More pictures, finally...

I'm not sure where I left off last. Essentially I rendered the computer inoperable and could download more images to the blog each evening. So now we've been home since last week and all I can think about is the snow piling up in the driveway. And, I'll apologize up front for the fact that many of the following pictures show the family more than the place.

Lily - the picture of relaxation

Friday we spent the morning at the lagoon at the resort. Anneka rented a standup paddle board and tooled around a bit in it. Anneka could never be a stand up paddle boarded. Not that she doesn't have the skill for it. She doesn't have the size for it. Stand up paddle boards are like small boats that they forgot to put the sides on. They look like they're 22 feet long. I don't know how she'd get something like that out to the ocean. Perhaps they have docks for those things like they do at Lake Powell for houseboats.

Sophie got to float with, walk beside and then sit near a sea turtle and that was really neat. The seat turtles were everywhere there. I remember just seeing one in Kauai last year and thought it was amazing. This year we saw tons of them.

 

Anneka trying out stand up paddle boarding

Monkey see, monkey do. Soph saw mom paddle boarding so she wanted to try it.



Later in the day we went to a beach but it was really too breezy to stay so we left and on a whim stopped at a beach nearby called "69", for being essentially at mile marker 69 along the roadway. It was an amazing place. It had perfect sand, shade trees, clear water, excellent snorkling and really no wind by comparison. Here are some pictures.



Friday, we left a titch late from the hotel on our way across the island to see Volcano National Park. It took like 3 hours to get there though its only about 50 miles away as the crow flies. Since we aren't crows we had to drive. The roads were winding and rollercoasteresque. And I love every minute of it. I was in 3rd gear in my Cobra, mentally, the whole time.

The downside to the park was that to really see lava is difficult at best. The drive fromt the park entrance to the sea is 3 hours round trip and really winding (perfect for me, but hideous for Anneka). So, we saw the easy sights before driving back to the hotel.

That plume of Sulpher Dioxide is about as close to lava as we could get. It was about 60 degrees and windy there and felt like winter...

On the way back was a black sand beach that I think we'd not have seen had we not invested the time to get to that side of the island. It ended up being an amazing trade-off in my opinion. I didn't get to see actual lava but I did get to step on a black sand beach and marvel at its beauty. I saw a rounded piece of lava rock rolling up and down the slope of the beach from the surf and took a million pictures of it. Sorry for that. Hopefully you see more than just a black rock on a black beach. I also stumbled on three resting sea turtles. Remember, earlier I'd said they're everywhere. If you're not paying attention as you stroll the beach with your face in a camera and your camera pointed a rock, you may trip over them.

Love this picture

In the interest of viewing pleasure, I'll cut the rest of the descriptions short. The rest of the time there was wonderful. The weather was sunny days of 80 degree temperatures and evenings that were just as perfect. Coming home was a slap in the face. We went from 75 degrees at embarcation in Kona to 19 degrees at disembarcation in Salt Lake City.

Suffice it to say, we'll be back.

This is called the Refuge. Built in like the 1600's or something, if you committed a crime such as letting your shadow cross that of the king, you could be put to death. But, if you could make it from wherever you were, to this place, and get behind a wall, all was forgiven. Trick was getting to the place before anyone caught you. It was a beautiful spot and a great way to wind down our trip.

Soph loved the beach. Her enthusiasm is one of the reasons it was worth every penny spent.

Bye Hawaii, till next time

Sorry, no pictures tonight. I took tons, including Sophie boogie boarding with a sea turtle. But I did something to the laptop and to fix it I need a code we don't have. Nevertheless, morning was awesome, mid day stunk and late afternoon was AMAZING at a beach called 69. Super soft sand, cool rock outcroppings, plenty of shade and unimaginable snorkeling in a beautiful coral bed. It was a show stopper for me. Best snorkeling experience of my life. Sophie had a great day playing. Lily on the other hand managed to get a little too much sum on her cheats so she's been lathered in aloe. She had a hat on and was in the shade for all but about 15 minutes. We feel terrible. I'll try to get some images uploaded tomorrow. We're going to see the volcano tomorrow all day. Yippee!!!

