Week 15: 4/9-4/15

Sunday: Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike Arrive (Volcano and Market)

The beginning part of the day was spent sleeping in and waiting on my aunt and uncle to make the drive from Kona side to our rental house on the opposite side of the island here in Hilo. They got into Kona around 7 pm last night and spent the night at a hotel over there. They made it to the house around 11 am. I was so excited to see them! We spent the next hour or so around the house letting them get comfortable and take a nap and went to the market down the street from their house. When we were ready to go, we headed up to volcano national park so they could see the volcano. The first thing we did when we got into the park was go to the restaurant to grab food. I had Kaula Pork Pizza with Barbeque sauce and Pineapple. It was so yummy. Everyone else had Mahi Mahi or grilled cheese and tomato soup. When we were done eating, we went to the sulfur banks to show them another view of the crater and to see the steam that is coming out of the crater everywhere. Then we drove down to the museum so they could see the lava in the lava lake. The lava lake was huge today. There were two spots again where the lava was coming up just like last week. We took lots of pictures and then went towards the other side of the crater and stopped at the Thurston lava tube. We walked through the tube and then made the drive to devastation trail where I sifted through lots of lava so that I could show them what Pele’s tears and hair is. Then after walking around the crater on devastation trail we got in the car and drove down crater rim drive. Crater rim drive is soo pretty and for the first time ever we drove all the way to the end of the road. The drive goes through several different lava flows from over the years most of which all travel down the cliff into the ocean. At the end of the road when you look up you can see the dark black lava next to some of the green grass areas that were never touched or the grass has started to grow over again. It was so neat. I can’t imagine what tons of lava spreading down the cliff would look like. I know for a fact that it would scare me to no end. When we made it to the end of the road, we decided to take a walk through the lava fields and found the Pu’u loa Petroglyphs that are anywhere from 200-300 years old. They were images of people, canoes, circles, and all sorts of other shapes. In order to make them they would have a sharp rock and bang it with another rock. It was a really fun trail. Aunt Holly and I were worried that my grandmother would fall and get hurt but she made it the whole hike! We were so proud of her. When we finished the hike, we got back in the car and headed towards Hilo and grabbed dinner at Pizza Hut. I know what you are thinking pizza hut for dinner in Hawaii, I know I know but my uncle Mike loves pizza and it was fast. So, we ate pizza and hung out for a while before dropping me off so I could do homework and go to class in the morning.

Monday: Green Sand Beaches

In my Ohana class today we talked about pregnancy carvings and where names get their names from, and then in Aquaculture we were talking about finfish. When I was done with my classes, Mimi, Pete, Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike and I drove to South Point so we could go to green sand beach. Along the way, we stopped at Punaloa Bakery so they could try malasadas and eat lunch. We had sandwiches and oranges at the picnic tables in the shade and then headed the rest of the way to the green sand beach. We parked the car and got on our way. Now y’all this is where the story gets interesting. Before we left I asked everyone if they thought they could do the hike. It is pretty flat for the most part but there are spots that are going to be hard and have a lot of rocks. I told them we could do the shuttles but they all said we can do. SO, we decided to go on the hike. We left around 2:30 and about an hour into the hike my aunt and I noticed that Pete and Mimi where far behind so we stopped. About 30 minutes later they were slowly coming over the hill and they were talking to a couple. This is where the story goes from good to bad. Aunt Holly and I walk over to them and find out that my grandmother fell and twisted her ankle. There was no way she was going to make it to green sands so we stood there for about 15 minutes and waited for a car to come by. While we were waiting, I found service and was able to text Uncle Mike and tell him what happened. When a car showed up we were able to get her in the back of the car and they drove back to the parking lot. I felt soo bad that she wouldn’t be able to see the beach. She really wanted to go. And I feel bad that I hurt my grandmother. I really didn’t think that was going to happen when we left earlier in the day. I thought this was a hike she would be able to do no problem especially after walking over lava flows the day before. Pete, Aunt Holly and I continued walking to try and find Uncle Mike and to see green sand beach. On the hike over we ran in Uncle Mike and he said that he was about 100 yards away from the beach when he got my text and decided to turn around. Aunt Holly and I felt so bad we had texted him. We asked if he wanted to walk back to the beach with us but said no he will go help Mimi. So, we continued walking and on the way this man named Andre picked us up and gave us a ride to the beach. I love green Sand beach and I think that Pete and Aunt Holly loved it too. We stayed there for about 30 minutes and then when we climbed back out Andre offered us a ride back since it was getting close to 5:00. We hopped in his car along with some girls from Sweden and got a ride back. Me being the adventurous and youngest out of the group got to ride in the trunk with no air or seatbelt and I hit my head on the roof of the car three times. I am so glad that Andre gave us a ride though, I don’t think I would have made it back to the car otherwise. When we got back to the car it was close to 5:30. Pete and I helped Mimi get situated in the back seat so her leg was up and drove back home. Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike went to Taco bell to get food and Pete, Mimi, and I stopped at three different shops to look for ankle braces that Mimi could use. We think she sprained her leg so we have been icing it and keeping it elevated. We are going to keep an eye on it the rest of the week. After we ate Aunt Holly and Pete took me back to campus so I could get ready for my classes.

