We got in on Sunday afternoon. Right on time, thanks to our trusty pilot, Captain Alex
Monday morning, we were at the pool waiting for the resort's activities pitch. Alex loves playing in the pool.
[Clark and Alex chillin' poolside]
We later set forth to the otherside of the island towards the city of Hilo. We stopped first at the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Garden. There were several beautiful and exotic flowers and plants that i've never seen before.
[Clark's self-proclaimed Award Winning Picture]
Aside from flowers and stuff, there were asome beautiful views of the ocean and waterfalls.
In the afternoon, after lunch we forged onto the Volcano National Park. There was recent volcano activity back in December, and lava is still flowing slowly. Lava flowed into and over the highway, so they shut it down.
It bunched up as it cooled down and became hard rock.
It can be quite dangerous out there in the volcano area. I think they need to move this sign up another 50 yards.
I was especially in awe of the way the lava would flow over the edge o the cliff and cool, creating icicle like formations, except its freakin' rock!
So that was all on Monday. It was exhausting. We took it easy on Tuesday and went to the local Hilton Resort where they had a dolphin show that Alex loved. But more important than that, Alex loved riding the train there. He took about 8 trips on the train from one end of the resort to the other. We all took turns taking him on it.
Wednesday, we rented a boat out of Honokau Harbor and we did some snorkeling.
We had a few drinks
And even tried a little bit of fishing, albeit, unsuccessfully.
On Thursday, we first stopped by to get the 2 hour Timeshare pitch. Wasn't really that high-pressure crap that everyone's afraid of, we only did it to get a discount card and save $200 on the evenings Luau.
So on we went to the Place of Refuge.
Legend has it that many of the laws of old Hawaii were punishable by death. If the person was able to make it to the Place of Refuge, known as "Pu`uhonua o Honaunau" they would be taken in, cleaned up, and they would be spiritually rid of their sin and would be able to leave a free man.
While there, i guess they were protected by the Tiki Man carvings, and they played table games similar to checkers
In the evening, we went to the King Kamehameha's Luau. He came in on his Boat.
We had the Kahlua Pig which was grubbin' along with Poke and foods of all kine.
There was a fun show displaying the different kinds of Polynesian dancing from Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and Fiji
They even did a little Hawaiian Wedding song and had all the married couples dance. My mom and dad joined in on the festivities.
And it was all topped off with the fire eating twirling man. Which was kinda awesome.
So that was my trip in a nutshell. No Mahoos, no Nani Wahines. it was a beautiful place.
More pictures are available on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vapor023/tags/hawaii/
