Island Hopping to BIG Island

Last spring, I got to explore the BIG ISLAND with 2 of my very best friends Sara & April. Sara I had met during my brief stint working at JCrew On The Island. She was trying on clothes for her internship, I complimented her, we realized we were both new and looking for friends, & voila! We became BFFs. April is a college friend who just happened to have gone to high school with my roommate, so she was visiting us for a few months. We had SUCH a great time on Big Island (aka Hawai’i). 

We flew into Kailua-Kona late Friday night and drove to a family friend’s house. They had retired out there and welcomed us into their home for the weekend. Mike helped us strategize our route the next day in order for us to maximize the 48 hours we had to work with. 

We woke up at 6am, sticking to our schedule, and were off! This was the first time Sara had rented a car after turning 25. We didn’t notice the color of the car in he dark the night before, so boy were we surprised when we walked outside the next morning to see our “lil green monster” car. It was SO BRIGHT and SO FUN. Perfect for our girls weekend. 

We managed to drive around the coast of the whole island on Saturday which took about 15 hours, including stops.

What we managed to see on Saturday:

• Waipio Valley
• Akaka Falls
• Merry Monarch parade in Hilo
• Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park- Mauna Loa
• Lava Tubes
• Black Sand Beach & mucho sea turtles
• Sea Arch
• Kona Brewing Company

On Sunday, we stayed even busier and even got in a great 3 mile hike to the Green Sand Beach! We also saw the Southern Most Point in the U.S.A, where naturally we peed so that we could say were peed in the southern most point in the U.S.A. For a good 10 mins, we had various titles “Southern Most Southern Girl in the U.S.A.” , “Southern Most Tennessean”, “Southern Most White Girl”, etc. etc. It was quite fun. 

Due to our time constraints, we hopped in a truck on our hike back from the Green Sand Beach. This older Hawaiian guy and his son drive the trail every day to bring tourists back to their cars. You’d be amazed at the potholes and path he took. I was sure his truck was going to bottom out any minute. Well worth the $5pp. 

We got to explore Kailua-Kona a bit on Sunday as well. It is the cutest lil town! I without a doubt had THE best coffee I’ve ever had at this lil coffee shop serving Macadamia Nut Kona coffee. YUM. We also tried Kava Juice that was being prepared at a cute lil stand in Kona. Kava is an old alcoholic drink of Hawaians that relaxes both your mind and your body. Your whole mouth goes numb and you feel just very relaxed. It was an interesting experience, and I can't say I even finished my whole drink. 

I wouldn’t mind living in Kona. Seems like such a relaxing and perfect town. Our girls trip was a success. We saw way more than we had anticipated could be accomplished in 48 hrs, bonded over our need to instagram immediately after seeing something awesome & came away with many wonderful memories from our girls trip.