Peterson Ohana Kona Vacation Day 3

We woke up easy and Tanner made pineapple pancakes with coconut syrup and scrambled eggs with spam. Yummm. I packed us a picnic lunch and we set off for an adventure. 

We stopped at Waipio Lookout and saw a gorgeous black sand beach. We then went to the tsunami monument for a picnic lunch. It was really windy! But it’s cool that the Shaka guide tells us all about the history of the area both ancient and a little bit more modern. The tsunami hit in 1946 not even a year after WW2 ended and I’m sure people were in no doubt that the Savior was coming. Yet, here we still are! We’re ready now! We explored the state park/campsite where we parked and it was lovely. 

We then let Parker choose what waterfall he wanted to see and he chose Akaka. I love this waterfall and the 0.5 mile walk is gorgeous. But Parker was winded. He’s not great at physical exertion. We took a gander at Rainbow Falls and did some quick spelunking at Kaumana Caves. We forgot flashlights! We made a quick stop at the Boiling Pots and Ray caught a lizard and a gecko. Then we found a secret (Wailuku) waterfall and took the kids swimming (not Parker) which was so fun! A local complimented Tanner on Ray and Jack’s impressive swimming skills. It’s not easy to swim up to a waterfall with all the opposing force! Then they climbed up and walked behind the waterfall and jumped in! I wish we brought the GoPro! Whoops. 

After all that swimming and adventuring, we worked up an appetite but time was running out so we drove through McDonald’s and it really hit the spot. We listened to the Shaka Guide as we took the Saddle Road to Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in Hawaii to watch the sunset and star gaze. It was chilly! But I think this was the highlight for everyone. It was a rad experience watching the sunset from the top of a mountain with a bunch of sunset loving people like me! Someone got engaged which was so sweet. We could see the volcano erupting in the distance. When the sun went down, the stars appeared by the millions! It was insane! We’d never seen anything like it! All the pictures we took had no filter. The stars were really that intense! 

We stayed for a long while and then drove home super happy and tired. We still had to take showers and stuff but it felt so good to climb into bed and we all slept well!