That's a WRAP!!!

Well, we have been home for about 4 days.... MAN, we were jet lagged for daaaays!!! For the first couple nights we were home, we were awake until 4-5 in the morning (10-11pm Hawaii time) and slept until 2 pm. We got back to work tomorrow; we've been off work for almost a month. Ahhh... back to reality!!!

For this last entry we decided we're going give our readers the "Pros & Cons" of Hawaii. Basically, all the info we wish we knew before we went, but wouldn't have known unless we went! HA!!!

So, first and foremost - I would recommend EVERYONE visit Hawaii at least once in your life. It's beautiful, the weather is perfect, and it's part of the United States!! :)

When planning your trip, plan 1-2 days when you get home for jet-lag ESP if your returning to the east coast. Be very picky and selective about flight times.

Flights: Schedule a lay-over in LA. Traveling from Chicago to Honolulu in Coach is NOT recommended (especially if you are 8' tall like Matt!) :)

Visit Kaua'i at least once... yes, the roaster are obnoxious, but the lush jungle is quite a sight to see. The air is so fresh. The entire island has a small town/local feel. There isn't a strip of fancy hotels (like Waikiki). It is the most relaxing, laid-back island.

Go to Pearl Harbor (Oah'u). A) It's free B) The history behind it is quite a sight to see. We saw people from all over the world visit and it's so surreal.

If you are staying in Waikiki - renting a car is not really necessary. We were only there for 2 days before traveling to another island, so we didn't rent a car, but if we would have been there a week, we probably would not have either. Everything is close and there are streets and streets of shopping-site seeing. The bus is very inexpensive. We took the bus to Pearl Harbor-one way was less than $5 for both of us. In Waikiki there are trolley buses-they are color coded and depending where you are staying the trolleys are free. We stayed at the Outrigger-Waikiki West, we were on the Pink trolley and that route was free.

Waikiki/Diamond Head (Oah'u): Eat at surf-n-tacos. Small whole-in-the-wall Mexican place. Best food we ate our entire trip. Get the Spicy Salmon tacos...you will not be disappointed.

Stay in Kona on the big island. We stated on the East coast (Hilo) and drove 2 hrs (one-way) to Kona 3 days we were there. Hilo was very nice the house we stayed in was spectacular, but it's very suburbia - not every "tourist-y"

Go to Volcano Park. It's just cool. Hopefully the active volcano will soon for it's new tube and you'll be able to see the lava flows. Unfortunately for us, the lava tube collapsed about a month before we visited.


If you have any questions, you are more than welcome to contact Jenny (jenny.wesley2@gmail.com) and we'll be happy to answer any questions.  Mahalo!!

Day 13, 14 and 15
(Matt)

The last few days....we just kind of relaxed. We went back to Kona.... chilled at a beach, went and hung out at the Kona Pier, ate some dinner and just watched the sights. We attempted to swim with the manta rays, but the rocky coast proved to be too dangerous to battle to just jump out into the rocks and swim out there. We sat on the rocks with the waves smashing all around... trying to build up the courage... when i finally did set out to walk out on the rocks... i slipped on them, and got sharp lava rock pieces stuck in my foot.... so we settled for just watching.  We also went to eat at Bubba Gump's, and Ocean Sushi.... which made for about 8 sushi restaurants in total. Also... was admiring the scenery and got a speeding ticket for going 71 in a 55... thank you officer... you're so kind!

Trying my luck on the pier and at home got me a couple nice fish!

While fishing at the Kona Pier, we happened to see a ceremony that involved the descendents of the Royal Hawaiian Family. 

We checked out Coconut Island Park and saw some cool trees and bridges

We went to check out "Rainbow Falls"

..... and i read that you can hike to the bottom and swim at the base if you a nimble hiker... so i go about halfway to scout it out.... go back and grab Jenny so she can come too.  I did notice a few mosquitoes on my way down... but they weren't biting me... so i thought maybe they were tame....   They decided otherwise for Jenny.... we had to turn around before we reached the bottom b/c if we went any further, we'd have had to treat her for Malaria, i'm sure!!!

We were on the way to a pharmacy to get her some Calamine lotion, when Jenny freaked out and saw an Island-themed scrapbook store and forgot all about her mosquito bites and went into "scrapping bliss"...  we never made it to the pharmacy, and the bites subsided in time.

