Big Island, Hawaii: We Arrive Oct 24!
Wednesday, October 24 - 7:30 P.M.
We're here! It is 7:30 P.M. on the Big Island of Hawaii right now, which means it's 12:30 A.M. in Minnesota. We arrived in Kona around 2:00 P.M. after a long, 12 hour day of travel. So far we are just really tired. We picked up our rental car, drove to the town of Kona, got groceries and checked into our rental house. I was a little anxious about the condo since I reserved it through VRBO. You never see the property obviously, so you just have to have faith that the renter is honest! And this guy scored! The girls are in love. I'm not sure I'll be able to get them to leave. We have a view of the ocean from our wrap around porch in the back, and a view of Mauna Loa from our driveway. There's a pool in the back. We have lovely neighbors. It was really hot this afternoon, but is a comfortable 70 degrees now. We watched the sun set behind the ocean from our deck. All for under $100 a night for 5 people. Works for me!
Tomorrow we go snorkel the reef at Two Step, visit a Kona coffee farm, and night dive with the manta rays. Stay tuned!
We're here! It is 7:30 P.M. on the Big Island of Hawaii right now, which means it's 12:30 A.M. in Minnesota. We arrived in Kona around 2:00 P.M. after a long, 12 hour day of travel. So far we are just really tired. We picked up our rental car, drove to the town of Kona, got groceries and checked into our rental house. I was a little anxious about the condo since I reserved it through VRBO. You never see the property obviously, so you just have to have faith that the renter is honest! And this guy scored! The girls are in love. I'm not sure I'll be able to get them to leave. We have a view of the ocean from our wrap around porch in the back, and a view of Mauna Loa from our driveway. There's a pool in the back. We have lovely neighbors. It was really hot this afternoon, but is a comfortable 70 degrees now. We watched the sun set behind the ocean from our deck. All for under $100 a night for 5 people. Works for me!
Tomorrow we go snorkel the reef at Two Step, visit a Kona coffee farm, and night dive with the manta rays. Stay tuned!
Thursday, Oct 25
"Sara, it touched my foot. I was about to cry!" - Allie W.
We started the day by waking up at 5 am, I had my alarm set for 9! We naturally awoke almost two hours before the sun even came up, which allowed me the chance to see a sunrise for the first time in my life! Just kidding, but it was gorgeous, and is very much a rare occasion in my life (and the life of a teenager)! We sat on the porch with hot tea and waited for the sun to come up over the mountains.
(Keeara in Kona representing Jennings in her JCLC t-shirt)
As soon as the sun came up, we packed up our swimsuits, towels and a picnic lunch, stopped in town for their famous Kona coffee, and headed to Two-Step to snorkel. Two Step is a pretty wild place to snorkel for the first time, but ALL the girls tried it and loved it. We saw a sea turtle swimming, a trumpet fish and a humuhumunukunukuapua'a, the Hawaii state fish. It's a real thing. Look it up.
We started the day by waking up at 5 am, I had my alarm set for 9! We naturally awoke almost two hours before the sun even came up, which allowed me the chance to see a sunrise for the first time in my life! Just kidding, but it was gorgeous, and is very much a rare occasion in my life (and the life of a teenager)! We sat on the porch with hot tea and waited for the sun to come up over the mountains.
(Keeara in Kona representing Jennings in her JCLC t-shirt)
As soon as the sun came up, we packed up our swimsuits, towels and a picnic lunch, stopped in town for their famous Kona coffee, and headed to Two-Step to snorkel. Two Step is a pretty wild place to snorkel for the first time, but ALL the girls tried it and loved it. We saw a sea turtle swimming, a trumpet fish and a humuhumunukunukuapua'a, the Hawaii state fish. It's a real thing. Look it up.
