Adventures with Liz

Waterfalls and Sea Turtles: Days 6 and 7

Oh. My. Gosh.

This trip just 10 times better. Yay for being in a real city in a hotel with air conditioning!


Yesterday, after breakfast at Ken's Pancake House, home of the most amazing pancakes I've ever tasted, we visited several waterfalls around the Hilo area. They were pretty, and the area around them was full of all kinds of interesting plant life. The picture is of Akaka Falls, which is 442 feet high. After the waterfalls we went to a place to learn about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which are the older Hawaiian Islands that are now mostly underwater. One that you might know is the Midway Atoll, which used to belong to the U.S. military. Then we went back to Richardson's beach to snorkel, but my sunburt, crispy self didn't get back in the water; I just enjoyed sitting on the beach. The evening ended with a really nice restaurant at a fabulous restaurant called Cafe Pesto...I had the best fish with eggplant and mashed potatoes. Here are all the ladies looking lovely for our evening out.


Today we packed up and left Hilo to travel to Kona. On the way, we stopped back by Volcanoes National Park to watch a video about the volcanoes that we missed the first time around. Then we went to the the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, which is the number one most beautiful beach in Hawaii according to the Travel Channel. Here we saw...sea turtles! It was like seeing a bunch of really big Kazoos! (That would be Kazoo as in the turtle, not the cheap, plastic, annoying, fake instrument.) They were adorable. We also got up close and personal with some other marine life, such as a helmet sea urchin and a sea snail. Our last stop was the most southerly point in the United States. We wrote our name in coral (apparently a tradition).


Now, we are in Kona. We are staying in a hotel with a wireless connection, so I can update more often. We're right by the water (although not a beach), and the atmosphere is much more like I picture a tropical island; there are people and shops and bands and open-air restaurants. I am eating the best candy bar in the whole world right now, made from dark chocolate, Kona coffee, and macadamia nuts (oh yeah, you're jealous).

Well, that's all the news. Mahalo (that means thank you in Hawaiian) for reading this entry!

posted by Liz @ 2:52 AM