We ate at Bubba Gumps and Jenny got to sit with her shoes and box of chocolates.

sunsets from the Kona Pier:

Really nice inlaid wood design on the living room floor. 

Abandoning all of our thrift store purchased Hawaiian gear to make room for all the souvenirs we needed to bring home!!!

Cleaning out the fridge.....   this bottle ain't gonna drink itself ... looks like we'll sleep well tonight!!!

So ahead of us is 13 hours of flights on 3 different planes and 6 hours of layovers..... gonna be brutal!!!   Hawaii to LA... LA to Chicago... Chicago to Dayton.. then drive from D-town to Cincy.

LA looks cool from the sky!

Day 12
(matt)

Today we had plans on the opposite side of the island. Over in Kona, we had our reservation set for some deep sea fishing! The drive thru the "saddle"... which is a road that cuts right thru the middle of the islands between the 2 big volcanos, is so high up, you drive thru the clouds:

also.... check out the temperature difference in less than 30 minutes from the top of the saddle to near the base:

The view of the clouds rolling off the volcano tops is both distracting and beautiful to see:

Before hitting downtown Kona, we went to Greenwell Farms coffee plantation for a tour and some coffee tasting. We tried some coffees and also bought a juice made from the "cherry" skins from the outside of the bean. They also grew bananas <--- (i can't spell that word without hear Gwen Stefani in my head),  avacados, citrus of all kinds, and of course coffee trees:

These are what coffee beans look like before they are ripe or ready to pick. When ready, they turn red like a cherry. 

 

 

 This is the old mill they used when the plantation first opened.

this is a working farm, and this is the station where the farmers bring their yield to be weighed

They soak the beans to get rid of the sugary-acidity. 

Then,  they spread them out to dry, which takes 7-10 days, and they get raked out every 30-60 minutes......

...... or they use the new method, and tumble and heat dry them which take 1-2 days. 

 They had a small grove of trees from the original plantation, and these few trees are over 110 years old... with a life expectancy of about 120 years. 

Bananas .... the shit is BANANAS.....  BEE ,AYE, EN, AYE, EN, AYE, ESS!!!!!

Avacados and the avacado grove. 

Some sort of "energy" natural juice that supposedly 10x more antioxidants than your mom's blueberries!   Didn't taste too bad... a bit like cherry juice, but too much like cough syrup. Coffee is officially a FRUIT. 

... AND... i officially know too much about coffee and its history and process from field to cup. All i want is my WAKEUP JUICE!!!

 We got to Kona early in the day and walked around their downtown area, and decided that this was the more "touristy" side of the island. This is where they have a huge pier and where the cruise ships port. The 3-4 mile strip is all shops and restaurants and performers every 100 feet along the sidewalk. Very busy.

We grabbed lunch and had some Mahi Mahi fish tacos and Calamari before we got on the BITE ME 4 fishing charter.

 the lonely fight chair.... only lures kept it company.

Not the greatest picture... but i had to grab the big lens and change it over and barely got this picture, but it's the single fin of a pod of pilot whales we got to see. 

 

This is me with all the fish we caught.... which after 4 hours of watching waves and dancing lures... was ZERO. I can't tell you how disappointing it was... this was the thing i was excited about the most.  We decided that we will NOT go fish-less, we're going to buy a pole today and fish off the seacliff from our house. 

To satisfy our need for fish after an unproductive charter tour, we smashed 6 plates of sushi and were about to burst. We walked up and down the Kona coast and had some coffees, watched the sunset, jenny bought a new sweatshirt and we saw "JENNY'S catch" at Bubba Gump's. 

The guy at the coffee shop told us that if we had time, we should drive to the Sheriton, and see the Manta Rays that come to eat the plankton near the lights the hotel installed on the ocean floor to attract them close to shore.  We didn't get the best pictures, and weren't prepare with snorkel gear, but we decided that we are making the 2 1/2 hr drive back to swim with the manta rays that come out mostly after dark. 

So after deciding that we'd come back for the rays another day... we took the long way back home around the south point of the island. And along the way, we saw a pink/red glow in the distance. We had visited the volcano park previously, but only saw steam and smoke. It looks much different at night!!!   Although there is lava currently flowing, you can still see the glow at night. I set the camera for a slow exposure and low-light and got a few good shots:

after all our side trips and adventures... we didn't get home until about 1am... super tired, but a fun day.  GOOD NIGHT!