Tuesday: Luau!

Global Change was a lot of fun today. We finished up our projects on invasive species and talked about ocean acidification and y’all I love talking about ocean acidification. It is one of my favorite things to talk about. I hope one day I will get the chance to study it, but anyway after that I went to Volcano and Earthquakes and we watched another video and talked some more about the different types of faults and what causes the big earthquakes to occur. Then I grabbed lunch with Michaela and headed to coral reefs where we talked more about coral fish. When classes where done, I ran back to my room and got dressed for the Luau. I finally get to go to a touristy luau. I went to a luau at the beginning of the semester hosted by BCM which was more of what a family luau would be like so I was very excited that I would get to experience this. They picked me up around 2:30, and we headed straight over to the Hilton Resort in Kona. The Resort in Kona was massive. It was so beautiful! They had a boat and a train system to get people around the island. Next time I come to Hawaii I want to stay in a resort just to experience it. We took the tram to the luau location and got to be one of the first ones to pick our seats since my grandmother was injured. Because of this we got to sit at the front of the table and had a great view of the stage. The luau was a lot of fun. They had a presentation on pulling the pig out of the ground and cutting it, opening a coconut with your hand and a rock, and taught us how to hula before dinner. Then they opened the bar and allowed people to get dinner. They did it by tables and we were one of the middle groups to go. While we waited, I went to the bar and got Pina coladas and lava flows for everyone. The food was great. They had every Hawaiian dish imaginable, and I just had to try them all. My favorites were the sweet potato salad and the Huapia. Coconut pudding is my favorite thing ever. It is so delicious. I hope to find an easy recipe and make it sometime. When we were done eating the hula performance began and it was incredible. They had hula demonstrations from the olden times that involved throwing sticks. They also had the more modern and graceful hula and they had the flame throwers. It was really neat. When the luau finished, we got back to our cars and drove home. We made it home by 10:30 which was a lot sooner then I originally thought it would be and I crashed as soon as I got back in my dorm.

