WHAT BEAUTY! And I'm Ready to Go Back!!

Aloha! Just looking at the photo above makes me want to hop the next plane back to Hawaii's Big Island! We had the most wonderful time in a most beautiful place last week! The sunset above was on our first night there. Come join me in reliving our way-too-short vacation!

The view from our deck. We stayed at King's Land, a Hilton resort about 25 miles north of Kona on the west side of the island.

Our first day there we drove into Kona and had lunch at Bubba Gump Fish Co. What a fun place, and the food was great. I loved this sign hanging inside.

We drove over to the east side of the island one day, visiting a tropical rain forest where we saw several of these unique trees. That's my daughter Katie.

This beautiful waterfall was along the same trail.

As we were leaving the rain forest, I had to get a picture of this pretty lone tree. It made us think of The Lion King!

From there we drove on to Hilo. There we rummaged through an outdoor combination flea/farmer's market. I couldn't believe how cheap all the produce was here! This was also a great place to pick up t-shirts, Hawaiian shirts and lots of other souvenirs! The only thing I really found to be overly expensive on our trip was the gas! It averaged $4.50 a gallon!

From there we drove on to Volcano National Park. Unfortunately, the lava wasn't flowing, but it's was still a most interesting place!We drove to a point where the road has been permanently closed because of the lava flow. This beautiful "bench" has been formed by the lava flow.

This is the caldera. We could only see steam during the day. Had we stayed until after sunset we could have seen the glow from the lava inside.

On another day we drove up to the northwest corner of the island. What a beautiful drive that day!

My oldest son was happy to see how "green" Hawaii is! Along with this wind turbine farm we saw lots of homes and businesses with solar panels. He is our energy conservationist and this made him very happy!

Don't these trees look like they are walking across the lawn! I just loved them!

This was the farthest point northwest near Hawi. The road ends here at Pololu Valley Lookout. There are actually a couple of old small houses that overlook this view. Can you imagine waking up to this every day!!!

On our last day there we drove back to Kona. We HAD to have some shave ice! We fell in love with shave ice when we lived in Utah! YUM...WILD CHERRY!!

I had seen this tree on the main strip on our first day at Kona and fell in love with it! Was finally able to get a picture of it. Across the street the waves were constantly splashing up over the wall onto the street and the cars going by.

We were finally able to watch the surfers. Waves had not been good the first day we were there. They were pretty good on our last day and there were at least 20 surfers out there. I think my daughter could definitely become a surfer chick! LOL!

And our last night in Hawaii I was able to get another beautiful sunset!

Oh, how I want to go back already! I loved the openness of everything. I noticed this immediately when we walked off the plane directly onto the tarmack and into the outside terminal. The walkways were covered, as were the various shops you find at airport terminals, but everything was outside, surrounded by palm trees and tropical plants! This was also the case upon our arrival to the resort. Check in area and seating was all covered, but open to the outside. And each night when we ate out, we always chose to eat outside among the tiki torches and beautiful plants! I also loved the beautiful flowers, many on plants as high as the trees. And the sweet smell of the island!! People seemed to be so happy over there and eager to please. This was our first trip to Hawaii. I could never live over there as it is too confining for this driving maniac! But I can't wait to visit again!

Hope you enjoyed reminiscing with me! So glad you dropped by today! Mahalo! ~~Annie