll all be cleared for when we land Monday afternoon but yeah, hard to hear about icky weather when it's so nice here!! And a big huge shoutout to my parents (mom) and KiKi for dealing with our crazy kiddos while we are gone...especially when they have a snow day! We'll have to bring back something super nice for you when we return :)
Okay! So where did I leave off? Ahh, Tuesday's adventures. We had a fun-filled day on Tuesday and Wednesday was kinda similar. It's actually so wonderful waking up each morning and having ZERO plans and figuring out what we want to do that day...seriously the best way to travel! We decided we needed to do one load of laundry while we were here...I brought ONE pair of pants and ONE long sleeve jacket and that's it...and after traveling ALLLL day Sunday and spilling my drink on the plane on them they were in much needed of a wash before I'd wear them back on this Sunday so off to the laundromat we went!
While our clothes were washing and drying we got a cinnamon roll at this little bakery and it was SOOOO good. We then hit up a market and did some souvenir damage (Mike racked up a ton more Hawaiian shirts too!!) until our clothes were done washing.
We then said we'd go hit up our favorite beach again, but before we had to make a stop at Mike's favorite Poke place to get him some Ahi Tuna.
He clearly reallllllly loved it.
The beach was completely empty! SCORE! It was kinda windy (okay really windy) and overcast/rainy looking, but we didn't care cause WE WERE IN HAWAII. Worth every second of even the not sunny and 75 weather.
I will say I was woken up at 1:30am by my phone going off -- apparently it was icy/snowy back home and the kids' school (both of them!) were called off for the day. I had NO CLUE the weather was so dicey back home as I've been in a 75 degree and sunny fog the past several days! HAHA! And it looks like Sunday there's gonna be up to 4 inches of snow in STL too...WOW. Hopefully it'll all be cleared for when we land Monday afternoon but yeah, hard to hear about icky weather when it's so nice here!! And a big huge shoutout to my parents (mom) and KiKi for dealing with our crazy kiddos while we are gone...especially when they have a snow day! We'll have to bring back something super nice for you when we return :)
Okay! So where did I leave off? Ahh, Tuesday's adventures. We had a fun-filled day on Tuesday and Wednesday was kinda similar. It's actually so wonderful waking up each morning and having ZERO plans and figuring out what we want to do that day...seriously the best way to travel! We decided we needed to do one load of laundry while we were here...I brought ONE pair of pants and ONE long sleeve jacket and that's it...and after traveling ALLLL day Sunday and spilling my drink on the plane on them they were in much needed of a wash before I'd wear them back on this Sunday so off to the laundromat we went!
While our clothes were washing and drying we got a cinnamon roll at this little bakery and it was SOOOO good. We then hit up a market and did some souvenir damage (Mike racked up a ton more Hawaiian shirts too!!) until our clothes were done washing.
We then said we'd go hit up our favorite beach again, but before we had to make a stop at Mike's favorite Poke place to get him some Ahi Tuna.
He clearly reallllllly loved it.
The beach was completely empty! SCORE! It was kinda windy (okay really windy) and overcast/rainy looking, but we didn't care cause WE WERE IN HAWAII. Worth every second of even the not sunny and 75 weather.
I don't know what it is about this beach but it is seriously my most favorite. Black sands, gnarly looking trees and rocks, the mountain view...just PERFECT! Mike said he was going to go explore (there were some rocks and such behind where we were sitting) and I was saddling up with my book.
Welp he came back after 20 minutes and told me I HAD TO follow him and bring my camera...DONE. We hiked over some rocks and such and he led me to this tiny little pool...
HOLY TURTLES!! JACKPOT! I had been wanting to see one in person and now I was able to!! It was the coolest thing EVER -- there were at least 9 in there that we counted and it was SO FREAKING AWESOME.
I had my GoPro with me and I thought I could walk down to the edge and dip my hand/GoPro in (because it truly was too small of a pool to go swimming/snorkeling in) and get some snaps that way. GREAT IDEA ALEX.
It was SO SO SO cool! I could not believe how close we were and how clearly you could see these turtles swimming around! So awesome. Some live action shots Mike took of me getting the turtle pics:
We then wandered just to the other side of the turtle pool where the ocean met the rocks and it was seriously one of the coolest sights EVER. I could have sat there and taken pics and taken it all in allllll day long.
We then headed back because it started to rain and we decided we'd go for a drive and then hit up this Uncle Robert's market everyone was raving about going to down around Pahoa. Once again, the scenery did.not.disappoint. It was just STUNNING. And the rain had clearly let up on this side and just made for some absolutely breathtaking views.
I clearly was in photog Alex mode and there are no shortage of pics of me and my camera snapppppin' away (haha thanks Mike!). We then went to this other park where it was a pretty massive cliff drop off down to the ocean...but golly what beautiful blue ocean water there was there! Again, STUNNING.
After our exploring we decided to hit up this market for dinner and it definitely didn't disappoint! It was crazy crowded but so fun and I kinda wish I'd have taken more pics! But alas, I didn't...except for a few, like me enjoying this amazing crepe! And the 'lava field' parking lot we parked int!
We then made the journey back to our place to have a glass of wine and unwind from our whirlwind of a busy but amazing day. I then got out all of Mike's shirts he bought thus far (6!!!!) and had to snap a quick pic...he's like a kid in a candy shop while Hawaiian shirt shopping and it is just the funniest thing EVER.
Okie dokie! That's all I've got for this early Thursday morning! We are headed off to the beach for a bit before venturing to the other side of the island...cannot wait! Hope everyone is staying warm back home...Aloha from here!!