Wednesday: Extreme Helicopter

Today was a lot of the same as Monday. I woke up and went to ‘Ohana where we reviewed for our exam that will be next Friday and talked a little about our debate that would happen in a couple weeks. I was assigned the Cons of Homelessness in Hawaii and I was partnered with Emma which made me super happy. We are going to crush this debate in a few weeks. When that class was over it started pouring rain and I got soaked between my classes. It was a good thing that Aquaculture ended early because I had time to change before Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike picked me up. I was surprised when Mimi and Peter were not with them but they said her foot was really swollen and that they went to the hospital to get checked out. So, while we waited for them to call we went to Café Pesto for lunch and I got a really good southwest pasta that had chicken, alfredo, chipotle, peppers and onions. It was so spicy but so yummy. Then we went to the market in Hilo and went shopping. Aunt Holly got lots of stuff and I picked up a few things. While we were there we got the call from Pete and he said that Mimi broke her ankle. They didn’t know if she would need surgery, but they would know as soon as they got home later in the week and could get to the doctor. Aunt Holly, Uncle Mike and I went to the store and got Mimi crutches so she could walk around and we met them at the house before the three of us went on the helicopter tour. Oh, and this wasn’t just any helicopter tour…it was an extreme helicopter tour meaning there were no doors or seatbelts…jk there were seatbelts but no doors so the wind was blowing straight in your face the whole time while was incredible. I felt like a Bird! The helicopter tour was incredible. We flew with Paradise tours and it was amazing. It left from Hilo airport and went all over the place. We flew over the Macnut plantation, over the old lava flows and even flew over the crater that holds the lava lake that is sending the lava into the ocean. That was so COOOL!!!! We were literally 300 feet away from a lava lake in the crater. Sean flew us back and forth over the lava lake so we could get pictures and then he flew us down the lava flow to where the LAVA IS FLOWING INTO THE OCEAN! I have already seen it from land but man this was incredible! Seeing the red meet the blue sea and form a huge smoke cloud was so cool. I think seeing it from the sky was much better, my feet definitely didn’t hurt like the last two times J. After circling the lava several times, we flew back towards Hilo and to the waterfalls north of town. You can see the waterfall from the air and it is illegal to swim in them because they are used as Hilo’s water source, but honestly that doesn’t stop people. Then we flew back over Hilo to watch the sunset and then made our way back to the airport. When we got off the helicopter my hair was all of the place and I was a hot mess. I’m glad there weren’t any cute single guys around, that would have been very embarrassing partially because of my hair and partially for the fact that I was jumping up and down acting like a crazy person because that was just amazing. I am going to do another extreme helicopter tour in the future! It is definelty on my top 5 list. When we got back to the house Mimi wasn’t feeling well so Aunt Holly, Uncle Mike and I went to Black Rock Café in Pahoa and got dinner and brought back dinner for them. After they ate they all took me back to my dorm.

Thursday: Surprise Snorkel!!!!!!

Today was the last day of class for the week! Thank you, Hawaii, for celebrating every holiday they can and for canceling classes for them! I really appreciate the more time to explore the island. In my global change class, we talked about water quality and about new inventions that are being created to help third world countries. One of the inventions I did not know about is called the book of life which is paper that filters the water and removes all of the bad things from it. The best part that is a book with about 50 sheets can last about 4 years and cost pennies to make! That’s incredible and these really should be implemented more often. I have never even heard of them so I know they are not being used as much as they could be! In Volcanoes and Earthquakes, we started talking about earthquake safety and how Los Angeles is due for an earthquake that could destroy the whole city. In Coral Reef Ecology, we finished talking about the different coral reef fish species. When my class was done, I had to run back to my room again and Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike were already there. I ran into my room really quickly and changed into my swimsuit and grabbed all of my beach stuff because we were going to do a MANTA RAY SNORKEL on Kona side! I have been wanting to do this all semester and I am finally glad it worked out! We left Hale Alahanoua around 2:30 and made it to the dock around 4:30 and got fitted for wet suites, had the safety talk, hopped on the boat and were on our way. It was about a 30-minute boat ride to our location. And like every other boat I have been on this semester, I was on the bow of the ship the whole entire time. Along the way, I was standing on the bow of the ship and dolphins started to jump in our waves. It was so cool! It has been years since I have seen that. When we anchored the boat, we had about another hour and a half to wait until we could get in the water. During that time, they turned on the lights on the bottom of the boat and the raft to get the phytoplankton and the zooplankton swimming around and we had another safety talk, ate some pineapple, made small talk with other people on the snorkel trip and they told us everything we needed to know about our time in the water. The last 30 minutes or so were spent getting in wet suits, putting on masks and snorkels and hoping in the water. While waiting to get in the water we saw 2 manta rays! One even jumped out of the water! It was so cool! I didn’t know they jumped but apparently when a female is giving birth she jumps out of the water and slams her back against the water and the 3-foot baby will pop out! I guess that might have been what happened but I don’t think so, I think she was just jumping for fun because I did not see a 3 foot, 300 pound baby coming flying out but that might just be me not understanding how that happens J. After that happened it was time to get in the water. I was one of the first in the water as I expected. When we got in the water we swam over to the surfboards that had lights built into them and held on the pipes that where attached. We were laying in the water for about 10 minutes before we saw our first manta ray. It didn’t come close but you could clearly see it. This one was about 10 to 11 feet long. After another five minutes is when the show really began and lasted until we got out of the water. The manta rays would swim up to the light, circle back and then do it all over again. It was like they were doing summersaults. And at one time there were three or four doing it! The best was when one of the 13 footers touched my face with its fin! IT TOUCHED MY FACE! ISNT THAT AWESOME! I was just having the time of my life. Watching these huge creatures swim was incredible. I don’t understand how they can even swim when they weigh close to 1300 pounds, well I actually do understand but who wants to think about science when you are swimming with these majestic beings. I know I don’t for once in my life. It was just an incredible experience and definitely is in my top 3 for the semester. I was so sad when Gabe told me I had to get out of the water. I could have laid there all day just watching the manta rays. I was having a blast! When we got on the boat we were rinsed down with warm water and got fresh baked cookies. It was great. When we were done rinsing everyone off we made the journey back to the dock and then made the 2-hour car ride back to Hilo. Since I didn’t have school in the morning I got to stay with them at the house and would get to spend all day with my grandparents since they were now leaving Friday instead of Sunday.

