Hawaii, day 2

Here's the first of our 'couple' photos we took... of ourselves. We started the day by going to the temple. A good thing, because I don't really see us making it down to Chicago once the baby comes... not for a long time.



Kona Temple



After we got out of the temple, Corey saw a message from my brother-in-law (he called me too, but I didn't have my phone with me). His grandfather, Rex, lives in Kona for 4 months each year, and was still there while we were on vacation. He is an avid fisherman (deep sea), and was willing to take us out fishing if we were interested. Cool!!! But a little weird, because I am not related, and only met him a couple times at family parties for my sister's family so it was a little awkward calling him. But we got over that. Everything in Hawaii is expensive, and fishing would've been way out of our price range, so we wouldn't have even concidered it. Rex then invited us to his condo to discuss plans (uh, yeah, I kind of remember saying 3 words to you about 7 years ago). Once we got there, they made us feel very much at home. We visited for awhile, then he invited us to lunch at the marina so we would know where to meet on Monday. We had a great time, and were really looking forward to going out with him. Rex said he fishes 3-4 days each week. And this is deep sea fishing, hardcore. Just the day before, he caught 2 sharks and a marlin (the man is well into his eighties!), and it can take hours to pull in a fish. Hee, hee, hee! We were excited! We left them after lunch, and went exploring some more.

Corey's so artistic with the camera.

And in front of the camera

Love these guys!

So strange, sandy beaches alongside lavarock fields.

Some other building built from volcanic rock (I can't really remember)

Corey really wanted to see the green sand beaches at the southern point of the island. I started reading about it in the guidebook, and put an end to that idea. "After a 14 mile 4wd ride, you will reach the overlook that doesn't do the site justice. This beach, however, is very treacherous. Please watch the beach for 10-15 minutes before proceeding to make sure the water isn't breaking over the entire beach as there are dangerous riptides and unexpected currents that must be avoided. If the beach looks safe, start your climb down. There is no path, just 3-4 foot drops from boulder to boulder. And remember, down is easier than up, so make sure you aren't getting yourself somewhere you can't handle. Plan on 2 1/2 -3 hours for this excursion." Corey's response to my reading this aloud was, "I didn't think it sounded that bad when I first read it." I think he really didn't get my physical limitations, not that I would have attempted anything like this even if I wasn't expecting. I did let him start us on the road to see if the lookout might be worth it, but after about 1/2 mile, even Corey knew it wouldn't be worth my discomfort at bumping all over the place.

This is the start of that road.