Nashville Wife

Lifestyle Blog | Recipes | Home Decor | Money Saving | DIY Wedding Planning

Hawaii

Old Country Church

by 12 Comments

old country churchWhen we’re driving along backroads, which happens quite frequently here in Tennessee, I always enjoy snapping photos of old country churches, and whenever I see an old building, it blows my mind to think about the stories that it holds.

The photo to the left is of Station Camp Baptist Church, located in Cottontown, Tennessee (northeast of Nashville). One of the earliest frontier churches in America, Station Camp was established in 1796–the year Tennessee was admitted into the Union and the year John Adams, the second president of the United States, was elected into office.

I love this quote on the church’s website: “Just as the station camp (from which the church got its name) provided settlers and weary travelers a refuge from frontier dangers, Station Camp Baptist Church has provided a refuge for weary souls for over 200 years. May it continue to do so.”

While I have been to a couple churches that can trace their roots back to the 1800s, they have always been in more modern buildings. I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience Pu'uanahulu Baptist Church Hawaiiattending service at an old country church. It happened one year ago, while Mr. Handsome and I were on vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii. …

Read More

A Unique Experience

by 74 Comments

Good afternoon, blog readers! I saw this discussion post on social media, and I thought it would be an interesting one to pose to all of you. This is your chance to talk about the time you uncovered a dinosaur bone while backpacking across the Sahara Desert. But if you haven’t experienced something quite as unique, don’t worry…I want to hear it anyways!

What is an experience you’ve had that is so unique that you don’t expect many (or any) of my other readers to have experienced the same thing?

Here’s mine: When I was eight years old, my family visited the Big Island of Hawaii (my dad traveled a lot for work, so we paid for most of the trip using his airline miles). We went hiking at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to a spot where we came within reach of red hot lava. The flow was slow enough that the park rangers determined that it was safe for visitors to walk right up to it.

 

Pololu Valley

by 4 Comments

Pololu Valley Big Island of Hawaii

Although it has been months since our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, I still have more photos to share. My goal has been to space out the posts so they don’t become overwhelming. Compared to the other Hawaiian islands, the Big Island is quite large (hence its name). In fact, if you combined Rhode Island and Delaware into one land mass, the Big Island would still be about 1,000 square miles bigger.

We stayed in Waikoloa Beach Resort on the west side of the island. If you drive an hour along the western coastal road up to the northern tip, the road dead ends at Pololu Valley. Although it’s a main highway, it’s also a residential street, and parking is limited, but the view from the lookout point is more than worth waiting for a spot. There are no large centers along the northern side of the island, but there are several small towns that are just darling. The nearby towns of Hawi and Kawaihae have great art galleries, ice cream and smoothie parlors, and coffee shops.

Pololu Valley Big Island of Hawaii

If you have your walking shoes or sandals, you can hike 20 minutes down to the black sand beach. The path was steep and a little muddy, but we took it slow and snapped lots of pictures along the way.

Pololu Valley Big Island of Hawaii

Pololu Valley is the first of seven valleys along the Big Island’s northern coast. The seventh is Waipi’o, which has a history even richer than its lush, green vegetation (photos of that one coming later). There is a long hiking trail that connects all seven valleys, but it is an overnight trail that is known for being treacherous.

Pololu Valley Big Island of Hawaii

The view along the shore is gorgeous, but the view behind the beach (towards the south) is even more breathtaking.

Pololu Valley Big Island of Hawaii…

Read More

Peculiar Signs in Hawaii

by 10 Comments

weird signs in Hawaii

To celebrate the end of another work week, I have prepared a post that I hope will make you chuckle. While on our Hawaii trip, we came across some peculiar signs that we had never seen before, so we decided to take pictures of them to share with you all.

We found the first one (photo to the left) on our first day on the island, at Hapuna Beach. Thankfully, it is a well-known beach that receives hundreds of visitors a week, or else we might have turned around and left the minute we saw this sign. A UXO is any unexploded, explosive weapon, such as a bomb, grenade, land mine, or bullet. Let’s be honest, stepping on one would pretty much be the worst thing that could happen to you while on vacation….

Read More

The Massive Banyan Tree

by 20 Comments

Two years ago, Mr. Handsome and I visited the majestic redwoods along the West Coast and were blown away by their impressive height. Many were so tall that standing underneath them and looking up only provided a view of the bottom half of the tree. Earlier this spring, we came face-to-face with yet another unique tree: the banyan tree.

While redwoods are famous for their height, banyan trees are known for their massive canopies and their unique root systems. The largest ones can take up a space of a few acres! During our vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii, we walked along iconic Banyan Drive in Hilo (the east side of the island), which is lined with a handful of banyan trees….

Read More

CPR…on a Goat

by 8 Comments

wild goatThis spring, I posted about our experience at goat yoga. If you didn’t see that post, I highly recommend checking it out for the photos alone. It was a hoot.

wild goat HawaiiSpeaking of goats, I have another goat experience to share with you. In April, Mr. Handsome and I traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii for a vacation. (We have been so sad to see all the destruction that the island has endured since our trip, between the volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. Our prayers go out to all who live there.)…

Read More

On Top of the World

by 8 Comments

Mauna Kea summit Hawaii

During our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii earlier this year, we drove to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain. Nope, I’m not talking about Everest. What most folks don’t know is that Mauna Kea, one of the Big Island’s volcanoes, is actually taller from base to summit than Everest. The catch is that the base of Mauna Kea is almost 20,000 feet (6096 meters) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The entire mountain is about 33,500 feet (10,210 meters) tall, while Mount Everest is approximately 29,035 feet (8849 meters).

Mauna Kea summit Hawaii

Mauna Kea summit Hawaii…

Read More

Ancient Hawaiian Petroglyphs

by 10 Comments

On our trip to Hawaii’s Big Island, we stayed in a vacation village called Waikoloa Beach Resort, located on the west side of the island, about 30 minutes north of the town of Kailua-Kona. Most tourists book hotels and condos on the west side because it has the best beaches and the driest weather. The east side is beautiful and worth a day trip or two, but Hilo is known as one of the wettest cities in the United States, and the rain can easily put a damper on vacation plans.

Waikoloa is located in the middle of a lava field, which covers a large part of the west side of the island. It is home to well over a dozen condo complexes and hotels, and the groundskeepers have done a wonderful job creating a lush, green oasis in the middle of such desolation. (Don’t get me wrong, the lava fields are beautiful and unique and are one of my favorite parts about the island, but places like Waikoloa tend to feel more tropical.)

…

Read More

Fishing for Tuna

by 26 Comments

Being the avid fisherman that he is, when Mr. Handsome heard that Kona, Hawaii, is known for fishing, he just had to give it a try. We attempted to go bank fishing, but then we learned that shoreline fish in the Hawaiian Islands can contain a bacteria that causes a type of food poisoning, called ciguatera. Not wanting to ruin our vacation with sickness, we opted to go fishing on a boat with a local….

Read More