A Two Day Refresher

Eric and I were blessed with the opportunity to take a mini 2-day vacation (back in December).  Just the two of us.  And wonderful, it was! We have taken these mini-vacations at least once per year every year of our marriage.  Generally, spending 2-3 nights away from our normal context brings us home with some pep in our step.  Our time away is always relaxing, often insightful, and richens our relationship.  As a bonus, we also try to visit someplace new each time we travel.  Living in a new state, it was no problem to come up with a place we've never been.  This time we chose Waimea.

Eric is the travel-planner in our family, so he is largely responsible for the food choices, activities, and places we visit.  Using airbnb (check it out if you've never used it) we chose to stay in Waimea, but spent our days traveling the northern-most part of the island.  

We enjoyed peaceful mornings at a quaint coffee shop, hiked the Pololu Valley, shopped touristy shops in Hawi, watched a movie with no interuptions, and enjoyed fantastic meals at local restaurants.

Pololu Valley, from the top

Pololu Valley's black sand beach

Perhaps one of the best parts of this trip was experiencing parts of the island we had not yet seen.  Hawaii has 10 of the world's 13 climate zones represented (depending on who you ask... we've found anywhere from 8-11 climate zones printed in Hawaii books).  With nearly 14,000 ft mountains, active volcanos, and wind patterns in the Pacific Ocean, the terrain varies greatly.  And one area of our trip is currently in a drought (our host told us that locals go to the solar-heated beach showers if they want a long, hot shower).

These 2 pictures are taken within a mile of each other.

 


Grateful for our time together - and looking forward to the future.