Hawaii- Jan 24

An early rise-and-shine. Today was the big day I've been waiting for! We get to go zip-lining! Since we were on the west (desert)side of Hawaii (Kona) we had to drive to the lush east side to find things like zip-lining. We were told that due to construction to give ourselves 3 hours. So, we were on the road by 7:30 for our 10:30 appointment. On the way, we saw some great scenery and Hawaii's Observatory on the top of Mauna Kea. This is where the world's largest telescopes can be found. (there must be some amazing star gazing from there too)







When, we arrived (45 min early) after two scenic point stops. We got to walk around the spider-web-filled Botanical Gardens. It wasn't much to look at except a few highly poisonous plants (that are potentially what gave me a skin rash). But, the ziping was fun! It wasn't all that I had cracked it up to be, but know I can say I've done it and know what it is like!








Following our "zipping" adventure, we went to a couple of scenic parks- Boiling Pots and Rainbow Falls, they were both fabulous sites. At boiling pots, we met a pet pig wandering around in a "no pet" area!






We stopped for lunch and shopping in downtown Hilo. We ate at a bar where I was shocked when Rose ordered a half-pound hamburger. The atmosphere of the bar was nice because the windows where open letting the breeze in. There were a few jewelry shops in the area and I had a mission to find a cute Hawaiian necklace for a friend, mission success!!

We headed off in the afternoon for a black sand beach. We went to the more populated one because the other had a "treacherous" road to it that required a four wheel drive car to get to it!












After the black sand beach, we were off to find red hot lava from Kilauea's recent eruption. Long story short, turns out that it erupted on Thursday, Jan 20th and it was cooled by the time we made it there on Monday. But we could see it in the distance and we were told by a local that a house was standing there Thursday but it had been burned down. The drive back was a bit scary for me, but Chris loved it. The roads would twist and turn and bob up and down. But, at one point, we saw what we thought were fireworks but turned out to be lava spewing out the side of the volcano. It was such a neat site! And, when we looked up, the stars were so numerous- NOTHING THAT I HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE! All in all, it was a WONDERFUL DAY!