The Big Island

It's a really big one...seriously. We just got back late last night and my fellow travelers are all still snoozing this am. I think I wore them out. Wednesday when we got there, we went to the Seahorse Farm (learned a lot about, fed, and HELD seahorses). It was so freaking cool! From there, we ventured to the Kona Brewing Company and then on a sunset sail along the Kona coast.

Thursday we got up and spent 13 hours (!) driving around the WHOLE island and doing fun things. We started at our place in Waikoloa (obviously) and drove to Hilo first. CRH and Dad went on a Circle of Fire Helicopter tour from there over Mauna Loa (one of two active volcanoes on the island). The video looks like it was an awesome trip! The picture above is from this trip too. Kathy, Eve, and I went shoe shopping and got Strawberry Mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen. CRH says that I have become obsessed with mochi and he's decided to wrap me in it when I die...lovely. We also saw a lot of waterfalls that morning, to include Rainbow Falls in Hilo. From there, we drove to Volcano National Park to see Kilauea. All I had heard about was how hot it is up there...well, it was rainy and about 70 degrees. We froze in the rain...it was kind of funny. (Incidentally, we did not need the closed toes shoes that we had brought and/or just shopped for.) We actually skipped the lava tube it was so chilly, but we did get to see lots of steam vents and saw into the caldera and one of the craters. As we were leaving the Jagger Museum, a rainbow was going across the caldera...it was fantastic! You guys know how much I love a rainbow. Sadly, most of Crater Rim Drive was closed due to sulfuric acid seeping from the volcano...so we left. We took Dad and Kathy to see a black sand beach which was fun and then we went to THE Southernmost Point in the US. The Southernmost Point in Key West is the Southernmost Point in the Continental US...not the whole US. I was expecting a similar monument to stand beside and snap photos...not happening. We drove 12 miles (much to my parents horror) down this tiny, mostly paved road to a blinking light on the edge of a cliff. Now, I will say it was sunset time and the waves were huge and pretty...but not a very climatic end to said journey that I was expecting. Oh well...been there...done it now...got the photos to prove it (if you know what you are looking at). Then it was a trip back to Kailua-Kona for Margaritas and Mexican food at Pancho & Lefty's before literally falling into the bed.

Yesterday, we rested...ALL day. We got up and checked out at noon from our lovely condo at Hali'i Kai and sat at the pool until after sunset (gorgeous btw). Our flight didn't leave Kona until 10:30pm and we came home and fell back into bed late last night.

CRH and I have decided that we will definitely go back there...lots to see and do...like going to the top of Mauna Kea (the tallest mtn. in the world when measured from the bottom of the sea where it starts AND the only place where you can see snow in Hawaii!) and to see the lava flowing into the ocean at night...my parents liked it but much prefer Oahu.