After Two Step we went night diving with Manta Rays through Neptune Charlie's Ocean Safari, which I highly recommend! Manta rays are related to sharks, but don't have teeth. They are related to sting rays, but don't have stingers. They are massive, docile animals that are very curious about people. They average 1800 lbs according to our diving guide, and have a "wing span" of 15 - 18 feet (tip of one wing to the other). We boarded a boat about the size of a manta ray (18 feet) and drove about 30 minutes down the coast. The girls got to go to the upper deck on the way to talk boats and oceans with the captain. All of sudden, in the middle of a conversation about shark cages with the captain, dolphins shot out of the water beside the boat! Several spinner dolphins surfed the wake behind us. I tried to get a good photo, but it was a pretty wild ride. By the time we arrived at our site it was dark, and more than half of our group was severely motion sick. We got in the water as soon as possible at the advice of the captain. He claimed it wouldn't be as rocky in the water as it was on the boat. He was right. We lined up around a surf board and held on. They place a light under the surf board, which is what attracts the manta rays. They are attracted to bioilluminescent phytoplankton. The first manta ray arrived within ten minutes of the snorkeling experience. Soon after a few more followed, and by the end of our time in the water, 6 manta rays were dancing around us. Unfortunately the underwater camera I used didn't work, so I can't prove it. But the memory remains, and will go down as easily one of the most amazing moments of my life. The students were blown away, despite three bouts of motion sickness. Tomorrow we will head toward the south side of the island, passing through Punulu'u black sand beach, the green sand beach and the southern most point of the United States on the way. Aloha!
Friday, Oct 26
It is 6:30 A.M. on Sat morning (Oct 27), and a write to you from a yurt above the cloud line, looking over the southern most point of the United States. If you are unfamiliar with yurts, they are tent-like, circular, fabric structures with wood, lattice frames. This is heaven to me, but I think the girls are feeling a little out of their element. While planning this trip, Allie and I made sure to try to experience the full realm of what Hawaii has to offer. This yurt is completely off-grid, so their water is from rain, their electricity is from solar panels and their heat is from propane tanks. Yes, heat is helpful at this altitude, even in Hawaii. Although this experience is not one the girls have had before, they are taking it all in and enjoying the adventure. We will be heading down the mountain tonight to stay in Hilo for the next couple of days. For now, the yurt experience was pretty neat while it lasted. I'm glad they tried it.
Yesterday, Friday, we got an early start so we could get driving. We left our condo in Kona and took a two hour scenic drive to the southern most point of the United States. If you were to take a boat from this point and keep going south, the first land mass you'd hit would be Antarctica.
South Point, Hawaii
South Point, Hawaii
From South Point we parked our car and started our hike to the Green Sand Beach. It took about an hour. The best beaches in Hawaii seem to be the ones that are the most isolated. An hour trek isn't even that long compared to some. The sand is actually green, which is the result of olivine/peridot crystals in the cone of an active volcano. When the volcano erupts, the olivine comes with it. When the lava solidifies into lava rock, the lighter particles get washed away by the ocean ways leaving behind the denser peridot crystals. The crystals eventually wear down into fine, green sand particles, leaving a spectacular green sand beach.
After the green sand beach we went to Punulu'u Black Sand beach, famous for it's black sand and sea turtles. There are seven species of sea turtles world wide, all of which are endangered. The sea turtles at this particular black sand beach are green sea turtles, which come to forage on the green algae sitting on the surface of the lava rocks. From the black sand beach, the day was already coming to a close. It gets dark around 5 here right now, so the daylight hours are precious. We drove up to the yurt, started a fire, ate some tacos and played grueling game of Monopoly for the rest of the night. Congrats on your big win Mik.
Saturday, OCt 27
We're now about half way through the trip. It's amazing that we still have five days left and we've already been here for four days. And we will be busy every minute from now until then. There is no shortage of things to see here. We are now on the east side of the island. We left our yurt in the sky early this morning and drove a couple of hours to Hilo. Every Wed and Sat Hilo has a really great farmers market. There are a variety of tropical fruit and vegetable vendors,. The girls tried fresh rombutans. They're tricky to eat, but sort of taste like grapes. They also bought sucker candies with scorpions in them. The pickle queen, Allie, immediately bee-lined it to the pickle stand.
After the farmers market we drove a couple miles to Rainbow Falls. There wasn't much of a "falls" to speak of. I was on the big island in 2005, and there was a lot more water then. I don't know if the lack of water now is a seasonal thing, the effect of a drought or what, but it was pretty underwhelming. The girls weren't very impressed. Normally with high water flow and sunlight, you can see the rainbow in the mist from the falls. The legend is that the demigod Maui rescued his mother, Hina, from the cavern behind the falls where she had been trapped by an angry suitor, the mo'o (dragon) Kuna.
