Hawai'i

[kz1000ps]

I just went to Hawai'i for the first time and I have no idea what to say other than it lives up to the billing.

It was for our honeymoon and we went to the big island. Also we broke up the travel out there by spending a few nights in Los Angeles (should've been two nights but the non-storm on Feb 13th forced us out a day early).

 

[kz1000ps]

But now on to the main attraction of "The Big Island"

First full day, we did one of those 12 hour around-the-island tours where we got to see a bit of everything the island has to offer. This isia coffee farm... me love Kona coffee

Black Sand Beach

Kilauea, the big active volcano. Pictures don't do it justice

And now into the rainforest and waterfall areas

Once again, pictures don't do justice

 

[kz1000ps]

And now early the next day, back at the hotel

Beach time

Heading into the island's second biggest city of Kona

 

[kz1000ps]

Another day, another morning where I have to go fetch my beloved Kona coffee

We now head towards those hills... the Kohala Mountain

Vanshnookenraggen was my best man at my wedding, and I was peppering him with pics and videos the whole time. He called this the "Windows XP zone"

And it was up here that ya boi kz rode a horse for the first time ever

So this area looks like the Windows XP hills because it has imported grass from Kenya and it has a climate just like Ireland... cool, wet, windy

The weather kept switching between rainy and broad sunlight

Onward to the Waipi'o Valley Overlook

Another insane sunset

The horseback riding Windows XP zone is right above the gazebo --------------- v v v

 

[kz1000ps]

And with this, we're onto the last day. 5 nights and days was NOT ENOUGH TIME

We now head to the far northern corner of the island, with Maui lurking off in the distance

Keokea Beach

Cute town of Hawi

And now we have to leave

 

[Java King]

Congratulations on your honeymoon! Beautiful photos. We stayed at the SAME resort on the Big Island a few years ago, so I know exactly where you are.

 

[Arenacale]

Looks like you did Hawaii the "right" way by picking one island and sticking to it. We island hopped for our honeymoon (4 days on Waikiki as a base with daytrips to the big island and Maui and then 3 days in Kauai) and I got pretty burned out with all the tours. There were some other extenuating circumstances, but overall I wasn't as taken by it as I maybe should have been. We've had a couple of false starts doing another trip back there, but I'm still reluctant.

Oh, and congratulations!

 

[MrDee12345]

I lived in Honolulu in 2001-02. Besides Oahu, the only other island I got to visit was Kauai.

I really regret never making it out to the Big Island - It looks amazing.

 

[HenryAlan]

Congratulations, @kz1000ps and thanks so much for sharing the pics! It really brought back memories from my one visit, which was also at the Big Island. I also really enjoyed seeing the pics of my hometown at the beginning. LA has much better urbanism than people realize.

 

[kz1000ps]

Congratulations on your honeymoon! Beautiful photos. We stayed at the SAME resort on the Big Island a few years ago, so I know exactly where you are.

Insane. It was a gift from her parents and I'm not a golfer so I felt a tiny bit like a fish out of water, but aside from that we couldn't have asked for more. Along with the Kona coffee and chocolate malasada from Brown's Deli, I really grew to look forward to the breakfast buffet each and every morning.

Also I ran into Mike Tirico from NBC Sports there (he's lurking in one of the pics) which tracks since it's such a golfer's paradise.

Looks like you did Hawaii the "right" way by picking one island and sticking to it. We island hopped for our honeymoon (4 days on Waikiki as a base with daytrips to the big island and Maui and then 3 days in Kauai) and I got pretty burned out with all the tours. There were some other extenuating circumstances, but overall I wasn't as taken by it as I maybe should have been. We've had a couple of false starts doing another trip back there, but I'm still reluctant.

Oh, and congratulations!

So we debated whether to do Hawai'i or Bermuda for our honeymoon with all the usual arguments for and against each of them being raised. The logistics are daunting but having gone through it now we have literally zero regrets other than we should have stayed longer. One of those 12 hour tours was more than enough so I can't imagine doing a bunch of those... that sounds exhausting and like a classic case of vacation over-programming, which is something we specifically said we wouldn't do on this trip. She's been to Maui and Waikiki so she had a really good bearing on what was must-see and what wasn't.

And thank you!

LA has much better urbanism than people realize.

Hear, hear. LA is extremely far from perfect, but the popular conception of it among us urban nerds also ain't perfect, and I have no problem finding worthwhile urbanism or history there whenever I visit. Honestly I find LA to be energizing like few other places on earth and I always have a good time out there.

If it were up to me I'd have lived there for at least a few years by now (I worked in showbiz for years) but I'm extra tethered to Boston at this point because my wife comes from a massive Catholic Italian family that's rooted in the Waltham-Wellesley area like cockroaches... her aunt is the freaking mayor of Waltham for 20 years running and was at our wedding. So my window on living out there has probably closed for good, but hey that just means I get to look forward to visiting all the more