
Once in a lifetime I am sure. Our hostess fixed us each whatever we wanted for breakfast. Waffles, eggs, fresh cut fruit, and of course fresh POG juice. She had a secret though...add a bit of mango to it too. So good...no wonder there was a POG flavored snow cone! After breakfast we loaded the cars with our things and went off to find a few waterfalls that were nearby. First stop, Rainbow Falls.


Which was really beautiful...and a great picture...but wow...the waterfall where we were staying was really a bit more impressive. We only stayed a minute or two then headed up the road. That's when we saw a HUGE Banyan tree. We parked and all went to check it out. It was giant! So cool! I didn't feel like getting into my suitcase to find my sneakers so I observed everyone climbing this giant tree.

It was too cool! Now mosquitoes were a problem. I coated myself in Off over and over yet had a dozen or more bites all over. We played for about thirty minutes then headed up the road to the next waterfall...PeePee Falls.

Again, quite beautiful, but still not anything near what we had off our porch at the Inn at KF.
We only stayed a few minutes then headed back down into town. We drove along Banyan Drive and saw all the trees. Each one is named with a plaque of the person who planted it and when. Really quite interesting. When the cars stopped to get out to look around, Howard, Ryan and I decided to go pick up our rental car from the Hilo airport. We needed a car to get us back over to the Kona side to go home. So Howard drove us over and dropped us off. We politely asked the lady, uh...is there anyway we can upgrade to a comfortable? They had a silver mustang waiting. Awesome! We hopped in and we led Howard back to Banyan Drive. We were going to try to eat an early lunch with everyone at Uncle Billy's, but it was closed. We decided it would be best for us to scoot on down the road and let them get along with their day. We transferred our bags over to our car then started saying our goodbyes. It was really hard. We didn't want to leave. After long hugs we got into the car and drove away. Felt weird not having everyone with us. We headed up the road, top down. The map showed a little scenic drive so we took it. That is when it really started raining. Had to pull over and put the top up. When we passed the Hawaii Botanical Gardens, it was raining so hard we decided not to stop. It's one thing if we would have had a place to change, but didn't feel like being wet the whole day. It was a beautiful drive through the rain forest though. HUGE towering trees all around you...very thin little road...how on earth do they keep that thing cleared and maintained. A constant chore I'm sure. Our next stop was Akaka Falls. Now that was impressive.

About three times what we'd seen before. Just breathtaking. Like a scene out of a movie. It wasn't raining up at the falls so we didn't mind walking around for a bit. When we got back in the car we were starting to get hungry, but not too bad quite yet. I found a bag of peanut M&M's and we snacked on them. Next stop was Laupahoehoe Point.

It was an eerie place. The town had been destroyed by tsunamis twice. You got an odd feeling being down there. You literally had to drive back up the cliff to get back to the highway. Lots of people camping, and extremely rough water. You truly got a feel that it was a dangerous place where bad things had happened before. There was a memorial set up there to those who had lost their lives. The boat ramp looked like a natural wave pool and kids were playing in it. I don't know...little too spooky for me. Anywho...back up the road we went. All the way up to Honokaa. It was the last stop before Wai'po Valley. I had an average sandwich at a place called Jolene's then we walked around town. We found a cute little souvenir shop and made a few purchases. Then it was time to head up to the Wai'po Valley Lookout. And, for the first time on the trip, I got to drive!

And that way Ryan could look around too. At the start of our trip we had gone to Pololu Lookout...well you could see the rocks from the picture we took at Pololu Beach while we were at the Wai'po Valley Lookout.

We'd done it. We made it almost completely around the island. There aren't any roads that connect those Wai'po and Pololu..just valleys. You can hike it, or kayak it, but not drive it. It was beautiful. We loaded back in the car and decided to try to find a side road further off the highway so we could look over the cliffs into the ocean as we drove. Ryan had me turn down a little road. Shortly after turning we decided it was in fact the wrong road, but it was one way, so we just kept going. When all the sudden I slammed on the brakes and took a turn. Hale Kukui...THAT'S WHERE THE REST OF THE FAMILY WAS STAYING THE NEXT NIGHT! You see, I'd taken a Father's Day card and a thank you card for Larry and Rita and found them in my journal while driving up that direction. Both of us were disappointed we had forgotten to give them to them before we left. So this was perfect! I pulled out my trip itinerary travel agent Howard had so carefully prepared. It gave perfect directions as to where they were staying, in what rooms, etc. It also mentioned "will be unlocked, keys on the kitchen counter." Ryan and I pulled in to the main house. We were going to at least tell the owner what we were about to do. Saw a dog...bunch of chickens, but not a person. We drove back over to the house, went into Larry and Rita's room and wrote their cards. Ryan even set the timer and took pictures of us writing.

