The Big Island

Our first night on the Big Island was an adventure. I think the black lava rock made us feel like we were on the moon. We arrived after dark which made it even more a mystery to us. Actually, regarding our adventure, we just made a little directional mistake, but we were trying to find food. Basically, we should have turned right out of the airport away from our hotel, but we went in the direction of our hotel. We searched a good 45 minutes for food, but the only thing we could find was a convenience shop. James wanted beer and I wanted food. I think I ended up with a Lunchable but we were able to pick up some pop tarts for in the morning.

We got checked into the hotel and it was time to call it a night. In the morning we realized the magnitude of the resort we were on (the Hilton). They had their own dolphin adventures on the property. The neatest thing was the lagoon that was fed by the ocean water and also housed natural animals. We declared day 1 a day of rest. We got ourselves a cabana and James tied it up so I wouldn't get burned. We even had our lunch delivered to us at the cabana! During lunch, James did go on a hike for a 6 pack. He came back and got in the lagoon. I finally fell asleep, and get woken up by a little boy shaking me. He said, "you wouldn't believe it. I just touched a 300 lb. sea turtle." Yes, this boy was James, but he was so excited it was boy like! And cute. I was wiped out enough to go back to sleep. He kept playing.

Day 2 we went on the search for a black sand beach. We found lots of beautiful cliffs made of black lava rock, but it would be many many years before they were a "beach!" It was still out of the ordinary driving along the ocean wall, finding back roads and Kelly drove through the Pacific Ocean! Tide came in and it was the only way through, thank goodness for the Jeep! Now we were on our way to see the volcanoes! Instead of going to the National Park, James wanted to try the "Ocean View." (He wanted to see the hot lava flowing and steaming into the ocean.) Well we got a mile or so away from this supposed point, but there were huge do not enter signs. He wanted me to go, but I refused. It was a long drive home because the rain and fog got really heavy.

Day 3 we were going to kayak (yes, we were going to do it again) in Captain Cook's Cove. We got off the resort and it was raining everywhere. Finally after lunch, we headed back. For some reason, the resort was the only place on the island where it wasn't raining. We ended up playing at the pool on the water slide and hanging out by the lagoon. This is where I saw my first sea turtle.

Day 4 we woke up early to get in the lagoon before all the kids. We had noticed that the water got cloudier throughout the day. As it turned out we learned that the water temperature clouded the water. We had a lot of time with the turtles. We will see if the underwater pictures turned out if we ever take the camera to the developer!! Good old traditional film. We had a few more hours before we had to check out and we made every last minute of it. We were packing with the door open after checking out to conserve time.

Luckily our flights were pretty constant between Kona, Honolulu, LA and DFW.