Rainbow Falls 2005
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Rainbow Falls 2012
Above rainbow falls sits the channel of the Wailuku River, which is spotted with "boiling pots", holes in the lava bed that get their name from the churning action of flow over these pits. The "boiling pots" are a good place to swim depending on where you do it or could be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. We hiked from rainbow falls to these boiling pots where we met a couple of locals who gave us a quick run-down of safe places to swim. The water in the channel cascades from one boiling pot to the next until it gets to the water fall. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you end up plummeting from the water fall, or worse get sucked into a lava tube with no exit out. Apparently this happens to many visitors every year who haven't done their research before braving the waters. We stuck by the locals and other visitors just to be safe. There are cliffs surrounding the pots that make for exciting jumps. Allie and Dion jumped from a ten-footer into very deep water. I promise parents! They were very safe and in good hands.
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We ended the day by relaxing on Richardson's Beach. It's a rocky, family beach with a lot of shells! The girls collected shells and green sand crystals, swam a bit, searched for sea turtles, and then we called it a night. We are now staying at a small, artsy bungalow in Puna called "The Happy Turtle House". We arrived at the Puna house around 7 o'clock last night, just a couple hours prior to a state-wide tsunami warning. Our rental owner knocked on our door advising us not to descend down to Hilo tonight, as the town would be evacuating! We woke this morning to find that there was no significant damage and we're all in the clear. But an interesting story anyway! Take a read http://abcnews.go.com/us/wirestory/tsunami-warning-issued-southern-alaska-17581184#.UI1em4ZveUU
We are thinking of and praying for those in the eye of Hurricane Sandy on the east coast from afar.
We are thinking of and praying for those in the eye of Hurricane Sandy on the east coast from afar.
Sunday, oct 28
Today was an interesting day. It didn't quite turn out how we planned it. Allie planned this trip with the intention of walking right up to the lava flowing from Kilauea. The pahoehoe style sheaths of lava flows very slowly, and has been flowing very slowly from Pu'u O'o of Kilauea since 1983. The lava has been steadily flowing from the Pu'u to the ocean for 29 years, creating more and more land as it drops into the water and solidifies. In 2005 when I lived in Hawaii, the conditions of the volcano were so that I could hike right up to the lava, feeling the heat right on my face. I expected that would still be the case now, but to my chagrin, discovered that a lava sighting on this trip would be unattainable. The girls were a little bummed. We spent the bulk of the day chasing down lava flow that was way too far to reach. And we're not talking about a 5 mile hike on a flat, groomed trail. Not even on a street or grass, but on lava rock. Anyone who has even touched or stood on lava rock understands the challenge of hiking on it! On the bright side, our journey to find lava resulted in discoveries of some other pretty amazing sites.
Next two photos are of the rainforest hike to Thurston Lava Tube, and the actual lava tube. Lava tubes form by outer layers of lava cooling and hardening, while the inner layers remain hot and continue to run through, leaving a tube made of lava rock. The Kazamura Cave is the largest lava tube system in the world, which is right here on the Big Island. We will go to that lava tube in a day or two.
After spending the day in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we decided to drive down Crater Rim Dr. This road ends abruptly with lava covering it's path. We parked there and started our trek to get a close up view of lava. We hiked over lava rock for about an hour when we finally decided to call it a night. We didn't ever get to the lava, but did feel like we were walking on the moon for a while.
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Monday, Oct 29
After last night's failed mission to come face to face with lava, we decided that today's original plan to hike to Pu'u O'o (the cone/source of the lava flow) would be a bad idea. The planned hike would have been a 2 1/2 hour hike in and the same hike out. Because of high winds and "tsunami" warnings, the conditions were questionable. VOG (volcanic smog) is a mixture of gases, including high concentrations of sulpher and aerosols (tiny particles and droplets), formed when volcanic gas reacts with moisture, oxygen, and sunlight. If the wind shifts, the VOG shifts, which would be hazardous and potentially fatal. Therefore, no hike today. On top of that the girls are pretty beat up already with blisters from hiking the lava rock last night, bumps and bruises from getting tossed around by the waves, and cuts and scrapes from unfortunate interactions with lava rock under water. Trying to get them to hike 8 miles round trip today would have been very challenging. Instead, we spent most of the day hopping around Pahoa and Hilo visiting some final sites before moving to the North side of the island tomorrow.
