Back on Dry Ground

I got back from Hawaii late Thursday night thanks to Hawaiian and ATA. I am still pleased with ATA's service overall, but it took an hour for my bags to show up. That shit is just wrong.

So I had a great trip all in all. After having a great marathon weekend on Oahu, I headed over to the Big Island on Tuesday. When I was flying for work, we had always flown into Kona. Kona is the dry side of the island and has always given me a bit of the creeps. I never enjoyed my time there much. Endless miles of dry lava rock and the fog enshrined mountains always made me feel isolated and on edge. On this trip, I decided to visit Hilo and the volcanoes. Hilo has a completely different character than Kona. It is rainy season and it rained nearly the entire time I was there. The town of Hilo is fairly small, quaint, but a bit rundown. Still the whole area is lush and green due to the rainfall on the island. The flowers that grow are amazingly beautiful and they are everywhere. One of the highlights of my visit was a trip to a local orchid farm. As you can see, the flowers of the Big Island are among the best anywhere.









One of the other highlights of my trip was my first visit to a black sand beach. I was not prepared for how stunningly beautiful it would be. When I descended from the volcano to the beach, the sun also emerged and everything around had a gorgeous afternoon glow to it. The Big Island is also full of wildlife from birds of the rainforest to the Nene (Hawaii's state bird, a cousin of the Canadian Gooses) to Hawaiian Monk Seals which are seen on the beaches.





I wrapped up my trip on Thursday and headed home. I caught a cold while in Hilo and it is proving to be annoying in it's staying power. I am going to spend the next couple of days recuperating before heading back to work Tuesday night.

Cuidate.