A Trip to Paradise

Have I mentioned that my husband is kind? Loving? Patient?? Amazing??

Well he is all of those and more! 

He was kind enough to let me travel all the way to Hawaii with my friend, without him. Now that is just down right generous!!

My wonderful friend Meg has an Uncle who made the great decision to move to Hawaii. Meg decided it was time to go visit him, and I was the lucky person who got to tag along! 

Uncle Craig lives in Pahoa, Hawaii. Which is by Hilo, Hawaii on the Big Island. It is the jungle side of the Big Island, full of plants everywhere, lava rock from the volcanoes and active volcanoes. 

Let me tell you, it is paradise!! 

I got to spend 3 wonderful days there at the beginning of October. 

When we got off the plane, we thought we were being serenaded by thousands of birds, Craig informed us that they were actually frogs. Wal Mart apparently imported frogs from Puerto Rico...or was it Costa Rica?? I recorded the sound on my phone, if I figure out how to upload it I will. They are cool to listen to at first, but by the 3rd night I was sick of them.  

Now what you have all been waiting for.....pictures!!

On our way to Craig's house we stopped at the grocery store, we of course had to buy a pineapple!

It was so juicy I had to suck every last drop I could out of that pineapple.

Craig's home, it is surrounded by beautiful foliage.

Craig has an avocado tree, lemon tree, banana tree and he is even growing a pineapple!

Craig and Meg, the lava flow behind them is now the foundation for the houses that were there before the lava came. The houses were moved before the lava hit, and then were placed back once the lava had cooled.

This is on the other side of the road, more dried lava. You could see steam coming out of the lava that was on the mountain in the distance, since the volcano is still active. We didn't get to see any active lava flow though.

This was a fun little spot we hung out at one night. That area becomes full of little vendors, selling food and things they had made. That big tree to the right is an avocado tree.

My delicious blue cheese, potato fritta that I ate for breakfast one morning.

 The cutest pineapple plant!

Meg and lava, lava is so amazing!

Black sand beaches!!

(Yes, my legs don't see the sun much, what about it??)

Look at that ocean behind them!! 

Crazy to see the plants grow out of the cracks of the lava.

I obviously needed to sun bathe, though even all that time in Hawaii I am still white as can be.

This road was so cool to drive on.

Seeing the palm trees with the ocean in the background is so pretty.

Surfers waiting for the good waves.

I love this picture, it reminds me of the movie "Blue Hawaii".

Flippers!!

Snorkeling any one??

My legs glow in that water.

At the beginning of a lava tube.

I can't remember what they call this, but it smells worse then the sulfur pots in Yellowstone.

The best my camera could do to capture a picture of the glow of the volcano.

We saw lots of beautiful plants and fruit growing every where!

Coconuts

Bananas

Lemons

Avocados

Noni fruit

Wild Ginger

If you look close enough, you can see the little crab we saw while looking for turtles.

Cute little Meg (Hi Bucket!)

So beautiful!!

This was an interesting plant.

I love how the light comes through this tree.

Yeah, we're pretty talented.

We walked along the river to get to...

this waterfall.

We got eaten alive by mosquitoes! 

It was worth the adventure.

I thought about actually swinging, but I wasn't so sure that vine could hold my weight.

Look at all that bamboo!!

And who knew my legs could stretch that far?

Craig never ceases to impress me!

Akaka Falls

There is a car on fire up ahead that caused all traffic to come to stand still.

These trees were so cool!

This pizza was well worth the 30 minute wait!

This is a shot of the vendors at the little hangout spot in Pahoa. They have it every Wednesday night.

This was at the lava tree park we went to.

What use to be a tree.

This cat followed us around the whole park! She loved Meg.

We tried these raspberries, they were terrible....

Saw some hermit crabs when we went snorkeling again.

Enjoying the sun! 

Craig is holding up our empty Totino pizza container. The worst pizza for you, but so good (for cheap cheap pizza)!

Hello Mr. Turtle!!

He even let me pet him!

I think he was hoping I'd feed him, but I didn't have anything to give him.

We also saw a couple turtles while we were snorkeling in this area.

 It was freezing water!! (At least for Hawaii water it was cold.)

Hawaii is awesome! 

I think next time I use this snorkeling gear I will actually take my Husband with me.