Saturday, March 17, 2007

Halfway to Oregon







When my mom asked me if I would meet her in Hawaii on my way back to the states, I thought about it for 5 minutes, and then I said yes. I'm now on the Big Island, staying in Kona. My mom will be joining me here in a few days, but for now I’m on my own.

At the ripe age of 27, the guilt associated with tanning and endless sun basking has grown pretty strong. To avoid the all day lounge, I’ve been doing a lot of hiking along the rocky coastline. I’ll admit that until the hikes began, I wasn’t too keen on Kona. Chain restaurants & groups of half naked men yelling at me out the backs of their trucks isn’t my idea of vacation. Fortunately, since the hikes began, the nature and wildlife are turning me into more of a Kona fan.

This island is different from the others because it’s the newest. It’s still pouring molten lava into the ocean. This makes for a very rocky (lava rock) coastline. The lava creates these partially enclosed pools just at the point where the ocean meets the sand or rock. After my long hike today, I tested one of the pools out and gave it an A+!

Things I saw today:

Lots of surfers
4 Hawaiian green turtles sunbathing
A dirty old swimming pool that needs some love and restoration
Lots of lava rock & really cool driftwood
A little bird in a tree
A great sunset – deep orange/red sun, grey/green waves framed with the black & white rocky coast (all I could think about was getting my hands on some paint)

5 comments:

Driscoll said...

Hey! Hawaii looks great. Wish I was there with you.:)

Robin said...

Damn! That doesn't suck! Ahhh. How I long for a tropical vacation...

Krystin said...

Aloha Bonnie!

Ingrid said...

oh bonnie. this makes me really really sad that i can't be there. you should try to make your way to hilo... it's really beautiful on that side too. kapoho tide pools is where it's at.

Sarah Margaret said...

Ahh, lovely. It's lovely here in Portland, too though! I hope I see you when you are here!