Lava Tree State Park, located in Pahoa on the east side of the island, is really interesting! Hundreds of years ago, a fast moving flow of hot lava hit a patch of wet 'O'hia trees. The lava cooled and hardened on these wet trees leaving some pretty neat shapes. If lava were to hit dry trees, the 2100 degree F lava would have barreled right over the tree burning it to the ground in it's wake. The wet tree cools the lava down before it has the chance to burn it down.
Lava Tree State Park, located in Pahoa on the east side of the island, is really interesting! Hundreds of years ago, a fast moving flow of hot lava hit a patch of wet 'O'hia trees. The lava cooled and hardened on these wet trees leaving some pretty neat shapes. If lava were to hit dry trees, the 2100 degree F lava would have barreled right over the tree burning it to the ground in it's wake. The wet tree cools the lava down before it has the chance to burn it down.
Then we went to the warming pool, which is a brackish title pool that is heated by volcanic activity in the water table. The water is an average 90 degrees, which is amazing in the morning when the air is still cool, but a little too hot in the afternoon. We snorkeled in "bath water" for an hour before we had to get out of the heat. We saw a few tropical fish, some eels and crabs. From there we went into Hilo to "jump" at Coconut Island. From Coconut Island you can see the town of Hilo, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa all in one frame.
To wrap up the afternoon we went to the Kaumana cave system just outside of Hilo. The Kaumana cave is another lava tube similar to the Thurston Lava Tube mentioned above, but is much longer and doesn't have a path or lights to help navigate. I had flash lights with me. Other than that I'd say we were pretty ill-prepared for this experience. The girls were wearing flip flops and swim suits, which did not make for top notch spelunking. None-the-less, the cave was incredible. The girls were warriors. They walked through the cave for about an hour before deciding to turn around. They exited the cave with cuts and scrapes, but were proud of themselves for pulling through.
Tuesday, Oct 30
Today we began our journey to the north end of the Island. We started the day at Honoli'i State Beach, which is a famous surfing spot in north Hilo. Honoli'i has strong currents and the sets come in continuously, which makes this beach ideal for surfers, paddleboarders, and bodyboarders. A freshwater river flows directly into the ocean, which makes it a very cold place to swim, so we stayed on the beach. We watched surfers for an hour or so before heading to Akaka State Park to see the famous waterfall. Akaka waterfall in located in the middle of an incredible rainforest. We hiked about a half mile in to get to the waterfall seeing a lot of tropical plants, birds and insects on the way in, including bamboo trees. We felt like were on the set of Jurassic Park, especially since we were driving around in a Jeep Wrangler, the perfect vehicle for a safari!
This time of year it gets dark around 5 o'clock, so we felt like our day light hours were minimal. After Akaka State Park, we checked into our VRBO rental place, which happened to be right down the street from the falls, so that we could get up to the summit of Mauna Kea in time to see the sunset. Our VRBO rental is a tiny, one-room, ranch house. The kitchen, bedroom and living room are all one space, and there is a small bathroom in the back. this tiny house sits on what seems like miles of ranch land. There was a grove in the front, a prairie with free-range cows, horses and chickens. Her home was bordered by sugar cane fields. Allie pulled a piece of sugar cane from the plot and showed us how to "eat" one. It was definitely sweet, but tricky to extract the sweet flavor. You don't really chew on it or swallow it, you just suck out the sugar. It was a lot of work for little payoff, but was an interesting experience. This ranch is on the Hamakua coast where sugar plantations were developed in the late 1800's by the Japanese, Phillipino and Chinese immigrants. The last factory was torn down in 1984 according to one source. Not sure if that's accurate, but the sugarcane crops didn't seem to be well attended to. I don't have pictures, but do need to mention that we stopped at this bakery in town called Mr. Ed's. It was incredible. They make the most amazing Hawaiian sweet bread and jam I have ever had. If anyone reading this finds themselves in that part of the world in the future, don't miss this bakery.
