-ALOHA-

Hawai'i is very far away.  Over 11 hours of air time, 6 time zones from the east coast.  When we finally got off the plane, we exited outside into a pagoda where we waited for our luggage.  It was about 85 degrees.  We then got our cheesy little rental car and headed for a bite to eat.  The Kona Brewing Company was our very first stop on the west side of the island.  We had a cool beverage and some chips and salsa and headed to the resort.


Driving to the resort we noticed the highway is lined with lava rocks on both sides.  Everything is rocky and dark brown.  On the surface of the brown lava was what we called 'Hawaiian graffiti'.  Messages in white stones were of  love notes, or names of people who died, or the name of someone's dog with a dog bone outline.  Beware: NO ONE touches the rocks.  There were also these 'prayer rocks' which were stacks of rocks piled on top of each other that represented a prayer.  It reminded me of Old Testament memorials.
Someone shared with us that you are not allowed to take any sand from the island.  There is black sand, green sand, white sand, and salt and pepper sand.  The sand is said to be 'cursed' but people take the sand anyway, get home, and after whatever unfortunate events befall them, send the sand back to Hawai'i!  There is an actual address to send the sand back to Hawai'i!  What belongs on the island stays on the island!



This little bird is called a Java Bird.  Let me tell you, Kona coffee is the best coffee I have ever tasted!



Hawai'i is filled with beautiful, aromatic flowers.  I fell in love with the color orange in the flowers and trees; it is an appropos color for a lava island!

This 40' tree is one of the most conspicuous flowering trees seen in the tropics. Bright fiery red/orange blossoms cover its mimosa type leaves which close up and go to sleep for the night. Very tropical!  This tree is called Royal Poinciana.

We stayed at the Waikoloa Marriot, which embraced us with peace and beauty.  Everything is completely open, the lobby, the restaurants, every room had a view of the Pacific Ocean.  The ocean is various shades of deep blue, which marks where the coral is, or aqua, or turquoise.  You can see straight down to the bottom of the water is soo clear!  You could walk right out to the sandy area and into the water for all kinds of fun water play.  We saw a sea turtle sunbathing on the salt & pepper sanded beach.

We grabbed a sandwich, and watched the beautiful sunset and went to bed!

More to come...
Blessings,
E.W.