Aloha (Finally...)

It's only been two weeks since we have been back, but has taken that long to catch up. Hawaii was lots and lots of fun!! We spent a day in Maui, then flew to the Big Island for 8 days of fun and travel in our hotel on wheels- Holo Holo. Holo Holo was the name of our VW vanagon camper that we circled the big island with. Same year and model as ours. We went from Hilo to Volcano N.P. and spent 3 days there. Lots of hiking, relaxing, some driving around. The old lava flows are crazy! Just flows down and covers anything in it's path. Walked across the lava lake, hardened for 400 feet down, though lots of steam coming up trough the cracks, kinda freaky!
Next we continued south and west to Hookeena beach park for a night on the beach. Quiet, cozy place. Nice sunset.

Next we continued on to Kona. Left the beach early in the a.m. to get to Kona in the morning for a run. We had to do a long run that day so we decided to run the second half of the Ironman course, from Kona to the energy lab and back. Man, does it get HOT in the energy lab. Took a cool shower at the beach shower to cool down then finished up. Very tough run. Definitely would be hard with 112 miles in the legs.

The next night we took a guided tour to the top of Mauna Kea for sunset. A nice bus to the 13,800 foot peak to watch the sun go down over Maui. Very pretty, very cold and little oxygen! After sunset we went down to 9000' for a star show. Got to see Saturn (with rings), a nebula, and some other stuff I think they made up!!
Next day we drove from Kona to Hawi (Ironman bike turn around), then continued on to The north side of the Island for 2 nights at another beach park, with the waves crashing on the shore only 20 feet from the van. Very soothing.

Then, I had to go to "work". Next up, the resort on Maui.
rk