Hawaii 2013 - Day 5: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, Resting, Hana Hou Restaurant, Pool Time

Cashel woke up this morning ready and raring to go! This was the highlight of our trip: Being able to see him at his goofiest laughing, smiling, snuggling in bed late into the mornings.

He thoroughly enjoyed this place as it had removable pillows on the couch that he could throw off and then jump onto. It about gave us a heart attack a few times, and we did have a few little bonks on the head, but for the most part, we made it out unscathed. It had lots of stuff to safely climb on (along with lots of stuff to NOT so safely climb on...see the pic below), and lots more birdies to watch.

Punalu'u Black Sand Beach

We were excited to head down the road to check out Punalu'u after breakfast, although I think Mark and I were way more excited than Cashel was to see the sea turtles!

It was as beautiful as we remembered it, and the sea turtles were close by! Granted, as they looked much like big rocks, Cashel didn't get too excited.

The weather was spot on as well - the warmest day we've had on the trip so far. Thankfully, it was morning, and not too unbearable just yet.

They call it "Punalu'u Black Sand Beach" because the sand is, indeed, black. It is actually volcanic rock that has been broken up by the waves. It's actually quite rough to walk on without shoes when it gets hot!

We had fun splashing around in the ocean (although Cashel's shorts got a little wet) for a bit :)

Baby #2 came along for the ride to :) It's crazy to think that I'm already at this point!

Toes in the ocean :)

After out visit to the beach in the morning, Cashel passed out for almost 3 hours. Mark joined him for a nap, and I enjoyed some priceless time just hanging out on the patio getting some sun and listening to the ocean sounds :)

Mark joined me after a while (He didn't nap as long as Cashel):

When the little one FINALLY woke up, we were all super hungry, so we headed to nearby Naleehu for lunch at Hana Hou Restaurant.

Mark went with the meatloaf special and I had the pulled kailua pork.

Of course, we had to have a little dessert while we were there - the pies looked SO GOOD!

After we got back to the condo, we decided it was warm enough to brave the icy cold pool, and well, we just HAD to try out Cashel's adorable speedo outfit. (He wouldn't stand still long enough for me to actually get a decent picture of him, though)

The pool wasn't quite as frigid as we remembered it on this sizzling hot day, so the water felt good!

We settled in for another early night, played around (or rather, Cashel did - we were too busy making sure he didn't break his head open), finished up our leftover spaghetti, and started getting our things put together in preparation for our flights home the next evening.

Wonderful, relaxing day for us :) Every day seemed to be a highlight of our trip, but this one was particularly memorable :)

Washington State: Olympic Peninsula

Overview

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Day 2 (Apr 8): Arriving at Pacific Beach Resort, Pizza at hotel

Day 3 (Apr 9): Pacific Beach, Quinalt Rainforest, Ruby Beach, Forks, WA, First Beach, Second Beach, Supper in Forks, Long drive to Port Angeles

Day 2: Arriving in Pacific Beach

After a crazy end to our time in Seattle searching for my wallet and visiting the Museum of Flight, we hit the road on our way to Pacific Beach around 5pm. We made a quick stop for supper at Dairy Queen in Tacoma before making the long drive (which was even longer with a baby in tow) to our accommodations at Pacific Beach Resort.

It was a very trying day with all the commotion, so after arriving at the hotel, we grabbed a pizza at the only place left open at that time of night and ate it at the hotel room while getting ready for bed. Mark and the rest of the family went out to hang out for a while and check out the amenities, but I was just plum tuckered out and Cashel and I hit the hay earlier than the rest.

Day 3: Pacific Beach, Quinalt Rainforest, First & Second Beach to Port Angeles

We were up fairly early to be on our way for a very jam-packed day touring the Olympic Peninsula! We had a hearty breakfast in the hotel restaurant before getting loaded up and on our way around 10am, en-route to Quinalt Rainforest.

Pacific Beach

We made a quick stop at Pacific Beach first, however, and wandered the beach for a while. We sure wish we'd had more time to relax at many of the places we stopped this day. The views were so breathtaking!

Quinalt Rainforest

After our short stop at Pacific Beach, we hit the road to Quinalt Rainforest. We arrived around 10:30am and explored for a while one of the trails before deciding to make our way on over to the World's Largest Spruce Tree not too far off. We set out afterwards to find some lunch, only to find that nothing was open yet (too early in the season), so we hit the road again to try to find something to eat.

The Rainforest contained the World's Largest Spruce Tree - it was ENORMOUS!


Lake Quinalt

Ruby Beach

After a strange lunch of somewhat decent chicken tenders from a gas station we found leaving town, we hit the road again and made the trek over to Ruby Beach, which we had heard was beautiful! After a short, easy hike down the trail, we came upon this:

We spent more time here than any of the other beaches we stopped at, but we don't regret that - it was incredible! Mark found a couple starfish, which was cool.

Forks, WA

Our next "stop" was in Forks, which we thought was supposed to be really cool, except there really wasn't anything there to see or do. I suppose there would have been if any of us were Twilight fans, but alas, we weren't, so it was just a boring little town that was mostly passed through. Of course, we got a picture of the sign and by the fisherman's memorial, but beyond that, we headed on to find First Beach.

First Beach

First Beach was incredibly easy to find once we drove there - MUCH easier than the other beaches, as we just hopped out of the car and were there. It was beautiful, but after having been to Ruby Beach, we were only somewhat "wow"d by it.

I didn't dare chance taking little Cashel out with me on the branch there, but stayed behind to get pictures of everyone else.


Not bad for 8 weeks after having a baby!

Second Beach

Second beach was a different story as far as ease of reaching it, but WHOA was it ever worth the hike! There's something about an un-touched beach like this that just leaves you in awe. It makes you feel so small and powerless against the wonder of our God and his creation. It just makes your jaw drop and takes your breath away when you first see it.

We still had a bit of a trek that evening, after we stopped to eat at a little diner in Forks, but we made it to Port Angeles before it got too terribly late.

It was a very long day of traveling, hiking, and exploring, but one of the most memorable days of our trip. I know I'm quite the slave driver when it comes to travel planning and keeping to a schedule, but I think I speak for everyone when I say they're all glad I do it, because otherwise we would have missed out on all of the beauty and wonder of the Olympic Peninsula. Of course, we still have plenty to revisit some day, but we had enough :)