Big Island, Hawaii

What a weekend! I had to go to the Big Island on Friday for a meeting that night in Kona and on Saturday morning in Hilo. Jeff flew in to Hilo to meet me late Friday night and attended the Saturday morning meeting to learn all about the new way we will be providing Red Cross services in Hawaii - riveting, I'm sure. He asked a couple of great questions and I was very happy to have him there.

By noon we were in our rented 2005 Mustang convertible on the road to Black Sands Beach near the southern-most point in the US! It was great to feel the wind, cool because of the increasing elevation, and sing my heart out to the radio. The beach itself is very cool and was a great preview to the evening's trek to the lava fields of the Kilauea volcano!

Because of time constraints and lack of flashlights, we only saw the lava flows during the early afternoon and twilight. Besides, the whole thing is super-scary! Lots of signs saying that you will die unexpectedly or suffocate due to the volcanic plume that is constantly rising from the point where the lava flows into the sea. Still, we felt it was important to at least see it, since we don't plan on getting near any active volcanoes in the future!

Our favorite part of the trip was the Volcano House hotel. Our room was nothing fancy, though the cost was considerable, but the view from the hotel is unreal. The Volcano House is oldest continuously operating hotel in the country, and the only one that I know of that is situated on the side of a volcanic crater! On Saturday night, we treated ourselves to the best dinner we've had in months at the Volcano House restaurant. Filet mingon, shrimp, and scallops - YUM! We also spent a few hours in front of the fireplace - a REAL fireplace with REAL wood and REAL rocking chairs in front. They say the fire has been burning continuously for over 70 years...

Everything went great the whole weekend, lots of relaxing and being good to myself. Then I flew home in the very last seat on the plane, in the window seat without a window, on one of the windiest days of the year! Blaugh! (I will not try to make Jeff feel badly by mentioning that he was in first class, through no fault of his own. That would be petty and I'm not petty.) Overall, it was a much-needed break from the home-work-home cycle. And I would recommend a trip to the Big Island to anyone - Dad???