Whosyergurl [Hoosier girl] - Mutterings from a midwest gal.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Holei Sea Arch, Papakolea beach & Ka Lae

After we left Volcano National Park, we went to Holei (small native Hawai'ian tree) Sea Arch. The Sea Arch is located at the end of Chain of Craters Road.

Holei Sea Arch

Looking down over the edge
(very daring of me to take a shot like this)

Doug & me

One has to be careful around unstable cliffs

I shouldn't make fun and may get a comment telling me so. The winds blow so hard here that trees nearly lay sideways. They take advantage of the wind with a wind farm. The cliffs are eighty to ninety feet high but waves reportedly come over the edge of the cliffs at times.

"the hole"

We witnessed a couple of local geologists jumping into the hole. The waves come up and then go down and that is when they jumped. You can climb back out or they said you could swim under water a short distance and come out at the edge of the cliff wall. Despite just getting married the day before, Doug's son had to jump. We tried to tell him it wouldn't be cool if he widowed his bride the day after the wedding.

Tyler ready to jump off at Ka Lae South Point

Papakolea Beach circled by Pu'umahana
(a cinder cone formed 49,000 years ago)

One of two green sand beaches in the world. The green sand is crushed olivine, a green semi-precious mineral found in eruptive rocks and meteorites.

To reach Papakolea beach, one has to hike for two hours across dry, sandy, rutted roads. Or, you can take a four-wheel drive like we did. We packed seven into a jeep. I sat on Doug's lap in the front seat. We had four in the back seat. It was a lot of fun. It took us close to an hour to reach the beach and then we had to park and hike down. With the exception of maybe six other people, we had the place to ourselves. Needless to say, the journey to Papkolea isn't for the faint of heart. There are no facilities, no water, nothing. But the lure is undeniable.

Our crew at the beach

Doug & me

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Volcano National Park 2/16/10

The morning after the wedding, several of us met at the cabin of the bride and groom for a day of sight-seeing. First, we toured Volcano National Park.

the Mr. & Mrs.

"vog"

The vog was heavy on the day we were in the park. Some of the rangers wore personal breathing apparatuses. Vog, similar to fog other than the fact that it is smoke and not mist. In other words, a volcano belch.

Rain forest. Lush, warm, damp. "Lava tube." Similar to a cave, but made of lava.

roots coming through the ceiling

I love caves and while this wasn't a cave, it was similar and fun to explore. Most of it was wide and visibility was clear. We did venture off down a side tunnel and had to use a flashlight. Similar to a cave, it was cooler underground and wet.

lava field in the park.

You could hike across. We did not.

beauty from ashes

delicate flowers, similar to baby's breath

this looked like snap-dragons

morning glory

I was fascinated with the vegetation that somehow was able to grow from the rock. Small ferns and flowers were everywhere. I lagged behind our group, snapping photos. While in Volcano National Park, I wore an IUAA t-shirt and we met two couples on the trail who asked us if we were from Bloomington, IN and then Doug recognized one of the men. It was crazy. Going from Indiana to Hawaii and running into people who live in our same town! And then I ran into them in a restaurant last week and stopped and said "you are the people we ran into in Hawaii!" She said "we have told that story so many times."

this is where lava flowed over highway 130,

causing it to be closed for some time.

Petroglyphs
I said this was the wedding couple because she has a ring.

the bride
back to her old self the day after the wedding
she is a crazy girl and we love her

me.

I thought I was hilarious to pose with this sign.

This wasn't the end of the day, but this is the end of this post. To answer a few questions from comments I've received- this isn't my family, but Doug's family, of which I am not an official member. The wedding photographer said "oh, you are the fiance'." I guess he had been told "Tyler's dad and his fiance." And before you ask the next question, ("when are you getting married?") don't. Who knows if/when. And yes, Doug's family is rather unconventional and rather adventuresome. And yes, the wedding was the reason that we went to Hawaii. Neither of us had ever been and we kept saying "thank you, Tyler, for making us come to Hawaii." Now, all we want to do is go back!

Monday, March 15, 2010

2/15/10 The wedding day!

Because Tyler and Lauren had been to Hawai'i three times, they wanted to get married in Hawai'i. They decided to get married at Punalu'u black sand beach. Tyler said "every time we've been there we've seen sea turtles."