Flight to the Big Island.

I was most excited to go to the Big Island today and see my first volcano. Admittedly it didn’t live up to my lava spewing expectations, but it was indeed a world unto itself. (I saw none of the red stuff) I took tons of photos, but they all turned out like crap. It’s impossible to convey the scope and feeling of this place. Scorched earth as far as the eye could see. It was definatly Extreme D.

Standing in this old lava flow was like walking on a coal black liquid surface, frozen in time. You half expected the dark undulating land to rise once again to life and start flowing into the sea.

Then there’s the other side of the coin… lush tropical rainforest.

Interesting thing happened on the ride back to the airport… a crashed army helio-copter in the middle of the road. (he hit a power line in the fog)

Long day trip to Kauai. Spotty internet, so I’ll be brief. Know that we saw plenty of beautiful scenery, rooster and flowers. (Tomorrow we go to the Big Island)

Today we took it easy. I took the kids to some of the beaches on the east side of the island.

My favorite beach on Oahu… just below a scenic overlook

View from the overlook

The kids at the beach

There’s a lighthouse in this photo… right next to Waldo

Jungle road

We stumbled upon this great view on the road home

Click for a panoramic view

As always, beware of the bees

Today after having our traditional McDonald’s breakfast, we went to Hawaii’s Plantation Village. There’s no pictures because… well because they would be painfully boring. That’s not entirely fair, becuase we did have an educational experience, but on a whole the tour was long and… well boring.

The second stop for the day turned up closed due to construction so we improvised and headed to the Waimea Botanical Garden and Arboretum on the north side of the island. There we saw…

Exotic flowers

Exotic trees

Exotic birds

And a waterfall

Here’s one of my favorite shots of the day. Click on it for a bigger image (make it your desktop wallpaper today!).

Grandpa and Grandma, still winded from the walk had time to pose for the camera

The drive back to the hotel

Today we visited the Polynesian Cultural Center and got to see and do a whole bunch of things, like…

Happy Somoans climbing trees and making fire…

Watch the women weaving fronds… (Grandma got herself two kissing fish)

Enjoy a canoe parade…

Catch an IMAX film about coral reefs… (this was grandma’s favorite part)

Learn that bananas actually grow upside down… (well what I though of being upside down at least)

Experience our first luau…

Complete with purple bread

And finally finish the day with a little show. (I’ve seen enough dancing to last me awhile)

The fire show was grandpa’s favorite part of the day.