Twila's Visit

 Mid December we had a visitor from Oregon...Twila came for a week of R & R.  Hopefully we didn't wear her out. Resting isn't exactly my forte. There is SO much to see and to do. We hit the road running, figuratively.

At the airport.

Next stop...coffee plantation, geese and all.

Coffee trees

Hibiscus

First sunset, at A Bay.

Big Island goats.....observing traffic.

Big dude.

Scenery on the North end of the Big Island.

We had to say hello to the local residents.

                         

We headed towards Hawi to hike down Pololu Trail to a black sand beach.

Christmas in Hawaii!!

On the way down the trail.

Cool stacks of rocks.

Part of R & R must be taking lots and lots of pictures!!

And lots more.

And of course writing "Hawaii" in the sand....so we don't forget where we were!!

Then on the way back to the condo we had to stop and check in on the monk seal..
..the baby has gotten alot bigger..and the mom is smaller than she was!

Hey, Mom, whatcha doing over there??

I guess I'm still sleepy I will just rest on this rock.

Quit your staring and take a picture already!!!

Turtle watching by Honokohau Bay.

                                   

Rainbow on our drive home.

                                             

                                         

Thursday we headed to Hilo.....snow on the top of Mauna Kea!!

Taking pictures of orchids on the way to Hilo.

Rainbow Falls in Hilo.

Twila under the HUGE Banyon Tree.

The river above Rainbow Falls.

Standing at the top of the Falls, right before it started pouring rain.

Inside the Banyon tree...soaking wet from the rain.

The pool at the bottom of the falls.

Rain forest foliage.

Waves at Laupahoehoe.

We stopped at the job site and then went to Waipio Valley.

Taro farms on the valley floor.

Now this looks like R & R.

Beautiful ocean at dusk.

Driving up the very steep narrow road.

The beach at A Bay.

Our spot on the beach, Friday.

On Friday and Saturday there were surf warnings...and beaches were closed.

We walked down to the beach access by our condo and saw waves like we have

never seen before in this area.  There are a few pictures of this here but most

 of them are in my next post "Waves and Surfers".

They were surfing right down by A Bay....we have never seen this
 before....the surf was SO high.

Maui across the way.

This was the beach by the old airport that we went to on Saturday.

Twila relaxing in the water...safely protected from the surf.

The waves here don't usually even effect the pool....but they came right in.

Sunday was meeting at Auntie Vi's and then we went to

the place of refuge and did a bit of snorkeling.

Twila with Auntie Vi.

Cub and I with Auntie.

One of Auntie's beautiful orchids.

Coffee cherries.

Thai lunch in Kona.

Place of refuge...historic Hawaiian game.

Fits right in, doesn't he?

Wall at the Place of Refuge.

These are the snorkeling pictures from both days...the snorkeling 

wasn't the best because of the high surf...it makes the water murky.

Twila underwater.

Cub diving down.

We caught the sunset on the way home on Sunday and then Monday went to

 Hapuna Beach to boogie board with some of the friends.

Hapuna Beach

Hawaiian snowman.

Boogie Boarding

Yeah...I think she had fun!!!

One last sunset Monday evening.

Along with a surfer.