Merry Christmas Say The Trolls!

The Troll Family wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope Santa brought you what you wished for. Most importantly, the Trolls wish for peace and happiness for all. Take care of each other and remember to pause occasionally to enjoy this beautiful world. 

Christmas morning at the Troll's home.

Ready to tear into those presents!

Lil Dude Troll say's Merry Christmas, y'all!

Pink and Monet in back say, "Merry Christmas!"

Even the rarely seen Troll named Streak makes an
appearance at Christmas!

Trolls In Hawaii - Leaving Paradise

With so much to see and so much to do and so much fun to have, 5 days and 4 nights on the Big Island passed way too quickly. With reluctance to leave such an interesting and beautiful place yet looking forward with excitement to the next several days which would be spent back on Oahu, the Trolls boarded a plane at the Hilo Airport for the short flight to Honolulu International.

Monet Troll at the Hilo airport

On the way to the hotel, the Trolls stopped off in downtown Honolulu
to see Da Kine Bail Bonds, home of TV's Dog The Bounty Hunter.

It's not a fancy office and smaller than it appears on TV, but it was 
still cool to be there.

The Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach, the Troll's hotel.
The Trolls splurged on an ocean-view suite - VERY NICE!

In the cool lobby of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel

Passing through the Hawaiian Hilton pool area. The Trolls found it
amusing that the hotel is on Waikiki Beach, one of the most famous
and beautiful beaches in the world, yet the pool area was always
very crowded and busy.

Lil Dude Troll on Waikiki Beach

Floating off Waikiki Beach in Mamala Bay with Diamond Head
 in the background.

Pearl Harbor. Visited the USS Arizona Memorial where 1,177 men
lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor in WWII and
remain forever below the water entombed in their ship. 

Outside table at the Tropics Bar & Grill on Waikiki Beach eating
a last meal in Hawaii before heading back to the mainland. Sad.

Walking to their departure gate after checking in bags and going
through security at the Honolulu International Airport. The whole
Troll family already misses Hawaii!

Trolls in Hawaii - Paradise Post 6

Another day in paradise on The Big Island.

Another beautiful waterfall just a few yards off the road.

At the entrance to Waimanu Valley. This is a former sacred site
where Kings & Queens resided. 

A giant tsunami wiped out the ancient village & the residents
many years ago. There are no real roads going into the valley, just
a 4-wheel drive trail. 

There is no utilities or any other services there. Only a few
"off the grid" people make their homes there now, living off
vegetables they raise and water from streams.

Monet Troll in the lava rocks at the southern tip of the island.

Lil Dude Troll at the southern most point of the United States.

Monet Troll in the lava rocks at the most southern point in the U.S.

In Waichinu on the southern end of Hawaii. Mark Twain visited here
in 1866 and planted this Monkey Pod tree.

At the Mauna Kea Observatory looking thru a small telescope at Saturn's
rings. This is above the clouds. On the beach down below it was in the
80's F, but here it was in the 30's F with a very strong wind blowing
and it felt like it was 15 F. Very cold!

After watching the sun set from atop Mauna Kea,
the Troll Family stopped at Ken's House of
Pancakes for a  late supper of breakfast food. 

Ken's House of Pancakes is famous as Dewayne Johnson's family
business. There are lots of pictures of "The Rock," his grandfather
Peter Maivia and his father Rocky Maivia, all famous professional
 wrestlers. Dewayne is now a rather famous movie star. The Rock
stops here when he is back home, but alas, the Trolls didn't get
to meet him. 

Trolls in Hawaii - Paradise Post 5

(map courtesy of  Lonely Planet)

Time to drive around the island of Hawaii to see what we can see.

Monet Troll along the coast of Hawaii

Lil Dude Troll along the coast of Hawaii

At Akaka Falls State Park

Akaka Falls

At Wailuku River State Park

Waianuenue (Rainbow Falls)

Lunch at Punalu'u Bake Shop - the most southern bake shop in America

At Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park

Punalu'u Beach

Punalu'u Black beach sand

Near several Green Sea Turtles who have crawled onto the beach in
preparation for digging nests and laying their eggs. Green Sea Turtles
are endangered.

Trolls in Hawaii - Paradise Post 4

Field of cooled lava

Day 2 on the island of Hawaii and the Trolls start the day back at the Volcanoes National Park with a helicopter tour scheduled for the afternoon.

Lil Dude Troll in a small cooled lava tube

There were many mini-lava tubes. These are a little dangerous
if you step on them and they break as the lava rocks can
be very sharp and will easily cut you if you are not careful.

Pu'u Loa (Hill of Long Life) is in the ancient land division of
Ahupua'a on the southern flank of the Kilauea volcano in
the National Park. It is considered a sacred place. There are
over 23,000 petroglyphs pecked into the hardened lava.

The petroglyphs consists of various types of circles or cupules.

There are also other geometric and cryptic designs, canoes with
sails, feathered capes and human representations known as
anthropomorphs.

Lava fields just a few years old will already have grasses
starting to grow.  And more land is added to the island.

An early afternoon helicopter tour of the island is well worth the
cost as the Trolls were able to see flowing, red-hot lava, towns
which had been wiped out by lava flows, large waterfalls not
accessible by the general public because they are on private
land and miles upon miles of the beautiful coastline.

If you have problems with motion sickness, be sure to take some
medicine for it. The helicopters come with air sickness bags
for a reason.