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As Nathen and I were at play... Symantha held down the fort. We are ever grateful for her help, and her letting us feel as if this is exactly where she would want to be, hanging out with family. We always know the kiddos are in good hands, when Symnatha is here. She runs a tighter ship than I do, and our home is always in order when we return.
We had an exceptional time in Hawaii. It filled our cup and was so fascinating on every level. The beauty, the people, the traditions, the climate...
Here are a few tidbits of information.
Chickens. They run around everywhere. And you are not allowed to touch them or trap them unless they are on your property. So in open places, along the side the road, or at a gas station, you see chickens. At homes, churches, Polynesian cultural center, Pearl Harbor, there was none found. But in the open range, chickens feel as if they own the place. There are several lookouts in Hawaii and before we flew out of Honolulu to Kona, we visited a few.
Absolutely beautiful.
We arrived in Kona, Hawaii, the big island, on Saturday afternoon. I am so glad we went to Honolulu but grateful we also got to fly to Kona. Kona is where the active volcano is located. This island is the biggest island, but there are not as many people as the other isalnds. Perhas because of all the volcanic rock.
There are 5 volcanos on the big island. Kilauea is the most active and is basically in some sort of stage of continious erupting. The observatory is located on top of Mauna Kea, another volcano.
Behind us to the left, you can see our hotel. It fascinated me that it jetted out, literally into the ocean. We ate dinner at the restaurant of the hotel and we could literally see the ocean waves touching the building. I couldn't understand how they could calculate and trust the ocean so much to build right on the shore line. Perhaps volacanic rock as a more strong foundation than sand.
It is here that we made our home, and traveled around the island for different adventures. Notice Nate's shirt. He got it there. We also left with matching Hawaii swim shirts!
The next day was Sunday, I didn't realize how much I was going to enjoy church. IF you truly want to experience the culture, you need to go to church here. I had to take a picture of this gentleman's skirt. He had a regular church shirt, and a black long skirt underneath this Hawaiian skirt. Some just wore suits and dresses like we do here, and others wore more Hawaiian. I was surprised how many members were in Hawaii. There were several wards and the Kona Temple was right next door as well.
At thee end of Sacramento, they sang good bye to a family who was moving out of their ward. They had the family come and stand on the podium and then everyone stood and sang a farewell song to them. It was entitled, Aloha Aye. And the words were glued to the back of the hymn book. It was tender to see.
At the very end of the song a gentleman, the one you see in that photo, came up and gave the father of the family a big hug and a hand shake. He then took of a lai and put if over his friends shoulders, the next was his tie. He took it off his own neck and placed it over the neck of his friend as he he said good bye.
One by one each member of the ward went up to the podium and said good by to that family. It brought. a tear to both Nathen and I.
Ironically, my old seminary teacher from High School was at the Kona ward building the same day we were there. I noticed him in Sunday school. It was neat to see him after all these years! Thomas Buhr.
After church we went to see the Volcano. It didn't fully erupt while we were there, but still it was fascinating. We also were able to see so many waterfalls. We came home and had dinner by the ocean. It was so fun to watch the sun set over the ocean. We had a room that over looked the ocean and we loved hearing the waves at night.
We also were able to see the black sand beach on our way there. The volcanic rock breaks down into sand. We also saw Sea Turtles basking int he sun while we were there.
Tuesday, we arose early to go and catch a boat tour. We had a 4 hour tour of the ocean and got to go snorkeling in two different locations. One was Captain Cooks monument, and another beautiful place was Kealakekua Bay, We were able to do it right there at the Kona location.
Snorkeling was something i could do over and over again. it was visually fascinating - all that you could see was just beneath the surface.
Then we went to the observatory. A attendant there led us in a history lesson as sunset. It was fascinating to learn about the locations of the constellations, and some Hawaiian history how the Hawaiian people found and navigated between the islands of Hawaii and the rest of Polynesia. They navigated using cloud patterns, wind patterns, sun position, and star positions.
When at the visitors center we were above 10,000 feet above sea level. Earlier this day we were at or below sea level as we were snorkeling. It is a vast difference between different parts of the island.
The snorkeling we did was from a boat. We snorkeled over coral reefs. In the bays where we were diving, we saw both bottle nose and spinner dolphins. We didn't see any while snorkeling, but both before and after we were in the water.
In the Captain Cook bay some members of our group were able to see a Manta Ray while snorkeling. Terre and I didn't see those, but we did manage to see copious amounts of sea life, including a lion fish and an eel.
The blue picture above was from a trip we took on a submarine. We dove down to 110 feet below sea level and were able to see two different ship wrecks in the harbor. We saw very similar animal life under the water, but we also were able to see a reef shark swimming around one of the sunken derelicts.
Being under the water, the colors are skewed. The red and green washes out and all you see is a blue color. This photo is also how our eyes saw things under the water. The change as you descend and ascend is so subtle that you don't notice it changing. Taking a photo while submerged was really telling once we were back on top of the water.
This is us aboard the plane on our ride home. We flew out at 11:00pm and arrived at 7:00am. I really don't recommend the overnight flight, but it really doesn't matter when you are on the plane, it isn't very comfortable for long periods of time. The flight to Hawaii was aboard a Boeing 767, which has 3 seats on each side, and 5 seats in the center of the plane. Coming home we were aboard a Boeing 737. I prefer the "smaller" planes. I keep hoping that one of these times we will get to ride a propellor driven aircraft, but that just doesn't seem to ever materialize.
