mmroden
Aug-22-2006, 04:05 PM
Hi Everyone,
My lovely wife and I just got back from our honeymoon in Hawai'i! It really is the perfect vacation spot, except for the large number of car crashes from people all over the world and their different approaches to driving.
Our trip started off with us getting lost in Waikiki, and eventually figuring it out and stopping by at Duke's. Duke's is a chain, actually, which we realized when we got in; it's the same as in Malibu. So, the next day, we hiked up to Diamondhead State Park, to get a view of the ocean:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89971104-M.jpg
As well as a very panoramic vista of Waikiki itself:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89971562-L.jpg
If you've ever been to Santa Monica, then you've been to Waikiki, except Santa Monica is more low key and cheaper with most of the same restaurants.
They do have commercial Luau's in Waikiki, and they're pretty fun, with some very impressive fire handling:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89987209-M.jpg
So, then we went to the Big Island, and on our first day, went to the Boiling Pots, just up the road from the B&B we stayed at:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89971406-M.jpg
I kept expecting creatures from the most recent King Kong to come out of the forest at us.
The next day, we went on a lava hike, 5 miles out to see lava, and 5 miles back. Older lava flows have definitely overrun the road:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89968652-M.jpg
The heat from the flow itself is intense:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89988770-M.jpg
(it's a post about a honeymoon, I'm surprised I managed to restrain myself to just the one shot of us).
Luckily, there is a lot of rainfall, so you can get some pretty spectacular rainbows:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89985005-L.jpg
Short plug: the only tour company we could find that would take us directly to the lava, instead of 200 yards away and handing us binoculars, was Arnott's Lodge. They were also the cheapest, and had some pretty stringent entry requirements. Not everyone can (or wants to) make a hike over 5 miles of volcanic rock and glass; two people tripped and cut their hands open trying to steady themselves.
The next day, we went to the summit of Mauna Kea, which has some of the largest telescopes in the world:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89984990-M.jpg
as well as some pretty spectacular vistas (vistae for those who studied Latin, I suppose):
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89985008-M.jpg
The next day, we went on a hike to the Green Sand Beach. it's fairly remote: 2.5 mile hike, followed by rock climbing and bouldering to get to the beach itself. The guidebooks mention that it's also a pretty high-theft area, so I left the camera behind.
For our final day, we returned to Waikiki to a dinner at Alan Wong's, which I highly recommend.
And now, I'm back here on the mainland, getting adjusted to married life for real.
Thanks for reading!
More shots are at:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/gallery/1804281
and
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/gallery/1803920
My lovely wife and I just got back from our honeymoon in Hawai'i! It really is the perfect vacation spot, except for the large number of car crashes from people all over the world and their different approaches to driving.
Our trip started off with us getting lost in Waikiki, and eventually figuring it out and stopping by at Duke's. Duke's is a chain, actually, which we realized when we got in; it's the same as in Malibu. So, the next day, we hiked up to Diamondhead State Park, to get a view of the ocean:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89971104-M.jpg
As well as a very panoramic vista of Waikiki itself:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89971562-L.jpg
If you've ever been to Santa Monica, then you've been to Waikiki, except Santa Monica is more low key and cheaper with most of the same restaurants.
They do have commercial Luau's in Waikiki, and they're pretty fun, with some very impressive fire handling:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89987209-M.jpg
So, then we went to the Big Island, and on our first day, went to the Boiling Pots, just up the road from the B&B we stayed at:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89971406-M.jpg
I kept expecting creatures from the most recent King Kong to come out of the forest at us.
The next day, we went on a lava hike, 5 miles out to see lava, and 5 miles back. Older lava flows have definitely overrun the road:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89968652-M.jpg
The heat from the flow itself is intense:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89988770-M.jpg
(it's a post about a honeymoon, I'm surprised I managed to restrain myself to just the one shot of us).
Luckily, there is a lot of rainfall, so you can get some pretty spectacular rainbows:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89985005-L.jpg
Short plug: the only tour company we could find that would take us directly to the lava, instead of 200 yards away and handing us binoculars, was Arnott's Lodge. They were also the cheapest, and had some pretty stringent entry requirements. Not everyone can (or wants to) make a hike over 5 miles of volcanic rock and glass; two people tripped and cut their hands open trying to steady themselves.
The next day, we went to the summit of Mauna Kea, which has some of the largest telescopes in the world:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89984990-M.jpg
as well as some pretty spectacular vistas (vistae for those who studied Latin, I suppose):
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/photos/89985008-M.jpg
The next day, we went on a hike to the Green Sand Beach. it's fairly remote: 2.5 mile hike, followed by rock climbing and bouldering to get to the beach itself. The guidebooks mention that it's also a pretty high-theft area, so I left the camera behind.
For our final day, we returned to Waikiki to a dinner at Alan Wong's, which I highly recommend.
And now, I'm back here on the mainland, getting adjusted to married life for real.
Thanks for reading!
More shots are at:
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/gallery/1804281
and
http://mmroden.smugmug.com/gallery/1803920