Mauna Kea is one of two mountains spread across the center of the Big Island, the other is Mauna Loa. Mauna Kea is actually taller than Mount Everest. This is because the mountain starts beneath the surface of the ocean. The part of the mountain that we see and walk on is only the peak. The bottom half of the mountain is thousands of feet beneath sea level, making it technically the tallest mountain in the world. From sea level however, the summit of Mauna Kea is only 13,796 feet, which is tall, but not compared to Everest, which is 26,000+ft from sea level. Never-the-less, we were told to summit this spectacular giant, so we did! We took the 4WD, Jeep Wrangler down Saddle Rd. to Mauna Kea Access Rd. and drove all the way up to the top. We made it to the summit after an hour long, bumpy ride, just in time to watch the sun set behind the clouds. When you look out from the peak all you see is clouds below you, mountains in front of you, and the most spectacular view of the stars, the moon and the milky way above you. As the sun drops behind the mountain, a shadow is created on the other side, which in itself was pretty amazing to see. See the pictures below. The quick ascension from Hilo to the summit gave one of our students altitude sickness. On top of that, the temperature drops dramatically that high up. Mauna Kea, meaning "White Mountain", is given that name for a reason. It is typically covered with snow. Fortunately it doesn't snow there this early in the season. After the sun went down, we stopped at the observatory to peak through the giant telescopes. The telescopes are so massive and so advanced that we could actually see the flames of the burning stars through them. We bought some hot chocolate for the road, and descended to Hilo, back to 80 degree temperatures and plenty of oxygen!
Wednesday, Oct 31 (Halloween)
The students are starting to get homesick. It is getting more difficult to keep their minds off of home, especially since all of their friends and family are going out for trick-or-treating and Halloween parties. The girls have been so adventurous and so brave up until now. They have been more than willing to put themselves out there, try new things and get familiar with Hawaiian customs and traditions. But as of today, that enthusiasm is waning. We wrapped around the north shore today on our way back to Kona hitting Waipio Valley and Waimea on the way. Waipio is a bay located deep in a river valley. A black sand beach is nestled among sheer cliff faces on all sides. Behind the beach sits a massive waterfall, which spills into the river below, whose water eventually makes it's way to the ocean. Small ranch homes spot the area, and horses run wild along the river. The only way to reach this point is by hiking or 4WD. Many people spend days hiking this region just for the scenery. It's one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen. The students weren't as impressed as I was. Not even close. They thought it was "boring". Surrounded by what I can only describe as heaven wasn't exciting enough for them. I have a hard time believing they were bored. I believe they were home-sick, exhausted, beat up from prior adventures and were just ready to be done. I give them a lot of credit for sticking it out and going along for the ride. Most of the people that heard the girls were going to Hawaii said "must be rough". What many of them don't know is that this was not a vacation for these girls. It wasn't even close. Hawaii is a wild place. There is always something to do. Laying on the beach occupied about 2% of our time on this trip. The rest of it they were on the go from 6:00 A.M. until at least 9:00 P.M. daily. On top of that, they spent hundreds of hours raising money for this trip. Going back over this blog I realize how much they actually learned here. So yes, I give them a lot of credit, and yes, at times it was "rough" for them. Today was one of those rough days. Waipio Valley is going to have to make a lot of changes, including improving cell phone service, for these girls to come back. As for me, I'd live in Waipio Valley if I could. I'll be back one day.
I took the girls' exhaustion into consideration and decided to head to our next (and last) hotel a little earlier than originally planned. We stopped in Waimea on the way, which is a small ranch town on the north side of the island. There are legitimate Hawaiian "cowboys" in Waimea, which we got to see at the Waimea Farmer's Market. I picked up some home-made, local snacks for the girls at the farmer's market, and headed to our next destination, giving them a chance to take a well needed snooze.
Before we left, Allie booked Luau tickets at the Royal Kona Resort. I figured this would be a good chance for the girls to get a glimpse of Hawaiian culture including their music, dance and food. The girls were greeted with shell necklaces and escorted to the "emu" to watch them prepare the pig. An "emu" is an underground oven where a whole pig is wrapped in leaves and put their to roast. The Hawaiian buffet was pretty impressive. The girls were encouraged to try all of the Hawaiian recipes. The girls were already familiar with many of the food items from the food seminar Allie had before the trip. Poi is one example of an authentic Hawaiian food served at the luau, one the girls made themselves and ate before we came to Hawaii. It is a purple paste made from smashed taro root, eaten with their hands rather than a spoon. It is tasty when combined with something salty, like pork. The girls had zero interest in eating poi again, as it is pretty tasteless overall.
