“You know that feeling you get on a Sunday where you just have the whole day to yourself, and it’s been great, and then you remember you have to go to school the next day, so it ruins the rest of the night? I have to go home tomorrow, and so I’ve got that feeling. It’s like Sunday night.” – One Tree Hill

I have a love/hate relationship with Sundays for just this reason.  And Friday, our last full day in Hawaii, was my Sunday.  I woke up, looked in the mirror and made a conscious decision NOT to let my day be reduced just because we had to leave the next day.  And I’m SO glad I did.

Friday was probably me and Ray’s favourite day of the trip – it was so mellow and relaxed and we got to experience the area of Pahoa and the beauty it had to offer.  I woke up early for my last chance at a sunrise (a little better than the last 2 days, but the clouds seem to be a permanent problem).  Me and Ray then took big blue into downtown Pahoa.  We checked out the used book store (looking for a book on Hawaiian tattoos for my friend Rob – ended up passing on one that was $100 – which seemed insane, until I got home and realized it was selling for $1000 on amazon…could have made good money!)  And passed a lot of the locals – most of who had dreadlocks, were hitchhiking, trying to sell us drugs or hanging out at the local souvenir shop (which sold a few hawaiian t-shirts, lots of incense, and a large selection of drug paraphernalia).  So Pahoa was a far way from touristy Kona.  We stopped at the grocery store to get Ray some authentic Poke (verdict – he doesn’t really like it).  After coming home, Chris and Sarah took big blue into Hilo to return the stroller (and then visited the Volcano Winery), so me and Ray walked down the street to snorkel in the Wai’Opae Tidal Pools – they were AMAZING!  We heard there was a turtle in the pools – and spent an hour searching with no luck.  But we did see so many AMAZING fish – including a school of angel fish (so beautiful) and parrot fish, and some other fish that I WISH I had a picture of because it may be the most beautiful colourful thing I’ve every seen.  We also warm through some intense warm/forceful water (lava vent) which was awesome/super scary.  It was amazing.  We came home and swam in the pool, relaxed in the hot tub, and kicked back to read books and work on my blog.  It was absolutely perfect, relaxing and restful – everything we wanted for our last day here.

After Chris & Sarah got home we took a few photos – including some matching photos of Ray and Amelia that are super cute.

We had fish and chips (amazing!  mahi mahi, ono and cod – all super yummy!) After packing, Me, Ray and Sarah played some lost cities while Sarah and Ray enjoyed some Volcano wine and ate Ray’s last bowl of fresh Pico de Gallo.  It was the perfect end to our 2 weeks on the island.