Overnight the ship sailed to Hilo, Hawaii. Having learned our lesson, we rented a car and the lady at the car rental was so helpful in showing us all the places we should see while in Hilo. She sent us first to the black sand beaches up north so that we could see tons of sea turles. We ended up running into my friend, Michelle and family at the same beach. Here's Michelle trying to catch the brief moment the sea turtles surface.
Michelle told me to take a picture of my feet against the black sand, good idea!
Not the best light that day but here are Mark and I in front of the Pacific Ocean on Hilo.
The sea turtles were everywhere. Michelle's family hadn't seen any while snorkeling so it was great to be able to see so many on this day. They would surface often but so quickly that it was hard to catch them in a photo. I did get this one though!
We left Michelle, Lil and Jennifer to continue on their tour and drove up the coast a little bit more. We came upon this beach which was really pretty.
Volcanic rock is not easy to walk on, it gets slippery when wet and is very uneven when dry too!
Next we headed to the Orchid farm, the flowers were so gorgeous. Nothing more needs to be said, just enjoy these colors!
Our next stop that day was the Mauna Loa macadamia factory. It was pretty cool, the tour was self guided and you could see directly into the factory with huge windows. Afterwards we went to have some macadamia nut ice cream at their store. We ended up bringing three boxes of macadamia nut clusters home, yum! I brought some to my team so they could have a taste of Hawaii.
We saved the best for last, a hike down a long bridge and steps to see two different waterfalls, the walk was a bit hard on the knees because there were a lot of steps to climb but worth it!
This was the Hawaii I was expecting! Greenery everywhere, unusual plants, beautiful rivers.
See all those steps! Those were just a few of the ones we had to climb.
The trees in Hawaii look like they belonged in the jungle and probably, technically, they were.
Here was the highlight of the day, the waterfalls were so tall and because they'd had a ton of rain, very powerful. Beautiful!
Michelle told me to take a picture of my feet against the black sand, good idea! 
Not the best light that day but here are Mark and I in front of the Pacific Ocean on Hilo.
The sea turtles were everywhere. Michelle's family hadn't seen any while snorkeling so it was great to be able to see so many on this day. They would surface often but so quickly that it was hard to catch them in a photo. I did get this one though!
We left Michelle, Lil and Jennifer to continue on their tour and drove up the coast a little bit more. We came upon this beach which was really pretty.
Volcanic rock is not easy to walk on, it gets slippery when wet and is very uneven when dry too!
Next we headed to the Orchid farm, the flowers were so gorgeous. Nothing more needs to be said, just enjoy these colors!
Our next stop that day was the Mauna Loa macadamia factory. It was pretty cool, the tour was self guided and you could see directly into the factory with huge windows. Afterwards we went to have some macadamia nut ice cream at their store. We ended up bringing three boxes of macadamia nut clusters home, yum! I brought some to my team so they could have a taste of Hawaii.
We saved the best for last, a hike down a long bridge and steps to see two different waterfalls, the walk was a bit hard on the knees because there were a lot of steps to climb but worth it! 
This was the Hawaii I was expecting! Greenery everywhere, unusual plants, beautiful rivers.
See all those steps! Those were just a few of the ones we had to climb.
The trees in Hawaii look like they belonged in the jungle and probably, technically, they were.
Here was the highlight of the day, the waterfalls were so tall and because they'd had a ton of rain, very powerful. Beautiful!
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I am enjoying your Hawaiian tales. Everything looks wonderful, thanks for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteI am loving my trip to Hawaii through your pictures. Thanks for letting me tag along.
ReplyDeleteThanks ladies.
ReplyDelete