The meal was followed by a show that included a ukelele band, hula dancers and fire throwers. The show was pretty good. Even though none of the participants were Hawaiian, they still made an effort to educate the guests on Hawaiian culture, language and tradition. The girls were thoroughly impressed, particularly with one of the hula men. They were able to get a picture with one of them at the end of the show, and haven't stopped talking about him since. Needless to say, the girls had a good time. It was a great way to spend our last evening on the island.
The meal was followed by a show that included a ukelele band, hula dancers and fire throwers. The show was pretty good. Even though none of the participants were Hawaiian, they still made an effort to educate the guests on Hawaiian culture, language and tradition. The girls were thoroughly impressed, particularly with one of the hula men. They were able to get a picture with one of them at the end of the show, and haven't stopped talking about him since. Needless to say, the girls had a good time. It was a great way to spend our last evening on the island.
Thursday, Nov 1
Ahhhh, last day. Although this was an epic adventure, I think we are all ready to get back to our lives at home. It is about 8:30 P.M. right now and our flight doesn't leave for another two hours. While we wait, I'll put up some pictures of today, our final day here on the big island. The last day was no excuse to sit around and wait for our plane to take off. We made the most of it from sun up until now. We spent an hour or so in the morning sitting out on our deck, watching the sun come up with some coffee and conversation. Our last sunrise in Hawaii! We spent the next hour trying to jam everything we accumulated on this trip into our small carry on bags. It was a challenge, but we managed. We couldn't go home without a coconut or two! We checked out and headed down the Waikoloa coast of north Kona. This area is occupied by large, luxurious hotels, most of which are like their own city. They have trolly's, multiple restaurants, water parks, and their own private beaches. The Mauna Kea Hotel's beach is said to be one of the best in the state, which is a little crazy. It's unfortunate that the best beach in Hawaii can only be used by wealthy tourists. Regardless, our next activity required that we make an appearance at one of these resorts, the Hilton. Allie, the student who planned and organized this trip, has been interested in pursuing a career in marine biology for a while. I contacted an organization that works with dolphins to educate the community and tourists, called Dolphin Quest. The lagoon they use to work with the dolphins happens to be located at the Hilton. We met with the lead biologist of Dolphin Quest, Amy, who talked with us for a while on dolphin conservation and natural history. Allie was able to pick her brain about careers in marine biology, animal training in particular. She gave Allie a lot of useful tips and may have set her up with an opportunity to intern in the future. After the educational talk we were able to work with the dolphins. They put us in the water and taught us about operant conditioning, positive reinforcement, and even tried teaching them some tricks. The girls got to feel the dolphins, study their anatomy and physiology, and even "kiss" Hua. It was an incredible experience. The girls were in heaven.
Finally, to end our experience here in Hawaii graciously, we attended the Moku O Keawe International Hulu Competition. People of all ages from all corners of the world come to Kona each year to compete for the international hula title. Most of the dancers competed in groups, and all were female. We learned that their costumes were made with a great deal of consideration to authenticity, as their overall competitive score relied on it. They were given points based on style, tradition, and even materials used. The judges also considered the environment when giving scores. Many of the tropical plants in Hawaii are endemic to this region, meaning they exist no where else in the world. Therefore conserving these plants is a priority for the Hawaiian people. So when they make their costumes they are very particular about what plants they are using and how using those plants will impact their community. They only take what they need, and replace what they use if they can. The dances were beautiful and the dancers were native Hawaiians, true to their roots, unlike the performers at the luau. It was really neat to watch. We learned quite a bit about Hawaiian culture at this event. The plan was to go to Hawaii to study earth and life science, but we ended up taking a lot more than that with us in the end. The girls and I learned so much about the Hawaiian people. These islands are so much more than land and water. There is rich, cultural heritage here that can really only be found if you actively look for it. If you plan to go to islands in the future, head there with an open mind, flexibility and interest in getting outside of yourself and your element, and soak it all in. That is was Allie, Mik, Keeara and Dion did. They went to Hawaii eager to learn, see new things, meet new people and create once in a lifetime experiences for themselves. They are returning to the mainland as changed women. They remain incredible girls, but are now incredible girls with new life experience, good friendships, and fond memories. Aloha Hawaii!! (Aloha means hello AND goodbye)