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As Nathen and I were at play... Symantha held down the fort. We are ever grateful for her help, and her letting us feel as if this is exactly where she would want to be, hanging out with family. We always know the kiddos are in good hands, when Symnatha is here. She runs a tighter ship than I do, and our home is always in order when we return.
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We had an exceptional time in Hawaii. It filled our cup and was so fascinating on every level. The beauty, the people, the traditions, the climate...
Here are a few tidbits of information.
Chickens. They run around everywhere. And you are not allowed to touch them or trap them unless they are on your property. So in open places, along the side the road, or at a gas station, you see chickens. At homes, churches, Polynesian cultural center, Pearl Harbor, there was none found. But in the open range, chickens feel as if they own the place. There are several lookouts in Hawaii and before we flew out of Honolulu to Kona, we visited a few. Absolutely beautiful. |
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We arrived in Kona, Hawaii, the big island, on Saturday afternoon. I am so glad we went to Honolulu but grateful we also got to fly to Kona. Kona is where the active volcano is located. This island is the biggest island, but there are not as many people as the other isalnds. Perhas because of all the volcanic rock.
There are 5 volcanos on the big island. Kilauea is the most active and is basically in some sort of stage of continious erupting. The observatory is located on top of Mauna Kea, another volcano. Behind us to the left, you can see our hotel. It fascinated me that it jetted out, literally into the ocean. We ate dinner at the restaurant of the hotel and we could literally see the ocean waves touching the building. I couldn't understand how they could calculate and trust the ocean so much to build right on the shore line. Perhaps volacanic rock as a more strong foundation than sand. It is here that we made our home, and traveled around the island for different adventures. Notice Nate's shirt. He got it there. We also left with matching Hawaii swim shirts! |
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The next day was Sunday, I didn't realize how much I was going to enjoy church. IF you truly want to experience the culture, you need to go to church here. I had to take a picture of this gentleman's skirt. He had a regular church shirt, and a black long skirt underneath this Hawaiian skirt. Some just wore suits and dresses like we do here, and others wore more Hawaiian. I was surprised how many members were in Hawaii. There were several wards and the Kona Temple was right next door as well.
At thee end of Sacramento, they sang good bye to a family who was moving out of their ward. They had the family come and stand on the podium and then everyone stood and sang a farewell song to them. It was entitled, Aloha Aye. And the words were glued to the back of the hymn book. It was tender to see. At the very end of the song a gentleman, the one you see in that photo, came up and gave the father of the family a big hug and a hand shake. He then took of a lai and put if over his friends shoulders, the next was his tie. He took it off his own neck and placed it over the neck of his friend as he he said good bye. One by one each member of the ward went up to the podium and said good by to that family. It brought. a tear to both Nathen and I. Ironically, my old seminary teacher from High School was at the Kona ward building the same day we were there. I noticed him in Sunday school. It was neat to see him after all these years! Thomas Buhr. |
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After church we went to see the Volcano. It didn't fully erupt while we were there, but still it was fascinating. We also were able to see so many waterfalls. We came home and had dinner by the ocean. It was so fun to watch the sun set over the ocean. We had a room that over looked the ocean and we loved hearing the waves at night.
We also were able to see the black sand beach on our way there. The volcanic rock breaks down into sand. We also saw Sea Turtles basking int he sun while we were there. |
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Tuesday, we arose early to go and catch a boat tour. We had a 4 hour tour of the ocean and got to go snorkeling in two different locations. One was Captain Cooks monument, and another beautiful place was Kealakekua Bay, We were able to do it right there at the Kona location.
Snorkeling was something i could do over and over again. it was visually fascinating - all that you could see was just beneath the surface. Then we went to the observatory. A attendant there led us in a history lesson as sunset. It was fascinating to learn about the locations of the constellations, and some Hawaiian history how the Hawaiian people found and navigated between the islands of Hawaii and the rest of Polynesia. They navigated using cloud patterns, wind patterns, sun position, and star positions. When at the visitors center we were above 10,000 feet above sea level. Earlier this day we were at or below sea level as we were snorkeling. It is a vast difference between different parts of the island. |
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The snorkeling we did was from a boat. We snorkeled over coral reefs. In the bays where we were diving, we saw both bottle nose and spinner dolphins. We didn't see any while snorkeling, but both before and after we were in the water.
In the Captain Cook bay some members of our group were able to see a Manta Ray while snorkeling. Terre and I didn't see those, but we did manage to see copious amounts of sea life, including a lion fish and an eel. |
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The blue picture above was from a trip we took on a submarine. We dove down to 110 feet below sea level and were able to see two different ship wrecks in the harbor. We saw very similar animal life under the water, but we also were able to see a reef shark swimming around one of the sunken derelicts.
Being under the water, the colors are skewed. The red and green washes out and all you see is a blue color. This photo is also how our eyes saw things under the water. The change as you descend and ascend is so subtle that you don't notice it changing. Taking a photo while submerged was really telling once we were back on top of the water. |
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This is us aboard the plane on our ride home. We flew out at 11:00pm and arrived at 7:00am. I really don't recommend the overnight flight, but it really doesn't matter when you are on the plane, it isn't very comfortable for long periods of time. The flight to Hawaii was aboard a Boeing 767, which has 3 seats on each side, and 5 seats in the center of the plane. Coming home we were aboard a Boeing 737. I prefer the "smaller" planes. I keep hoping that one of these times we will get to ride a propellor driven aircraft, but that just doesn't seem to ever materialize.
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