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Aloha!  I’m back!  I’m still doing laundry and finding sand in previously unknown crevices (note to self: while body surfing is fun, it has it’s sandy downside) and thanking the Desert gods for no humidity.  I took a ton of pictures, but I am also waiting for copies from other people, so this “Hawaii Recap” may be a bit of a process.

However, I want you to know that my spontaneous Hawai’i vacation was completely unexpected.  I only had a few days to get ready and an enormous To Do List, and I did not manage to squeeze in a few in-depth Google searches of the island.  But, it’s Hawaii, right?  I’ve been to the O’ahu and Honolulu before, it can’t be that different.  It’s beachy and sandy and palm tree-y, right?  So I loaded in some extra sunscreen and headed to the Airport with Handsome dreaming of relaxing under the palm trees, shaved ice in hand.

Imagine my surprise when, upon landing in Kona-Kailua to find nothing but black lava rock.  For miles.  And miles.  And miles.

I actually thought we had landed on the wrong island.  Where were the palm trees?  And the white sandy beaches?  I mean, I knew that the Hawai’ian Islands were formed by volcanoes, but I guess I was under the impression that in the last several million years since then some kind of vegetation had taken root. 

Don’t worry, the whole island doesn’t look like this, but the bulk of the western side does.  We stayed in Puako, a teeny little beach community on the west side, midway between Kona and Hawi with plenty of palm trees, a white sandy beach, and lots of submerged lava rock for some great snorkeling. 

However, Hawai’i is not all sandy beaches and palm trees, it is all about diversity.  In fact, photos from our day-trips around the island could easily be confused for several, separate vacations. 

Here we have the jungle part, lush greenery, gorgeous flowers, and plants with leaves the size of a man.  A big man.  This was kind of expected. 

And then there is the desert part.  Seriously, there were cacti.  This vista reminded me of home.  Granted, the deserts here are surrounding a salt water lake, not surrounded by a salty ocean, and they aren’t humid. 

Not twenty minutes later the landscape is completely different, grasslands covered in cows and horses and goats.  Aloha, and welcome to South Dakota, or Iowa (thankfully, without a thousand miles of corn)

Eerie and almost science-fiction-like, these lava fields are miles and miles of black, shiny, “new” lava.  Some places were covered in lava as recently as 2005, and the finality of these flows is incredible.  Sadly, there was no active lava flow the day we visited these fields; there are times when you can actually see red, molten lava a few feet away.  Crazy!  Honestly?  I kind of felt like I was at the absolute end of the earth.

Wait…I thought I was in Hawaii, not Wales.  On one of our drives the fog and mist was so thick you could hardly see a thousand feet off of the road.  I couldn’t help but think of the United Kingdom and their romantically misty moores. 

That, my friends, is a volcano.  A volcano that is spewing sulphury steam into the air.  I kept looking around for Littlefoot and the rest of the Land Before Time gang.  Again, I knew Hawai’i was made from volcanoes, but I definitely didn’t expect to be able to look int the crater of an active, smoking, make-the-air-around-it-hotter-than-hades volcano.  A few weeks ago this crater was smoke-less, and then BAM!  Massive explosion, a bit of lava spewage, and the crater has been smoking ever since.  I couldn’t help but stare at this for hours.  Really, it’s not everyday you get to see an active volcano.

Less than 40 minutes from that volcano and we’re back to tropical paradise.  Sunny and green with deep blue water on the horizon.  At this point, I was half-way through a vacation location identity crisis of sorts.  Note to self: next time before jumping on a plane skip mopping the floor and spend a solid hour with Google to prevent so many surprises.

These dramatic cliffs are ancient lava formations that have formed a small, but stunning black sand beach.  A far cry from white powder and gentle surf, this was perhaps my favorite place we visited.  And the 25% grade, 4-Wheel Drive Only road to access it only freaked me out a little.  (Ok, a lot, but the views were totally worth it!)

Clearly, I am not done recounting my Hawai’ian adventures, stay tuned for more stories about hidden beaches and scenic road-trips, the search for the best shaved ice on the island, discovering a mostly secret lava tube and crawling around inside, snorkeling with turtles and tropical fish, watching the tide roll in with a gorgeous sunset and hikes through the jungle.  And I’ll also tell you how I sliced my foot open on lava/coral (source still unknown, foot still throbbing), how I managed to not get sunburned, how a certain person was buried from chin to big toe in sand, and how the beach we went to the most is now closed due to shark sitings.  (GGGAAAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!  Sharks.  I hates them.)