Our first stop in Hawaii. Well, technically our second, since after we landed in Honolulu, we had to recheck our bag for our flight to Hilo just a few hours later. Big Island was a great introduction to Hawaii, and we stayed quite busy in our 3 days there! First off, Hilo airport is amazing. We were driving away in our rental car literally 10-15 min after pulling up to the gate (including getting our checked bag). Turns out you only need to be back at the airport 15 min before your flight too; it's so quiet!
The main reason we wanted to go to Big Island was for the volcanoes/lava. But, more on that in the next post! Besides our volcano adventure, we visited the famous Akaka Falls, explored some banyan trees, and went to the top of Mauna Kea.
We had grand plans to see a few other sites along the east coast and hike a valley, but in the end we only made it to Akaka Falls. We nixed the hike idea after our late night lava hike, and in the end it was fairly cloudy that day so it worked out okay! The falls were quite impressive and beautiful.
The city of Hilo is definitely not a touristy city, and it was fun to see a more local side to Hawaii. We found a massive banyan tree just outside of the city, which is quite impressive. we couldn't even capture it all in photos.
Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea are the two mountains/volcanoes on the island. Mauna Kea has been dormant for a very, very long time and is now the home to the best telescopes and observatories in the world since it's the highest mountain in the world (counting what's underwater) and known for its great star gazing. So, one beautiful evening we made our way up. The drive up was beautiful, and at first we drove through fog. Then, all of a sudden we were above the clouds!
We only went to the height of the visitors center, as it is highly recommended you have a 4x4 to go all the way to the summit. We hiked a small hill to watch sunset followed by the stars. It was a gorgeous sunset, and the numbers of stars you are able to see there is incredible! Mad props to Nick for his sweet night photography skills!
We never made it to any beaches here, but we did manage to make it to the coast just down the road from our Airbnb and glimpse some views of Mauna Kea over the Hilo shoreline. Everything is so beautiful in Hawaii. :)
What little other time we had on Big Island was spent relaxing at our Airbnb which was in the "country". We loved the lanai and enjoyed many mornings coffees and breakfasts here (and our little gecko friend!)
Stay tuned for part 2 about volcanoes and lava!
No comments:
Post a Comment