Aloha!

 Aloha!  Bryan and I had the opportunity for a wonderful vacation in Hawaii this summer!  Bill and Lou (Bryan's aunt and uncle) hosted us for a trip of a lifetime!  We had a wonderful time viewing one of the most beautiful places in the world, relaxing, and visiting with Bill and Lou.  It was a fabulous trip!

 One of the neatest things about Hawaii was the dramatic views and sudden changes in scenery.  You would be walking through a forrest (at least a forrest for a Texas girl) and suddenly it would open up to a beach, or the caldera of a volcano!  Trees, like the one above, would be high in the air and have roots dropping from above your head.

 Here we are by a double waterfall in Kauai.  Yes, you are just driving along the road and suddenly there's a waterfall over on the side.  Gorgeous!

Bryan and I took a few days to make a side trip to the Big Island and Oahu.  Here we are at Hawaii Volcano National Park.  Behind us the the crater that still releases steam and has magma in it.  At night it glows red.  You can't tell from the picture, but the volcano is in the middle of a rain forrest.  Yes, you are walking along in a rain forrest and all of a sudden it opens up to the floor of the caldera.  We hiked all over the park.  It was amazing!

 Here we are in the park outside a tunnel.  Lava used to flow through the tunnel, and now you can walk through it...it's about as long as a football field I would estimate.  It reminded me of a cave or Carlsbad Caverns.  By the way...we also saw caves in Kauai.

 Yep, we took a helicopter ride over the volcanoes on the Big Island.  Yep, the helicopter is missing the doors!  It was definitely a little scary at first, but it was such a cool experience.

 It's hard to see in the picture, but Bryan is pointing to a tiny little spot of lava.  The volcano was huge!  We are about 1,000 feet in the air, but there is hardened lava as far as you can see.  This volcano was actually almost flat and the lava flows out towards the ocean...it was such a cool sight.

 On Oahu, we took a tour that took us all over the island.  We went to Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation, and the Polynesian Culture Center.  Here I am beside some pineapple plants at the Dole Plantation.

 Pearl Harbor was a very special place.  We were so proud to be Americans.  Here we are at the Arizona Memorial.  I took a picture above us...I loved how they had the American flag above the actual memorial.  In the picture below, you can kind of see how the sunken Arizona is below us and the U.S.S. Missouri in the distance.

 Here we are back in Kauai.  The picture doesn't do justice to the beautiful sunset.

 Here we are at a beach in Princeville.  I love this picture of Bill and Lou!

 This is us at Queen's Bath in the North Shore of Kauai.  This was one of our favorite places from the trip.  You hiked down a beautiful path and it opens up to lava rocks meeting the ocean.  Gorgeous!

 There were a couple of places at Queen's Bath where you could climb down and get into some pools.

 Here we are hiking near Queen's Bath.  It's kind of hard to see the waterfall above but it was no small feat to climb up to it.  Below is a different waterfall on the path down to the baths.

We had such a wonderful trip!  It was so neat to see the beautiful scenery and appreciate what God made.  Thanks Bill and Lou!