We were so excited! We didn't feel right about not leaving KK & HH cards too. So we tore out a couple of pages from the dining section of the Big Island Guide (trust me, they were worthless) and Ryan wrote a couple of notes. We looked around a little bit, absorbed the gorgeous views they had then got back on the road. It was just meant to be for us to take that little wrong turn down the road. We got back on the highway and again it began to rain. This time hard all the way to Waimea. We tried to stop there to find some ice cream, but to no avail. Oh well. Next trip I guess. We did get the top put back down. It was just sprinkling and we could tell we were almost back to the desert side. As we drove out, Ryan exclaimed "Dayna I'm holding the wheel, turn around." It was a double rainbow!!! Wow...never seen that before.

Talk about cool! We drove straight to Mauna Kea beach. We got one of the few parking passes, parked and walked down to the water. It was gorgeous.

If we would have had any more time, I would have changed into my suit that was in my purse and played until we had to get on the plane. Ryan had to drag me out of the water and off the beach after about an hour. It was just as pretty as Hapuna, but not nearly as crowded. Goodbye beautiful water...goodbye beautiful sunset.

We showered off and headed back into Kona. We had dinner at a little Italian place along the sea wall. Second floor so you got a great view of the water.

I cleaned my plate of capellini and Ryan ate most all of his Hawaiian pizza. Even though we were both quite full, we went right over to the shaved ice place, again each getting our own so we could get the flavors we wanted. We sat on the steps of a souvenir shop and ate them, just taking it all in and enjoying our last few hours there. We walked across the street to a little boardwalk area and found all sorts of cool shops! Whoa! Why didn't we come here days earlier. Oh well. At least we were getting to see it now. We had heard you could buy a coconut and you could mail it...by itself...just the coconut, and we really had wanted to find one for Larry. The only time we had seen one he was with us so we couldn't get it then. But there we were, an hour before we were to be at the airport, we found it. You got to draw on it yourself or you could buy one artists had drawn on with puff paint. Ryan decided to pick one out and us draw on it ourselves. While he was writing, I was talking to the shop owner. Apparently only certain people can now mail coconuts! He had some special license to be able to do it. Okay dude, just so long as you'll mail it for us. We handed him the nut, and hustled to the car. We got to the rental car return just before the crowd. Got the car returned and were the only people on our shuttle to the gate. We started in a long line at the counter. Oh no. They took all your bags and scanned them. Then put a pink sticker on them. Scan #1 was done. Ryan saw a sign about e-check in customers go here...so he asked one of the workers...and she sent us to the front of the line....well, actually into the first class line! Wow! We just skipped like fifty or more people! Rock on! The lady checked us in then told us to take our checked bags over to scanner #2. Scanner #2 was TSA. They took our checked bags from us then we proceeded to security check three with our carry ons. Again...lucky and happy to not be in a line! Off go my shoes, there goes my purse and not a minute later, my shoes were back on and we were off to our gate. Well, I take that back Ryan stopped and bought us a couple of waters, I went to the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth and pulled my hair up. To walk into where the gate waiting was we one again had to send our things through another scanner. Things taken here were things like mangoes, pineapples and such. The two macadamia nuts I'd picked up off the ground earlier that day made it through though....didn't realize I even had them until I got home. Anyways, right before we boarded Ryan and I both went and changed into fresh clothes. Group 3...ugh...I hope we would still have room for our carry on luggage. This was going to be interesting. First class, families, group 1....then group 2 passengers and e-check in passengers...SCORE! We'd hit the jackpot again! So again we stood up, walked past a bunch of disgruntled passengers and strolled up the staircase onto the plane. I get teary thinking about how I was feeling even now. So very sad to leave. We nestled into our spots then had a young college aged girl sit down next to us. The three of us were great seat buddies. Ryan and I neither one slept very well. Ryan ended up buying a "nap sack" from USAirways and I think both of us started resting better after we got that. When we switched planes in Phoenix, our gate was only two down from where we had arrived. We drug ourselves over there, got on the plane to Phoenix and both immediately fell asleep and didn't wake up until we got the call from the flight crew telling us we were about to arrive in Dallas. Ugh...time changes stink. When we got to the airport, I called mom and she was already there waiting for us. We grabbed our bags, loaded up and headed home.
We had such a wonderful trip. Ryan and I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity of a lifetime to spend such a cool experience with family. Neither one of us will ever forget the generosity and love we got to be a part of on the trip. Aloha and Mahalo.

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