This was my first time to Hawaii as well as my kids', Jake and Melody, first. Denise had been here a few times before, sometimes passing through from the Philippines. In fact, this is the first piece of US soil Denise saw when she was 8 years old. George and Winnie generously offered up their timeshare for a week stay on the Big Island. It was to be a life changing vacation.
We flew to LAX and met the kids curbside, then jumped on a big ole airplane
to Honolulu.
We arrived on Saturday, Aug. 28. Now, if you've never been to
Hawaii, and the first island you visit is the Big Island, you are in for
a dismay when you first land. It looks as if you've arrived on the
moon. The NorthWest side of the island is by far the driest, emptiest,
most desolate piece of terrain you can imagine. Playground only for
geologists (and quite interesting for them since the ground is all lava).
We were a bit encouraged when we got to our resort to find a beautiful
coastline and vegetation. The temperature is only slightly perfect
at all times, and the feeling the tropics bring makes one feel rejuvenated
almost instantly. The next few days were to prove most fun and delightful.
Melody was all in favor of the convertible upgrade at the car rental.
Watched some surfing (though we really wanted to do it)...
And, of course, parasailed!!!
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Followed
by the VOLCANO!!!!! This picture is of the upper crater at 3500 feet
altitude. The island actually has two mountains that are almost 14,000
feet high. One, Mauna Kea, can be visited by driving up to it, which
we didn't end up doing this trip, but it is known as a skiing area in the
winter. The other, Mauna Loa, is a volcano and is completely inaccessible
Here we are in the shadow of Mauna Loa, but at a completely different volcano.
After viewing this we drove down to the edge of the crater and peered down
into it. There is steam and smoke coming out of center and it all
smells a bit like sulfur. We then drove down to the coastline on
"chain of craters" road and watched as hot lava flowed into the ocean 3
miles away. We went when it was dark and viewed through binoculars.
What an awesome sight!
.
Did
I say the crater was at 3500 feet? Even though that doesn't seem
that high, the wind made it quite cold here.... as demonstrated by these
two.
Denise was in her environment ....
Don was in his environment...
And Jake was in his ...
We saved a little surprise for the kids on Wednesday. After Parasailing
and spending the afternoon picking up souvenirs for the trip home,
we sat them down and asked if they would be the witnesses to our
wedding,
which was about to occur in an hour. This, of course, blew
them away, and we spent that evening conducting a wedding, followed by
a Luau with enough food to actually fill up two teenage kids (believe it
or not).
Dear Mom,
Having a great time in Hawaii....
Wish you were here!
Love, Mel
The
next day we fed the kids lunch and sent 'em home. (It was actually,
already planned that way. Jake had to be back at work on Friday and
both needed to get ready for school the next week.) Denise and I
enjoyed a couple of great honeymoon days.