Friday: Lava Boat Tour/ Mimi and Pete Leave :(

For the fourth time this semester I can say NO SCHOOL FOR HOLIDAY! WOO HOO! I love the fact that Hawaii loves to give all of its students every holiday off. It is just great! I got to spend my grandparents last full day in Hawaii with them. In the morning, they let me sleep in since we didn’t get back until really late from the manta ray dive. I slept in to about 9:30 and then I was up. Around 10:30 we left for breakfast at Ken’s dinner. This is the last meal that all five of us would have in Hawaii together L. I had pancakes and a huge omelet and everyone else had pancakes and eggs benedict or omelets or just pancakes. Basically, we had a lot of leftover food between the five of us all of which I got to eat. When we were done with breakfast, all five of us went up to Rainbow falls. Mimi and Pete had already been there the first day they arrived but they wanted to see it again too. I took Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike to the top of the falls and the swimming area in the back to show them the rocks I have jumped off of! They were really impressed with the beauty and how cold the water was. When we were got back down Mimi and Pete went back to the house to pack and I took Uncle Mike and Aunt Holly to the waterfall behind Rainbow falls called boiling pots. When we were done looking there, we went back to the house to hang out with them and too help them pack. Around 4:30 we left to go on the lava boat tour and they left for the airport. I was really sad to see them leave. I had so much fun with them the last three weeks and really wish they could have stayed longer. I am so glad that they came to visit. It is definitely one of the highlights of my trip. So, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Uncle Mike, Aunt Holly, Joy, Mike and I went to the boat and landing and did the lava boat tour that night. It WAS INCREDIBLE! The boat ride to the lava was so much fun. I was at the front of the ship again and was getting soaked. The boat we were on was a mass metal boat with four motors and it only took us about 40 minutes to travel 16 miles on the ocean. I don’t know about you but to me that seems pretty fast. When we got to the place where the lava is going into the ocean you could feel the temperature difference. As soon as you entered the zone where the lava touched the water the temperature went up about 25 degrees. It was crazy! But the even crazier part of this story is that we got 50 FEET AWAY FROM HOT FLOWING LAVA! Yes, that is correct, I got 50 feet from a hot lava flow but don’t worry I didn’t stick my hand out of the boat super far and I have all of my body parts still :). Well I guess 50 feet is better than the foot away I got when we walked to the stuff flowing down the side of the island but that’s another story. Back to this one, it was so neat to see the red-hot lava hit the cool blue pacific ocean. It was something I never imagined seeing before. The best was when the giant sulfur cloud would clear and you could see the geyser of lava just trickling into the water. I am so thankful that I got to go on the boat. I never imagined it would happen and I can now say I have seen the lave entering the ocean from land, sea, and sky! HAHA who else can say that! But it was just incredible. Another cool thing about this trip was that this weekend was the last one that Hawaii would allow us to get this close to the lava. They passed a law not long ago saying that after Easter no one could get closer then 1000 feet. I am so glad we went when we did. Oh, and another fun fact for all you Game of Throne fans, Iwan Rheon or his character Ramsay Bolton was on the boat with us and I had a conversation with him and didn’t even know it was him. Later that night we went to New York Pizza in Pahoa and he was there too. It wasn’t until after he left that my Aunt Holly was like was that Ramsay and I was like I don’t know so I went Instagram stalking, yes yes I know but I am still a teenageish girl and had to see if he was actually in Hawaii. So, I added him and his girlfriend on Instagram to see if they would post anything about being in Hawaii and low and behold a couple hours later there were pictures of lizards found in Hawaii and lava flowing into the ocean on their Instagram accounts. So even though I didn’t see or meet Josh Hutcherson, McGarrett, Danno or Jeff Goldblum while I was here I kinda met a famous person, sort of, well I was in the same room as him at least. Had my aunt told me before they left I would have gone up to him and asked for a picture, but I didn’t recognize him. So, life lesson people if you are with me and we see a famous person tell me, and I will be the creepy stalker fan and go up and ask for a picture; don’t believe me…well you may be right but if its someone I know you bet I will go running :(.

