When the cousins came to town

Family. I can't tell you how many times I've wished I was home with my family in the past 6 years because truly, I've lost count. But God. Oh yes, He did it again :) Since leaving "home" in Florida, Jonathan and I have been able to visit the Grand Canyon with my grandparents, and then this past week God let us gallivant around the Big Island of Hawai'i with my cousin and her husband. He knows the desires of our heart!! Wow,  what a fabulous week this was, and I totally wasn't expecting this until just 3 weeks ago when they decided to make the trip here for their 2nd anniversary.

Ahhh, we had a BLAST!

Aloha to Chris and Anjilee! (please note her lovely lai  handmade by myself :)

Enjoying the waterfront views

Watching the sunset

Simply beautiful

Saturday, they rented a sweet convertible Mustang and invited us along for a road trip around the island of Hawai'i. We hit up 4 major spots I'll share below. Needless to say, we did lots of time in the car, but really took in the awe of the Isle of Orchids.

Road Trip!

Definitely got a bit windy!

 #1 Black Sand Beach 

Black Sand Beach. Notice turtles in the foreground :)

Turtles! This is a sure spot to see them resting.

#2 Volcano National Park

Steam coming from the mouth of the Volcano.

Cuties :)

Entering the lava tube!

This lava tube is extinct, meaning that once it acted as a conduit through which lava flowed, but now it is just a cave-like tube that remains empty. Truly a neat experience.

Way too much fun ;)

 

#3 Hilo 

In Hilo, at Rainbow Falls

We walked around town and stopped at a Thai restaurant for lunch. We were famished when we got there, and it was some of THE BEST Thai food we've eaten. We were pretty happy campers by the time we bid adieu to the biggest city on the island.

#4 The tallest mountain in Hawaii, Mauna Kea 

This comes with a kinda funny story. Prior to arriving at Mauna Kea's base, we all had heard of the treacherous driving conditions that the only road up to the summit offered. The 6 miles to the observatory (located at over 9,000 ft) were not so bad. Totally paved road, we drove with the top of the convertible down as far as we could stand it because we wanted to, I quote, "eat the cloud like ice cream." Jonathan declared that the top should not come up until we were below 60 degrees F. And so we drove on with the wind in our hair without one little care... I promise it was much closer to 50 degrees by the time we tasted that cloud, but it was pretty awesome..

The clouds we tasted. So. Good.

Above the clouds!

When we got to the observatory, we still had 8 miles before we could reach the tip top summit of this mountain. There was a gift shop and all kinds of fun facts about the mountain and an informtional video playing.. That video outlined the finer points of the last 8 miles to the summit. Things like, unpaved roads, incredibly steep grade, hairpin turns on crazy switchbacks, severe altitude sickness, and sudden death. Chris asked a driver of a tour van if there was any way we could hitch a ride up to the top due to our front wheel driven convertible not being the frst option we'd take on this venture. Nope. Not possible. His response in typical carefree island style: You guys will be FINE! Just drive! So I had to ask, "Have any strange things happened to people going up this week?" "Oh, stuff happens all the time!" He replied.. ACK! "But don't worry, the rangers will come get you if you slide off the road!" Greaaaaat. Welp, the sun was headed down and we weren't getting any younger, so it was now or never. So we did what any haole would do. We drove right on up. My hands were sweating the whole way, I kid you not. But to Anjilee's credit we got there in good time and in one piece :)

13,796 ft over sea level, the view was staggering. Worth it all.

Regular Mountaineers are we

They keep some pretty rare and expensive telescopes up there to study the skies. Normally, visitors are allowed in before 4pm, but alas we were too late.

On top of the world with the love of my life!

The way back involved smoking brakes and lots of bumps in the road, but in the end...we lived to tell the tale. And the tale was pretty cool. In hindsight, I did experience a bizarre dizziness while up there. Something attributed to the high altitude.

The last day they were on the island with us, we went kayaking and snorkeling where Capt. Cook was killed. Capt. Cook's Memorial will show you some great pictures. Literally, some of the best snorkeling in the world is right there. Spectacular.

Next door is a place called "Place of Refuge." We walked around here and snapped a few shots. Super interesting stuff with really cool history. Basically, if a man committed a crime and could make it to this place, he was granted safety and fair trial until it was over.

It was sooooo wonderful to spend this week with Chris and Anjilee. They are such special people to us and have so much to offer the world to make it a better place. Guys, we love you lots and wish you best! Come back soon!!

Our Goodbyes