Small Vacay on Hawaii

I recently went on a small vacation to Hawaii—more specifically, the Big Island. We stayed just outside the town of Kailua-Kona in a tiny town called Captain James Cook. I traveled to this island with my Hubbs and his brother, sister-in-law, and his parents (gasp! vaycay with the in-laws!!!)

This was definitely a trip that wasn’t in-character for my hubs and me. We spent most the time getting stir crazy because we were so far from town. My inlaws didn’t want to be getting in the car and exploring for a few hours, so we were stuck in a beautiful Air B&B.

Though we were stuck in this beautiful house, there was so much to take in all around it. We, meaning I, almost ran over an owl. Yes, you read that right. This owl flew straight towards the car and landed right in front of me on the ground, causing me to slam the breaks just in time for this beautiful bird to fly away. This amazing bird and I made eye contact, and it was rightfully so, due to my obsession with owls. We saw so many different types of everyday birds, and we saw many, many mongooses, as well as four different identifiable geckos.

One of the things I had noticed about this property was the size of the Plumerias that had surrounded it. These plants did not look like plants, they looked like huge oak trees, but they were in fact Plumerias. I was in complete awe of the amazing shades of colors that there were. I have only seen the white and yellow Plumerias, but now there were red, pink, hot pink, light pink, solid white, pink around the edges, and so many different shades. It truly was a sight to see.

This house was amazing. It had three bedrooms inside, with two outdoor beds at the ends of the house. So, for a few of the days that we were there, I just went for walks. Upon my walks, I found some really cool spots. A private-ish public beach went floating by some kayakers, who showed me some cool spots to snorkel and were just genuinely nice people.

Though we genuinely tried to find a spot to see the lava flowing, the national guard had set up roadblocks and was turning people away. So that was a bust. BUT as we got turned away we found the most incredible dive bar. It was called "The Dolphin Spit Saloon." Upon reading some of the reviews, we were genuinely intrigued as well as a bit scared. The reviews went on and on with playful puns like "A bar without a Porpous." I genuinely enjoyed this secret gem of a bar. I found the most amazing shaved ice store, which put ice cream down at the bottom of your shaved ice treat. It was so good.

One of the things I loved about this place was that one of the nights it was pouring down rain and, as my husband and I slept on the outside bed, we saw the lightning and heard the thunder out over the ocean. Something about that was so magical, as you would only see something like that once in a whole lifetime. On our stay at the Big Island, we experienced the rain but only at night. It would start up like clockwork. The sound was so soothing to me. Living on the mainland of Southern California, rain is an experience that is much longed for and desperately needed.

The week went by very slowly, but I tried to have fun and make the most out of a horrible situation. I still didn’t get to do a few things that I wanted: see some waterfalls, take the offroading segway tour, see the lava, or find some amazing hiking trails. But I also did a few fun things, like snorkel, kayak, and swim in the ocean every day.