May 5, 2017 - Tanya's Trip to Hawaii - Day 4 - Hawaiian Churches, Southernmost Tip and Flowing Lava

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 18 DAYS

Hawaiian Churches & Southernmost Point

Well, a big hello for this first Friday in May.

I've had one helluva day today!  

The girls had a half day of school so that really only left me three hours to get some stuff done around the house, including a number of phone calls I had to make.

By the time I had to leave the house to go get them, it was literally TEAMING raining outside.  You know how much I LOVE the rain and how invigorating it makes me feel, but it's really not very conducive to school pick-up at early dismissal!

The street in front of the school was a mess with parents picking up, school buses trying to get out of the parking lot and drenched parents and students.

I had double parked, which is totally frowned upon,  and while I went to get my kids, at the school exit, the buses that were pulling out got stopped because I was double parked a bit to close to where they needed room to make a wide left out of the school parking lot.  YIKES!!!!

I saw this as I was about to cross the street with the kids, and immediately ran to the car and jumped in to move it.  However, I left my poor daughters across the street on the sidewalk, where they were getting pelted by the rain!!

The principal was screaming at me, the buses were beeping and I was mumbling a few choice words under my breath in reply!

This school has got to get a better system for afternoon pick up on days when there is inclement weather.

Well, thankfully, a spot opened up and I pulled in quickly and ran back to get the kids amidst the traffic, rain and frantic people. Ugh.

Hawaii talk...

Back to my day in a few...today Tanya made her way around the Big Island of Hawaii, once again. This time, she has had the pleasure of seeing a few lovely churches, the southernmost tip of the United States and most excitingly, flowing Lava!!!

I'll be giving you some details here, but DEFINITELY  check out her "Scoop" for the first-hand experience 411! She even posted a video today!!!

St. Peter's By The Sea Catholic Church, KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII (c) travelincousins.com

St. Peter's by The Sea Catholic Church is a tiny oceanfront chapel by Kahaluu Beach Park.  As you can see from Tanya's pictures, it is absolutely adorable!! 

(c) travelincousins.com

Painted white with blue trim, it bears an old-fashioned steeple.  It is situated next to the site of an ancient heiau, now marked by a dry-stack rock wall.

Interestingly this is not the church's original location.  Originally located on a site across from Magic Sands Beach, the church was completely dismantled and carried to its current spot in 1912!

What I found really sad in my research is that the church is closed at all times except for mass, due to vandalism.  

Without a doubt, this little church is darling and  clearly picturesque!
​

St. Benedict's Catholic Church, Honaunau, Hawaii (c) travelincousins.com

​Saint Benedict's Catholic Church is also called simply The Painted Church.  

This Roman Catholic Church in Honaunau, Hawaii was built between 1899-1902 under the direction of the Belgian Catholic missionary Father John Velghe.

Father Velghe, an untrained folk-artist, painted frescoes along the interior ceiling and walls depicting various biblical scenes. These include Cain's murder of Abel and Jesus refusing the Devil.

(credit: Wiki)

(c) travelincousins.com

While the building itself is small and rectangular, Fr. Velghe painted Gothic vaults above the altar, creating the illusion of a European Gothic cathedral, inspired particularly by Burgos Cathedral in Spain.

Several other priests were inspired and learned from Fr. Velghe and went on to establish other 'painted churches', including Star of the Sea Painted Church, painted by Father Evarist Gielen in Kalapana, Hawaii.

Moving right along yesterday, Tanya headed to the Southernmost Point in the USA - also called 
​Ka Lae, which is Hawaiian for "The Point."

Taken by Tanya at the Southernmost Point aka Ka Lae (c) travelincousins.com

(c) travelincousins.com

Located on Hawaii's Big Island, Ka Lae is as far south as you can go in the United States. Although this site is wind-blown and wild, and a bit aways  from other tourist draws, it is quite popular with cliff divers.

Just a little trivia - The Southernmost Point in Continental USA is in the Florida Keys, which gets more traffic and attention than Ka Lae.  


Back to my day...
Well, tonight is the annual Father-Daughter Dance at the girls' school.  They are quite excited, as always to get dressed up, dance with their friends and eat, eat, eat!

I have been doing hair and helping with nails for the big night.  Both of them have lovely dresses and I think they will coordinate so nicely for the pictures!

I'll be sure to add some pics in tomorrow's blog!

Off to finish the primping!  

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: HAWAII

HOT Molten LAVA

Hello Hello - or maybe I should be saying HOLA today!
​No I haven't traveled to a Spanish speaking country, but it is Cinco de Mayo and thus HOLA it should be - although here in Hawaii it's ALWAYS:

                      ALOHA

I was too pooped to pop into the shower last night - quite SALTY and gross I know. But worse yet was this morning and waking up with the absolute WORST hair EVER!!!

