Hawai'i

Russ did his Continuing Education on the big island of Hawai'i this year. Of course he needed a roommate so I was happy to volunteer. It was our first time on the big island & I was amazed how diverse it was. When we flew in and got off the plane it didn't look like Hawaii at all. There is black lava rock everywhere with little clumps of white grass growing in it. We did end up traveling around the whole island and found that it was very lush in parts.

We stayed at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel. The grounds were so beautiful!

Russ' first counselor in the Stake Presidency, Dan & Karma Cochran were in Hawaii part of the time we were there. We attended church with them and it was Stake Conference. We didn't know it was so showed up an hour early. Since the temple is right next to the church we walked around for a while. After church the Cochrans had us to their condo for dinner. It was a lovely day.

I loved this stain glass window of Christ and the children in a cute little church
 we stopped at along the way.

This is Mauna Kea which is 13,796 ft. tall. Measured from the base it would be the tallest mountain in the world, over 30,000 ft. People actually snowboard on the top.

Waip'o Valley Overlook

Russ and I hiked down to the beach. It was a mile each way and was a 25% grade. My calves were sore for two days afterwards, but it was beautiful.

Akaka Falls…a 250 ft. waterfall

Russ spotted this cool tree in this cemetery.

 Ka Lae (South Point) This is the most southern point in the U.S. This was off the beaten path, but so worth the drive. We spent a good hour or two here walking up and down the cliff edge. The surf was really raging that day.

The Kilauea Crater. You couldn't get very close to it.

While we were visiting the museum of the crater we ran into Mark and Jackie Domin. They lived across the street from us in Germany. He was a dentist in the AF also and were dear friends. We haven't seen them for over 20 years!! They live in Michigan now…what a small world!!

Lava Tubes

Black Sand Beach

Some much needed R & R for Russ.

This was one of the waterfalls on the hotel property. I loved the saying in front of it.

Russ and I took a 4 mile hike (round trip) down to the Captain Cook monument. This was where he first discovered the Islands on Jan. 10, 1770 & was then killed on Feb. 14, 1770. It's supposed to be a great snorkeling spot. There were lots of these bright yellow fish.

 The hike wasn't that hard, but it was around 90 degrees and with the humidity it was very tiring.

This tree was all connected & very gnarly…very cool.

One of the many beautiful sunsets.

It was a great week and I didn't want to come home. It went WAY too fast, but I enjoyed being with my sweetheart & having him, mostly to myself for a whole week! He's had so much going on with church lately I haven't seen him much. Back to real life now.