Welcome back boys and girls! I know that it's only been a couple of weeks since my last trip, but I found a good deal on a non-stop flight and had a few days that I could take off in between all of my coworkers' vacations, so I got in a few days in Hawaii! Who doesn't want all of the beach trips they can get during the dreary winter months?
As the only island of Hawaii that I hadn't visited before, I figured that I needed to check the big island off of my list. I'm glad that I did because it was so different from the others.
I had a pretty smooth flight over in an isle seat without anybody next to me (score). We landed at the tiny outdoor airport in a crazy thunderstorm and I caught the shuttle to the rental car building, where approximately 300 people were waiting in line. They had all of their desks open and a full staff, so it only took about 45 minutes to get through...which wasn't bad considering the amount of people outside. I got an upgrade to a cherry red Camaro because they didn't have my compact option available. After getting all set up, I made my way to my Airbnb. It was a bright purple tree house in the jungle that had screens for windows, so I fell asleep each night to the sounds of pouring rain and frogs. It was super cozy and I absolutely loved it.
I figured out early on that traffic there is a nightmare and that getting anywhere in a timely fashion was going to be impossible. There's a really nice, 4-lane divided highway leading from the airport into Kona, but it's posted 45 mph and everybody on it drives 30. It literally took me 2 hours to go 20 miles. My GPS took me through some winding, narrow streets right in the middle of town that slowed me down even more and were completely unnecessary.
The following morning, I awoke to sunny skies and, after the most delicious breakfast sandwich and famous Kona coffee, found my way to a nearby black sand beach where I lounged in the sun and watched surfers for the morning.
After lunch, I scooted my way north to a different beach that had much more pebbly black and white sand and a cozy little cove that I had all to myself. The main thing that I noticed about beaches on the big island is that sand is hard to come by...most of the beaches are pretty rocky and covered in lava. I didn't notice a ton of actual swimming spots, a lot of the reef stretches out to sea for several yards and many of the deeper spots had dangerous rip tides. I enjoyed the tide pools and just sunning myself on the beaches though.
Sunday, I thought I'd go explore a bit and found a beautiful looking beach from a scenic overlook that I decided to see if I could get to. After a bit of bush whacking, I found the trail and spent the afternoon on the prettiest beach of all. I wasn't really sure if you could swim there...it wasn't really a public spot, so there wasn't anybody around and there weren't any signs. There were some decently sized waves, so I kept in the shallows, but it was absolutely beautiful. Another one of the cool things about the big island is that it's literally all lava (at least all of the places I went), so it's really rugged and seems kind of new. It's hard to explain, but I really thought it was interesting and different.
Monday was spent back at the old Kona airport beach and then I headed further north to see what I could find. There was a big storm rolling in and I drove up into some really remote areas over looking the water and went for a bit of a hike...eventually running back to my car in pelting rain. It was one of my favorite days though.
Tuesday meant another visit to my favorite beach on the island. It was hard to go other places because the main beaches were super crowded, farther south didn't really have any beaches, and it was so easy and peaceful and close to just go to my spot. That afternoon, I went south, thinking that I might visit Volcanoes National Park, but again, the horrific traffic deterred me. I went pretty much all the way south but found it pretty unimpressive.
Wednesday, my flight didn't leave until 10:30 pm, so I had alllll day to burn. I put it like that because I normally am in bed by about 7:30, so I had extra time. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Brian's parents were picking me up from the airport, but Brian had the wrong date on their calendar, so they showed up the day before and waited for me :( I felt pretty awful.
I spent most of the first part of the day on the beach, and then ventured to the farthest north part of the island. I'd kind of planned on hitting up Hilo, but got stuck in traffic and so I took the first left I came to and just drove. That ended up being, probably, my favorite part of the entire island. It was like Ireland and Big Sur's baby up there and I absolutely loved it. Rolling green hills overlooking the water, eucalyptus-lined winding roads, and livestock living their best lives.
I spent most of the first part of the day on the beach, and then ventured to the farthest north part of the island. I'd kind of planned on hitting up Hilo, but got stuck in traffic and so I took the first left I came to and just drove. That ended up being, probably, my favorite part of the entire island. It was like Ireland and Big Sur's baby up there and I absolutely loved it. Rolling green hills overlooking the water, eucalyptus-lined winding roads, and livestock living their best lives.
I managed to keep busy all day long and finished off with a stop at the Macaroni Grill for dinner before making my way to the airport. I haven't been to a Macaroni Grill since I was a kid and I remember it being vastly different, but one thing remains the same and that's the Focaccia bread - heaven. I really loved the food and coffee in Hawaii...it was reasonably priced too! I ate mostly local, but the Macaroni Grill's bread was nice :)
Overall, I had a super relaxing, lovely time. I totally lucked out weather-wise. I'm glad I went because I came back to crazy busyness at work that's begun earlier than anybody was anticipating. It's gonna be steady until Spring Break when the madness hits and I don't have anything else planned until we got to Italy in May, so I guess I'm just putting my nose to the grindstone and bulking up my saving's account, which will be nice. I'm excited to get back into my running schedule and taking it easy for a few months.