Hawaii {Day 8} – Pololu Valley, Waterfalls, Lava Cave

We decided that today would be a good day to go on a long drive around the northern end of the island and check out some waterfalls. When Justin and I were doing some research last night I suggested that we tack on the Pololu Valley-Kohala Coast Overlook and hike down to the bottom of the valley. It would add an additional hour of driving plus the time spent there but we decided to go for it. I’m so glad we did! The hike was relatively short. Less than a mile I believe, but it was very steep and hot so it took us a while to make our way down. 

This picture was actually taken when we got back to the top after the hike, but it’s fitting to insert now.  Abigail and Drew are mimicking one of the many warnings on the signs.

The valley below was so beautiful. 

We walked around a bit and played on the many rope swings.  

The beach was made up of large rocks instead of sand and there were lots of cairns people had created.

I like that you can tell how tall this cairn is with Drew sitting next to it

There were a lot of people camping down in the valley and I tried to steer the family clear of their campsites so we wouldn’t run into anything we didn’t want to see. 

We had much more to see today so we headed back up the trail to head off to our next destination.

Justin took this panorama of the valley on our way back up

We had read rave reviews about the malasadas at Tex Drive-in. We ended up ordering lunch for some of us there as well as the malasadas. These were definitely the largest malasadas of the trip. Not surprising being associated with “Tex.”  They were yummy, but not our favorite. 

The lizard wandered next to our table

We also visited Akaka Falls 

Justin wanted to rest a bit before heading to Rainbow Falls while we waited Drew picked a pretty flower.

Rainbow Falls was a quick stop.  Unfortunately, the path was closed that lets you see the falls from a different angle.

I LOVE these trees wrapped in big beautiful leaves!

I had hoped we could take the family to dinner at Pineapples in Hilo; however because several people had eaten lunch not too long ago I was the only one that ordered takeout which was a real treat. I ordered the lemon macadamia chicken which was so delicious.  

Justin made a last minute call to visit the Kaumana Caves which was a great little adventure.  

There were areas we had to crouch down low to clear through

We had a pretty long drive back to our hotel. Justin wanted to stop at the Mauna Kea Observatory to see if he could catch some good views.  The temperature had already dipped down to 48° up there so he was the only one that wanted to get out of the car. Our van sure did struggle to get up that mountain. On our way back to the hotel it was quite foggy and for the first and only time of our vacation it rained. Made for some scary driving but we made it back to our hotel safely.

Hawaii {Day 7} – Surfing

Our friends that were here a few weeks ago highly recommended taking surfing lessons saying it was some of the best money they’ve spent in a very long time. So we booked a two hour session for all seven of us starting at 9am this morning. 

I was definitely the most nervous primarily because I am not very confident with my swimming skills. Our instructor got us equipped with water shoes and rash guards and after a brief five minute lesson on the shore demonstrating how to stand up on the boards we were in the ocean attempting to catch some waves. We had two instructors for our family and basically their job was to try to push us into as many waves as possible. Our goal was to start paddling with our arms as soon as they told us to and then as soon as we felt the push of the wave behind us we were to stand up and ride that wave to the end. Drew was able to catch a few great waves but he definitely tired out the quickest. 

Actually Justin may have tired out just as quick – ha! It seemed anytime I looked over at Justin he was lying flat on his board exhausted. 

I was determined to catch as many waves as I could so as soon as I was done with one wave I was paddling out to the yellow buoy to wait for another turn with the instructors. I never would’ve thought that out of our house full of athletes that I would’ve been the one to catch the most waves. I had a blast!  Everyone had a great time though none of us actually know how to catch any waves without our instructors assistance. There was a photographer in the water who takes pictures of everyone taking lessons and then he posts them online with the hopes that people will buy them. I was so excited to see what kind of pictures he caught of our family and as soon as I saw this one I knew I had to have it. 

The digital pictures were actually quite reasonable - $80 for all of the pictures that he took that morning. 

Abigail was the only one in the family that also spotted a turtle surfing with us

We were pretty hungry afterward so we stopped to get some food. Justin ended up getting something at Da Poke Shack and after realizing another Chinese food wouldn’t be very allergy friendly the kids ended up getting food at Panda Express and then we enjoyed some shaved ice.  

We hit up the pool back at the hotel and then Justin and I went out to Macaroni Grill to take advantage of their Valentines special.  

Hawaii {Day 6} – Snorkeling & City of Refuge

It seems at least one of our kids is going to have at least one thing they have to catch in the morning, ha! Today it was Carly’s turn so she was up this morning at 5:30am to catch her weekly seminary call and then JKD each got up and worked on some schoolwork. Jason even tuned into his second class. We were aiming to leave the hotel around 9am to head Two Step beach for some snorkeling. Per usual it took us a little bit longer with all the sunscreen prep but we were out the door shortly before 9:30am.  The snorkeling spot was about an hour away and the water was incredibly clear allowing us to see lots of different varieties of fish. We only had enough equipment for four people to be out at a time so we spent a couple hours there. 

Abigail almost jumped in the water with the stickers still on the new googles we bought

We took lots of video while snorkeling but we’ll save that footage for the vacation video that Abigail will put together for us.

Checking out the tide pools

It was right next to the City of Refuge National Park (Pu’uhonua O Honaunau) so we visited that as well. We walked around a bit, but it was quite warm and we didn’t know what exactly we were looking at until we got back to the car and looked at the pamphlet they’d given us. 

We’ve been looking forward to treating ourselves to Gypsea Gelato. Unfortunately it’s not peanut friendly so AJK has to miss out. We got them McDonald’s after our lunch stop instead (which took a ridiculous amount of time waiting curbside for them to bring their treats out). Lunch was a combo of some roadside brisket Justin couldn’t drive past without stopping to taste. He let the kids try it and they liked it so much that he had to go back for seconds. Our main lunch stop was at Ultimate Burger which came highly recommended. The consensus was that it was good but not incredible. That was right next to Panda Express which is where I got some chow mien for me and Katie. Feeding the crew today was a process!  

By the time we got back to the hotel it was pretty late in the evening. ACJ needed to go back to the room to finish up some homework and so Justin took KD down to the pool for a few hours and I had to hit the gym since I mistakenly didn’t get credit on my watch for snorkeling.