Spring Break!

Aloha!

I have not blogged in forever! Time is just flying by here, Last time I posted something I said I only had 2 months left, now I have only one!

Mid-March was crazy! In 3 weeks I had a lot of school work to finish and catch up on from my trip to Honolulu. Also my friends and I rented a jeep for St Patrick's Day and went to the other side of the island for the night (There is absolutely no night life in Hilo). On St Patrick's Day it was also my roommates birthday! She turned 22, and we went out and celebrated for that. I feel like March took forever! Timmy came on the 23rd, and everyday before that was the longest day of my life. The week before he came I was up at 6am, and in bed at 9pm..and I'm not kidding. The week before he came we were busy making final plans for our spring break trip, and I was busy freaking out about his arrival. I had no Idea what to expect, but I felt like I was 3 years old waiting for Santa to arrive on Christmas Day, I haven't had that feeling in a long time. He got to Hilo on Friday night at about 8pm, and just like I said before I left, saying goodbyes are one of the hardest things to do, but it makes your next hello that much better! It was great to see him, and to be honest it did not feel like we had been apart for 2 1/2 months. It felt like I had never left.

On Friday night some of my friends came over to meet him, and we just hung out a little bit but we were both pretty tired and had to get up early to bring some friends to the other side of the island. After dropping them off we headed to Hapuna beach. It was beautiful, we watched the sunrise and had the beach to ourselves for about 3 hours. The nice thing about Hawaii is the beaches are never crowded (unless your in waikiki). I got him to go in the ocean the first day so I was impressed with that. We then drove home and saw a few things on the way to Hilo, and that night we ate at Kens Diner. It is the only place in Hilo that is open 24 hours. They have just about everything to eat you can think of (this is where my picture of the blood sausage is from!).

Sunday Morning we woke up early to get on our flight to Kauai. We arrived in Lihue at about 9am, and took a shuttle to our hotel. We stayed the the Kauai Marriott Beach Spa, It was unbelievable! I was worried it would be crowded because our entire hotel was booked the night we arrived, but surprisingly it was not busy at all. Sunday we sat by the pool and also laid on the beach. We did pretty much the same thing on Monday, there was so much to see at our resort so we were busy for about two days.

Tuesday my roommate and Katie came to pick us up and bring us to the north shore. They had rented a car so it was nice we got to see all of the island in just two days with them. We drove up to the north shore, it was lush green and pretty cloudy. It is the rainiest part of the island, but that is why it is so beautiful. We went up to where the Na Pali coast hike begins, and saw some caves and other small sites and drove back down.

The Na Pali coast hike is 11 miles in, and 11 miles out. I had about 7 brave friends head in for the hike. I have to give credit to Brittany Alexander, she was the only girl heading on this big hike, and we didn't have any doubt it her! They all did great, and everyone came out alive!!!!

Wednesday we went on the east side of the island and did our Wet and Wild Raft Adventure! Timmy said this was his favorite part of the trip. We got to take a tour of the Na Pali coast (which is the most beautiful coastline in the world!) It was amazing, and my pictures can even describe what we saw. The cliffs go as high as 4,000 feet. It doesn't look that high at all, but from where we were we could hardly see the people on the beach, they looked tiny! We got to go inside caves, and land on a remote beach that is only accessible by water or helicopter. This was by far the best experience I think you can have by seeing the coast. We landed on the beach and they let us snorkel, and all 4 of us did a little snorkeling. It was a little mucky, but we still saw some fish. We did see a lot of sea turtles on this raft tour, and also saw breaching whales and dolphins. The whales got really close to us so it was really cool to see that.

After snorkeling we took a walk on a trail and had a little educational experience, they showed us traditional ways of opening the coconut. They let us try it, and use the oil on our hands. Where we were walking had actually been a village many many years ago, and there were very important burial sites inches from us. We learned about many Hawaiian traditions, and it was really nice because I actually knew a lot of things they were talking about from my classes, so it was really interesting.

After taking the boat back we were all exhausted, we had to hold on the entire ride because this was called the wet and wild tour for a reason. It was actually very scary at some points, and I couldn't figure out how this little raft we were on survived some of the waves we encountered. They told us that the Na Pali coast is the fastest eroding coastline in the world, and it used to be 2 miles out of where it is now. The waves can be up to 50ft, and you could see that on the rock ledges. It was a really cool experience, and if you ever have a chance to go to Kauai I would recommend that raft tour to anyone!!

Thursday was our day to come back home. We actually didn't fly out until 6pm so we got to enjoy another beautiful day at our resort. The weather was perfect there, I don't think it could have gotten better. When we got home Thursday everyone was exhausted, and we went to bed pretty early.

Friday we got up and headed to Kona, and on the way we stopped at South Point, which is the southern most point in the United States. You can jump off the cliffs there, and to my surprise Timmy actually did it. I didn't MOM! don't worry :). I don't like jumping off cliffs, just jumping out of airplanes. My roommate suffered a minor injury, and some had a few bruises, but other then that they survived the 40-50ft jump. We contented on our way to Kona and stopped at a beach to see more dolphins, but ended up only seeing more turtles. We got to our hotel in Kona and went out for dinner, and then just hung out. Saturday Morning we woke up early, did a little shopping and headed back around the island on the north side to go to Hapuna beach one last time so timmy could "get his color" that he had complained about the entire trip (probably because I am so tan and he wasn't!) He did leave with a nice tan though.

Sunday his flight was at 9pm, so we hung out all day at my place, unfortunately it was raining in Hilo so we just chilled for the day. It wasn't that hard saying goodbye, because I get to see him and everyone in about a month. It did make me more homesick to have someone come visit from home though, but I know April will go fast. I think Timmy was homesick after a week, I don't know if he will ever be able to leave Cottage Grove again :).

I have another busy weekend planned for Easter, and I am glad I am getting out of the house because I miss my Family so much thinking about missing Good Friday! It doesn't help that my cousin Nick has t remind me about it every time we talk! I know y'all will have have a blast, I can't wait to hear about it and I know the meat poticia won't even taste good since I won't be there!

I love and miss everyone and can't wait to be home in a month!

Aloha!
Brittany

Our pool

Riding in the mustang!

The southern most bakery in the USA

Thats damn near perfect

Dolphins!

On our raft tour