Hawaii

In February, just before the days are palpably longer and winter is wearing on us all, Alaskans like to do as their humpback whales do and head for the warmer Pacific waters in Hawaii. We convinced my Atlantic sea-coast loving parents to leave Florida and fly across the country and Pacific to join us. Our logic being Alaska is just as far - at least Hawaii is WARM.

We split our time on the Big Island, half on the Hilo side and half on the Kona side. I was on the Big Island about 20 years ago with my parents as a teenager; it was fun to return with them. We rented two fabulous houses, both of which lulled us with the sound of the waves out the window. The house in Kapoho on the East side was absolutely idyllic. We watched humpbacks from the lanai and saw more stars than I've seen in years. And it was walking distance to several tidepools we could snorkel and swim in. Not pictured are any photos of Volcanoes National Park. It was incredible to see the old lava flows, hike through the lava tubes and down into some of the old craters. There weren't any active flows to the ocean during our stay, however.

The kids had a fabulous time. Poor Liam, on returning to Anchorage, met the harsh reality of where the plane had taken us. While inside the Anchorage airport all bleary eyed and tired he was unaware that he was no longer in Hawaii. The moment he stepped outside with me, saw the snow, the dark, felt the chill in the air he literally refused to go another step. He bawled, "I want to get back on the airplane! I don't want to be HERE. I want to go to Hawaii!" For the past month he tells us, "On Saturday (his generic for in the future) we will get on an airplane and fly to Honolulu". Both kids spent so much time in the water playing that they both advanced to "the next level" in their swim lessons.

It was hard to leave. But, in my next post I'll show that the kids actually do enjoy the 'other' white stuff as well as sand. Kevin, Aleria, and Atagan as well as several of our other Alaskan friends both either preceded us or followed us in their winter treks to the Rainbow State. With a direct flight from Anchorage to Honolulu being a mere 5 1/2 hours, its quicker for us to get there than most places in the Lower 48 (aka Mainland in Hawaiian)! It could get addicting.

Natalie was up literally before dawn our first morning so she got Meme and Papa out of bed to watch the sunrise with her from the lanai.

Russell cracking open a fallen coconut on the a'a' lava out in front of the house with the kids.

Ahalanui tidepool. This tidepool was a short drive from where we stayed and was geothermally heated to a very comfortable 92 degrees. The kids could have stayed in it all day and made a couple of visits while we were there.

Soaking in the lushness of the wet side of the island before heading to the more arid west side.

Russell and Liam watching the mother, calf, and the "boyfriend" humpback whales during a whale watching trip we did.

One of multiple beaches we hit during our stay. And one of many sand structures constructed and destroyed...

Liam doing what Liam always does when he spies any body of water - throw rocks!

Natalie giving Liam and I her snorkeling lessons in a shallow tidepool. She did snorkel with Russell and I a couple of times. On one of her trips she got to see a sea turtle. In fact a surge pushed her into the thing which rather surprised both Natalie and the turtle.

Warming up on some pahoehoe lava.

Sand is just fun.



Run, Papa! The waves breaking by this naturally protected, large tidepool were really amazing to watch. The tidepool was a perfect place for the kids to play and the beach was awesome.
And, so we returned there to soak up our last sunset just before leaving for the airport. Aloha.