It’s hard to believe that we are half way into our fifth year of living on Maui and now embarking on our sixth year of marriage. (if you want to see a few wedding pictures of when we were babies click here!)

I knew as as soon as we moved here that I wanted to visit every island. And it has taken me 5.5 years to do so! I’ve been to Oahu more times than I can count, Kauai 3 times, Lanai 6 times, and Molokai 4 times–but I had never been to the Big Island of Hawai’i. Anthony had been twice for work already and I told him that it was MY turn. Luckily, he’s super awesome and let me “twist his arm” to come to BI for our anniversary.

Every island is so vastly different, so I was excited to see what BI would offer! The conclusion: wide open spaces, lava fields galore, secluded beaches, and a bit of solitude that was greatly needed.

We spent our first day with some friends in Kona and from there headed up the coast to Kohala Coast, got caught in a rainstorm, found a secluded beach, and ended up at the Fairmont.

Day 3 was completely different than days one and two. We drove the saddle road that ran between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa…with the top down. Anthony rented a Camaro–which was awesome–but this girl gets really cold really easily. I ended up crouched down by the vents and it blasted heat on to me. We were at about 5000 feet elevation and the temps were about 60 degrees. And driving at 60 MPH at 60 degrees makes it seem much, much colder.

We stopped by Big Island Brew Haus and Anthony cried happy tears of joy. Not really, but finding a good craft brew in Hawai’i is a challenge. And this place is the ticket, I tell ya. From there, we headed to Volcanoes National Park where we stayed the night in a tree house. Seriously. A dang tree house! It was amazing. The owner is unsure how long he will be able to remain in operation, but I highly suggest this place for couples and small families! Check them out!

Alright, enough of my narrative. Here are the cliff notes:

-Big Island is really big (obvi)

-Tree Houses are amazing

–Da Poke Shack has the absolute BEST poke I’ve ever had

-Sometimes you can have an entire beach to yourself

-Shells. Shells everywhere.

-Seriously, where are all the people? This is awesome.

-Big Island Brew Haus is epic

-Good thing I landed on Maui before I did BI–because I could totally see myself living here.

So there it is: The Nelson’s Big Island Adventure.

Don’t you worry BI–we’ll be back soon!