Hawaii really is paradise. WOW. Ryan and I got to go to the Big island for a whole week - KIDLESS!! - Thanks to awesome family. I have never been and Ryan went when he was 12 so it was great exploration for the both of us. It was overcast most the time which you would think is a bummer but it is so gorgeous and warm that it was still amazing. This is the "Valley of Kings" - a gorgeous remote area that has only locals living there with no water and electricity. It is a steep climb in to the valley but it has a beautiful black sand beach, wild horses and gorgeous foliage. It was right out of lost with a awesome sandy beach backed up by a jungle.
Here we are with a wild horse. He is hard to see but he is right behind my shoulder. We meet a local when we were hiking down here who was picking up his son and son's girlfriend who were on a 5 day backpacking trip. I immediately knew what I want to do the next time I come back which appears imminent as Ryan has 2 trips planned before the year is up and I am invited on one of them.
Hawaii the big island is the only island with active volcanoes. Although it is not activly erupting in a way we could see well, it was still spectacular to see all the landscape changes and steam vents and lava flows.
I went on a 4 mile hike loop that took you around and through what in the 1950's was a lake of lava. This lake of lava was 400 feet deep and took 30 years to cool. The above picture is the jungle on the ridge of the lake of lava. Below is the dried lake of lava that I walked across. This hike was so cool to me. It is interesting, lava destroys everything in its path, but then years and years later things begin to grow again and then eventually the lava becomes even more nutrient then regular soil.
This is lava flows that reached the shore.
My absolute favorite thing on this trip was swimming with dolphins. We rarely do the expensive tourist stuff, but Ryan talked me into it and boy am I glad he did. Wow what an experience. I mean I really swam with the dolphins. We found several pods of wild dolphins - they estimated about 200 or so. Then we got our snorkel gear and went swimming. It was neat to see the dolphins when they came to the surface of the water but the real action was down below it. The dolphins would play tag with a leaf picking it up with their mouths or catching it with their fins and passing it off. For the first 15 min I sat floating on the top of the water looking below but then I saw this woman dive down and really swim with the dolphins. "Holy Cow!" I thought. "Now that is what I want to do." After watching for a few more minutes I abandoned my "noodle" and quickly got the hang of diving down and in a way that didn't scare the dolphins and coming up and squirting the water out of my snorkel. I was so close I could have touched the dolphins at least a dozen times. I would literally be in the middle of the pod swimming making eye contact with a dolphin for 20 -30 seconds. It was phenomenal. These animals are so gentle and non threatening. The coolest part about it is these dolphins could out swim me at any moment but they were letting you swim with them. I have never been a dolphin lover, but I could just feel of their goodness. I now know why others adore dolphins. They are truly amazing.
We also saw humpback whales. Two sets of mom and baby. One did almost a full breach out of the water (the classic jump out and land on your back.) It goes so fast you just want them to do it again and again to really soak it in and study the image but alas, once is all we got.
I wish I could have dedicate a whole day going from waterfall to waterfall, but this is all is all we could get in. Pictures just don't do it justice.
My boys were so good to all the homes they went to. On day 3 Soren told my Mom he missed me, but true to himself Xander quickly exclaimed, "I don't miss Mom. I don't miss anybody. I like lots of sleepovers." Nice to know they are handling change well.
Here we are with a wild horse. He is hard to see but he is right behind my shoulder. We meet a local when we were hiking down here who was picking up his son and son's girlfriend who were on a 5 day backpacking trip. I immediately knew what I want to do the next time I come back which appears imminent as Ryan has 2 trips planned before the year is up and I am invited on one of them. 
Hawaii the big island is the only island with active volcanoes. Although it is not activly erupting in a way we could see well, it was still spectacular to see all the landscape changes and steam vents and lava flows.
I went on a 4 mile hike loop that took you around and through what in the 1950's was a lake of lava. This lake of lava was 400 feet deep and took 30 years to cool. The above picture is the jungle on the ridge of the lake of lava. Below is the dried lake of lava that I walked across. This hike was so cool to me. It is interesting, lava destroys everything in its path, but then years and years later things begin to grow again and then eventually the lava becomes even more nutrient then regular soil. 
This is lava flows that reached the shore. 
My absolute favorite thing on this trip was swimming with dolphins. We rarely do the expensive tourist stuff, but Ryan talked me into it and boy am I glad he did. Wow what an experience. I mean I really swam with the dolphins. We found several pods of wild dolphins - they estimated about 200 or so. Then we got our snorkel gear and went swimming. It was neat to see the dolphins when they came to the surface of the water but the real action was down below it. The dolphins would play tag with a leaf picking it up with their mouths or catching it with their fins and passing it off. For the first 15 min I sat floating on the top of the water looking below but then I saw this woman dive down and really swim with the dolphins. "Holy Cow!" I thought. "Now that is what I want to do." After watching for a few more minutes I abandoned my "noodle" and quickly got the hang of diving down and in a way that didn't scare the dolphins and coming up and squirting the water out of my snorkel. I was so close I could have touched the dolphins at least a dozen times. I would literally be in the middle of the pod swimming making eye contact with a dolphin for 20 -30 seconds. It was phenomenal. These animals are so gentle and non threatening. The coolest part about it is these dolphins could out swim me at any moment but they were letting you swim with them. I have never been a dolphin lover, but I could just feel of their goodness. I now know why others adore dolphins. They are truly amazing.
We also saw humpback whales. Two sets of mom and baby. One did almost a full breach out of the water (the classic jump out and land on your back.) It goes so fast you just want them to do it again and again to really soak it in and study the image but alas, once is all we got. 
I wish I could have dedicate a whole day going from waterfall to waterfall, but this is all is all we could get in. Pictures just don't do it justice.
