Aloha, Hawaii!

Tonight we leave the Hawaiian islands and return to Grand Junction. Our flight leaves Kona at 9:45pm and we'll get into Salt Lake City at 9:07am on Sunday morning. I hope we can get some sleep on the flight!

Yesterday we explored Volcano National Park. Kilauea is still an active volcano. We got to see the top of the volcano, with steam pouring out of it. We also walked through a lava tube - sort of like a cave but it's formed from dried lava. We walked around in the lava fields a bit but never did see any hot lava flowing. Michael was disappointed. It was chilly up there - the volcano is at 4000 ft. above sea level - very windy and rainy. We also traveled to South Point, the southern most point in Hawaii, which is also the southern most point in the United States. This is where the first Polynesians settled in Hawaii. It's very windy but I guess the fishing is great and that is what sustained the first settlers here. We've done a lot of driving on the Big Island.

We went to dinner last night at the Kona Inn Restaurant. It was the best dinner we've had on this island! Michael had steak and lobster and I had shrimp scampi - the shrimp were HUGE. The Kona Inn Restaurant was one of the first in this area, built 30 years ago, and they still have the original belt system to operate their fans.

This morning we are trying to shove all of our stuff back in the suitcases (plus the stuff we bought while on the islands) and have a couples' massage at 10am. See you all soon!