ALOHA! Waikoloa Village, here we come!
On June 5th my husband and I embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to visit Hawaii (The Main Island). We were heading down to spend 10 days sightseeing, hiking, swimming, and soaking in the sun! We started our journey in Des Moines. We flew to Denver, where we met up with my mom (Kris), stepdad (Mike), sister (Ashley), Stepsister (Morgan), and stepbrother (Garrett). After meeting up with them we embarked on the 9-hour flight to Kona Hawaii. Once we landed it was off to our resort!!
Our first two days were at the hotel
Day 1
After landing and checking into our hotel, we headed to our rooms and got freshened up before heading down to check out all of the pools, restaurants, the lagoon, and other fun activities located at the resort. After eating dinner, (which was a MASSIVE focaccia crust pizza), a few of us went swimming and a few of us hit the pool! If you know me, you know I hit the pool!
Day 2
On our second day we were checking out of the hotel and heading to the condo up the street. Before checking out and checking in we hit up the massive breakfast buffet. Which was absolutely stunning and DELICIOUS! While Mike and Kris got us all checked in the rest of us hit up the lagoon. This is an ocean-fed lagoon meaning the wildlife you could see while snorkeling could come and go as often as they pleased.
Day 3
By now we were more than settled in and loving the scenery! We were up nice and early for the sunrise and then went off to Dolphin Quest to swim with the dolphins! This was a blast, the trainers were so nice and fun. The information about dolphins they gave us was incredible. After swimming we headed to Kona, where they had a "Food Truck Friday" event at Target. Let me tell you that the food was amazing! We followed that up with some sightseeing, a beach walk, and a Hawaiian sno cone. If you haven't had one before, highly recommend it, they just melt in your mouth! To end the day we saw the sunset on the beach walk!
Day 4
Today we were up nice and early for the sunrise! Then headed out for our next big adventure. We started by checking out Rainbow Falls and followed it up by checking out the Hawai'i Volcano National Park. We checked out a few of the trails. They led us to the Volcano craters, Sulphur banks, and Lava Tubes. On our way home we got to see the sunset while near the top of the drive and we were able to see above the clouds.
Day 5
Today was a relaxing day. We headed out to a few nearby beaches to enjoy the sand and beaches. After a day in the sun, we headed home to get all dressed up for a luau. The luau was buffet style with an open bar and man oh man was the food and drinks were fantastic. The show that they put on was exciting. They told a story with each dance; it was an amazing experience. If you have the chance to go to one, I would highly recommend
Day 6
Day 6 we decided to hit up the lagoon to do some snorkeling. The resort has an ocean-fed lagoon. We were able to see and swim with several swim turtles. Even got to swim with an eel and stingray (Don't worry once we saw them we stayed away) By the time we were done swimming at the lagoon and walking along the beach we were all exhausted and hit the hotel to relax.
Day 7
Today we were able to hit up a few more beaches. We were told by some resort staff that these were some of the better beaches to snorkel at. And man were they right! Once we got out into the water, it was so clear and the fish was plentiful! (If you want to see some of the GoPro videos, check out my YouTube)
Day 8
The hubby and I got up nice and early and went on a gorgeous hike! We were just off the beach for most of the hike. We decided to cut through a different resort near the end of our hike because we hit a sandy sandy beach and didn't want the sand in our shoes. We got lucky as on our way back we got to walk through an old lava field and saw some petroglyphs. After our hike, we spent the day walking around a few of the shopping/strip malls that were close to the resort. We also got to see a local dance studio perform some hula dances which was so much fun! At the end of the night, we decided to take a short hike away from the lights and try to take some photographs of the galaxy. (Which you could see part of it with your eyes)
Day 9
Today is the last full day on the island and while I was ready to be home with our pups, I wasn't ready to go just yet! We hit the road and saw Akaka Falls, which is one of the tallest waterfalls accessible on the island. We went to a cute city garden/pond area and walked around which was really neat to see.
The Final Day and Flight Home
Today was our last day we packed all of our gear into the car and shuffled around the area. We went back to the shop to get lunch and walk around a few of the stores. After that, we headed back to Kona. We went back to "Food Truck Friday" for dinner. By the time we finished driving around and eating it was time to drop the car off at the airport. After dropping the car off we headed into our gate. It is an outdoor area so it was a bit warmer than I would've liked but it was manageable. The flights home weren't too bad. However, our luggage was put on an earlier flight to Des Moines during our layovers. Once we got to Des Moines, it took over an hour to get an agent to the desk to get out luggage. That was a long unneeded delay but thankfully it wasn't lost. (We could see it the whole time)