Saturday: Turtle Snorkel/ Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike Leave :(

Sadly, this is the last day that Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike will be in Hawaii. I wish they could stay too! I don’t know why everyone had to leave at the same time! It was so much fun having people here for three weeks. I don’t know what I would have done without them! After the amazing night we had last night, all three of us slept in. When I woke up, Mike, Joy, Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike were eating breakfast Joy made. It was so yummy! We had eggs, mushrooms, bacon, salad, grapes and a smoothie. It was delicious. While I was still eating, and talking to Mike about our favorite places we have traveled, aunt Holly and uncle Mike went and packe. I soon joined them in packing and cleaning up the house before we needed to leave. When we were saying goodbye, Joy gave me and aunt Holly jewelry and a surang. I am going to miss Mike and Joy they were so sweet and I loved talking to them. After saying our goodbyes, it was time to go. We packed the car and Aunt Holly, Uncle Mike and I stopped by Walmart to get them an extra suitcase to take on the plane, and a couple more gifts for people. When we were done with that, we got in the car and I took them to the beaches with all of the turtles. The first one we stopped at was Carlsmith beach and just like every other time I have gone here we saw turtles. They absolutely loved it. We got so close to them, don’t worry we stayed back the 15 feet but still it was just incredible! The three of us swam around here for a little bit before heading over too Richardson Beach to go snorkeling. Uncle Mike had a couple phone calls to make so Aunt Holly and I went in and snorkeled for a bit. It took us a while to get out there because of waves but she was able to see a lot of the fish and corals. We didn’t stay out to long snorkeling because the waves were pushing us everywhere so we went back in and decided to walk around to where all the turtles live instead. When we got to that area on the side of the beach we saw 4 sea turtles! It was so cool! I love sea turtles. The two of us stayed out there for a couple minutes and then headed back to the beach to get our stuff and head back to my dorm so they could take a shower before lunch and leaving. We ate lunch at the Thai restaurant downtown and it was so good. Aunt Holly and I had Chicken Padi Thai and Uncle Mike had pineapple chicken fried rice and as a treat, all three of us had mango sticky rice. Y’all mango sticky rice is the greatest thing I have ever had in my life. The rice has coconut in it and it is just wonderful; it’s like candy. When we were done eating they dropped me off at my dorm and we said goodbye. They had another 2-hour journey ahead of them before they got on the plane. I was also sad to see them go. Telling people see you later is very hard. Once they left I went back to my room showered and laid in my bed and took a nap. The last three weeks have just been incredible and I am so glad that I got to experience Hawaii with my family.

#VolcanoNationalPark #Market #Luau #GreenSandBeach #LavaBoatTour #HelicopterTour #MantaRaySnorkel #CarlsmithBeach #ThaiFood