Honestly I had the making for dreads. Which to me have a strange resemblance to hair balls - ya know the ones that animals of the feline nature cough up. 

I couldn't believe how awful my hair looked - you might be wondering "where are the pictures?" well consider yourself lucky that I spared you and my future self the memories of this one!

Now let's talk about yesterday on the Big Island...

It was another 12+ hour day and since the skies were blue we set off to see little St. Peter's By the Sea Catholic Church  which is said to be one of the most photographed structures on the Islands (and which you can read more about on Elisa's side - who I have to thank for the wonderful support!)

We had come to see this tiny little church on Tuesday, but the lighting was all wrong (washed out skies) to take any decent pictures - so of course I had to go back!

St. Peter's (c)travelincousins.com

St. Peter's (c)travelincousins.com

As we continued on our way to the true Southern Most Point in the USA, I wanted to be sure that we also stopped by St. Benedict's Church - which is also known as "The Painted Church" (which you can also read more about in Elisa's column).

It sure was awfully cute inside and OMGEEE what an amazing location it has!

(c) travelincousins.com

The view from St. Benedict's Church (c)travelincousins.com

Standing in front of St. Benedict's Church (c)travelincousins.com

The location sort of reminded me of the awesome location and view that Our Lady of Peace Chapel on the Island of San Miguel in the Azores. CLICK HERE to see pics.

Continuing on our way to Ka Lae (Hawaiian: the point), also known as South Point, is the southernmost point of the Big Island of Hawaii and of the 50 United States.

​That's right folks the "other" place you are thinking of in Key West is the Southern Most Point in the continental United States.
Check out more here: Hurricane Cruisin' & Key West Kraziness
​

From the Southern Most Point in the USA (c)travelincousins.com

At the Southern Most Point in the USA (c)travelincousins.com

At the Southern Most Point in the USA (c)travelincousins.com

Waves crashing at the Southern Most Point in the USA (c)travelincousins.com

The Ka Lae area is registered as a National Historic Landmark District under the name South Point Complex.

Now as for hitting up the Northern, Eastern, and Western most points in the USA might prove to be a tad more difficult...
Northernmost point: Point Barrow, Alaska​
Easternmost point: West Quoddy Head, Maine
Westernmost point: Cape Wrangell, Alaska 

At this point of the day we had worked up quite and appetite and rather then drive all the way to Volcano and take the chance that the cafes might be closed, I opted to take a looksie at Yelp and see if there was anything closer to nosh on. I was stoked when I found a Pizzaria out in the middle of nowhere that actually offered vegan pies!

Glad I could laugh about the idiot I just dealt with (c)travelincousins.com

Well let me tell you - the freakin owner/only one working there is a rude beast!
I really had to exercise controlling my chosen words and how to respond to this real piece of work - because quite honestly if I wasn't so hungry and this wasn't the ONLY place to eat for hours and hours, I would've happily given her a piece of my mind, told her off and walked right out of her establishment. 

Instead I suffered through so that we could eat. But you can bet that there was no tip left behind and seeing her look for a tip on the credit card slip was satisfaction enough. I think...

We ate our pizza (which wasn't that good anyway - but it was food), in the car on the drive to Issac Hale Beach Park where we were meeting our tour guide for what was to become one of the most EPIC boat rides of my life!!!

For years and years I had yearned to come out to the Big Island for one reason and one reason alone - it was to see LAVA FLOW!

I don't care all that much about the crazy amount of Lava fields, I wanted to see Lava in action and that is just what this boat was taking me to do.

Ready for an adventure! (c)travelincousins.com

Heading out (c)travelincousins.com

Billows of steam (c)travelincousins.com

WOW. WOW. WOW is all I can say!

After a rather rough and tumble 16 mile boat ride. Seeing the HOT MOLTEN LAVA spew into the Pacific was a sight unlike any other!

I was nothing short of FREAKIN' AMAZING!!!

Molten HOT red lava under all of the steam (c)travelincousins.com

The warm water in front of the lava pouring into the Pacific (c)travelincousins.com

Look at the glow (c)travelincousins.com

Liquid FIRE (c)travelincousins.com

I was/am amazed. And over dinner had come to realize that I am awed by FIRE n' ICE - LAVA n' GLACIERS!  I could just stare are these phenomena's for hours and hours just mesmerized. But hey maybe that's just me.

Well folks I know that it's Cinco de Drinko for a lot of you - be safe out there and DON'T DRINK and DRIVE.

I'm heading out on a new adventure today - check back here tomorrow to find out just what it might be!
​-T