Malasadas, Volcanoes, and White Men Tanning

So I'm back!!! Turns out, not having much going on leads you to having VERY much going on.  Hence the delay in posts.  So sorry to all of my millions of adoring fans that have been chomping at the bit to read this. ;)

On to more tropical adventures!

While we were on the Big Island of Hawaii, it was obvious we had to go see the volcanoes.  Now my family has been to Hawaii before; thus, we had a few places we knew to go.  First was Tex's Malasadas.  Now, I don't know if you know what a malasada is, but it is heaven.  Basically sweet bread that is dense, but not cakey.  The dough is then shaped into squares, tossed in some hot oil, then immediately covered in sugar.  Oh my goodness, it's one of the most delicious things on this earth.  You don't know this about me or my family, but we are foodies.  Basically we plan trips, events, and everyday life around food.  Both of my parents cook and bake fantastically, and both of my sisters and I are becoming baking wizes.  I also cook, and have dabbled in healthy cooking/baking which is basically experimental. 

But back to Hawaii!  Stay focused! 

So here are some malasada pictures and pictures of the drive to Tex's.

Funny stop sign!  They really have great sign humor out there.

The guy looked at me when I was being all touristy and taking the picture, so you can kind see him chuckling at my touristiness.

DON'T THEY JUST LOOK DELICIOUS?! The Bomb Dot Com.

Artsy shot of the trunk of a palm tree

This doesn't even begin to capture the beauty of the flowers and life there.  Vibrant colors and luscious plant life where ever you go. 

So that was on our way to the volcano.  To get to the volcano, which was on the opposite side of the island, we drove 3 hours around one side of the island, and then another three hours in the same direction to get back.  So we drove around the entire island! In one day.....  But it was SOOOO worth it.  The sights were amazing, as you will see below.  The history was fascinating.  And my family and the boys, who I will point out below, definitely made it fantastic. 

This is the boyfriend.  He's passed out on the sidewalk from too many malasadas.

This is my sisters boyfriend.  He was so exited to jump around after being cooped up in the car.

So this is a MASSIVE crater/volcano that we got to hike around. Well we actually hiked the parameter of the edge at which this was taken on.

Here is the boyfriend again.  If you look closely you can see the reflection I was trying to catch in his sunglasses.

The best thing about this hike was that it would go from desert like, to rainforest like, to temperate like constantly.

Me being fanned like the princess that I am!!!

So from right to left, my boyfriend, my sister, my sister's boyfriend.

So on our trek back to the hotel, we passed the black sand beach, which we had to stop at and snap some shots.  :)  The sand itself is made from the lava.  But unlike silky regular sand, it is super coarse and hard to walk on in bare feet.  And surprisingly not as hot as regular sand. 

Yes.  My camera did get wet as I took this picture.  Luckily I had my suncap on!  But I think it was worth it.  It turned out pretty awesome.

DRIFT WOOD!  Perfect subject for any artsy picture.

There were so many adorable sea turtles. <3

I felt like a stalker!  But it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  I kind of love the juxtaposition of his pale skin and the black sand.  Plus his super Speedo never fails to make me giggle. 

THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!  And they just kinda sat there all chill and stuff as obnoxious tourists like me came up and snapped pictures and made loud noises. Pretty impressive.

 So that's it for today.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures!  And if you like the stalker photo of the man suntanning, go to my friend Meredeth's blog (flameofmadness.blogspot.com).  She is a fantastic photographer/photoshopper.  She has some amazing street art photography as well as some awesomely creepy madness stuff.

Thanks for reading!! And please comment and ask questions!