80 degrees and sunshine

 

Where's Lily?

 

So, if I'm writing the blog it must mean we are somewhere. And, we are. Last Tuesday we left the snowy polar landscape of Utah for the sunny climes of the big island of Hawaii. Aside from the 4 hour layover in Los Angeles it was somewhat uneventful. Little Miss Lily was exceptional. She barely made a peep the entire flight. The stewardesses were gaga over her. Sophie did great too, as we've come to expect. There was just a second of unexpected turbulance while landing and I freaked out, grasping instinctively, and desperately, for the armrests. Sophie, on the other hand, threw her arms in the air and shouted, "Again, again!" People in rows all around us were laughing.

The low-down on the Big Island - it's big and its an island. Despite that we spent most of Wednesday at the resort, which has an amazing variety of things to do. Not the least of which is snorkling in their lagoon. The waters of the lagoon are calm and protected and it seems like the fish know that. So, they're abundant. What we didn't expect, and found to be really groovy, were the number of sea turtles there too. You know the snorkling must be good when you tire of following the sea turtles. If there was one downside to the day it's that it was really windy. Like, blowing-lounge-chairs-into-the-pool windy. Nevertheless, it's hard to complain when it's 80 degrees out and you think, it's December here...

Today, I got up early and went to a beach very near the resort to go snorkling. It was spectacular. The ocean was really rough yesterday but this morning it was still at this particular beach. I was out in the water for an hour or so. I'm glad sharks aren't lured in by prune hands. I'd have been toast. The lagoon at the resort is mostly lava rock and a sandy bottom. I went to this beach because the consiyerge (sp?) said there was good coral there. And there really was. I want back and got Anneka and the kids and we went back. We brought our wetsuits so we could be out for a decent amount of time and not feel cold. In the morning it became obvious that I could only warm the water so much, by peeing in it. Then you run out and your just cold after that. Anneka went out for a bit while I built sand castles with Soph. Come to think of it, Soph didn't help at all. So to the others on the beach I was just a slighly pot-bellied, mostly hairless, old guy building a sand castle.

It was fun.

Then I dawned my wet suit and went out for a second gig in the water. I did have a brush with a stealthy sea creature that freaked my out a bit. Turns out it was just that long zipper strap thingy that had tangled in my knees. But by then I'd already soiled myself a bit. And, in my wet suit no less... I really do love to see the amazing and colorful fish but I'm seriously mental in the water.

I'll go back tomorrow though.

Tonight we went to Kona to see what all the hubub was about. Was great to simply stroll with the family and watch the sun set.

Tomorrow we'll hit another beach as well as do some snorkling here. I think Anneka's super bugged by one thing; the resort has a ton of pools but the water is freezing. Soph really wanted to swim and did eenie meenie minie mo to determine who she wanted to go with and it fell to me. I said it was really cold and she reassured me, "It's OK, Dad, it's just a little cold." She hadn't gotten in yet. Am I cruel to feign that it wasn't as bad as it was so that my child would leap into my arms so I could delight in her shock when she find out it really was that cold?

Oh, and they have dolphins here at the resort. You can swim with them. It costs like a Volkswagen to do it, but its free to watch them from the boardwalk. There are two baby dolphins born within the last two months and they frolicked just like little kittens. It was super cool.

Well, it's late and I want to go to bed. I have an hard, arduous, long day of vacationing ahead of me tomorrow. I need my rest.

More later!

Mahalo, Aloha and Peace Out!

 

 

Sensing I don't look dorky enough in a wet suit naturally, I've removed all anbiguity with this picture.

I told Soph to stop for a minute so I could take her picture and she told me impatiently that she couldn't becuase she's "exploring"

 

 

 

I need to remember not to ask Soph to smile for the camera, since this is often what I get.

 

Good night from Hawaii!

 

Chris, Anneka, Sophie and Lily