Big Island

As many of you know Chris and I spent last week on the Big Island in Hawaii for our 3rd anniversary. We had 5 full days and a day of travel on each side to spend exploring, relaxing in the sun, catching up on some much needed sleep, yummy food and just enjoying one another. We had a great time and could not have asked for better weather (80's the entire time!). Neither one of us had been to the Big Island before so it was exciting to venture into something new together. I have always gone to Maui and Chris has been to Honolulu and Maui. The Big Island is so much different and definitely a must see at least once in your lifetime. There is so much to see on this island you simply can't do it all. We stayed on the west side of the island just north of Kona at the Hilton Waikola Resort. It was enormous, almost too big but very nice. We had to walk about 1/2 mile to our room from the lobby every day or take a monorail or boat. We chose to walk everywhere majority of the time which helped keep off some (hence the word SOME) of the lbs from all the yummy food and fruity drinks we enjoyed. We also got to enjoy the whales every single day. Within 5 minutes of sitting on our balcony you could spot numerous whales putting on a show, sometimes for up to 30 minutes straight. So cool! Here are some of our pics from the trip; I didn't bring my nice camera which I regretted once I got there! Bummer!

The tower we stayed at the Hilton (this is taken from the opposite tower so you can see how far you would walk as you can't even see the middle tower in this photo!):

Taking the boat to our room:Our Green Sea Turtle friends we snorkeled with:Hapuana Beach (one of the top 10 in the world....the sand is soft as powder and swimming/snorkeling here is awesome! We had high surf one day and Chris spent a good 45 minutes playing in the waves)My attempt at an underwater pic of Chris...not so bad for not being able to see a thing!We saw our first ever black sand beach...crazy to see your toes in black sand!We spent an entire day on the east side of the island around the Hilo area exploring the volcano, Akaka Falls, Botanical Garden and the scenic drive along the coast back to Kona. Absolutely stunning!Frozen lake of lava with the active crater steaming in the background. Absolutely amazing sight to see that our little pocket camera does not do any justice!Getting ready to head into the Lave Tube (an actual tunnel naturally made of lava)Akaka Falls (one of the most famous on the islands)Botanical Gardens:Chris went fishing for a day and caught a tuna and also fought a 600 pound marlin for an hour and almost had him in the boat but the hook came out. While this was the second time fighting a marlin for him and losing it (first was our honeymoon in Fiji) he had a great time with the fight!
We had a fabulous time and can't wait to take Henry to Hawaii one day! He would have loved it, but who wouldn't? Aloha!