The BIG ISLAND

We went to visit the Big Island. It was not what any of us expected, but nice to see. One more thing to check off our Hawaii to-do list. I must say Oahu is MUCH prettier...with so much more to do and much better beaches. We did do some pretty awesome things though.

Here's how it went:

Day 1

• Saw Jupiter and it's 7 satelitte's
• Went to Akaka Falls
• Lil was convinced she was going to be eaten by invisible cows
• Stood on a mountain at 10,ooo feet looking down to a blanket of clouds. It was heavenly.

Day 2

• Went to a black sand beach
• Saw sea turtle's
• Drove around the entire Big Island
• Stopped at the tsunami memorial sight which had INCREDIBLE waves breaking.
• Felt the spray from the waves over and over for about 45 min.
  
• Lil wanted to see Wild Cowboys and Wild Cows the whole trip
• Almost had wild turkey road kill for dinner, luckily Jon slammed on the brakes with the herd(?) mere inches from the car.
• Tried desperately to find a beach that was sunny and had no luck.
  

Day 3

• Saw the Kilauea Volcano
• Walked on/knocked on (pretty fun) dried lava
• Contemplated taking lava rock home and risking Pele's wrath.
  
• Went through a lava tube
• Went through a pitch black lava tube that was an extension of the tourist lava tube
• Saw the famous spot where lava covered the road deal
• Ate a wonderful lunch at the Lava Cafe of Crab/Shrimp Club Sandwich...highly recommended
• Drove to see where the active lava is currently entering the water
• Watched lava erupt for two hours after dark while Jon took pictures.

Day 4

• TRIED to drive to the southern most point of the USA...apparently there are no signs?
• Stopped at what we thought might be the southern most point
• Went to Green Sand Beach....HAHA
• Hike through a desert for 2 hours (no joke) with hot sun above us and a 3 year old.
• Arrived at Green Sand Beach finally and discovered it was impossible to get down into the beach
• A nice local helped us navigate the way down with Lilia safely.
• Played in the bay and marvel at the sand...
• There is a $500.00 fine for removing the Green Sand...luckily I have a husband that gets a lot of sand trapped in his pockets while taking pictures (LOL).
• Started our dreaded hike back to the car (dreaded doesn't even begin to describe it).
• Lilia BAWLED for 45 min. straight while being carried through the desert.
• I saw images of our skulls and bones laying in the desert with birds swirling above.
• Ran out of water
• A guy saved us and asked if we wanted a ride...Jon paid him $20.00
• Our legs were covered in red dirt so much that you could write things on them.
• Caught our plane to fly home!